Terms of Reference: Eye Health Integration Consultant

The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) invites applications from individual consultants to provide part-time technical support and coordination for an 18-month eye health integration pilot in Adamawa State, Nigeria.

Contract Type: Individual consultancy, part-time.

Duration: 18 months from the agreed commencement date.

Location: Nigeria, preferably Adamawa State.

Contract Manager: FHF Africa Cluster Director.

Key Working Relationships: ThinkMD, Adamawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ADSPHCDA), FHF technical and monitoring teams, eye health stakeholders and participating PHC facilities.

1. Background and Context

The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) has partnered with ThinkMD and the Adamawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ADSPHCDA) of Nigeria to develop and test an eye health module into ThinkMD's Clinical Intelligence platform through an 18-month pilot. FHF is the specialist eye health partner in the pilot providing clinical direction on the module, co-design, ongoing technical assistance throughout implementation, monitoring and evaluation support, and strategic input into possible scale-up. ThinkMD leads platform development and functionality while ADSPHCDA leads government implementation.

Beyond testing a digital eye health module, the pilot presents an important opportunity to generate practical evidence on how eye health can be integrated into routine primary healthcare.

2. Purpose of the Consultancy

The consultant will provide ongoing coordination, technical and implementation support for FHF’s contribution to the ThinkMD Nigeria pilot, ensuring that the Foundation’s eye health priorities and technical requirements are incorporated throughout its design and delivery. This will include supporting alignment with relevant WHO eye care guidance, Nigerian national guidelines and the local primary healthcare context.

Working closely with ThinkMD, Adamawa State PHCDA and FHF technical teams, the consultant will support effective implementation, systematic documentation and the generation of practical evidence and learning to inform sustainable integration of eye health into primary healthcare and future scale-up.

3. Objectives and Scope of Services

3.1 Pilot Implementation and Coordination:

•Support the overall coordination and implementation of FHF's role in the pilot.

•Coordinate FHF inputs into pilot planning, implementation and review processes.

•Establish regular coordination with partner focal persons; maintain action and decision records; track progress against agreed plans and escalate delays and unresolved decisions to the contract manager.

• Identify implementation delays, bottlenecks and emerging issues and escalate to the FHF Contract Manager

• Support regular pilot coordination and review meetings.

• Develop an inception plan outlining the consultant's approach, key activities, deliverables, stakeholder engagement arrangements, milestones and reporting schedule.

• Maintain an updated implementation tracker covering FHF commitments, technical inputs, outstanding actions, dependencies and agreed timelines.

3.2 Eye Health Technical Implementation Support:

• Coordinate FHF technical inputs into the development and refinement of the eye health module.

• Check consistency with agreed national protocols and worker competencies.

• Support implementation-focused user testing using agreed scenarios and frontline worker feedback.

• Document lessons on how eye health referral pathways can be integrated into routine primary healthcare.

• Monitor referral bottlenecks in an agreed sample of participating PHC and document gaps.

3.3 Technical Review and Quality Assurance:

• Undertake structured technical reviews of the eye health module, clinical content, workflows, user-testing findings and proposed revisions, documenting recommendations and tracking their resolution.

• Coordinate relevant FHF specialist reviews where additional clinical or subspecialty expertise is required.

• Maintain a technical issues and recommendations log to document identified gaps, proposed actions and their resolution.

3.4 Monitoring Evaluation and Learning:

• Undertake targeted field visits and follow-up under an agreed sampling and supervision plan.

• Track agreed pilot indicators.

• Support data-quality checks and analysis.

• Coordinate sample clinical case reviews with qualified eye care professionals, recording corrective actions and their closure.

• Identify and document the implementation, workforce, health-system and referral requirements for scale-up, including practical barriers to adoption and lessons for future implementation.

• Support development of scale-up recommendations and contribute to discussions with ThinkMD and other stakeholders on future integration of eye health.

• Prepare and submit quarterly progress reports to FHF.

3.5 Learning and Sustainability:

• Gather structured feedback on usability, workload and service integration.

• Contribute to mid-pilot and final reviews and any separately commissioned evaluation.

• Develop practical continuation and scale-up options with partners, identifying conditions, costs where available, evidence gaps and responsible actors.

• Support FHF’s assessment of relevance to other settings.

3.5 Risk and Information Management:

• Maintain a risk register covering clinical safety, adoption, referral capacity, stakeholder alignment, safeguarding, and data protection; track mitigation actions and escalate concerns promptly.

• Identifying operational, technical, stakeholder, safeguarding and implementation risks.

• Supporting development of mitigation measures and monitoring agreed mitigation actions.

3.6 Expected Deliverables:

• Inception report, detailed workplan and stakeholder engagement plan (Month 1).

• Technical review and recommendations on the eye health module (Initial development phase and subsequent revisions).

• Implementation monitoring and field visit reports (Following agreed field visits).

• Technical issues, recommendations and action tracker (Maintained throughout).

• Quarterly progress reports (Every three months).

• Clinical case-review summaries and follow-up actions (Periodically, as agreed).

• Mid-pilot implementation and learning report (Month 9).

• Final implementation, learning and scale-up recommendations report (Month 18).

4. Authority and Professional Boundaries

The consultant coordinates FHF’s contribution and accesses FHF specialist support. ThinkMD retains responsibility for software development, release and platform performance; ADSPHCDA and service providers retain responsibility for government operations and clinical service delivery. The consultant does not independently authorise clinical algorithms, commit FHF funds, sign agreements or make public commitments on FHF’s behalf. Access to facilities, staff and data will be coordinated through ADSPHCDA and ThinkMD and remains subject to authorisation.

5. Consultant Qualifications and Experience

FHF seeks an individual with strong eye health and PHC implementation experience who can coordinate specialist inputs, work effectively with government and translate pilot findings into practical improvements. Software development expertise is not required.

Essential Requirements:

• A recognised qualification in ophthalmology, optometry, ophthalmic nursing, public health, health systems or a related discipline, supported by demonstrable experience in eye health service delivery or programme implementation. A non-clinical qualification must be complemented by substantial eye health implementation experience and effective coordination of clinical expertise.

• At least 10 years of relevant professional experience, including at least three years supporting eye health programmes, PHC integration or closely related referral and service-strengthening work.

• Demonstrated experience working with Nigerian government health structures and frontline facilities, including practical understanding of PHC service delivery, health worker cadres and referral constraints.

• Experience coordinating multi-partner implementation, developing workplans, tracking risks and actions, and producing clear reports with limited day-to-day supervision.

• Ability to interpret eye care guidance and clinical workflows, recognise issues requiring specialist review, and support safe implementation within professional and organisational boundaries.

• Competence in routine monitoring, basic quantitative analysis, data-quality review and qualitative feedback, with the ability to turn findings into recommendations.

• Based in Nigeria, available for the agreed part-time commitment.

Desirable Requirements:

• Experience with digital health, clinical decision support, user testing or technology-enabled service integration, including collaboration with technical product teams.

• Experience in Adamawa State or comparable settings in northern Nigeria; Hausa and/or other languages relevant to participating communities.

• Experience assessing referral completion, implementation costs, sustainability or scale-up; familiarity with relevant WHO primary eye care and vision-screening resources.

6. Level of Effort

The engagement is part-time over 18 months. For proposal costing, use an indicative allocation of 10 working days per month, up to 180 days in total. Work may combine remote coordination with in-person meetings and targeted facility visits in Adamawa State. Applicants should state their proposed base and travel approach. Field activity is subject to security review, agreed travel arrangements.

7. Consultancy and Commercial Arrangement

This is a consultancy for defined services and deliverables. Fees, approved level of effort, invoicing, termination provisions and other conditions will be set out in the consultancy agreement. No employment benefits are included.

Applicants should submit a daily professional fee, currency, and total professional fees. Show applicable taxes separately and provide a separate estimate of travel, accommodation, and other expenses, stating assumptions. Identify any costs expected to be arranged or paid directly by FHF. The final expense and tax treatment will be

confirmed through contracting.

How to apply

Application Requirements:

Submit the following with the subject line “Eye Health Integration Consultant – ThinkMD Nigeria Pilot” to this receiving email address: procurementkenya@hollows.org. by 25th November 2026.

• A cover letter explaining suitability against the essential criteria and relevant experience in Nigeria, eye health, PHC, digital health and partnership coordination.

• A current CV, professional qualifications and applicable registration details, plus contact details for three professional referees.

• A technical proposal of up to five pages outlining approach, indicative workplan/day allocation, key risks and assumptions, financial proposal as described in Section 6 and 7, earliest availability, proposed base, ability to travel and disclosure of competing commitments or conflicts.

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