Consultants to Develop Screening Guidelines and Conduct Training on Vision Screening for Community Collaborators

JOB TITLE                                                                                              

Consultants to develop screening guidelines and conduct training on vision screening for community collaborators.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Helen Keller International (HKI) is an international non-governmental organization. Its mission is to save the sight and lives of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged by combating the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition. We do this by establishing programs grounded in evidence-based research in eye health and nutrition.

Presbyopia (farsightedness) is a significant cause of avoidable visual impairment, blindness and disability, particularly among older adults. Vision impairment due to uncorrected presbyopia affects over one billion people worldwide, 98% of whom live in less developed countries. Poor access to eyeglasses and lack of health care professionals to perform eye examinations exacerbate to this issue.

With the generous support from Grand Challenges Canada, HKI implement the program called “Establishing Vision Entrepreneurs through Community Based Eye Care System in Rural Communities of Hanoi, Vietnam”.

Objectives of program:

1.To develop a replicable service delivery model that improves assess for correction of presbyopia in underserved communities. 
2.Reduce the number of people with uncorrected presbyopia by screening, refracting and providing qualified eyeglasses; thereby contributing to improvement in their quality of life.
3.Improve the knowledge of adults and community members about the importance of maintaining good vision;
4.Improve the capacity of private optic shops in Quoc Oai to provide high quality eyeglasses for those who have refractive errors.

In this project, HKI and the project partners will train and monitor local optic shop technicians to ensure high quality services and will train local villagers as project collaborators to visit household to give simple eye health messages, do basic visual acuity screening, and refer those needing additional services in their catchment area.

The program will be conducted from September 2014 to August 2015. To prepare for implementing, HKI office in Vietnam seeks to recruit highly qualified consultants to revise the project near vision screening chart, training guidelines and conduct one day for collaborators who will be screening and provide counseling to the communities to increase their awareness on presbyopia.

OVERALL GOAL OF THE CONSULTANCY

The objective of this assignment is to revise HKI’s screening tool (near vision screening chart) and training guideline for conducting the visual acuity screening.

SCOPE OF WORK AND SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

The consultant, with the assistances and input of HKI VN eye health program team, will be responsible for following activities:

• To revise HKI’s near vision chart to tailor with the Vietnam rural context.
• To develop screening guideline for village health collaborators to do vision screening in the communities 
• To provide one day training to collaborators on vision screening for older adults.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology will be defined by consultants, taking into account budget and time constraints.

DELIVERABLES

The selected consultant will provide the following deliverables after getting the confirmation from HKI in Vietnam: 

• A detailed work plan
• One toolkit for village health workers to conduct vision screening including: near vision screening chart and screening guideline (in Vietnamese). (Copyrights for these documents and materials, contents, output will be fully reserved by HKI VN).
• Report with recommendations to improve the program.

TIMEFRAME:

The detailed time frame will be agreed, however it is expected that the activities take place during October 2014 over a period up to 4 working days.

REQUIREMENTS:

Academic qualification and required experience of the consultant are as follows:

• Vietnamese citizen;
• A master degree or equivalent in Ophthalmology. Further education or a concentration in optometry is required;
• A combination of minimum 10 years of recognized expertise in ophthalmology, blindness prevention, especially in Refractive Errors;

BUDGET

The fee for consultant will be negotiated and applied following HKI Vietnam regulations.

The consultant or consultancy companies who are interested in taking these consultancy works please submit:

(i) A letter of interest;
(ii) CV
(iii) Work plan  and financial Proposal;
(iv) Supporting documents (if any)

To:

Helen Keller International Vietnam
Room 103, B5 building, Van Phuc Diplomatic Compound,
298 Kim Ma, Hanoi, Vietnam

Email: [email protected]; [email protected] and Cc: [email protected]

The deadline for submitting the application will be on 10 October 2014.

Only short-listed consultants will be contacted.