Purpose of the Consultancy

Since 2014, the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific has been conducting the Global Health Learning Centre (GLHC) training course annually.

The learning objectives of GHLC are as follows:

1. Module A: to improve participants' English communication skills.
2. Module B: to enhance participants' knowledge of global health topics and WHO’s  work and priorities to enable their ability to critique on health policy documents and identify relevant strategies into local action relevant to national context.

Background

The Global Health Learning Centre (GHLC) is a capacity strengthening programme uniquely offered by the WHO Regional Officer for the Western Pacific (WPRO). It aims to strengthen capacity of health officials to participate in and contribute to national, regional and global health agenda.

GHLC traces back to the legacy programme, the English Skills Development and Leadership Management Programme (1986 to 1994), later renamed Communication and Leadership Management Programme (1995 to 2003), which helped trained about 450 fellows to improve English skills, broadened their knowledge of WHO's work and fostered collaboration between WHO and countries.

In 2014, the Programme was reinstated with a name “Global Health Learning Centre (GHLC)”. The “technical” module that focused on trending regional and global topics as well as WHO’s work and priorities were added to the curriculum with the overall goal of building the capacity of mid-level health officials in understanding global health issues and enable their participation in and contribution to global health discussions and agenda. 

Thus since 2014, GHLC has two key components – module A and Module B. Module A focuses on  improving participants' English communication skills while Module B focuses on enhancing participants’ knowledge on global health to enable their ability to critique on global health policy documents and identify relevant policies for translation into local action.

GHLC 2022 is proposed to be convened as a the following:

• - virtual English training (Module A)
• - face-to-face one week bridging course
• - face-to-face global health programme (Module B).

Participation in the GHLC is by invitation only. Member States will be invited to nominate suitable candidates to participate in the programme. All applicants are required to undergo English proficiency assessment which will be conducted by the English training provider (the contractor). Provided that they meet eligibility requirements, applicants with English proficiency 6.5 IELTS equivalent or higher may be recommended for participation in Module B only. Applicants with English proficiency from 5.5 to 6.5 IELTS equivalent may be recommended for participation in Module A and B. A bridging course will be conducted between Module A and Module B for all fellows.

It is estimated that participants in Module A will be up to 15 fellows and participants in Module B (which include graduates of Module A) will be about 25 fellows.

Planned timelines (subject to confirmation)

• Start date: 20 June 2022
• End date: 30 November 2022

Work to be performed

The selected contractor will:

• • propose to WHO detailed curricula for the following:
  • detailed design for an intensive fundamental and advanced English Language training (Module A), with educational objectives, to be delivered as an online course, for duration of two months, expecting to be from 4 July to 26 August 2022.
  • detailed programme, with educational objectives, for a one-week  bridging course (Orientation to Module B), to be delivered face-to-face at the Regional Office in Manila
  • detailed programme, with educational objectives, for advanced English Language and communication skills training (including technical writing), to be delivered face-to-face, one session per week,  during Module B, expecting to be from 5 September 2022 to 31 October 2022.
• • liaise closely with WHO staff to maximize the integration of content, approaches and activities across both Modules A and B;
• • in consultation with WHO, conduct English Language proficiency assessment prior to course commencement; identify applicants who meet the proficiency requirement for the GHLC course;
• • conduct online English training as per the designed programme; design and/or procure learning materials and provide them to each participant for the whole duration of the programme;
• • assess the English Language proficiency level of each participant at the beginning (pre-test) and at the end (post-test) of Module A and award certificates to the participants; increase by at least one level (of IELTS or similar language standard) the proficiency of at least 90% of the participants at the end of Module A;
• • conduct weekly workshops on technical writing during Module B.
• • conduct a summative course on English and communication to prepare fellows for technical discussion (a bridging course between Module A and Module B)
• • in collaboration with WHO, assess communication skills of the participants at the end of the programme (rehearsal and final presentation of fellows’ project).
• • provide a full progress report at the end of Module A and at the end of Module B. Progress reports should include:
  • • participants' baseline and improvement rate and performance evaluation
  • • any issues that need to be formally brought to the attention of WHO. A summary of day-to-day issues which have been raised and solved in interaction between the institution’s programme coordinator and WPRO staff, and
  • • provide a report on evaluation of the course

Method(s) to carry out the activity

A mixed methods approach combining online learning, adult learning, research, literature review, report writing, videoconferences, presentations in group classes, small group discussions, and individual consultations.

The schedules of GHLC 2021 will be as below:

• • Conduct English screening tests / 20 – 24 June 2022
• • Module A (English and communication training, online) / 4 July – 26 August 2022
• • Bridging course (face-to-face) / 29 August – 2 September 2022
• • Module B (face-to-face) / 5 September – 31 October 2022

Outputs

1. English proficiency

• 1.1 Report on English screening assessment for eligibility
• 1.2 Report on pre-training course assessment on English language proficiency
• 1.3 Report on post-training course assessment on English language proficiency

2. Academic programme

• Deliverable 2.1 - Curriculum for Module A (one morning per day, Monday to Friday), a week-long bridging course/orientation and Module B technical writing workshops (one morning per week)
• Deliverable 2.2 -  Reports on performance of individual fellows
• Deliverable 2.3 -  Progress and final reports on implementation and outcomes of the training.

The supplier/bidder is requested to provide quotes for training package course if the number of fellows to be trained are:  N=22, N=25  additional cost per fellow exceeding these numbers.

SUBMISSIONS

Qualified and interested specialists should submit the following documents to the Supply Officer through WP RO UNGM at < wproungm@who.int > by 12 June 2022

• • Company Profile {for institutional applications}
• • Technical proposal indicating solution, methodology and timelines, in addition to the below annexes: 
  • o   Annex 1: Acknowledgement Form
  • o   Annex 2: Confidentiality Undertaking
  • o   Annex 3: Proposal Completeness Form
  • o   Annex 6: Self-Declaration Form
• • Financial proposal

Please use Tender Notice No. WPRO/2022-005/DHS_MCQ/175147 as subject to all submission. Only successful candidates will be contacted.

Last day of receiving queries for this tender is on 7 June 2022