Sierra Leone: Website Consultant
Country: Sierra Leone
Closing date: 16 Sep 2013
BACKGROUNDAbout Health Poverty Action (HPA)Health Poverty Action’s vision is a world in which the poorest and most marginalised enjoy their right to health.
Health Poverty Action started working in Sierra Leone in 2005. In keeping with our mission of reaching the most marginalised, we have delivered a number of successful maternal heath and gender equality projects in Northern Bombali covering areas such as Tambaka chiefdom, one of most remote and marginalised communities in the country.
Our interventions have included provision of ambulances, training of health staff and a large component on community education. Our work in Sierra Leone is innovative using our understanding of local culture and norms to adapt tried and tested models to the Sierra Leone context.Our work in Northern Bombali complements that of the Government of Sierra Leone, and other partners and has had huge proven impact; knowledge of maternal and child health has sky rocketed and Northern Bombali stands out as one area in the country where SGBV survivors are able to access justice.
We specialise in the fundamental connection between health and poverty. These two are inseparable. Yet so often they are addressed in isolation, as if health was the responsibility only of the health sector. An unhealthy population has little chance of working its way of poverty, and families struggling to survive in extreme poverty have almost no chance of sustaining good health. But if the two are tackled together, in an integrated way, this fundamental link becomes a powerful positive. Improving health works to eradicate poverty, and vice versa. The multiple determinants of health and poverty such as gender equality, education, nutrition, safe water and proper sanitation and shelter must be tackled holistically to bring sustainable change.
Prioritising the poorest and most marginalisedMuch of Health Poverty Action’s distinctiveness derives from the priority we give to those whose health rights have been most neglected. Development efforts often tend to cluster in particular areas, leaving others almost untouched. Prioritising the poorest and most marginalised means we have become particularly skilled at working in hard to reach areas, and with marginalised populations such as ethnic minorities. We attach great value to the precious relationships we have developed with communities who have learnt through bitter experience to trust few others. While working with those most neglected frequently leads us to rural areas, we also work in large cities and urban areas. We know there are marginalised people there too.
Action – what we do
Health Poverty Action conducts a wide range of activities each year to strengthen poor and marginalised people in their struggle for health. These are in four broad categories:• Development Programmes in 13 countriesWe work with communities in 13 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to identify and address the primary factors limiting their right to health. These areas include, but are not limited to, health system strengthening, disease control, health education, harmful traditional practices and gender issues, income generation, food security and nutrition, and water and sanitation. Each year, through these programmes, we are able to help tens of millions of the poorest people in the world improve their health.• Influencing the policy and practice of othersWe steadfastly refuse to accept that because there are so many poor and marginalised people in the world that some must be expendable, and that the right to health can therefore not be for all. We will never accept that. At the same time, we know the scale is so great that we will never be able to meet the need through the size of our own programmes alone. We therefore believe addressing the policies and practices of others is vitally important – analysing what needs to change, devising creative alternatives, and using our influence to bring those changes about.
• Responding to emergenciesThose with few resources and little support are extremely vulnerable at times of particular hardship – maybe an ongoing problem that has reached crisis proportions, or maybe a sudden disaster of some kind. At such times we work with those affected to respond to these emergencies. We always remember that emergencies are not identified by what is given profile in the global media, but by the experience of those affected by particular crises (most of which are never reported). We also know that for the poor and marginalised, emergencies are not discreet events, but one additional factor they face in an ongoing struggle for health and well-being. We help them mobilise all possible resources for urgent response – and do this as an integrated contribution to their ongoing development work.
• Providing consultancy and other contracted servicesThe expertise, resources and relationships of Health Poverty Action mean we are in a position to provide a wide variety of valuable services to others in exchange for a fee. These services can provide important benefits for the poor as well as generating income, and all profits are ploughed back into developing our work.
UNFPA funded obstetric fistula prevention project
A Fistula is a permanent abnormal passageway between two organs in the body or between an organ and the exterior of the body. Obstetric fistula is the most devastating and serious of all childbirth injuries. It happens when a woman gives birth without appropriate medical help. Usually after enduring days of agonizing, obstructed labour, a woman's body is literally broken by childbirth. During labour contractions, the baby's head is constantly pushing against the mother’s pelvic bone - causing tissue to die due to lack of blood flow to this area. All of that pushing creates a hole, or in medical terms a "fistula", between the birth passage and an internal organ such as the bladder or rectum. Because of this hole the woman cannot hold her urine, and sometimes her bowel content as well and so becomes incontinent. Many fistula sufferers are young girls.
A woman with fistula is likely to be rejected by her husband because of her foul smell and her inability to bear more children. She is usually shunned by her community and forced to live in isolation. These women suffer profound psychological trauma resulting from their utter loss of status and dignity, in addition to suffering constantly from their physical internal injury. To compound it all the woman usually loses her baby in birth process.
Building upon HPA’s previous work addressing maternal health through community based training and sensitisation, this project extends HPAs work to two new districts- Koinadugu and Kambia. Through intense sensitisation and active search, HPA trained volunteers find women with Fistula in the remote villages and refer them to Aberdeen Women’s Centre (AWC), and West Africa Fistula Foundation (WAAF) where FREE operations are provided for the women
PURPOSE OF CONSULTANCY
The objective of the consultancy is to work with Health Poverty Action to create a website that can provide up to date information on fistula incidence, treatment and social support.
SPECIFIC TASKS TO BE CARRIED OUT BY THE COMMUNICATION CONSULTANTMain tasks
Work in concert with HPA M&E team and an accomplished Graphic Designer to:
Review and digest report produced by M&E consultant
develop a website that can is visually appealing, easy to navigate and can be easily update by HPA staff.
Website specificationPurpose – To provide up to date information for policy-makers, health workers and Donors on fistula in Sierra Leone.
Target audience Government officials, NGO workers, staff in Donor organisations
Structure Must be simple and easy to navigate and intuitive. HPA is open to concepts on style from website designers.Must be easy to update by non-technical staffMust be easy to load in settings with slow internet facilityMust be optimised for mobile devices
Writing styleThe language must be simple and provide definitions of appropriate technical jargon.Search engine optimisationMust be optimised for agreed key wordsMust be have reciprocal link to 20 key agreed websites
SupportThe host must provide technical support for any bugs that occur.
Person specification
Previous experience of developing tools for public health communications (must provide 2 examples)Previous experience of developing a website (must provide 2 examples + 1 site must be live)
DELIVERABLES 1. Concept for the website – showing initial ideas of interface, layout presentation of the data etc (this must be provided at proposal stage)2. Attractive graphics depicting fistula in Sierra Leone3. Simple easy to navigate website 4. Hosting and domain name for 3 years
BUDGET 56,750,000 SLL less 5% withholding tax to cover all costs including consultant fees, travel, photography, graphic design, website development, 3 years website hosting, domain name etc
PROPOSED TIME-FRAME3 months (between October and December 2013)
How to apply:
APPLICATION PROCEDURE• All proposals must include the following:1. CVs of lead consultant and any team members where applicable2. A proposal showing
- How the consultant meets the specifications
- A proposed concept for the website
- Added value that the consultant can bring to the project
Proposals must be received by Monday 16 September 2013Proposed contract start date 1st October 2013.Please send all proposals to: atdeen@healthpovertyactionsl.org.uk or Health Poverty Action, 25 Barracks Road, Murray Town, Freetown
