Regional Technical Support ESPEN Collect Consultancy
Overview
Call for Expressions of Interest
Anticipated timeframe: March 2026 to 31 December 2026 (potential to extend annually subject to funding through to 2030)
Location: Remote working plus travel to endemic countries
Budget: To be discussed at interview
BACKGROUND FOR PROJECT WORK
Reaching the Last Mile Fund is a global coalition of countries, donors, and partners working to accelerate the elimination of two neglected tropical diseases from Africa and Yemen.
Responsibilities
Sightsavers is inviting bids from highly skilled technical consultants with previous epidemiological survey knowledge and skills. The consultant will provide hands-on regional technical support to national NTD programmes to plan, implement, and quality‑assure epidemiological surveys for onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis, including those using ESPEN Collect and both rapid and laboratory‑based diagnostic tests. This will enable countries to make evidence‑based decisions on stopping or adapting MDA under the Reaching the Last Mile Fund.
SCOPE OF WORK
- Lead training and supervision on electronic data collection tools (e.g., ESPEN Collect), including setup, real-time monitoring, and troubleshooting for standardized LF and onchocerciasis surveys.
- Lead training on proper human specimen collection, processing, labelling, storage, transport, and chain-of-custody protocols for RDTs and lab-based tests (e.g., Ov16 RDT/PCR, thick smears, DBS)
- Foster close collaboration with Ministries of Health (MOH), WHO/ESPEN, RLMF partners, and laboratories to align surveys with national plans and global guidelines.
Skills and Experience
- Advanced degree (Master's or higher) in public health, epidemiology, parasitology, or related field
- Wide range of experience in use of electronic data collection tools, human specimen collection, and NTD epidemiology
- Fluent or strong written and spoken English and French
- Extensive experience with NTD epidemiological surveys, particularly with both field and laboratory-based diagnostic tests
- Extensive experience with electronic data collection tools running on Android-based smartphones. Experience includes configuring applications and network settings.
- Sound experience in tracking the shipment of diagnostic tests and related equipment
- Strong presentation skills
- Regional travel is required throughout the tenure to West Africa francophone countries
The agreed budget will be discussed at interview.
A consultant with a proven track record in the above will be procured to undertake the project through an expression of interest process.
Full details of the project, Scope of Work, Outputs/ Deliverables and budget can be found within the attached ToR.
Next Steps
To express your interest to undertake this assignment, please read the complete ToR, and complete our Expression of Interest (EoI) which can be found via the application link by 8 March 2026.
The EoI response should include a proposed workplan and indicative budget, including daily rates for the assignment and any other anticipated expenses.
Interested bidders are also requested to include an example of previous similar consultancy work.
The deadline to submit your EoI is Sunday 8 March 2026 23:30pm GMT UK.
We intend to conduct virtual interviews week commencing 9 March 2026 onwards. The interview will last up to one hour and will be the only stage in the interview process.
Please note due to the high volume of applications it is possible only successful applicants will be contacted. We reserve the right to close this ad early.
Selection Criteria:
Sightsavers is committed to running a fair and transparent tender process, and ensuring that all bidders are treated and assessed equally during this process. Bidder quotation responses will be evaluated against Essential Criteria, Capability Criteria, Sustainability Criteria and Commercial Criteria. These criteria have been especially created to help SCI determine which bidder is able to offer the best quality and most commercially competitive solution to meet our needs and deliver the most effective programming to our beneficiaries.