THE UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)

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

I.    BACKGROUND 

UNFPA’s EQUAL SRHR programme in Guyana, funded by Global Affairs Canada, has as its main objective the protection of women and girls in Guyana, including Indigenous women and girls and Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Guyana [including returning Guyanese from Venezuela], by enhancing their ability to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives and by strengthening systems to prevent and respond to instances of Gender Based Violence (GBV), Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), and Sexual Harassment (SH). 

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. 

Guyana, as a developing country in Latin America, was listed among 189 countries that agreed to ensure that by the year 2015 maternal mortality would be reduced by three quarters and under-five child mortality would be reduced by two thirds. This goal was not achieved, and although the country continues to make significant strides in reducing maternal mortality rates and is still ranks among the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with the highest maternal mortality rates (approximately 229/100,000 live births as of 2015, and 169 per 100,000 live births in 2022. A UNICEF report states that maternal deaths that occurred in Guyana could have been avoided if quality and timely reproductive health care services were available and accessible for pregnant women  - a true reflection of sub-optical care during pregnancy, child birth and the postnatal period.  

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/UNFPAEMONC for detailed Terms of Reference (TOR), Request for Quotations (RFQ), UNFPA General Terms and Conditions and UNFPA Bidder Declaration Form related to this solicitation for the bid submission procedures
• Deadline for Enquiries: Friday June 13, 2025 via trinidad.office@unfpa.org.  Virtual meeting with interested consultancy firms/teams will be arranged to answer their questions regarding the RFQ on Monday 16  June 13, 2025 at 13:30hrs (1:30pm) Guyana time via this meeting link:

  • Question & Answer: RFQ Nº UNFPA/GUY/RFQ/25/003 - Conduct of Emergency Obstetric New-born Care (EmONC) Needs Assessment in Guyana

    Monday, June 16 · 1:30 – 2:30pm

    Time zone: America/New_York

    Google Meet joining info

    Video call link: https://meet.google.com/xdi-gtdi-bgi

    Or dial: ‪(TT) +1 868-224-5972‬ PIN: ‪888 571 526 5180‬#

    More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/xdi-gtdi-bgi?pin=8885715265180

• Deadline for submission: Monday June 23, 2025 via srocprocurement@unfpa.org
• 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.