The Sudan national public health laboratory system (NPHLab) is currently indevelopment and is underway to function through its full capacity .The health care system of Sudan consist of community health services, health units, health centers and hospitals at localities, states and central referral levels. The current laboratory system in Sudan is organized in a structure that follows the general health care delivery system of the country. Diagnostic laboratories are the main components of these facilities from the health center level and upwards. At the apex of this system, there is only one national reference lab; the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) which is mandated to serve as Sudan’s National Center to perform referral medical laboratory services relating to the occurrence, causes, prevention, and diagnosis of major diseases of public health; to establish and support national laboratory quality assurance programs and systems; and to train personnel on existing and new diagnostic and programmatic tools. Furthermore NPHLab is responsible of leading and strengthening the national laboratory system.A Master NPHLab policy is developed in 2015 and it is divided into two main sections: national health laboratory policy and plan; and essential elements of the national health laboratory policy and national health laboratory plan. The organisation’s processes are aligned to a national strategy 2016-2020. This consultancy is designed to develop a plan for the NPHLab as a tool of translating the policy and strategy into an operational scope of work.

Objectives:

The objective of this technical assistance is to have a detailed costed master plan for the national public health laboratory (NPHLab) that is strategically linked to the National Lab strategy and policy.

Specifically:

To developaCosted Master Plan for the Health Laboratory System that:

1.    Serves as the blueprint for the development of Sudan’s public health laboratory system.

2.    Describes specific operations and plans for the development and implementation of laboratory services nationwide for the years 2019 through 2020.

3.    Provides national operational guidelines for health laboratories and donor organizations looking to fill resource gaps.

The scope of work for the Consultant will include but not be limited to:

(1)    Review the direction, vision and mission based on the consultancy mandate, namely through preparatory activities: (2 days)

·         Conduction of desk review of all relevant NPHLab documents and materials.

·         Consultation with NPHL and other stakeholders about the NPHLab scope of work and strategic directions as a benchmark for developing the plan.

(2) Undertake a situation analysis of TA operations to date to determine NPHLab profile and determineall functions and organizational set-up: - (3 days) (including two days' workshop)

·         Interviews with key informants and/or focus groups 

·         Tele-conferencing with state’s health laboratory managers and/or representatives 

·         Data analysis

·         In-country de-briefing

·         Develop a situation Analysis report

(3) Identify focus areas and develop strategic objectives and key result areas for the plan based on the consultative process (Based on the above two days' workshop) and on application of an appropriate tool of analysis,

(4) Writing and validating the plan(7 days)(the plan should be written section-wise and each shared for comments and modification)

·         Writing and editing report.

·         Sharing with partners for validation and inputs

·         Incorporating comments and modification from partners

·         Finalizing master plan

·         Presentation to NPHL/ stakeholder audience

(5) Finalization of the plan based on compilation of inputs and presentation(3 days)

·         Hold stakeholder meeting for presentation of the pre-final draft, in a workshop mode, to the audience of NPHL and other relevant stakeholders

·         Recording of feedback and making the needed changes

·         Presentation of the final draft to partners meeting

·         Final master plan with Results and Resources Framework submitted to NPHL   

Deliverables:

The expected end product of this assignment will be

1.    Complete a costed master plan for health laboratory, divided into strategic objectives that include:

·         A description of situational analysis, specific strategic approaches, goals to achieve by the year 2020, and time bound plannedactivities, using appropriate operational language, layout, format and structure for each strategic objective.

·         Financial and operational plan clearly detailing tasks and responsibilities of each actor within the laboratory system/plan.

·         Means of measuring performance and impact.

·         PhD or master in Laboratory science with 7-10 years, preferably in the field of microbiology and/or Pathology.

Experience in

·         Working with regional or national medical/scientific institutions

·         Developing strategy preferably for laboratory services, health services 

·         Analyzing sets of services provided by educational institutions/ of health services /health establishments

·         Providing costs analysis, projection of income and returns

·         Analyzing skill sets and organizational structures required of preferably in medical/health/educational set-up

·         Analyzing national and regional strategies, policies and priorities for health sector in Sudan

·         Writing plan preferably for laboratory or health service establishments

·         Working with diverse educational and skills background

·         Following strict time frame and deadlines.

Institutional Arrangements:

The Consultant will report directly to Head of Planning and Policy Department NPHLab and in coordination with the head of Resilient and Sustainable Strengthening of Health System-Head of Section-FMOH-PMU.The TA shall be responsible for the coordination of stakeholder meetings, workshops, and other activities under the Consultancy.

Cvs Submitted to : hsspmu.fmoh@gmail.com