INSTITUTIONAL CONSULTANCY SERVICES TO CONDUCT THE EVALUATION OF THE HEALTH DEVELOPMENT FUND SUPPORT TO THE MOHCC TO IMPROVE ACCESS AND QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE IN ZIMBABWE PARTICULARLY FOR WOMEN,ETC

The UNICEF Zimbabwe Country Office is seeking Expression of Interest (EOI) from qualified institutions or teams of consultants to enter into a contract to conduct the mid-term and final evaluation of the Health Development Fund (HDF), a multi donor pooled fund, supporting the Ministry of Health and Child Care Zimbabwe to improve access and quality of health care in Zimbabwe with special emphasis on women, newborns, children and adolescents.     

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 fund to the Health Transition Fund which run from 2012 to 2015 and continues to consolidate and improve on the gains made under the Health Transition Fund in maternal, new born and child health by strengthening health systems and scaling up implementation of high impact, cost effective sexual, reproductive, maternal, new born, child and adolescent health and nutrition interventions through support to the health sector.

The HDF focuses on the following seven thematic areas, which provide continuity and build on existing foundation as outlined in the National Health Strategy for Zimbabwe (2016‐2020):

1. Maternal, new-born, child health and nutrition
2. Sexual and reproductive health and rights including adolescents (SRHR (Including Adolescents)
3. Medical products, vaccines and technologies (Medicines and commodities)
4. Human resources for health (including Health worker management, training and retention)
5. Health Financing (Results Based Financing or RBF)
6. Health policy, planning and Monitoring and Evaluation and Coordination
7. Technical support and innovation

The HDF is governed by a Steering Committee, co‐chaired by the MoHCC and a donor representative. Steering Committee members include all funding partners (currently European Union, United Kingdom Department for International Development, Sweden, Irish Aid and GAVI), UN agencies, representatives from civil society and other health development partners. UNICEF, WHO and UNFPA serve as technical advisors with UNICEF as the Secretariat.

The HDF has no parallel monitoring structure which is specifically designed for itself but uses existing M&E system of the health sector and continues to support the national monitoring system and further strengthen the routine HMIS. The HDF SC through UNICEF seeks to contract a team of independent consultants/institution to conduct both the Mid-term and Final Evaluation (subject to satisfactory performance) of the health program supported by the HDF.

Scope of Assignment: The institution or team of consultants are expected to undertake the mid-term and final evaluation of the HDF and use innovative ways to assess to what extent the HDF strategies, approaches and the overall intervention logic have contributed to change in people's health with special focus to Reproductive, Maternal Newborn, child and Adolescent health and nutrition, to evaluate whether the resources have been used to achieve those changes in the most efficient way and in a manner that achieves value for money and also assess if the available program data collection tools are definitive and provide good monitoring of the program performance going forward. Specifically the institution or team of consultants will

• Assess the HDF program implementation against the goals and objectives set in the HDF Program Document and Logical Framework and a modified OECD-DAC evaluation criteria which in addition to relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact also includes equity and economy.
• Assess the HDF's effectiveness in reaching the target population and vulnerable groups by using results of available major surveys or modelling techniques in cases of such not being available to see how well the HDF transformed the available resources into the intended outputs and outcomes in terms of quantity, quality, equity, timeliness and value for money and use
• Conduct robust in-depth analysis of the seven thematic areas to support the evaluation conclusions
• Assess if the available program data collection tools are definitive and provide good monitoring of the program performance and make recommendations on good to improve program monitoring
• Analyse the available program data and information and document lessons learnt, best practices and make recommendations on better program delivery

Qualifications: Interested Institutions/consultants should comprise a multidisciplinary team that collectively meets the following minimum qualifications:

• Relevant post-graduate technical qualifications and at least ten experience in health programme evaluation
• Demonstrated skills and experience in leading similar large scale evaluations including with highly developed management and negotiation skills and high level analytical and writing skills
• Strong previous experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative research and program evaluations in less developed countries
• Skills and experience in health economics including, costing, cost effectiveness and cost benefit analysis; epidemiology, impact analysis in developing countries particularly in Sub Saharan Africa
• Understanding of health systems strengthening approaches and service delivery within a constrained operational environment with Zimbabwe experience desirable
• Experience in analysis and evaluation of gender, social and poverty analysis and equity issues in health and nutrition
• Experience of working with different stakeholders and through local consultants and research or health institutions to deliver a quality product and providing advice
• Previous experience of similar work in countries that are emerging from serious health system crises and are in transition to recovery and development
• Experience in conducting national level evaluations in Zimbabwe or sub Saharan countries

Specifically the team leader should have the following desired qualifications:

• Advanced degree in public health, health policy, social work, sociology, economics, anthropology, etc.
• Relevant international experience in health systems.
• At least 15 years of experience in health/social sector
• Demonstrated work experience and collaboration with governments in Africa
• Strong track record of liaising with international development agencies
• Proven diplomatic and liaison skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Proven ability to work under tight deadlines
• Fluency in English

The team should comprise at least members with the following expertise:

RBF

• Advanced degree in public health, health policy, or  economics
• At least 10 years of relevant international experience in implementation and evaluation of RBF
• Work in African health systems
• Strong track record of liaising with international development agencies
• Proven diplomatic and liaison skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Proven ability to work under tight deadlines

HRH

• Advanced degree in public health, health policy, economics or  management
• At least 10 years of relevant international experience in implementation and evaluation of HRH
• Work in African health systems
• Strong track record of liaising with international development agencies
• Proven diplomatic and liaison skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Proven ability to work under tight deadlines

PSM

• Advance degree in supply management
• At least 10 years of experience in public health procurement supply management
• Strong track record of liaising with international development agencies
• Proven diplomatic and liaison skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Proven ability to work under tight deadlines

Response Requirements: At this stage, UNICEF is requesting Expression of Interest from Institutions consultants interested in competing for a multi-year contract to conduct the mid-term and final evaluation of the Health Development Fund (HDF).  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 10:00PM Harare local time on Friday, 10 November 2017.  We strongly encourage responses at the earliest, as Institutions that express interest may begin to receive the RFP documents prior to the closing date.  Email responses should be addressed to omhungu@unicef.org copying tcampbell@unicef.org.  Mailed responses can be sent to The Supply Unit, UNICEF Harare Office, 6 Fairbridge Avenue, P.O. Box 1250, Belgravia, Harare, Zimbabwe.