Senior National - Policy and Planning Advisor

KP TA - Support Institutional Capacity to Collect and Analyze Climate Health Vulnerability Data

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 overall goal of this TA is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the DOH KP to systematically collect, analyse, and use climate–health vulnerability data including IDSRS, DHIS2, and meteorological data to support climate-resilient health systems and effective implementation of KP CHAP priorities.

We will achieve this by pursuing three objectives:

Objective 1: Strengthen DOH systems and processes to capture climate-sensitive diseases through IDSRS and DHIS2, and to integrate meteorological and environmental data for climate risk monitoring and early warning.

Objective 2: Build analytical capacity within DOH to generate climate–health analytics, including trend analysis, seasonal and temperature-linked disease patterns, vulnerability profiling, and early warning products to inform preparedness and anticipatory action.

Objective 3: Institutionalise the use of climate–health evidence in planning, preparedness, service delivery continuity, supply chain resilience, workforce surge planning, and CHAP implementation at provincial and district levels.

Strategic Approach

Contributions to health systems strengthening

This technical assistance addresses a core health system bottleneck: weak analytical use of routinely collected health and climate data. By strengthening IDSRS, DHIS2 analytics, and institutional decision-making processes, the technical assistance embeds climate risk and resilience considerations into routine health system functions, including surveillance, preparedness, service delivery planning, and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) reforms. The approach shifts the system from reactive outbreak response to anticipatory, data-driven preparedness and resilience planning. This shifts the system from reactive, siloed responses toward anticipatory, data-driven planning, improving efficiency, targeting of scarce resources, and resilience of service delivery in the face of growing climate and disease pressures.

Alignment with other E4H TAs/investments

This tehncial assistance builds directly on E4H’s support to the development of the KP CHAP and provides the institutional and analytical foundation required for its implementation. It dovetails with E4H’s ongoing support to District Action Plans (DAPs) under the National Health Support Programme (NHSP), including roll-out, periodic reviews, and strengthening of district-level M&E functions in priority districts. By strengthening climate–health data use and decision-making at provincial and district levels, the technical assistance complements E4H’s support to DHO restructuring and roll-out of the Essential Package of Health Services (EPHS), ensuring these reforms are informed by climate risk and vulnerability evidence.

Alignment with other donors

The TA will be coordinated with relevant donor-supported initiatives (e.g., World Bank, ADB, UNICEF, GIZ) focused on health information systems, disease surveillance, emergency preparedness, and climate resilience to maximise coherence and leverage existing investments.

Scope of Work and Methodology

This technical assistance will provide targeted, phased technical assistance to strengthen the DOH KP’s institutional capacity to routinely collect, analyse, and use climate–health vulnerability data, and to operationalise priority adaptations under the KP CHAP. The approach focuses on embedding climate-informed evidence use within existing health system processes, rather than creating parallel systems.

Phase 1: Diagnostic and Design (Months 1–2)

• Review IDSRS, DHIS2, EWS, meteorological data linkages, and existing analytics related to climate-sensitive diseases.
• Assess climate-sensitive disease coverage, data quality, timeliness, and analytical use.
• Map institutional roles, data flows, decision points, and preparedness triggers.
• Prioritise a core set of climate–health indicators, disease thresholds, and analytical products aligned with CHAP priorities.

Phase 2: Systems Strengthening and Capacity Building (Months 3–6)

• Support integration of priority climate and vulnerability variables into DHIS2 and/or linked analytical platforms, ensuring alignment with existing data governance arrangements.
• Ensure systematic capture of climate-sensitive diseases.
• Enable linkage with meteorological variables (e.g. temperature, rainfall).
• Develop practical analytical products, including, climate–disease trend and seasonal analysis, heat-health and flood-related risk dashboards.
• Strengthening analytical capacity through hands-on training and mentoring focused on interpretation, not just reporting.

Phase 3: Operationalisation of CHAP Priorities (Months 6–8)

• Apply analytics to real decision processes, including, preparedness and contingency planning, workforce surge and duty reallocation, and supply chain pre-positioning.
• Develop SOPs, guidance notes, and planning checklists linking analytics to action.

Phase 4: Consolidation and Transition (Months 8–9)

• Document lessons learned and good practices to inform future CHAP iterations and potential scale-up.
• Support transition of tools, responsibilities, and analytical functions to designated DOH units, including the Climate Health Unit, to ensure sustainability beyond the technical assistance period.

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

• Capacity will be built through hands-on training, mentoring, and on-the-job support to provincial and district DoH teams, focused on practical analysis and use of climate–health data for planning and reviews. As outlined in the methodology (Phases 2 and 3), capacity building is embedded within routine workflows to ensure skills are applied immediately and retained.
• The technical assistance institutionalises climate–health data use by embedding tools, indicators, SOPs, and analytical products within existing DOH systems and processes, including DHIS2, planning cycles, and M&E frameworks. Leadership and ownership will sit with designated DOH units, including the Climate Health Unit and relevant directorates, rather than with the TA team.
• By the end of the technical assistance, responsibility for maintaining tools, conducting analyses, and applying findings will be fully transitioned to DOH teams, supported by clear role definitions and documentation. The phased approach and alignment with ongoing E4H-supported reforms ensure that functions established under this TA can be sustained through existing government structures and future partner support beyond E4H closure.

Timeline and Days

The level of effort (LOE) for the role is 50 days.

Requirement

Technical Expertise

• Master’s degree from a reputed university.
• Expertise in policy, planning cycles, and operationalising adaptation strategies.
• Experience linking evidence to decision-making.

Competencies

• Strong strategic thinking and policy analysis skills.
• Effective stakeholder engagement experience.
• Ability to ensure evidence-informed decisions.