Consultants template- Sierra Leone Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Survey Coordinator, Freetown

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1. Area of expertise:

Technical experts in Sierra Leone National Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Survey (TB DRS) 2026-2027.

2. Purpose of consultancy:

The purpose of this full-time national consultancy is to provide dedicated day-to-day coordination, operational management and technical follow-up for the Sierra Leone National Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Survey (TB DRS) 2026-2027. The consultant will support the Ministry of Health, through the National Leprosy and Tuberculosis Control Program (NLTCP) and National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory (NTRL), to implement the approved protocol and standard operating procedures consistently across all survey sites, maintain survey quality and participant protections, and ensure timely completion of enrolment, laboratory, data-management, monitoring, analysis and reporting milestones.

3. Background

Sierra Leone is preparing a cross-sectional, nationally representative, health-facility cluster-based TB drug resistance survey to estimate the prevalence and patterns of resistance to first- and second-line anti-tuberculosis medicines among bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary TB patients. The TB DRS protocol provides for 40 survey clusters nationwide, comprising 19 GeneXpert sites and 21 additional sites selected through probability-proportional-to-size sampling, with an operational target of approximately 1,400 new cases and enrolment of all eligible previously treated cases presenting at participating sites during the intake period.

TB Drug Resistance Survey implementation will involve consecutive patient screening and enrolment, informed consent/assent, barcode-based unique survey identification, collection and cold-chain referral of sputum specimens, testing at the NTRL, referral of selected isolates or DNA to the Supranational Reference Laboratory, data capture and validation, supportive supervision, quality assurance, analysis and dissemination. WHO guidance emphasizes that the person supervising and coordinating day-to-day survey activities should not have concurrent responsibilities outside the survey. A dedicated national coordinator is therefore required to keep the multi-institutional workflow on schedule, maintain traceability and quality, and promptly resolve operational risks.

4. Overall objective

To ensure effective, timely, ethical and quality-assured coordination of the Sierra Leone TB DRS from survey readiness and launch through enrolment, laboratory and data completion, database lock, analysis, report preparation and dissemination.

5. Specific objectives

• Coordinate implementation of the approved TB DRS protocol, implementation SOPs, monitoring plan, quality plan, data management plan and related controlled survey documents.
• Ensure that participating sites, the sample referral system, NTRL, data management unit and collaborating reference laboratory operate as an integrated, traceable survey system.
• Monitor enrolment, specimen movement, laboratory testing, data completeness, result return and linkage to appropriate care against approved targets and timelines.
• Coordinate timely identification, documentation, escalation and closure of protocol deviations, operational bottlenecks, quality incidents and corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
• Support generation of a complete, validated and analysis-ready dataset
• Contribute to preparation, review and dissemination of the final TB DRS report and associated products.
• Strengthen national capacity for drug-resistance surveillance, survey management and transition toward sustainable continuous surveillance.

6. Scope of work and key responsibilities

Survey governance, planning and coordination

• Serve as the central operational focal point for the TB DRS and maintain the integrated implementation workplan, milestone tracker, issue log, risk register and decision log.
• Coordinate routine communication among WCO Sierra Leone, NLTCP, NTRL, the Principal Investigator, the DRS Technical Working Group, district teams, participating facilities, sample referral services, SRL and other authorized partners.
• Prepare agendas, technical updates, action trackers and minutes for coordination and TWG meetings, and follow up assigned actions to closure.
• Ensure use of current, approved and version-controlled protocol, SOPs, forms, tools and training materials at every implementation level.
• Maintain the survey delegation and contact lists, and ensure that role changes, staff turnover and replacement arrangements are documented and addressed.

Readiness, training and site activation

• Coordinate pre-survey readiness assessments at participating health facilities, NTRL, the data management unit and the sample referral system using approved checklists.
• Consolidate readiness gaps, assign corrective actions, track completion and support documented go/no-go decisions before site activation.
• Coordinate initial and refresher training on eligibility, consent/assent, treatment-history classification, USIN/barcoding, data tools, sputum collection, cold chain, packaging, chain of custody, laboratory workflow, confidentiality, biosafety and incident reporting.
• Ensure training attendance, competency assessment, authorization and delegation records are complete before personnel undertake survey duties.
• Coordinate and document any pilot or phased launch and ensure lessons are incorporated before full implementation.

Field implementation and enrolment oversight

• Monitor consecutive screening, eligibility assessment, informed consent/assent and enrolment across all clusters, with routine reconciliation against TB and laboratory registers.
• Track site-specific enrolment against approved targets and expected caseload, identify missed or selective enrolment, and coordinate corrective support.
• Ensure consistent application of case definitions and treatment-history classification, including re-interview and source-record checks where required.
• Coordinate availability and distribution of approved forms, barcode packets, specimen containers, personal protective equipment, packaging materials and other field supplies.
• Provide day-to-day troubleshooting to district and facility focal persons and escalate issues that may affect participant rights, safety, representativeness or data validity.

Specimen referral and laboratory coordination

• Coordinate the specimen referral schedule from participating sites to NTRL and monitor shipment completeness, cold-chain conditions, transport time, chain of custody and receipt reconciliation.
• Work with the NTRL Team Lead to monitor specimen acceptance, accessioning, molecular testing, culture, identification, phenotypic DST, isolate/DNA storage, discordance resolution and shipment to the SRL in accordance with approved procedures.
• Monitor laboratory turnaround times, invalid/indeterminate results, contamination, stock levels, equipment downtime, quality-control results and EQA actions.
• Ensure critical and clinically relevant drug-resistance results are authorized, securely returned to the originating facility, acknowledged, linked to the correct participant and acted upon without avoidable delay.
• Coordinate documentation and follow-up of laboratory exceptions, repeat testing, tie-breaker testing and CAPA.

Data management, monitoring and quality assurance

• Coordinate complete and timely transfer of clinical, enrolment, transport, laboratory, SRL and result-action data into the approved survey database.
• Work with the Data Manager to conduct routine range, consistency, duplicate, missingness and cross-system reconciliation checks and ensure all queries have documented resolution.
• Produce and review weekly, biweekly and monthly survey quality and progress dashboards, disaggregated by site and patient treatment history where applicable.
• Coordinate remote monitoring and on-site supportive supervision according to the approved monitoring plan, with risk-based additional visits to underperforming sites.
• Maintain incident, deviation and CAPA logs and ensure serious ethical, confidentiality, biosafety or data-integrity concerns are escalated to the Principal Investigator, WCO Sierra Leone and relevant oversight bodies.
• Protect confidentiality by ensuring that identifiers are restricted to authorized linkage records and that survey data and specimens are handled according to approved access controls.

Analysis, reporting, dissemination and close-out

• Coordinate preparation of the participant flow diagram, site enrolment tables, missing-data summaries, quality indicators and laboratory concordance outputs required for analysis.
• Support the epidemiologist/statistician and Data Manager to finalize the clean analytical dataset, sampling documentation, data dictionary, query log and database-lock package.
• Contribute to interpretation of findings, preparation of the draft and final survey reports, technical briefs, presentations and dissemination materials.
• Coordinate technical review of outputs by NLTCP, NTRL, WCO Sierra Leone, the TWG, SRL and other authorized reviewers and maintain a response-to-comments tracker.
• Coordinate survey close-out, including participant and specimen accountability, late-result follow-up, document and supply reconciliation, archiving and lessons learned.
• Prepare a practical transition plan for sustaining strengthened TB drug-resistance surveillance functions after the survey.

7. Deliverables and indicative schedule

The consultant will submit concise, evidence-based deliverables to the WHO supervisor. The schedule will be aligned to the confirmed contract start date and the approved survey workplan. Months 7 and 8 apply only if the consultancy is extended beyond the initial six months.

Month 1: Key Deliverables:

Inception report; validated implementation workplan and milestone tracker; updated governance/contact/delegation arrangements; consolidated readiness and risk assessment; site activation and training plan.

Acceptence Evidence: Approved inception package; action tracker; readiness dashboard; meeting records.

MONTH 2: Key Deliverables:

Survey launch/implementation coordination report; training and competency completion summary; site activation status; initial enrolment, specimen referral, laboratory and data-quality dashboard.

Acceptence Evidence: Verified training/activation records; first monthly dashboard; documented closure/escalation of start-up issues.

MONTH 3: Key Deliverables:

Field and laboratory performance report; enrolment and sample-flow analysis by cluster; monitoring visit reports; updated risk, incident and CAPA logs; supply and equipment status.

Acceptence Evidence: Monthly report accepted; monitoring evidence; CAPA owners and due dates assigned.

MONTH 4: Key Deliverables:

Mid-implementation review package; consolidated quality and progress indicators; laboratory TAT and result-return analysis; data reconciliation report; corrective implementation plan.

Acceptence Evidence: Midterm presentation/report; endorsed corrective plan; updated milestone tracker.

MONTH 5: Key Deliverables:

Implementation completion/acceleration report; cluster target and missed-enrolment review; specimen and testing backlog plan; data-query closure dashboard; SRL shipment/reconciliation status.

Acceptence Evidence: Documented backlog reduction plan; current specimen/data accountability; monthly report accepted.

MONTH 6: Key Deliverables:

End-of-initial-contract report; comprehensive implementation status; preliminary close-out and database-lock plan; draft participant flow and analytical tables; handover package or extension workplan.

Acceptence Evidence: Accepted six-month report; validated handover/extension plan; documented outstanding actions.

8. Performance monitoring and acceptance criteria

• Deliverables are submitted in the agreed format and are technically accurate, complete, traceable to source records and suitable for decision-making.
• Survey milestones and action items are actively tracked, with delays and risks escalated early and accompanied by feasible mitigation measures.
• Quality and progress reports cover enrolment, data completeness, sample transport, laboratory processing, test outcomes, result return, deviations and CAPA.
• All recommendations respect the approved protocol, ethics requirements, confidentiality safeguards, biosafety procedures and WHO technical guidance.
• Documents use controlled versions, consistent identifiers and clear audit trails. No unsupported alteration of source data or laboratory results is permitted.
• Performance will be reviewed by the WHO supervisor in consultation with designated NLTCP/NTRL counterparts and the DRS governance structures.

9. Reporting and working arrangements

• The consultant will be based full-time at WCO Sierra Leone and will work closely with NLTCP and NTRL. Regular physical presence at implementation sites may be required.
• The consultant will report technically and administratively to the WHO supervisor designated in the contract. Day-to-day coordination will be undertaken in close collaboration with the NLTCP Program Manager, Principal Investigator, NTRL Team Lead and DRS TWG.
• The consultant will provide brief weekly implementation updates, a structured monthly report, immediate alerts for critical incidents, and presentations for scheduled governance meetings.
• All official communication, data access, document sharing and external engagement must follow WHO and national authorization pathways.
• The consultant will not independently release survey findings or participant-level information and will not represent WHO or the Government beyond the authority explicitly provided in the contract.

10. Required qualifications and experience

Education

• Essential: Advanced university degree in medicine, public health, epidemiology, microbiology, laboratory sciences, biostatistics, health program management or another field directly relevant to tuberculosis surveillance and survey implementation.
• Desirable: Additional postgraduate training in epidemiology, implementation research, project management, monitoring and evaluation, data management, laboratory quality management or tuberculosis control.

Experience

• At least seven years of progressively responsible professional experience in public health program implementation, disease surveillance, operational research or survey coordination, including substantial experience in tuberculosis.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating a national or multi-site health survey, research study, surveillance activity or similarly complex public-health project.
• Experience working with a national TB program, reference laboratory, district health teams and health facilities in Sierra Leone or a comparable setting.
• Practical experience in at least three of the following areas: field enrolment and monitoring; specimen referral; TB laboratory workflows and quality assurance; data management and validation; ethics and consent; risk/incident/CAPA management; analysis and technical report writing.
• Experience facilitating multidisciplinary technical working groups, training, supportive supervision and stakeholder review processes.

11. Travel, logistics and duty of care

• Field travel will be undertaken only when authorized and in line with WHO security, travel and duty-of-care requirements.

12. Remuneration and budget (travel costs are excluded):

The duration of this consultancy is for 6 Months. Remuneration will be at applicable fees as per the World Health Organization scale of Consultant at NOC.