Local consultant: Health Economist, Freetown, Sierra Leone

The Position:

Global attention and investment in midwifery are increasing as an effective strategy to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3). To advance this agenda, the Midwifery Accelerator was launched in April 2025 by a global coalition including WHO, UNICEF, and ICM to scale up the Midwifery Model of Care (MMoC). A key part of this initiative is encouraging increased domestic and international funding for midwifery through evidence-based advocacy. In this context, UNFPA has developed a comprehensive \"Investing in Midwifery Models of Care\" handbook to guide the creation of national investment cases. UNFPA will support the rollout of this framework in several countries, with Sierra Leone selected for implementation in 2025. This consultancy is crucial for adapting the global framework to the West African, Sierra Leone context, generating country-specific evidence to drive sustainable improvements in midwifery services. It will draw lessons from investment made in midwifery so far to contribute to the impressive reduction of maternal mortality by 79% between 2000 and 2023 i.e. from 1682 to 354 deaths per 100,000. This TOR is for a consultant in Health Finance /Health Economist who will work in close collaboration with a National Midwifery Expert Consultant, the MOH team, and any relevant stakeholders under close supervision and collaboration UNFPA team and international experts to develop the Midwifery Investment Case for Sierra Leone.

The Objective of the consultancy:

The primary objective for the consultant is to lead the economic and financial analysis for the midwifery investment case. This involves quantifying the costs, economic benefits, and overall return on investment (ROI) of scaling up midwifery care, and developing a compelling case to persuade the government and partners to increase investments in MMoC in Sierra Leone.

The scope of work and responsibilities:

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks: 

● Funding and Financial Analysis: 

● Costing Analysis:

● Economic Benefit Analysis: 

● Return on Investment (ROI): 

● Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration: 

● Reporting: 

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format, and deadline:

A clear milestone-based payment is outlined for this consultancy, with each payment tranche released upon the successful submission and approval of specific deliverables. The payment is made upon receiving a confirmation email for the final approval from UNFPA (and MOH if needed) on the deliverables. The payment schedule is a lump sum value, and each deliverable will be paid to the consultant upon successful submission and approval from the UNFPA Sierra Leone CO side as per the breakdown below.

Key Deliverables:

All deliverables will be submitted in electronic copies. They must be written in English. 

1.            (20%) An inception report detailing the methodology, work plan, and data availability. 

2.            (10%) A comprehensive report on the financing landscape, funding gaps, and costing analysis for midwifery in Sierra Leone. 

3.            (25%) Draft version of National Midwifery Investment case integrating a roadmap for financing, and the monitoring and evaluation framework 

4.            (35%) Final national Midwifery investment case report. 

5.            (10%) Policy briefs for advocacy for investing in midwifery.

Duration and start date:

The duration of the consultancy is 50 working days, until 30 November 2025. The consultancy will commence on the day following the contract's signature.

Supervisory arrangements: 

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the UNFPA Sierra Leone Country office, Maternal and Reproductive Health Technical Specialist, with direct technical guidance from the designated team from UNFPA’s Regional and Headquarter offices.

Required expertise, qualifications, and competencies, including language requirements: 

The Consultant will meet the following criteria: 

 ● Advanced university degree in Economics, Health Economics, Public Finance, or a related field. 

● A minimum of 7-10 years of professional experience in health financing, economic evaluation of health programs, or cost-benefit analysis. 

● Knowledge in health costing and economic modelling tools, such as the One Health Tool and MSP is an asset. 

● Demonstrated expertise in conducting return-on-investment (ROI) analysis for social sector programs. 

● Strong understanding of innovative health financing mechanisms. 

● Experience working in the West Africa region, especially in Sierra Leone is highly desirable. 

● Excellent analytical, quantitative, writing, and communication skills in English.

Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:

All interested applicants should apply through Quantum and submit the following: 

Required Competencies:

Values:

Core Competencies:

Functional Competencies:

UNFPA Work Environment:

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity, and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation, and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.

Disclaimer:

Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, and other administrative requirements. 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing, or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process, and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts.