THE UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)

UNFPA Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean invites interested Consultancy Firms / Consultancy Teams to apply.

I.    BACKGROUND 

The UNFPA Sub-regional Office for the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean supports 22 countries and territories and has offices in six countries, i.e. Jamaica, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. Guyana is one of the countries in the Caribbean sub region with high maternal mortality ratio at 169 per 100,000 live birth. This high maternal mortality is a reflection of sub optical care during pregnancy, child birth and during postnatal period.

In countries of the Latin American and Caribbean Region, there has been significant reduction in maternal mortality rates - from 88 per 100,000 live births in 2005 to 74 in 2017. These rates have been fluctuating – “giving an indication that there still remains serious issues of equity in the Region – with several countries still having maternal mortality ratio above the target 3.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which seeks to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.

In 2011, UNFPA led and supported the Ministry of Health in Guyana in the conduct of a national EmONC assessment. The assessment examined all the SIGNAL functions (a representative shortlist of key interventions and activities that address major causes of morbidity or mortality and that are indicative of the level of EmONC care and services) for obstetric and newborn care in 90% of health facilities in Guyana. The report and recommendations of the EmONC assessment were shared and commitments were made by the
Ministry of Health and its partners (including the Ministry of Finance) to act on the recommendations put forward. UNFPA concluded its active phase of Maternal Health Thematic Fund (MHTF) in 2012 but continues to support the Government of Guyana, and in particular the Ministry of Health, to address sexual and reproductive, maternal and newborn health and rights issues of its population.

A review of the literature in Guyana revealed that since the last EmONC assessment (done in 2011), several attempts were made to conduct similar (EmONC) assessments. A review of these assessments has revealed that they of were not comprehensive enough to identify the gaps of all the SIGNAL functions - to allow for strategic planning, especially in the area of human resource (skilled attendants); neonatal resuscitation needs; drugs and supplies necessary for the management of complications; among other minimum standards to prevent excess maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality.

II.    PURPOSE OF THIS ENGAGEMENT

The study is aiming at assessing the current working environment for EmONC services delivery, health workers’ practices and bottlenecks in delivering EmONC so as to inform interventions for improving access, availability and quality of Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) and other related MNH services at selected health facilities in Guyana. 
 
The Consultancy Team is expected to lead the overall EmONC Needs Assessment process starting from development of study protocol, adaptation of data collection tools, training of data collectors, data collection, data entry and data management, data analysis, and report writing. 

The 2023 EmONC Needs Assessment will determine the existing capacity of health facilities to provide necessary life-saving care to pregnant women and their newborns when complications occur. The ultimate aim of the assessment is to accelerate the reduction of maternal and neonatal deaths in Guyana.

Specifically, the assessment aims to:

1. Set the baseline which will be useful in determining progress of achieving targets set in the key strategic plan and health policy of ministry of health in efforts to accelerate the Reduction of Maternal and newborn Mortality
2. Guide policy, planning, and prioritization of interventions in addressing gaps and strengthen the health system by using EmONC as a point of entry.
3. Measure the availability of infrastructure that provide basic and comprehensive EmONC;
4. Determine the availability of health workers who perform the EmOC signal functions;
5. Measure knowledge and competency levels of health workers regarding obstetric and newborn care;
6. Determine the availability of essential drugs, equipment, and supplies for EmONC;
7. Carry out case reviews of the partograph, cesarean deliveries, and maternal deaths to assess aspects of the quality of care
8. Establish a baseline for monitoring the availability, geographic distribution, level of utilization, and quality of EmONC (using the EmONC Indicators).

The consultancy will be carried out in phases during a forty-five (45) days period. 

Phase I: Initial Preparation (Before data collection)

• Support the selection and recruitment of data collectors and data managers: (2 days)
• Adaptation of the EmONC tools: (2 days) 
• Support the development of data entry screens (programming) – (5 days) 
• Review the power points, handouts, data collector’s manual, and exercises for training of data collectors – (5 days). 
• Training of data collectors, supervisors, and other task-force members: (3 days)

Phase II: Data Collection. 

• Support Quality Assurance during the first weeks of Data collection (Fieldwork): (10 days)

Phase III: Data cleaning and analysis.

• Development of dummy tables (remote support in drafting tables and finalization in a workshop) (5 days). 
• Preliminary data entry, cleaning and analysis and report writing (13days). 

III.    EVALUATION CRITERIA

All proposals submitted will be assessed and evaluated based on an Evaluation Criteria contained in the RFQ.

III.    BID SUBMISSION 

• Please visit our website: https://bit.ly/UNFPAOLC for detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) and RFQ documents related to this solicitation for the bid submission procedures
• Deadline for Enquiries: Monday, November 13, 2023 via Guyana.office@unfpa.org.  Virtual meetings with interested consultancy firms/teams can be arranged to answer questions regarding the RFQ on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 via this meeting link: https://meet.google.com/mdz-ufgs-stb  
• Only bids that conform to the bid submission procedures contained in the RFQ documents will be accepted
• Bids shall remain valid for a period of ninety (90) days from the RFQ expiration date.

Please use the link below to download a copy of the price quotation form that is to be submitted.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yUe-BIAbf6yRs1hl-eCkR0iBGyeAc32k/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=116499045270193266243&rtpof=true&sd=true

Note:

• There is no application, processing or other fee at any stage of the application process. 
• UNFPA does not solicit or screen for information in respect of HIV or AIDS and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status. 
• UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, teamwork, respect for diversity, integrity and a healthy balance of work and life. We are committed to maintaining our balanced gender distribution and therefore encourage women to apply.