Health Consultant

Expertise France is a Frenchpublic agency created on 1st January 2015 under the tutelage of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter- ministerial vocation. EF offers project engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. EF operates in various fields of development and institutional cooperation including safety and security reform, post-crisis/ stability, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs and governance. Carrying out large-scale, multi-stakeholder projects, EF can ensure the cooperation between individuals, teams and institutions with very different statuses, cultures and specialties. Besides, EF has acquired a sound experience in administrative and financial management of large-scale international projects and is accredited by the European Union for the management of delegated Community funds.   Context The Middle East is currently experiencing a profound crisis. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq are both a reflection and a transmitter of this crisis, with growing potential to further destabilise neighbouring countries and the wider region. These crises have resulted in a humanitarian disaster affecting more than 13.5 million people who were forced to flee their homes from Syria, and more than 17 million people in need of humanitarian aid (12.2 in Syria and 5.2 in Iraq). Lebanon is now home to the largest number of Syrian refugees per capita relative to its total population, putting a severe strain on the country’s fragile infrastructures, economy, and security. The population of Lebanon was estimated at about 4.8 million (including almost half a million Palestinian refugees) in 2013. Even though Lebanon has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, up to date it has taken in about a fourth of its own population. According to UNHCR, in December 2015 1,835,840 persons from Syria were registered as refugees in Lebanon.1 In the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2015-2016 (LCRP), the total number of people living in Lebanon is estimated at 5.9 million, with 3.3 million people in need. Among the Syrian refugee population in Lebanon, which today comprises over 1.5 million people2, the Bekaa Valley contains the highest concentration of refugees, with over 400,000 registered with UNHCR.3   In Lebanon, Expertise France ensures the consistency and the coordination of projects co-implemented by local civil society organisations for the benefit of both Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities. Projects mainly address difficulties for communities to access services: informal education, protection, skills trainings and health.   The health component of the action is specifically meant to build on existing mechanisms established jointly by the Lebanese authorities and the UN. The activities include enhanced access to secondary and tertiary health care for the most vulnerable Syrian refugees in the area, who fit the UNHCR admission conditions. The programme, in cooperation with the UNHCR, and the Ministry of Health, will cover for the 25% of the hospitalisation costs left uncovered by UNHCR in the targeted localities.   Outreach to refugee communities in the project catchment areas and identification of patients in need of SHC or THC and matching the UNHCR admission criteria for receiving financial subsidy   The health component will contribute to enhance access for Syrian refugees to secondary and tertiary health care in the areas targeted by the action. Today UNHCR covers for 75% of the hospitalisation costs of registered Syrian refugees for life saving surgeries and deliveries, but 25% of the costs must be paid by the patient. The objective is, in coordination with the UNHCR and MediVisa Company to cover the remaining 25%. It is therefore proposed that using the network of social workers operating out of the four community centres funded by this project, patients living in the catchment areas, in need of a SHC or THC operation, fitting the criteria of the UNHCR programme, or assessed as particularly vulnerable financially (following the UNHCR methodology) will be identified, referred to the accredited UNHCR hospitals of this part of the Bekaa valley and cared for. Expertise France through a dedicated budget line will cover for the remaining 25% of the operation costs.   Description of the Tasks:    During the inception phase of the project (1st of June to 31st of August 2016), an external consultant is hired to support the design of the Standard-operating-procedures (SOPs) of the Health Component of the project. This process shouldtakeinto consideration the project needs, the budget allocated to the activity and the local specifications.   The Consultant: Will travel to Beirut and Bekaa valley to meet relevant pubic health stakeholders, Will liaise with UNHCR andMedivisa to reassess the feasibility of the project as initially planned and will recommend adjustments, Will design the validation process of patients files from the referral to patients admission for surgery, paying a special attention to the process of medical validation of the patients file, Will create the referral system guidelines and templates based on what is currently being used by INGO & UN agencies in Lebanon, ensuring complete confidentiality, Will design any additional activity forms which will be used in the project, Will support the M&E officer in the creation of relevant medical, social and financial indicators to monitor the project efficiency, Will advise EF team on the best financial mechanism to pay hospital bills, Will review the ToR of the staff allocated to health and protection activities (Social worker, outreach workers...)     1http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486676.html#LEBBE 2Sources UNHCR: the population of Syrian refugees in Lebanon amounts to 1.5 Million including those who are and are not registered with the UNHCR. (LCRP Year 2 p 91) 3http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/settlement.php?id=201&country=122&…