Focus

• The concept focuses on ensuring that care is not only accessible and affordable but also of high quality, ensuring better health outcomes for women, children, and newborns. Strategies for improving RMNCH quality of care:
  • Strengthening health systems: Providing well-trained and motivated health workers, adequate infrastructure, and supportive policies.
  • Community involvement: Engaging communities in decision-making, planning, and monitoring of services.
  • Health education: Increasing awareness and knowledge about health care practices and healthy behaviors.
  • Learning and sharing: Continuous learning and sharing are needed to facilitate documentation, sharing and learning in support of QoC for MNCH to inform best practices for scale up.
  • Monitoring and evaluation: Collecting data to track the performance of health services and identify areas for improvement.

Objectives

• The overall objective is to improve the quality of obstetric and newborn care services at targeted health centres, and hospitals, including care of the small and sick newborn.
• The specific objectives are:
  • Identification of gaps in the delivery of quality maternal and newborn health services, including for sick newborns and continue to implement the appropriate and vetted strategies for improvement
  • Continued monitoring of quality improvement mechanisms in the targeted facilities
  • Building the capacity of health workers in the provision of quality maternal and newborn care services, including for sick newborns
  • Center of excellence in the QoC MNCAH service including FP
  • Provision of community based maternal and newborn care services

Sectors and Areas of Specialization 

• Health
  • Adolescent health, including sexual and reproductive health
  • Health systems strengthening
  • Maternal and newborn health, including emergency obstetric care

Expected Results

• The proposed program aims to achieve the following expected results using innovative and comprehensive strategies/ approaches:
  • Strengthening competencies of health care providers working in Specialized Newborn Care Unit, labor room and Kangaroo Mother Care units in selected secondary and tertiary hospitals by implementing needs-based, low-dose-high-frequency on-site skills and simulation sessions through coaching and mentoring.
  • Strengthening competencies of health care providers working at PHC facilities in ANC/PNC services, labour room, Newborn stabilizing and KMC rooms and Family planning.
  • Strengthening low cost; efficient set-up for simulation-based capacity building at the health facilities by implementing systems for effective operationalization.
  • Strengthening the linkages for technical support between different levels of health facilities, expert networks from professional associations and training centers, by developing a pool of mentors/trainers on maternal and newborn health.
  • Strengthening the quality of maternal and newborn care through effective implementation of QI processes like MPDSR and strengthening effective care of small & sick newborns like KMC, HBB for resuscitation, temperature monitoring and intrapartum monitoring innovations like safer births bundle, Labor Care Guide.
  • Ensuring community engagement through human-centered design approach to identify issues and local solutions for improving care seeking practices for FP and RMNCAH services
  • Ensure that best practices and learnings are documented and share within and across facilities, informing scale up of promising practices.

Expected Deliverables 

• The following are some of the results expected from the work:
  • Quarterly supportive supervision reports provided to Unicef
  • SCBU and labor ward nurses and other health workers receive mentorship services
  • Monthly data collected analysed and feedback given
  • Quarterly Joint supervision from national level conducted, quarterly report to indicate supervision outcomes discussed with District staff
  • MNH Quality of Care (QOC) assessment report and Improvement plan for the district hospitals and BEmONC health centers in target districts
  • MPDRs and newborn care data base summarized every quarter
  • Each QIT supported to undertake 12 meetings throughout the contract period, including documentation of QI initatives.
  • Community Score Card activities conducted documented, followed up and reported on quarterly basis.

Selection Criteria

• Cost’s level of direct costs and administrative costs proposed as necessary by the NGO to implement the work plan. Partners are encouraged to contribute to direct programme costs.
• Local experience, presence and community relations; particularly, participating NGO have experience working and presence in Ministry of health of Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara. UNICEF promotes localization. Therefore, this Call for Expression of Interest is for INGOs having experience of working in Nigeria, N/LNGOs and CSOs.
• Previous experience of working with UNICEF or other international donors and awareness of partnership and financial policies and procedures.
• Technical expertise in relevant sectors (Health and Nutrition) and coordination mechanism with government sectoral departments are in place

For more information, visit UN Partner Portal.