INSTITUTIONAL CONSULTANCY SERVICES TO ADMINISTER HEALTH DEVELOPMENT FUND SUPPORT TO THE MOHCC RESULTS BASED FINANCING (RBF) AND HUMAN RESOURCES FOR HEALTH (HRH) RETENTION SCHEME

The UNICEF Zimbabwe Country Office is seeking Expression of Interest (EOI) from qualified institutions to enter into a multi-year contract to administer the Health Development Fund (HDF) support to Results Based Financing (RBF) and Human Resources for Health Retention Scheme. 

Background: The Health Development Fund (HDF) is a multi-donor pooled fund, managed by UNICEF and UNFPA, to support the Ministry of Health and Child Care in the context of the 2016-2020 National Health Sector Strategy to achieve its goals of improving the quality of life of its citizens, through guaranteeing every Zimbabwean access to comprehensive and effective health services, with special emphasis on Women, Newborns, Children and Adolescents. The goal of the HDF is to contribute to reducing maternal mortality (by 50%) from 614 and under-5 mortality (by 50%) from 75, by ensuring equitable access to quality health services for women and children by 2020; and to contribute to the reduction of the unmet need for family planning to 6.5%, halving the prevalence of stunting in children under-5 from 28% and eliminating MTCT by 2020, combating HIV and AIDS, Malaria and other prevalent diseases.

The HDF is a follow on to the Health Transition Fund which run from 2012 to 2015. From 2012 to March 2014 the HTF supported in 42 districts (approximately 900 facilities), the Health Services Fund (HSF) which was established in 1996 to expand and improve service delivery through decentralized funding to district hospitals and rural health clinics through an input based financing and from April 2014 to Dec 2015 through a Results Based Financing (RBF). The Health Transition Fund (HTF) strengthened this financing mechanism on a regular basis to cover selected running costs and maintenance expenses of health facilities. The Health Transition Fund also supported the retention of health workers at the various levels of the public health system

A number of issues have come up during the implementation of the HTF in the management and implementation of RBF and human resources for health retention scheme which included:-

(i)            fragmented contract management resulting in high contract management costs

(ii)            challenges with health worker data bases completeness and submissions

(iii)           equity and fairness in the allocation of   retention allowances

(iv)          unsustainability of providing retention allowances

Policy discussions on these and other challenges are under way and will have an impact on how the HDF will support the implementation of RBF and HRH retention scheme with a possibility of making the HRH retention scheme performance based.

As HDF Manager, UNICEF is looking for ways to rationalize management costs of RBF and HRH retention scheme, consolidate the fragmented HRH retention allowances is seeking expressions of interest from interested institutions to administer the HDF support to the MoHCC's RBF and HRH retention scheme using cost effective innovative mechanisms that maximize the resources going to the HDF beneficiaries to contribute to the reduction of maternal and child mortality in Zimbabwe.

Scope of Assignment: The Institution is expected to implement HDF support to the RBF using the MoHCC Program Implementation Manual (PIM) for RBF and integrate the HRH Retention Scheme into the RBF in the short term and design a clear exit strategy.

Qualifications: Interested Institutions should meet the following minimum qualifications:

1. Strong experience in providing technical support to, and building capacity of, public sector financial management systems
2. Proven ability to disburse funds to multiple recipients on a timely, efficient and transparent basis.
3. Strong previous experience in implementing a results based financing project in developing countries, particularly sub Saharan Africa
4. Skills and experience in health economics is essential, including costing, cost effectiveness and cost  benefit analysis
5. Understanding of health systems strengthening approaches and service delivery within a constrained operational environment, with Zimbabwe experience desirable
6. Proven experience in health programs implementing results based financing especially in resource limited settings
7. Strong knowledge of the Zimbabwean health system

Response Requirements: At this stage, UNICEF is requesting Expression of Interest from Institutions interested in competing for a multi-year contract to administer the HDF support to RBF and HRH retention scheme.  Interested Institutions should submit detailed and complete institutional profile information and documents, together with a written “Expression of Interest” in response to this advertisement.   Information provided will be reviewed to assess each Institution’s suitability to be included in the upcoming competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process.

If your Institution is interested in participating in the planned solicitation and meets the requirements with suitable experience, please reply to this EOI with the reference: “UNICEF Zimbabwe RBF Implementation Consultancy” by either email or mail no later than 12:00 noon Harare local time on Monday, 18 January 2016.