Terms of Reference (TOR) Evaluating the features, usability and governance of Ethiopian Health Data Analytics Platform for routine data analysis and visualization

Terms of Reference (TOR)

Evaluating the features, usability and governance of Ethiopian Health Data Analytics Platform for routine data analysis and visualization

Background

John Snow, Inc. (JSI) is a public health management firm dedicated to improving the health of individuals and communities throughout the world. Headquartered in the United States, JSI has been implementing public health projects in Ethiopia for over 27 years.

Currently, JSI is implementing the five-year Digital Health Activity (2019-2024) in Ethiopia with funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The purpose of this activity is to support the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Ethiopia to improve the quality of health services and create a sustainable health care system through harnessing technology and enhancing the culture of data use for decision making. The primary objectives of the Activity are to 1) support information technology systems and data repositories at all levels; 2) build a culture of data use, and 3) improve capacity and governance of health information systems management.

To improve a culture of data use in the health sector, USAID-DHA is supporting the implementation of various digital health information systems such as District Health Information Software (dhis-2), electronic community health information system (eCHIS), Human resource information system (HRIS), etc. In addition, the activity provides support to increase the capacity of health care workers and administrators with a focus on manipulating digital information systems, data use competencies, and producing information products.

As part of its support to improve data use, particularly in improving data analysis and visualizations, USAID-DHA intends to respond to the request of MOH and recruit a technically competent and well experienced entity to technically evaluate the usability, acceptability and features of the Ethiopian Health Data Analytics Platform (EDHAP) to conduct advanced data analytics and visualization  by extracting, transforming, and loading health and health related data from routine  and non-routine sources into a single warehouse..

Purpose, Objectives and tasks of the consultancy

Purpose: The Ministry of Health of Ethiopia, with the support of Zynesis Technologies Incorporate and with funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), developed a data analytics platform, called Ethiopian Health Data Analytics Platform (EHDAP) in 2016. The EHDAP has been used by the Ministry of Health for about two years to visualize and analyze routine data from DHIS-2 between 2016 and 2018 with the goal of improving the data analysis and data use culture. However, the platform has not been functional over the last two years due to technical and governance related issues.

However, the Implementing Partner has informed the MOH that most of the issues identified during the previous assessment have been resolved and requested MOH to resume using the system. The Policy, Plan, Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate (PPMED) of MOH intends to evaluate the features, usability, and governance  of the platform for effective visualization and analysis of routine and non-routine data to inform decision-making processes at all levels of the health system. Based on the request of the Ministry for evaluation of the platform, USAID-DHA intends to procure a consultancy service for the task.

Objective: The main objective of the consultancy work is to evaluate the features, usability, and governance of the platform to effectively support routine practices of data analysis, visualization, and evidence-based decision-making. As such, the consultants or firm will be responsible for leading the evaluation process including the development of proposals and appropriate tools for appraisal of the platform. The consultants will be required to present the proposed methods for the teams at the Ministry of Health to enrich the proposal based on the comments and inputs from the teams.

Approach: The consultants or firm will work in close collaboration with the team at the ministry of health to develop the proposal based on the concept note they would submit during application for the consultancy work. In collaboration with the teams, the consultants will apply the requisite methodology to evaluate the features, usability, and governance of the platform for the intended purposes. Accordingly, the consultants or firm will be required to:

• In consultation with MOH, solicit appropriate methods and tools for the evaluation.
• Present the proposed methods and tools to the team at MOH and incorporate comments.
• Evaluate the usability, acceptability and governance (proposed) of the platform based on the agreed-upon methods and tools.
• Produce a first draft report and submit to the team.
• Present the findings to the team at the ministry and the senior leadership of the Ministry.
• Produce a final report with recommendations regarding the EHDAP implementation.

The consultants will focus on the evaluation of the platform to leverage health information systems to visualize and analyze data to support evidence-based decision-making processes to improve the health system’s performance and implementation approaches that will ensure sustainability, local capacity, and country ownership and leadership.

Timeline: the consultants will have two months with a maximum of 25 working days from the date of signing the contract agreement .This is an urgent assignment that needs to be delivered with a short timeline to inform the decision to implement an effective data analytics platform for the health system.

The Consultants or firm is expected to coordinate and provide regular (weekly and monthly) updates on the progress of the consultancy work.

Required Qualification and skills

• At least MA/MPH degree or Ph.D. in a relevant discipline (Information science, Data Science, Public health, Research, Statistics, Monitoring, and Evaluation, or related field is required).
• At least ten years of experience working on public health information systems.
• Experience in evaluation of data analytics and visualization platforms and their interoperability with other digital systems.
• Knowledge of and experience with the main existing electronic health information systems in use in Ethiopia (DHIS2, e-CHIS, and EMR, and other digital systems.
• Knowledge of and experience with health information systems.

Key Deliverables