JOB DETAILS:
I. HETA Overview
The Healthcare Electrification and Telecommunications Alliance (HETA) is Power Africa’s flagship initiative for health facility electrification (HFE) and digital connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa. HETA’s mission is to catalyze public-private partnerships to increase access to reliable, renewable energy and digital connections in health facilities. As a Global Development Alliance, HETA is a partnership in which the U.S. government and the private sector leverage their combined resources, expertise, and capabilities to support sustainable interventions.
Scoping Trip Objectives:
II. Goal
The ultimate purpose of this scoping trip is to identify potential program models– and associated business cases for USAID missions and private sector partners – for HETA to support that will improve HFE and digital connectivity, thereby increasing access to quality health services and enabling the Uganda health system to accelerate progress towards its national health and development goals.
III. Objectives
HETA is planning a scoping trip to Uganda on/about May 13 - 17, 2024.

The objective of this scoping trip is to being planning for programmatic priorities, interventions, and identifying potential sources of leverage contributions to support a USAID/Uganda-funded HETA buy-in. The scoping team will examine HETA’s value and consider opportunities to electrify 80 facilities in priority states aligned with USAID/Uganda’s investments in the health system. During this scoping trip, the HETA team will meet mostly with relevant stakeholders from the private and public sectors at the national level, including CDC, to develop an understanding of the landscape for HFE and digital connectivity and current and potential private sector investments in priority states. This understanding from the scoping trip will inform the design of potential program models, with a focus on ESCO/Energy As a Service (EAAS), that USAID can support to improve HFE and digital connectivity, along with the associated business cases for USAID, other donors, the Uganda government, private sector actors, and local communities to invest in these solutions in support of Uganda’s health and development goals.

To achieve this goal, the scoping team will:
• Document the need for investment in HFE and digital connectivity.
• Identify relevant public, private, and civil society stakeholders in the health, energy, financial, and telecoms sectors who impact value chains for HFE and digital connectivity.

• Understand existing and potential opportunities and roadblocks to establishing sustainable models for HFE and digital connectivity based on policy and strategic priorities, available financing, political economy, and other context-specific factors.

• Identify quick wins that can be implemented in conjunction with players already working in HFE and digital connectivity who could benefit from HETA support.
• Increase stakeholder awareness of HETA, and its goals and program operations in Uganda.
IV. Approach
HETA will convene a multidisciplinary team to conduct the scoping trip. Team members will bring complementary skills sets and knowledge areas across health, energy, and telecommunications to answer the priority questions presented below:
• Operating context: How will improved HFE and digital connectivity address health and development gaps? What are the key entry points in government to address HFE and digital connectivity access?

• Demand: What are the HFE and digital connectivity needs in the health system and at different types of health facilities, including current access to and reliability of on- and off-grid energy sources?
• Supply: What resources and partners (major energy service providers, operations and maintenance companies, and telecoms companies) can help address identified energy and digital connectivity needs? How well do their current operations match the needs of the health system? What barriers do they face to expanding their operations?

• Enabling environment: Who are the key decision-making institutions in health, energy, and telecommunications sectors? What policy and financing barriers limit actors from meeting demand and what solutions are needed? What kinds of government, donor, and private financing solutions are available to support potential solutions?

Prior to the scoping trip, the team will complete a desk-based review of existing literature. Key informant interviews during the trip will add depth and fill in gaps to the team’s understanding of challenges and opportunities. In addition to meeting with USAID, the scoping team expects to meet with and visit a range of businesses working in renewable energy and telecommunications, NGOs working in health and energy, associations, donors, other potential leverage partners, and government agencies. We expect most of these meetings would take place in Kampala.
HETA will share a full list of stakeholders that the scoping team will visit prior to the trip. Illustrative organizations include: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Rural Electrification Agency, National Renewable Energy Platform, Uganda National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Alliance, UNICEF, CDC, World Bank EAAS project, American Tower Corporation, Green Empowerment, Airtel Uganda, MTN Uganda, SustainSolar, Equatorial Power, Signalytic, azimut360, All In Trade, EnDev Uganda.
V. Scope of work for consultant
Period of Performance: April 22, 2024 – May 30, 2024
LOE: estimated maximum of 25 days

Tasks:
• Participate in teleconference with HQ team (Week 1)
• Review and provide feedback on assessment scope of work (Week 1)
• Work with HETA scoping team to identify specific stakeholders and schedule appointments for key informant interviews during assessment team TDY (Week 2)
• Support in arranging logistics for the team in collaboration with local Abt Global programs (Week 2)
• Participate in key informant interviews, including follow-up or additional interviews as needed following scoping team’s visit (Week 2-3)
• Support data analysis and provide inputs into final assessment report and a work plan to implement the "quick wins” projects as requested (Week 3-4)

Deliverables:
• Comments on assessment scope of work
• Final key informant interview schedule with confirmation on the time and venue
• Notes from key informant interviews, typed text and images/illustrations
• Requested inputs for final assessment report