KPTA DAP Expansion - Senior STTA Team Lead/Health System and Planning Expert

Senior National - Team Lead/Health System and Planning Expert

E4H KP TA: Scaling Up the Development of District Action Plans for All NHSP Priority Districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Four Ongoing + Six Additional)

Programme Overview

Evidence for Health (E4H) is a Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)-funded programme aimed at strengthening Pakistan's healthcare system, thereby decreasing the burden of illness and saving lives. E4H provides technical assistance (TA) to the Federal, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Punjab governments, and is being implemented by Palladium along with Oxford Policy Management (OPM).

Through its flexible, embedded, and demand-driven model, E4H supports the government to achieve a resilient health system that is prepared for health emergencies, responsive to the latest evidence, and delivers equitable, quality, and efficient healthcare services. Specifically, E4H delivers TA across three outputs:

Output 1: Strengthened integrated health security, with a focus on preparing and responding to health emergencies, including pandemics.

Output 2: Strengthened evidence-based decision-making to drive health sector performance and accountability.

Output 3: Improved implementation of Universal Health Coverage, with a focus on ending preventable deaths.

Position Summary

The goal is to develop evidence-based, cost-effective, and implementable DAPs for NHSP priority districts in KP to access financing, thereby strengthening local health systems and improving service delivery.

Specifically, to:

• Consolidate progress made in the first four NHSP priority districts and extend support to six additional districts.
• Ensure that lessons learned and tools piloted in the initial four districts inform the planning process in the new districts.
• Translate provincial health priorities (KP Health Policy, EPHS, NHSP) into district-level interventions.
• Under the leadership of Health Department, KP, facilitate a collaborative planning process with District Health Offices (DHOs) and key stakeholders to define strategic priorities and interventions.
• Develop comprehensive DAPs for the prioritised four districts (in each division), with clear objectives, activities, timelines, responsibilities, and a detailed budget.
• Strengthen the capacity of district health teams in strategic planning, budgeting, and monitoring & evaluation.
• Establish a robust monitoring framework for each DAP to track progress and ensure accountability.

Strategic Approach

Contributions to health systems strengthening:

This initiative is fundamentally an investment in the governance pillar of the health system. By building the capacity of District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) in evidence-based, participatory, and costed planning, we directly address a critical system bottleneck. The DAPs will serve as a foundational tool for accessing funds, improving accountability, optimising scarce resources, and ensuring that health investments are targeted towards the most pressing local needs, thereby enhancing the efficiency, equity, and resilience of health service delivery at the district level. Since the initiative will build on the ongoing TA in four NHSP-priority districts, the lessons learned, tools, and approaches will be adapted and applied in the additional six (06) districts, ensuring consistency, scalability, and improved effectiveness across all ten (10) districts.

Alignment with other E4H TAs/Investments/National Standards:

The development of DAPs will be aligned with the NHSP, KP Health Sector Policy, and the EPHS. The situational analysis and subsequent interventions will be framed around achieving EPHS standards, ensuring a focus on equitable access to essential, quality healthcare.

Alignment with other donors (if relevant):

No direct financing anticipated; the development partners will be consulted during the DAP development. However, DLIs of WB-supported NHSP will be aligned.

Scope of Work and Methodology

A team of consultants will be responsible for developing District Action Plans (DAPs) for each of the four designated NHSP priority districts. A new team of consultants will be responsible for developing comprehensive, costed, and actionable DAPs for four additional NHSP-prioritised districts in KP. This intervention will build on the ongoing TA in four districts, aligned with the KP Health Department’s priorities and the objectives of the NHSP.

The technical approach will include:

Desk Review

• Review relevant national and provincial health policies, EPHS, KP health sector strategies, DHIS2 data, LMIS, HRH records, and budgetary frameworks. Compile baseline information on demographics, health status, infrastructure, and service delivery indicators for prioritised districts.

District Health Profile Development

• Prepare a profile for each priority district and use standardised templates to ensure comparability across districts.

Stakeholder Consultations

• Activate DHMT in selected districts under the guidance of the health department, KP, and engage departmental focal points, programme managers, development partners, and community representatives to validate findings, identify priority challenges, and build consensus on focus areas for the DAP.

Participatory Planning Workshops

• Facilitate three-day district workshops applying the planning cycle methodology.
• Use guiding tools for structured situation analysis, prioritisation, and intervention mapping.
• Develop consensus on priority interventions, outputs, and performance indicators.

Drafting of District Action Plans

• Consolidate findings and workshop outputs into draft DAPs.
• Align interventions with NHSP outputs, EPHS standards, and expected financing envelopes.

Validation and Finalization

• Present draft DAPs to provincial and district stakeholders for feedback.
  • Incorporate comments and finalise costed DAP with clear timelines, accountability frameworks, and monitoring mechanisms.

Throughout the process, focal points nominated by the Director General Health Services (DGHS), Health Sector Reform Unit (HSRU), along with relevant staff of the DHOs, will be actively engaged. This will ensure both capacity development in DAP preparation and the institutionalisation of participatory planning within district health systems.

Sustainability: Capacity Building, Institutionalisation, and/or Transition Planning

Capacity Building: DHMTs will be capacitated through on-the-job mentoring, training workshops, and provision of standard planning tools/templates. Technical skills for evidence-based planning, costing, monitoring, and reporting will be transferred to DHMTs to ensure they can independently update and implement DAPs on an annual basis.

Institutionalisation: The DAP development process will be institutionalised within the district planning cycles, ensuring that district action planning becomes a routine function of the Department of Health. The experience will be replicated in the remaining six (06) NHSP districts.

Transition Planning: Periodic reviews of DAP implementation, refresher training, and knowledge-sharing workshops will ensure continuity and institutional memory.

Responsibilities

The Health Systems & Planning Expert will work to achieve the following:

Timeline and Days

The level of effort (LOE) for the role is 50 days from January 2026- May 2026..

Requirement

Technical Expertise

• Postgraduate degree in Public Health, Health Policy, 15+ years in health systems research/planning.
• Must have proven expertise in UHC, health financing, and an understanding of IHR/health security.

Competencies

• Planning and delivering work
• Analysis and use of information
• Decision making
• Influencing