OPEN CALL: National and Sub-National Actors for NGO ADVISORY GROUP

The new USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) funded ‘Humanitarian Mortality Estimation and Surveillance Initiative’ is seeking national and sub-national humanitarian health Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)[1] interested in serving as members of the global NGO Advisory Group (NAG) led by Save the Children.

This “Open Call’ provides information about the NGO advisory group, the organizational profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.

Background

Accurate mortality estimation in humanitarian contexts is crucial for assessing the scale of a crisis, guiding resource allocation, and informing timely interventions to save lives and reduce suffering. The Humanitarian Mortality Estimation and Surveillance Initiative is a renewed global effort aimed at operationalizing mortality estimation and surveillance in humanitarian settings. The initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of public health actors in estimating mortality, including through prospective surveillance, to better inform and enhance health programming in humanitarian settings.

In August 2024, Save the Children became the institutional home for the initiative, a key decision to drive the vision forward. As the NGO home, Save the Children will champion the initiative, ensuring its activities, direction, and products are fit for purpose while promoting collaboration within the humanitarian public health community. Save the Children will bring together technical and operational stakeholders under a unified governance structure to develop and pilot a global toolkit for mortality estimation and surveillance. The initiative will also facilitate complementary activities focused on capacity building, raising awareness, and providing real-time support to humanitarian public health actors and their programs.

NGO Advisory Group

The NAG plays a critical role in ensuring the initiative’s direction and outputs are aligned with its objectives. Members of the NAG are responsible for providing timely feedback on initiative outputs, validating their relevance, and ensuring the feasibility and usability of any tools and guidelines. As the intended users of the initiative’s capacity-strengthening activities and future global support unit, the organizations represented within the NAG may also be involved in user testing of tools and piloting training packages. Ultimately, they will form a community of practice to support ongoing collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Why Apply?

• Make a Meaningful Impact: This is your chance to leverage your strategic and technical expertise to shape and strengthen mortality estimation and surveillance methods, ensuring NGOs and CSOs are effectively measure the effectiveness of their humanitarian health programming.
• Collaborate with Experts: Engage with leading academics, subject matter experts, donors, and operational health professionals actively working in humanitarian settings.
• Shape the Future: Be part of an initiative that will provide capacity strengthening opportunities in mortality estimation and surveillance for your organization—steering future training opportunities and global technical support to advance your impact in humanitarian health.

Membership

• Membership will be determined based on technical expertise and operational experience in humanitarian health programming, as well as the candidate’s commitment and willingness to dedicate the necessary time and effort.
• NAG members will participate in a professional capacity, representing their organizations at both global and national levels.
• The NAG membership will strive to be representative of organizations from global, national, and sub-national levels, encompassing a diverse range of regions, countries, and humanitarian contexts.

Skills and Experience

We are looking for individuals with two of more of the following skills or experience:

• Operational and Technical Expertise: Demonstrated experience in public health and/or health programming, response, and preparedness in humanitarian settings.
• Field Epidemiology: Hands-on experience in field epidemiology within humanitarian contexts, focusing on health assessments and surveillance in emergencies.
• Monitoring & Evaluation: Experience in monitoring and evaluating public health and health programs, with a strong background in data collection, analysis, and the use of systems such as Health Management Information Systems (HMIS), surveillance frameworks, and survey design.
• Coordination and Assessment: Familiarity and/or membership with key multi-partner coordination and assessment mechanisms, such as health or nutrition clusters, in a humanitarian response setting.
• Mortality Estimation & Surveillance: Direct experience in mortality estimation and surveillance activities, working with NGOs, CSOs, UN agencies, national governments, or public health institutes.

[1] IASC Definition 1.1 National NGOs/civil society organizations (CSOs): National NGOs/CSOs operating in the aid recipient country in which they are headquartered, working in multiple subnational regions, and not affiliated to an international NGO. This category can also include national faith-based organizations.

1.2 Local NGOs/CSOs: Local NGOs/CSOs operating in a specific, geographically defined, subnational area of an aid recipient country, without affiliation to an international NGO/CSO. This category can also include community-based organizations and local faith-based organizations.