TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR) for a Consultant to undertake a comprehensive literature review on community- based animal health workers (CAHWs) programs.

The VSF International network supports families and farmers’ organizations in 38 countries in Africa, the Americas and Asia. In 2020, it reached 2.07 million families and among them, provided direct support to 4,700 animal health professionals, including 4,300 Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs).  CAHWs deliver quality proximity animal health services to livestock keepers in countries where veterinary services may shortfall.

 

VSF International drafted a definition for CAHWs: “Selected by their communities and in collaboration with private veterinary doctors, the veterinary public services and supporting bodies (projects and NGOs), Community-based Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) provide basic services and give husbandry advice to livestock keepers. They are in charge of disseminating certain farming techniques in order to optimize animal production. They also play an important role in epidemiological surveillance”.Despite their key role, CAHWs development and deployment face several constraints and challenges (VSF-Int policy brief, 2018). Indeed, in the different countries where they are operating, CAHWs legal status varies widely, from official recognition to prohibition.  Despite their key role, CAHWs development and deployment face several constraints and challenges (VSF-Int policy brief, 2018). Indeed, in the different countries where they are operating, CAHWs legal status varies widely, from official recognition to prohibition.

There are numerous factors that lead to this disparity, but they mainly relate to the lack of agreed criteria around the definition, training, qualification, supervision, and deployment of CAHWs in both the public and private sectors.
To address these issues, OIE and VSF International are jointly implementing a two-year project entitled “Strengthening the enabling environment for community animal health workers through development of competency and curricula guidelines” and funded by USAID/BHA.

 

The project will allow the implementing organizations to provide an in-depth assessment of the training context and needs for CAHWs at the global level, based on regional and national-level analyses, and to develop guidelines for CAHW implementation models, competencies, and training, which will be key to support global recognition and harmonization of CAHWs training and services.
To proceed, the project will first identify and describe the main training and implementation models for CAHWs at the global scale. A general comparative assessment of CAHW training programs, institutional frameworks and operational set-ups will be done through literature review and regional expert consultations. On a second stage, the literature review work will be consolidated with a more detailed analysis in 3 or 4 countries in Africa and Asia.
The information collected and analysed will allow OIE to develop competency and curricula guidelines for CAHWs (after appropriate validation and testing), and VSF to produce guidelines and recommendations on the sustainability of the CAHWs models.

The project aims to:

• Inform key stakeholders involved in CAHW training and supervision of strengths and weaknesses in current training models and provide them with recommendations to improve the sustainability of CAHWs systems
• Produce OIE Competency and Curricula guidelines for CAHWs and disseminate them to key stakeholders involved in CAHW training and management
• Inform key stakeholders involved in veterinary services legislation and management of the value of harmonization and role definition for CAHWs.

VSF International is therefore seeking for a consultant to undertake the collection of CAHWs programs and training manuals and conduct the literature review activity

 

The consultant is expected to provide the following deliverables:

1. A report based on a comparative assessment of CAHWs programs, in terms of training systems, operational and business models and external factors which can influence sustainability as well as policy recommendations for a sustainable deployment of CAHWs worldwide and within each region.
2. One summary sheet per each reviewed CAHWs project, completed with relevant information and key indicators learnt from the analysis
3. An exhaustive directory of stakeholders involved in CAHWs programs and training (NGOs, international organizations, training providers government departments and ministries) with focal points, systematised per country, including a shortlist of relevant stakeholders who could be involved in further regional expert consultations
4. The database of documents and publications reviewed.
5. PowerPoint presentation of the results of the review and analysis, to be presented to the VSF teams and at the OIE ad hoc group (location and date to be defined)

All deliverables will be in English.

 

Full description in attachment