Consultant Team to Conduct Baseline Assessment in Maternal and Child Health Care

Call for Proposal and Expressions of Interest

#051: A Consultant Team to conduct a baseline assessment in maternal and child health care at central and provincial levels in project targets provinces

1. Background:

Each year 295 000 women die as a result of childbirth and almost six million children 0 -14 years lose their lives mostly from preventable causes. The burden remains high in low-income countries at this time, and women who suffer poor socioeconomic status or live in marginalized communities are especially vulnerable.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development set a target related to this health problem of ending preventable deaths of new-borns and children under 5 years of age by 2020, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births.

To help countries in meeting this SDG target, WHO has recently launched a three-year (2021–2023) and multi-country project titled: Improving the quality of hospital care to reduce maternal, newborn, and child deaths and accelerate the achievement of the SDG health targets. Viet Nam is invited to participate this project together with Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Tajikistan.

A key milestone of this project is a baseline assessment of maternal and child health services in health care facilities in project target provinces (Ha Giang, Thanh Hoa, Dak Lak and Soc Trang), as well as a review of policies relevant to this project. WHO Representative Office in Viet Nam is seeking a capable research team to conduct a baseline assessment

The planned timeline of this assessment is from October 2021 till March 2022. Considering the biennial cycle of WHO programme budget and workplans, 2 contracts will be issued to the same winner of bidding process under this ToR. The first contract should be completed by end of December 2021, and the second contract will be completed by end of March 2022.

2. Planned timelines (subject to confirmation): 1 year with possible extension

Start date: 22/10/2021 End date: 30/03/2022

Two contracts will be issued

1st contract: from 22 Oct 2021 to 31 December 2021
2nd contract: from 15 January 2022 to 30 March 2022

3. Work to be performed

Under the direct supervision of the MCH focal point at the WHO Representative Office in Viet Nam country office and overall guidance from the UHC team coordinator at the WHO Representative Office in Viet Nam, the contractor will work closely with WHO and MCH team to produce the following outputs and deliverables:

Methods:

To do the literature review on the current situation of maternal, newborn and child health care in Viet Nam
To develop an evaluation protocol including methodology, sampling design and indicators for maternal, newborn and child health care, and a plan for evaluation.
To review current relevant evaluation tools for adaptation and develop new tools as needed.
To support the pilot of evaluation, revise tools and plan after a pilot
To supervise data collection and participate in in-depth interviews with key stakeholders.
To do data analysis and writing reports and present report findings at the relevant conferences.

Output 1 (for the first contract): To develop a protocol with tools for baseline assessment and support a pilot of tools.

Deliverable 1.1: An evaluation protocol with design; sampling method; sample size; indicators for each area of maternal, newborn, and child health care; and an evaluation plan with a timeline, responsible persons and estimated budget. (by 31 October 2021)
Deliverable 1.2: A set of tools for evaluation of maternal, newborn and child health care; and semi-structured questionnaires for in-depth interviews and focus group discussion at the central and provincial levels are developed and finalized after the pilot; (by 30 November 2021)
Deliverable 1.3: A report of piloting of evaluation protocol and tools (by 31 December 2021)
Deliverable 1.4: A comprehensive end-of-first contract report with an interim report on the review results of available data on maternal and child health services and relevant policies at the central level and project provinces.

Output 2 (for the second contract): To supervise data collection, conduct a relevant policy review, analyse data and write a report of baseline assessment.

Deliverable 2.1: A data collection supervision report and an outline baseline assessment report with key data analysis results (by 10 March 2022).
Deliverable 2.2: A full finalized baseline assessment report after review from MCH and WHO (by 30 March 2022).

4. Specific requirements

The applicant should submit the following documents:

- Technical proposal on base-line assessment with estimated budget - Documents to prove the technical capacity as following to undertake the required tasks

Team leader requirements in qualification and experiences:
- A post-graduate degree in medicine, specialized in paediatrics
- A minimum of ten (10) to fifteen (15) years of relevant work experience including paediatrics, public health and public health research

Team members requirements in qualification and experiences:
- Post- graduate in medicine or public health
- A minimum of 5 (five) to 10 (ten) years of relevant work experience
- In addition to paediatrics and/or obstetrics, at least one team member should have experience in following areas: public health research; M&E for MCH interventions;

Language requirements:
- Well written and spoken in Vietnamese and English

5. Place of assignment Hanoi, Viet Nam.

6. Medical clearance

The selected consultant (s) will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work

7. Travel

Travels to project target provinces will be required and it can be changed subject to travel restriction and COVID-19 outbreak situation

8. Budget

Please take note of the following when submitting application:

- The contractor will be responsible for paying taxes, if any.

Those who are interested can submit technical proposal on baseline assessment with budget, most updated CV and application letter indicating post title and vacancy notice # on or before 18 October 2021 and should be addressed to:

Administrative Officer World Health Organization UN Building, 304 Kim Ma Street, Hanoi, Viet Nam

wpvnmapplicants@who.int

For further information on this TOR, please contact: wpvnmwr@who.int