Consultant/Research proposal reviewer

The International Institute for Primary Health Care – Ethiopia (IPHC-E) is an organization affiliated with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health (MOH) and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The institute provides technical assistance in Primary Health Care (PHC) to the Ministry of Health and other countries through capacity building training, knowledge generation, management and sharing, program design and implementation. It supports the MOH through evidence-based policy recommendations, training of PHC leaders for both young and established, implementation of innovation laboratories, and engagement on PHC related policy and strategy designs. IPHC-E engages in global advocacy to bring PHC as a primary driver to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Ethiopia and beyond.

In addition to building the capacity of Primary Health Care systems across the globe, the Institute Supports need-based primary health care implementation research through a mechanism called “Small Grant” (SG). The “Small Grant” projects are designed and implemented in collaboration with local universities. The Institute also advocates for more research to improve health systems and PHC implementation in Ethiopia. As part of this research activity, IPHC-E encourages researchers in local universities to pursue PHC related implementation research and generate scientific evidence that will inform policy and practice.

For this, the IPHC-E is looking to recruit a pool of experts who would be willing to work with the institute and review proposals for the small grant applications received from universities of Ethiopia and select the best for awarding the small grant.

Scope of work:

Review and score small grant applications that fulfil the criteria set by the institution through conducting critical reviews and rating of the proposals based on the formats prepared for the purpose. Furthermore, the reviewer is expected to present, discuss and recommend top proposals/concept notes for the small grant award in collaboration with other colleagues in the panel. 

Duties and responsibilities of the proposal reviewer:

• critically review the proposals and all other documents along with the proposal,
• scoring the proposals based on the assessment criteria (form),
• present each proposal to the panel of reviewers and reach a consensus for shortlisting and selecting the top proposals,
• provide specific points to improve the quality of proposals selected for the Small Grant,
• Suggest ways of improving the quality of Small Grant research outputs and utilization of the results.

Deliverables:

• Assessment scores for small grant application
• Specific comments for the shortlisted applicants on how to improve the proposal further

Reports to:  Knowledge Generation Team (Senior Research advisor)

Employment: Contractual/On call bases

Number: 5

Required qualifications, experiences and skills:

• PhD in public health or related field or MD with Master’s degree in public health/social sciences with relevant experience (a consultant with a PhD is preferred)
• University professors who are willing to participate are preferred considering their experience in reviewing proposals, advising and supporting research projects, and peer review of scientific journals.
• Outstanding experience in research methods and techniques (design, data collection, analysis and report writing). Experience in qualitative and quantitative methods is required.
• Affiliated with universities and Federal Ministry of Health
• A minimum of 10 year experience in public health research after graduate degree
• Published 10 or more papers in peer reviewed journals (conditional for MOH, Addis Ababa applicants).
• The task requires research experts with specific knowledge and skills in proposal development and reviews including knowledge of existing literature & gaps in a specific topic, experiences in identifying scientific writing requirements such as research idea formulation, problem statement, justification, application of the right scientific methods and addressing ethical standards. It also requires knowledge of national research priorities and IPHC-E’s research agenda in PHC.

Compensation and Modalities of Payment:

• The consultants would be compensated for the amount of work done.
• The amount of payment will be negotiated with the team/IPHC-E.
• The consultant maybe offered with an additional contract i.e. upon satisfactory performance.