Looking for a qualified person to fill the following position: National TA to develop/revise criteria and guidelines for targeting and enrolment of the poor families and vulnerable groups including TB and HIV patients.

Background

The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) is a public health insurance agency that operates throughout the country.  At the national level, NHIF is engaged in the development of policies, procedures and manuals that are to be implemented at state and local levels. In the state and local level NHIF offices are engaged in implementation of activities such as registration of members, collection of premiums, running of their own health facilities, purchasing services from indirect facilities, reviewing claims and reimbursing indirect health facilities.

Financed by the Global Fund, the Federal Ministry of Health Sudan has the lead in the implementation of the Sudan Health System Strengthening (SHSS)  grant under the new funding model. The SHSS project is to contribute to the improvement of community health status and welfare through expanded coverage and utilization of quality primary health services in the targeted states.

The Grant includes a health financing component that is executed by NHIF. It includes technical assistance in developing/revising criteria and guidelines for the targeting and enrolment of the poor families and vulnerable groups, including TB and HIV patients. Social Fund Projects and community driven development approaches have gained increasing attention for their capacity to support poor communities, especially in the context of scaling up development efforts to end extreme poverty. Targeting specific populations can help to solidify nation building and ease regional or intra-ethnic tensions.

Targeting the poor and vulnerable may also serve political objectives, especially in young democracies where delivering services to the poor are typically a strong part of electoral promises. Poverty targeting mechanisms should be simple, explicit, and monitorable and based on common objective criteria. The mechanism should address the risks of elite capture and potential leakage of benefits. The best targeting mechanism will reflect the local context, including institutional framework, information availability, and degree of inequality, governance factors and the demographic profile including presence of ethnic minorities. A program’s targeting mechanism may change overtime in response to evolving objectives, targeting performance feedback availability of resources, development of new data sources or shifts in Government’s overall priorities.  The effectiveness of the targeting mechanism chosen will depend on the capacity of program managers to design, implement and monitor its performance.

Currently Zakat chamber had a set of indicators to identify the poor, and the most important one that is used by the chamber is:
The family is considered poor if it fulfilled one or more of the following elements:  
1.    If the householder is unemployed and the family has no income from any other source and have no one who is able to work.
2.    If the householder is earning less than the minimum wage and has no income from anywhere else.
3.    If the householder of the family is not working as a result of a disease or disability.  
4.    If one member of the family is suffering from a chronic disease, with expensive treatment requirements and the householder is working with a monthly salary.
5.    If the householder is a retiree with chronic disease and the family consists of six-members or more, and all pupils do not have any other source of income.
6.    If the householder has dependents and owns assets such as a house or agricultural land or old vehicle that do not generate revenue, leaving him or her with no money for investment.
7.    Craftsmen, such as carpenters, farmers and blacksmiths who are earning little for sustenance and do not have other sources of income.
8.    Agricultural workers and herdsmen who do not have livestock and do not have other source of income, and they have families that consist of six members.
9.    The Zakat chamber had conducted different studies to identify the poor. Through these studies it was found that the total number of Poor and needy families in the Sudan is 2,291,789.
{Available online: http://www.zakat-chamber.gov.sd/english/ Sudanese Zakat Chamber: The role of Sudanese Zakat Chamber in social development, 2015}


Rationale

In Sudan, Zakat chamber is the governmental body that is responsible for identifying of the poor among communities and disbursement of Zakat money. A clear framework for collection and disbursement management is needed. Collection and disbursement activities as the main aspects of zakat management is need to be supervised by the relevant authorities. This framework will help to optimize the function of zakat as a tool of poverty alleviation.

Objectives

• To review the criteria and guidelines currently used for targeting and enrolment of the poor families and vulnerable groups including TB and HIV patients.
• To develop a monitoring and evaluation system for poor families financial status.

Tasks

• Review the information system and administrative formats that is currently used for identify the poor families and the vulnerable groups.
• Liaise closely with Zakat chamber and NHIF Planning directorate.
• Provide advice and amendments needed to these guidelines in order to optimise the function of Zakat chamber as a tool of poverty detection and alleviation.  
• Conduct a consensus workshop with participants from Zakat chamber and the NHIF to agree on the amendments needed.
• Design a monitoring and evaluation system to track the families and provide closer follow up in order to track the financial status of the subsidized families after providing the financial support.  

Specific Requirements

• Master’s degree in social economics or other related field.
• More than 7 years of progressive responsible experience.
• Report writing.
• Proficiency in Arabic and English (both spoken and written).

Applications

Application Requirements

1.    Curriculum Vitae
2.    National ID number or any other official document (e.g.  passport)
3.    Certificates (a copy of university and postgraduate certificates)

Submission Procedures

Applicants can send their applications to:

Email: hsspmu.fmoh@gmail.com , consultantnhif@gmail.com &  consultantnhif@gmail.com 
 
Office Address:  

Ministry of Social Security and Development                                             
National Health Insurance Fund Head Quarters                                               
General Directorate of Planning                                    
International Cooperation Directorate                           
3 Square 10 Baladia Street                                      
Fax: +249 183 74 7619                                           
Tel:  +249 183 74 7618


Note: email applicants please indicate the title of the post you are   applying for by writing in the subject area:

Poor families - National Consultant, 2017