Request for Proposals: Monitoring and evaluation of Rapid Access Expansion (RAcE) 2015 grants
The WHO Global Malaria Programme is inviting proposals for the monitoring and evaluation of activities carried out by grantees of the Rapid Access Expansion (RAcE) 2015 project. The deadline to file an intention to bid is 17 January 2013 and the final deadline to submit proposals is 3 February 2012. Details of the call are contained in the document entitled “Monitoring and Evaluation of the WHO Rapid Access Expansion (RAcE) 2015 Project. Request for Proposals (RFP). Bid Reference 2013/HTM/GMP/0001”. This document is available through the zipped file below along with other related files.
About RAcE
Globally, 6.9 million children died in 2011 before reaching their fifth birthday. Of the 3.9 million deaths in children under 5 that occur after the first month of life, 32% are attributable to pneumonia, 19% to diarrhea and 12% to malaria, the leading causes of death in the post-neonatal period . According to the World Malaria Report 2012, malaria accounts for nearly 550,000 deaths in children under 5 in the African Region
In order to tackle the three major diseases in children, the WHO Global Malaria Programme (GMP), with the support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), has launched the RAcE 2015 project in five African countries (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger and Nigeria). The project will be implemented over 4 years (2013-2017).
As in most high-mortality countries, facility-based services alone do not provide adequate access to treatment, and, most importantly, not within the crucial window of 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. RAcE 2015 will focus on supporting case management of episodes of diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria in children aged 2-59 months at the community level through a network of Community Health Workers (CHWs). In the five countries, RAcE 2015 will provide case management to at least 750,000 children in the age group 2-59 months through a network of community health workers (CHWs), and is expected to save between 4,200 and 6,200 lives per year of project implementation at full scale.
The main objective of RAcE 2015 is to catalyse the scale-up of community case management of malaria (CCMm) and integrated community case management (iCCM), which includes the treatment of pneumonia and diarrhoea as an integral part of government-provided health services in sub-Saharan Africa. The goal is to increase coverage of diagnostic, treatment, and referral services for these three major causes of childhood mortality (malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea) and, therefore, accelerate achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals.
The secondary objective of the initiative is to stimulate policy review and regulatory update in each country on disease case management (especially on diagnostic procedures and use of antibiotics in peripheral settings), and accelerate adaptation of supply management and surveillance systems to include services at community level. This will promote full ownership by the relevant national health authorities of the iCCM and CCMm interventions developed during the course of the project and will create the basis for a successful handover of these interventions to the national health authorities upon conclusion of the project.
Monitoring and evaluation of RAcE 2015 grants
WHO requires the successful bidder, the Contractor, to perform both quality assurance and control with regard to all monitoring and evaluation activities planned and undertaken by RAcE 2015’s grantees, in order to ensure optimal performance of the grants by reaching at least 90% of all targets set. The overall success of RAcE 2015 will be judged according to whether the activities that it funds lead to an expansion of access to prompt and adequate diagnosis, treatment and referral for children aged 2-59 months with malaria, pneumonia or diarrhea. This is expected to lead to a reduction of overall mortality and a reduction of severe cases in the target group.
Coverage of disease episodes by the iCCM intervention will be the main outcome measure of the RAcE project. It will be assessed in each intervention area both at baseline and end-line through household cluster surveys that will be conducted by the grantee, with technical support from the M&E contractor. The surveys will also gather data on knowledge, attitudes and practices about malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea, and investigate the health seeking behaviour for sick children (e.g. health clinic, community health worker, private vendors, etc.). All data will be segregated by sex and socio-economic quintiles to evaluate the effect of the project on access equity.
Coverage of disease episodes by the iCCM intervention will be the main outcome measure of the RAcE project. It will be assessed in each intervention area both at baseline and end-line through household cluster surveys that will be conducted by the grantee, with technical support from the M&E contractor. The surveys will also gather data on knowledge, attitudes and practices about malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea, and investigate the health seeking behaviour for sick children (e.g. health clinic, community health worker, private vendors, etc.). All data will be segregated by sex and socio-economic quintiles to evaluate the effect of the project on access equity.
Important deadlines
- Deadline to manifest an intention to bid: 17 January 2013
- Deadline to submit questions related to the RFP by email: 24 January 2013
- Deadline to submit proposals: 3 February 2013
- Opening of proposals will be on 4 February 2013
Announcement of successful bidder will be made within 2 weeks from the day proposals are opened.
For further information regarding this request for proposal, please contact:
Dr. Franco Pagnoni
Team Leader of RAcE 2015 Project
WHO Global Malaria Programme.
Tel: +41 22 791 1811.
Email: pagnonif@who.int
or
Mrs. Shook-Pui LEE-MARTIN, Procurement and Finance Officer,
RAcE 2015 Project, WHO Global Malaria Programme.
Tel: +41 22 791 1842.
Email: Email: leemartins@who.int