Individual consultancy services (national) on mobile app development for clinical protocols in obstetrics and family planning for health providers

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Hiring Office:

UNFPA Turkmenistan CO

Title:

Individual consultancy services (national) on mobile app development for clinical protocols on obstetrics for health providers and family planning.

Purpose of consultancy:

To develop a mobile app for updated clinical protocols in obstetrics and gynecology, family planning available in offline mode at the android mobile phones

Justifications:

The quality and timely maternal health services are crucial for further reducing maternal mortality especially in the regions. UNFPA has published the clinical protocols and the Ministry of Health’s orders in the area of RH and distributed them to about 75% of the staff who need them in their work.

However, during the monitoring trips conducted in June-July 2022 it was noted that up to 30% of staff employed have no those protocols in printed versions for different reasons such as loss or were not given the staff etc. In addition, there were up to 15% of turnover rate by young specialists’ newcomers who need these protocols most. Majority of all obstetricians up to 90% have the mobile phones based on Android system. Taking this into account, it is reasonable to upload the digital versions in ready to read format with easy to find option on mobile phones of obstetricians to make them available wherever they are 24/7. Mobile app introduced will allow also having the digital database of all obstetricians in the country with registering those who and how often read the protocols. There also be an option of knowledge assessment at the end of the protocol which will allow to keep track of the obstetricians’ knowledge. Access to the Ministry’s orders and clinical protocols to be limited to only those obstetricians who registered in the system. Having digital versions of the publications would be green solution for making protocols available everywhere with doctors. This also would shorten the time needed for making decision and adequate intervention in emergency obstetric situation which eventually will contribute to saving lives and having better health outcomes for mothers and women.

This initiative will be implemented in joint cooperation between UNFPA and UNDP Turkmenistan on development of digital solutions on making medical protocols available for TB doctors and obstetricians in Turkmenistan.

Scope of work:

IT specialist will be working with UNFPA RH NPO and national specialists to transfer the files from PDF version to Word and then further developing the mobile app for uploading the files. IT specialist will advise in advance to RH NPO on any challenges to be arisen and on steps/phases of project implementation as per the following stages:

1. Structure and Design
2. Integrating with back-end and storing data

3. Maintenance & Testing

The national specialist will also advise on the UNFPA role and contribution in communication with national authorities in the National Communications Agency.

Duration and working schedule:

Duration of this consultancy is from January 27 2023 June 17^th 2023 including operational closure of the contract.

1. Structure and Design (15 working days)
   • Planning the structure/outline (3 days)
   • Interface Design (5 days)
   • Implementation the UI design (7 days)
2. Integrating with back-end and storing data (35 working days)

mobile application developer will work with back-end developer hired by UNDP.

2. • Registration, Authentication & Authorization (5 days)
   • Getting data and store to local storage (5 days)
   • Implement the readable articles (10 days)
   • Development of quizzes for related articles (10 days)
   • Set up the push notifications and reminders (5 days)
3. Maintenance & Testing (25 working days)
   • Testing, elimination of errors (8 days)
   • Maintenance support (10 days)
   • Build and release an Android app (2 days)
   • Train relevant staff to use the application (5 days)
4. Reporting/presentation phase (4 working days)

To present to the MoH and audience of professionals in Ashgabat and welayats (online)

Total number of days: 79 working days

Place where services are to be delivered:

The consultancy services will need to be delivered in a home-based mode online. The communication will be arranged using online applications.

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered:

The tasks will be delivered as per the following schedule: Deliverable 1: by May 17^th 2023

• Development of structure and Design
  • Registration, Authentication & Authorization
  • Getting data and store to local storage
  • Implement the readable articles

Deliverable 2: by June 17^th 2023

• • Digital adaptation of quizzes for related articles
  • Set up the push notifications and reminders
• Completion of maintaining and testing phase
• Submission of a final report.

Completing of deliveries to be confirmed by satisfaction of obstetricians in the field and concluding opinion of the Ministry of Health and UNFPA based on testing results on functioning application.

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

The UNFPA NPO, Reproductive Health, and an authorised focal point of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan will monitor the national consultant’s work through reviewing submitted materials. The consultant will provide an update on a weekly basis on progress, challenges encountered, and support requirements.

Ethical Considerations

UNFPA requires its consultants to adhere to ethical principles and standards when doing research. The selected consultant should clearly identify any potential ethical issues and approaches, as well as the processes for ethical review in the inception report.

National Ownership

The involvement of appropriate national partners will be a critical condition for the development of the protocols in ensuring stakeholder ownership of the mission and its subsequent use in decision-making.

Supervisory arrangements:

The national consultant will directly report and work under the overall guidance of the UNFPA NPO on reproductive health, along with the overall guidance from the UNFPA Head of Office.

Expected travel:

No travel is expected under this consultancy.

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a similar field.
• At least 2 years of experience developing mobile applications for Android, with proven projects shipping high quality software to customers.
• Experience with Flutter/Dart is preferred.
• Knowledge of web technologies and networking protocols, interacting with device APIs using HTTP or Web sockets.

• Experience in client communication to clarify requirements, take feedback and improve the codebase for future upgrades
• Teamwork experience. Ability to work well with product managers, fellow team members, and other teams

The following knowledge is an advantage.

• Knowledge of OOPs concepts and their implementations in Dart.
• Familiarity using version control tools like Git. Using Flutter DevTools to profile and optimize the app

Inputs/services to be provided by UNFPA or

implementing partner, if applicable:

UNFPA will provide the consultant with all the necessary materials, data, information and available reports. UNFPA Country Office will put together a list of core sources and readings before the start of the consultancy.

Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:

The consultancy fee will be calculated based on the NO/A level of the UN Salary Scale for National Officer category effective 1 November 2020. The fee will be paid in two instalments upon quality provision of deliverables as follows: