Terms of Reference: National Consultant – National Cluster Set-Up: Ethiopia

Assignment summary

Lead the in-country set-up of Transform Health’s national cluster in Ethiopia: coordinate the validation and finalise the country landscape analysis, deepen the stakeholder mapping, build government relationships and buy-in, and organise and deliver a three-day, government-facing launch event where partners will develop a national cluster strategy.

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1. Background and Rationale

1.1 Transform Health and the Roadmap to 2030

Transform Health is a global coalition of over 200 organisations driving the digital transformation of health to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The coalition brings together partners across sectors – including civil society, youth networks, government and global experts – to strengthen the enabling environment for digital health: the laws, regulation, policies, coordination structures and resources that ensure digital technology is adopted responsibly, equitably and at scale.

On 12 December 2025 (UHC Day), Transform Health launched the Roadmap to 2030, a five-year, multi-stakeholder strategic plan setting out clear goals, ambitions and milestones for digital health transformation between 2026 and 2030. The Roadmap responds to a simple problem: digital transformation in health is accelerating, but progress is fragile, uneven and often inequitable. It sets out priorities that go beyond technology alone – stronger governance and legislation, digital public infrastructure, workforce capacity, equity-centred implementation, and rights-based safeguards and accountability – and is explicit that these global milestones only matter if they translate into pragmatic, context-sensitive action at country level. More information on the Roadmap to 2030 and Transform Health’s wider work is available at www.transformhealthcoalition.org. 

Transform Health would like to work with partners in Ethiopia on a Roadmap to 2030. We would like to convene partners around a national cluster to coordinate action and collaborate with the government to address a set of priorities that will accelerate the adoption of digital health to achieve UHC. The cluster is the vehicle through which the Roadmap’s national milestones are translated into a country-owned strategy: it aims to bring together government, civil society, youth, women’s and patient groups, and other stakeholders around a validated landscape analysis and a named national priority for digital health.

1.2 Why this assignment

Setting up the Ethiopia cluster starts with an in-country consultant who can validate and strengthen existing analysis, build relationships with government and other stakeholders, and carry that work through to a launch event that secures visible government commitment. Transform Health is seeking a National Consultant to lead this process in Ethiopia, working closely with the Secretariat and in-country partners.

2. Purpose and Objectives

2.1 Overall Purpose

To engage a National Consultant who will lead the validation of the Ethiopia landscape analysis and stakeholder mapping, build government engagement and buy-in, organise and deliver a three-day national launch event, and work with stakeholders to co-create a national cluster strategy and theory of change aligned with the Roadmap to 2030.

2.2 Scope of Work

Transform Health is seeking a reputable individual consultant, or a small team, with strong stakeholder engagement and government relations experience in Ethiopia, to lead the in-country set-up of the national cluster and to support the identification of a credible cluster lead organisation.

2.3 Specific Objectives

• • Validate (with partners) and finalise the existing Ethiopia landscape analysis and risk assessment, building on prior desk research rather than starting from scratch, and flag any material gaps or changes in context.
  • Deepen the stakeholder mapping across government, private sector, academia, civil society and multilateral partners, including a power/interest analysis and a proposed engagement strategy – with explicit attention to youth, women’s, and patient advocacy groups from the outset.
  • Build and manage relationships with relevant government institutions (for example, the Ministry of Health and Population and the ministry/agency responsible for information and communications technology) to secure engagement and buy-in, and to help identify a named national priority that the cluster can anchor its work around.
  • Formalise a collaboration agreement between the Ministry of Health and Transform Health.
  • Plan, organise and deliver a three-day, government-facing launch event: day one presents the validated landscape analysis to secure a signed declaration of commitment from government; days two and three work with partners to translate the analysis into direction, including a dedicated session on the role of youth and women, co-led where possible by a young person.
  • From the stakeholder mapping, identify and shortlist a small number of organisations (approximately five) with government-convening capacity, relevant technical experience and advocacy capacity.
  • Draft an RFP for cluster recruitment and participate in cluster coordinator selection with the Secretariat team, under the direction of Transform Health’s Impact & Learning Committee. 
  • Work with the cluster coordinator to draft a national cluster strategy and theory of change informed by the Roadmap to 2030, including a short section on the priorities of youth, women and patient groups and how these intersect with the legislative and enabling-environment changes being advocated for.

3. Scope of the Assignment

Geographic scope. Ethiopia, at national level. No sub-national fieldwork is required by default, though the consultant should flag where sub-national dynamics are materially relevant to the analysis.

Thematic scope. Landscape validation, stakeholder engagement and mapping, government relations, delivery of the launch event, and cluster strategy co-creation. A light-touch review of the country’s political, economic, governance and civic space context (Section 4) informs the engagement approach; it is not a standalone risk-analysis product.

Audience and purpose. Outputs are for internal Transform Health decision-making and for the cluster’s own government and partner engagement – not a specialist due-diligence or investment product.

Reporting structure. To be confirmed at inception with the Transform Health Secretariat.

4. Country Context Snapshot

To inform the engagement strategy – not as a stand-alone deliverable – the consultant should maintain a brief, working view of four dimensions of context, updating it as the assignment progresses:

The consultant may draw on publicly available indices (for example, Freedom House, the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, or the CIVICUS Monitor) to inform this snapshot, but the emphasis of this assignment is on relationship-building and stakeholder engagement rather than formal risk scoring.

5. Methodology

6. Work Plan and Timeline

The assignment has a tentative start date on 23 September 2026 and runs for twenty (20) working days over a six-week period, culminating in the national launch event.

7. Deliverables

• • D1 – Inception note (end of Week 1): confirms scope, audience/purpose, reporting structure and data sources, per Section 3.
  • D2 – Validated landscape analysis and stakeholder map (end of Week 3): incorporating youth, women’s and patient-group mapping, and a shortlist of prospective cluster lead organisations. Identify and shortlist a small number of organisations (approximately five) with government-convening capacity, relevant technical experience and advocacy capacity.
  • D3 – Formalise a collaboration agreement between the Ministry of Health and Transform Health. (Week 4-5)
  • D4 – Launch event delivered, with a short outcomes report (end of Week 5): confirming the signed government declaration of commitment and the named national priority identified with partners.
  • D5 – Draft and final national cluster strategy and theory of change (end of Week 6): reflecting inputs from the launch event and, once scheduled, the stakeholder validation workshop.

D3 and D4 are to be professionally formatted in line with Transform Health brand guidelines. An editable Word version and a PDF will be required for each.

8. Governance, Roles and Responsibilities

9. Required Expertise

The consultant should demonstrate:

• • Demonstrated experience in stakeholder engagement, coalition or network building, or government relations in Ethiopia, ideally within health, digital health, or a related development sector.
  • Established relationships with, or credible pathways to, relevant government counterparts and civil society, private sector and multilateral stakeholders.
  • Experience planning and facilitating multi-stakeholder workshops or events with government participation.
  • Working familiarity with the country’s political, governance and civic space context, and the ability to interpret publicly available indices (for example, Freedom House, World Bank WGI, CIVICUS Monitor) responsibly to inform an engagement strategy – this is a secondary, supporting skill rather than the primary focus of the role.
  • Experience engaging youth, women’s, and patient advocacy groups as active stakeholders rather than as an afterthought.
  • Strong written synthesis skills for a senior, non-specialist audience, and local-language fluency, supported by samples of related previous work. 
  • At least a graduate-level qualification in a relevant field (for example, social sciences, public health or public policy) and a minimum of five years of relevant professional experience for the lead consultant.

10. Budget and Resources

Transform Health estimates this engagement as a twenty (20) day consultancy over a six-week period, at a fee of USD 4,500 for this work in Ethiopia.

11. Submission Details

Interested applicants should submit their application by 17 September to hr@transformhealthcoalition.org. Submissions should be addressed to Transform Health with the subject line “National Consultant – Cluster Set-Up (Ethiopia)”. The following documents should be attached:

• • A cover letter.
  • CV of the lead consultant (and any supporting team members).
  • A brief work plan/proposal (2–3 pages).
  • A sample of previous, related work.

Download PDF of the ToR for offline access.