Technical Assistance for the Implementation and coordination of the Urban Health Project Year 3 in Valenzuela and Paranaque

The purpose of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to enter into a contractual agreement with a successful bidder and select a suitable contractor to provide technical assistance to work with the Paranaque and Valenzuela Local Government Unit, Department of Health (DOH) Center for Health Development Metro Manila (CHD-MM), and Central Office on Improving the health of the urban poor communities and protect them from adverse outcomes of COVID-19 under an Agreement for Performance of Work (APW) contract.

BACKGROUND

In Philippines, about half of Filipinos now live-in urban areas. About 28% live in slums and informal settlements with poor and unhealthy living conditions. (DOH). Metro Manila is the largest urban area composed of about 14M population (or 12% of Philippine population). Informal settlements in Metro Manila have grown over the years. According to a study cited by the government-funded Philippine Institute for Development Studies, about 5 percent of Metro Manila residents were living in informal settlements in 2003. The figure went up to more than 10 percent in 2009. Two years later, the Department of Interior and Local Government submitted a report to Malacanang placing the number of informal settlers at 2.7 million or about 25 percent of Metro Manila’s population.  In Metro Manila, households in informal settlements increased by more than 81 percent between 2000 and 2006. 

Like all countries, the Philippines is plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the Department of Health (DOH) announced the country’s first reported local transmission. Since then, the Philippines has been responding to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and has been implementing numerous interventions with varying levels and degrees of success. The country remains in Stage 2 localized community transmission with some geographic areas showing higher transmission intensity and indications of widespread community transmission. National Capital Region (NCR) and adjacent areas: Regions 4-A (CaLaBaRZon) and 3 (Central Luzon) are at Stage 3, with large-scale community transmission.

Previous experience in other pandemics, such as the Ebola in West Africa, and SARS and Influenza Pandemic (H1N1) in Asia, show that interventions that adopted a community-centric lens were more successful than others in driving sustainable impact. Studies revealed that crisis preparedness and response is not effective without the participation of vulnerable communities. When involved in the mitigation process, the communities’ “confidence, capacities, and coping mechanisms develop in an upward spiral”, and they are more accepting of and amenable to remedial initiatives and approaches.  

Engaging local communities is generally important to delivering high-quality, people-centered health care, and to building resilient and inclusive systems for development. There are several reasons to involve slum communities. First, community engagement helps to develop initiatives and solutions that are relevant to the unique characteristics, assets, and constraints of each slum. Second, communities are proximate to and can best identify their diverse and evolving needs in the face of the pandemic. The voice and support of communities help to map, prioritize, and address needs in the context of each slum. Third, building trust with communities can improve their adoption of and compliance with services (and minimum health standards). Fourth, involving communities can enable solutions to be sustained and scaled.

In 2021, WHO and KOFIH in collaboration with the Department of Health (DOH) supported a project targeting urban poor communities in two cities: Paranaque and Valenzuela, both located in the NCR.  Valenzuela City has been identified by DOH as one of two cities in Metro Manila to be part of Universal Health Care (UHC) integration sites. The city, along with the other sites, will be supported by both DOH and PhilHealth to demonstrate various approaches and mechanisms to achieve technical, managerial, and financial integration.

The project will be implemented in Parañaque City and Valenzuela City. The proposed implementation sites will include at least 10 urban poor communities in Barangays Santo Nino, Moonwalk and Vitalez in Paranaque City and Barangays Marulas and Malinta in Valenzuela.

REQUIREMENTS/WORK TO BE PERFORMED

Under the direct supervision of the WHO Country Office for the Philippines, the contractual partner/institution shall perform the following tasks/responsibilities in close collaboration with the respective officers within the DOH – Health Promotion Bureau.

The contractual partner/institution is expected to:

Support the Urban Health Project sites, Valenzuela and Paranaque to:

• 1. Overall implementation and coordination of the Urban Health Project in LGU sites (Valenzuela or Paranaque)
• 2. Support the development and implementation of health promotion strategy to address determinants and promote urban health equity
• 3. Adopt and Implement the Healthy Schools Framework in the pilot schools of Paranaque and Valenzuela

CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTRACTOR

Mandatory:

• • Proven experience in the field of public health sector and local health system.
• • With established good working relations with the DOH and WHO on the subject matter(s) and familiarity with the local health service delivery system in the Philippines;

Desirable:

• • Experience in public health sector and local health system

SUBMISSIONS

Qualified and interested specialists should submit the following documents to the Supply Officer through WP RO UNGM at < wproungm@who.int > and < wpphlwr@who.int > by 6 March 2023

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

Please use Tender Notice No. UH-HSS-003-2023 as subject to all submission. Only successful candidates will be contacted.

Last day of receiving queries for this tender is on 1 March 2023