Africa Centres for Disease Control Support Program to Combat Current and Future Public Health Threat ( - Тендер #47117720)

NOTICE AT-A-GLANCE

• Project ID

P178633

• Project Title

Africa Centres for Disease Control Support Program to Combat Current and Future Public Health Threat

• Country

Eastern and Southern Africa

• Notice No

OP00252224

• Notice Type

Request for Expression of Interest

• Notice Status

Published

• Borrower Bid Reference

ET-AUC-354800-CS-INDV

• Procurement Method

Individual Consultant Selection

• Language of Notice

English

• Submission Deadline Date/Time

Oct 27, 2023 15:00

• Published Date

Oct 12, 2023

• CONTACT INFORMATION
• Organization/Department

Africa CDC

• Name

Zemenu Asnake

• Address

African CDC, Attn: Supply Chain Management Division Administration Directorate Africa CDC Office

• City

• Province/State

Eastern and Southern Africa

• Postal Code

• Country

Eastern and Southern Africa

• Phone

251911444580

• Email

ZemenuA@africa-union.org

• Website

(CONSULTING SERVICES– INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT)

AFRICA CENTRES FOR DISEASE CONTROL SUPPORT PROGRAM TO COMBAT CURRENT AND FUTURE PUBLIC HEALTH THREATS PROJECT (P178633) – IDA-E1110

CONSULTANCY SERVICES TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION OF RUMOR TRACKING SYSTEM

Reference No. ET-AUC-354800-CS-INDV

The African Union has received financing from the World Bank for the "Africa Centres for Disease Control Support Program to Combat Current and Future Public Health Threats Project”.

Development Objective of the Project: Enhance the capacity of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to support AU Member States in preventing, detecting, and responding to current and future public health threats.

• Background

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a continental autonomous health agency of the African Union that strengthens the capacity and capability of Africa’s public health institutions as well as partnerships to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks, based on data-driven interventions and programmes. Officially launched in January 2017 and guided by principles of leadership, credibility, ownership, delegated authority, timely dissemination of information, transparency, accountability and value addition, Africa CDC works with all African countries to strengthen the capabilities of their public health institutions for disease surveillance, emergency response and prevention, including the capacity to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease outbreaks and other health burdens. It also serves as a platform for Member States to share and exchange knowledge and lessons from public health interventions.

In May 2020, Africa CDC established a rumour tracking and media monitoring system as an infodemic management tool to identify key issues in response to COVID-19, including large scale denial of COVID-19 and stigma against those infected with the virus, and low vaccine acceptance rate in some countries. The rumour tracking system has guided the institution to detect misinformation and disinformation about the outbreak, and provide appropriate and evidence-based guidance to the Member States in response to the pandemic. However, misinformation and slow community turnout, which continue to impact vaccine uptake and slowdown vaccination campaigns in several communities across Africa, remain a critical issue as the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic has diminished in many countries.

Using data gathered from the rumour tracking system, Africa CDC has supported several Member States to conduct public information campaigns about the COVID-19 vaccine; and still see the need for continued and consistent, widespread sharing of facts around the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the devastating impact of the pandemic on other routine health programs. This allows steady streams of accurate and verified content related to COVID-19 and other emerging diseases to take a larger voice share in the information environment and potentially influence policy decisions for emergency response interventions.

Africa CDC seeks a qualified consultant with proven track record for the establishment of a functional digitized infodemic data management system, to support its emergency response works, at the headquarters in Addis Ababa, for a period of Six (6) months.

• Objective of the Assignment

The overall objective of the assignment is to develop an integrated digital platform that will support Africa CDC to monitor, collect, analyze and prepare adequate and effective response to rumours, mis-and-disinformation and misconceptions about disease outbreaks and health emergencies to protect the health and safety of the African population.

• Scope of the assignment

Under the supervision of the head of Policy, Health Diplomacy and Communication and the core team, the consultant will be required to undertake the following tasks:

• Develop an integrated digital infodemic data management platform that will encompass the following segments.

* Segment I: A systematic rumour tracking and infodemic management tool that allows Africa CDC to effectively monitor the population’s knowledge about epidemics, including rumours and misinformation in real time and across different settings, and how it interacts with health-seeking behaviours and attitudes of the population to response efforts; which then provides crucial insights for dealing with mis- and disinformation in time of disease outbreaks.

* Segment II: A social enterprise tool to facilitate monitoring of all Africa CDC’s media footprint and communication activities with stakeholders, partners and the general public across different channels. This will generate timely feedbacks on the organization’s strategic communication approaches and provide guidance on how to realign communication activities to meet the needs of different stakeholders and audiences.

* Segment III: Media monitoring tool on the platform for mainstream and social media, to track day-to-day broadcasts of radio and television at the community and national levels, using technical digital tools (web scraping, APIs) for analyzing and deeper understanding of the perceptions within the social and mainstream media landscapes regarding a particular health emergency.

Collecting and assigning metadata to local and regional broadcast institutions and social media platforms, i.e. (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, etc.), makes it possible to understand how misinformation is sourced and spread from small online communities to large scale "viral" content, and the extent to which they affect perceptions of the outbreak or its associated response.

• Incorporate a digital library tool to maintain internal Africa CDC infodemic data asset.

• The design of the platform must be developed with database compatible with Africa CDC needs to guide effective Risk Communication during outbreak response.

• Deliverables

• Design, develop, and launch an integrated digital infodemic data management platform that includes all segments as indicated in the scope of this assignment (30% payment).

• Establish an innovative data management approach on rumour tracking and misinformation to expedite data analysis and reporting processes during outbreak response (20% payment).

• Develop standard operating procedures for data handling and archiving for infodemic data management system to include rumour tracking and mis/disinformation, social enterprise and media monitoring, during outbreaks (20% payment).

• Produce a midterm report detailing project progress. This report shall include an executive summary of the achieved deliverables understandable to non-technical readers with annexes highlighting all the technical details of activities. It must capture key milestones achieved in line with the project scope, and share challenges and lessons learnt (10% payment).

• Facilitate two (2) internal trainings for staff members within the communication team over the contract period to build internal capacity for the use of the platform (10% payment).

• Support the launch of the platform and produce a comprehensive report covering accurate accounts of all the processes and essential data; including access to back-end files and software licenses (10% payment).

• Required Qualifications and Work Experience

Qualification

• Master’s degree in Information Technology (IT), Data Management systems, Digital Media, or other related fields with at least 5 years of progressive working experience; demonstrating proven knowledge and capability to design and develop web-based data management tool for international organizations.
• Expertise in development of digital or multimedia data-set Management systems/tools.
• Progressive knowledge and skills of systematic tracking, monitoring and collating of rumours and dis/misinformation data from multiple sources (mainstream and social media, Hotlines, and tracking community radio and TV broadcasts).
• A substantive knowledge in managing health system data in the African context would be an added advantage.
• A university degree in Information Technology (IT) Data Management systems, or other related fields, with a minimum of 7 years of continuous and relevant work experience spanning the areas of infodemic data management.

Required Work Experience

• Proven practical experience, with example of an integrated infodemic data management systems tool developed previously.
• Exceptional insight, and creative digital analytic skills to develop an engaging and rich digital platform will optimize and improve online user experience.
• Ability to assemble, review, analyze and compile complex rumours or misinformation from multiple digital data sources for timely decision making.
• Previous experience dealing with large-scale dis/misinformation and rumours during pandemic or epidemics.
• Awareness of innovative best practices and emerging trends in the information technology space that can enhance effective use of digital data management tools/systems for health outcomes.

• Language Requirement

Proficiency in one of the African Union working languages (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish) is required. Knowledge of one or more of the other AU working languages would be an added advantage.

• Duration of the Assignment

The duration of the assignment will be for six (6) months from the date of contract signature.

• Consultancy Fee

Payment will be fixed amount of USD 40,000 this amount includes all the Consultant"s fees, reimbursable expenses, such as air ticket to and from Africa CDC HQ, accommodation in Addis Ababa, and profits as well as any tax obligation that may be imposed on the Consultant. This is a lump sum contract and payment will be against deliverables. If there is any travel related to the assignment, which is from Addis Ababa to any Member States, Africa CDC will cover the cost of the Travel ticket and DSA.

• Governance and Support

The Consultant will work under the guidance and directive of the Head of policy, Health Diplomacy and Communication, with day-to-day supervision by the Principal Communication Officer and assisted by Africa CDC Management Information System (MIS) team.

The following shall be made available by the Africa CDC

• Office accommodation;

• Facilitation of Visa; and

• Internet Access.

• Evaluation and Qualification Criteria
• General Education, Qualification and Relevant Training - 20 Points
• Experience, technical expertise – 80 Points

• Required Documentations
• Cover letter
• Detailed and updated curriculum vitae (CV) with supporting documentations
• A link or access to examples of an integrated infodemic data management systems tool/platform developed by the applicant.
• Two (2) referees with good knowledge of the candidate’s work, furnishing full contact details, telephone, fax and e-mail addresses.

• Invitation

The African CDC now invites eligible Individual Consultants (“Consultants”) to submit their CVs in providing the Services and required documents as listed in the ToR. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. This Call for individual Consultant will lead to the preparation of a Short List of consultants. Candidate will be called for negotiation.

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” November 2020 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Individual Selection method set out in the Procurement Regulations.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 8:00-13:00hrs and 14:00-17:00 hours, Addis Ababa Time.

CVs must be delivered in a written form following the above shortlisting criteria to the emails below before 15:00 Hours Local Time on 27 October 2023.

African CDC,

Attn: Supply Chain Management Division

Administration Directorate

Africa CDC Office Building, Tower A2, Floor 7th, Room Number 712.

Haile Garment Area, Lafto Square.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

E-mails: africacdctender@africa-union.org and zemenua@africa-union.org and selamg@africa-union.org

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