Progress on Taking Forward the Global Strategy - The PMNCH 2012 Report
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS - AGREEMENT FOR PERFORMANCE OF WORK
Issue date: 21 February 2012
Closing date/time: 8 March 2012, 17.00 CET
1. Objective
The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) seeks the services of a consultant(s)
to contribute to the development of the PMNCH 2012 Report on commitments to the Global
Strategy for Women's and Children's Health.
2. Background
The UN Secretary-General's (UNSG) Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health, which was
launched in September 2010, has generated more than 200 commitments from a range of
stakeholders.1 To promote accountability and further the understanding of the commitments,
PMNCH released a report in September 2011 entitled Analysing commitments to advance the Global
Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health: The PMNCH 2011 Report. The report and Web-Annex 1
with all the commitments included in the analysis can be found here:
http://www.who.int/pmnch/topics/part_publications/2011_pmnch_report/en/index.html
The Global Strategy called for the establishment of an accountability mechanism to track progress
toward the Strategy’s aims and to monitor the implementation of the commitments made. In
response, the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health
was established to propose a framework to strengthen global and national reporting, oversight and
accountability for women's and children's health.2 In its report released in May 2011, the
Commission recommended the creation of an independent Expert Review Group (iERG) to report
regularly to the UNSG on progress.3 To help inform its reporting to the UNSG, the iERG has
requested PMNCH to provide:
 A review of stakeholder commitments to the UN Global Strategy and the extent to which
those commitments have been delivered, and
 A review of good practices and obstacles to accountability for RMNCH.
PMNCH is therefore planning to produce a 2012 Report on the Global Strategy commitments. The
objectives of the 2012 Report are to report to the iERG as outlined above, and to promote
accountability of all stakeholders for women's and children's health.
1
For a full list of commitments, see: www.everywomaneverychild.org
http://www.who.int/woman_child_accountability/about/coia/en/index.html
3
http://www.who.int/woman_child_accountability/ierg/en/
2
3. Scope and deliverables
This section sets out a range of analytical inputs required to develop the report. 4
Bids can be submitted for all four deliverables, or for individual pieces (i, ii-a, ii-b, ii-c). It is
recognized that deliverables could benefit from being carried out jointly; consortia could be formed
for this purpose.
i. Analysis of Global Strategy commitments
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
Online questionnaire: development, testing, analysis. This questionnaire will be sent to
representatives of the countries and institutions that have made commitments to take
forward the Global Strategy.5 The questionnaire will focus on progress made in
implementing the commitments, and related internal accountability arrangements.
Content analysis: this will include an analysis of the content of the commitments made, e.g.
focus on specific countries/geographic areas, interventions, or elements of health systems.
Analysis of overall progress: assessment of the level and alignment of implementation of
commitments towards addressing the gaps identified in the Global Strategy and achieving
the health MDGs with a particular focus on country commitments and significant financial,
policy and service delivery commitments.
The deliverable will be a final report by 15 May 2012.
ii. Thematic studies
In addition to the analysis of the Global Strategy commitments themselves, there will be more indepth analyses on specific topics related to the implementation and accountability of commitments.
Each of these thematic studies would include literature review, analysis of relevant databases, 15-20
key informant interviews, and travel if required. Deliverables related to the thematic studies are set
out in ii-a, ii-b and ii-c below.
ii-a. Financing for RMNCH
This will involve an analysis of the extent to which financial commitments pledged under the
framework of the Global Strategy are aligned with each other and the principles of the Global
Strategy, how much of the financial commitments have been disbursed, what proportion of
commitments is new and additional, what are the mechanisms by which countries and civil society
can access committed funding, and challenges in tracking financial commitments to women's and
children's health.
The deliverable will be a final report by 15 May 2012.
4
There will be additional elements (e.g. on the gaps in human resources for health, and on women's
participation in accountability mechanisms) that will also inform the report that are not part of this RFP. Those
complementary analyses will be conducted directly by PMNCH and its partners.
5
PMNCH will provide support to this process, e.g. contacts from the 2011 report.
ii-b. Accountability for RMNCH
This will involve an analysis of innovative and effective national6 practices to promote accountability
for commitments; barriers experienced by key stakeholders; and awareness of and plans for
implementation of the recommendations of the Commission on Information and Accountability.
The deliverable will be a final report by 15 May 2012.
ii-c. Country case studies
This will involve the development of two country case studies, one in Africa, one in Asia. This
deliverable should include collaboration with in-country partners. The countries will be selected by
PMNCH based on a range of criteria, including burden of disease and the number/scope of
commitments made by a range of stakeholders to this country.
The analysis should address how commitments were made and how evidence was used to inform
these decisions; the extent to which commitments are aligned with national needs, strategies and
plans, and what processes are in place to ensure such alignment; whether the commitments are
implemented in a coordinated way; constraints and gaps in implementation of commitments; level
of integration/collaboration with other (non-health) sectors; and whether additional support is
needed to increase the effectiveness of commitments to the Global Strategy.
The deliverable will be a final report by 15 May 2012.
4. Process
The consultant (s) will work in close coordination with the PMNCH secretariat and under the
guidance of the coordinators of PMNCH strategic objectives. An advisory group, comprised of
experts from different disciplines, will provide technical review, advise on how to maximize the
relevance and impact of the report's analysis and findings, and ensure complementarity with related
accountability reports and processes.
5. Required competencies
Bidders for this contract must demonstrate the following qualifications:
 Strong analytical skills, including synthesis of information from multiple sources and
methods, conducting and analyzing key informant interviews, and where relevant,
competence in quantitative and econometric analysis;
 Established project management experience, including working with different sector and
disciplines; and
 Excellent writing skills.
6
For a PMNCH-commissioned review of global accountability mechanisms for women’s and children’s health
(2011), see: http://www.who.int/pmnch/topics/part_publications/2011_accountability-mechanisms/en/
6. About PMNCH
The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (www.pmnch.org), hosted by the World
Health Organization, is a partnership of over 400 organizations from seven constituencies:
governments; UN and multilateral organizations; donors and foundations; non-governmental
organizations; healthcare professional associations; academic, research and training institutions; and
the private sector. The vision of the Partnership is the achievement of the MDGs, with women and
children enabled to realize their right to the highest attainable standard of health. PMNCH works
towards this goal by supporting the alignment of Partners’ strategic directions and catalysing
collective action to promote universal access to essential interventions for women’s and children’s
health.
7. Instructions to bidders
The deadline for submitting a proposal is 8 March 2012, at 17:00 CET.
The proposal will be a concept note (not more than 10 pages) that includes the following elements:
 Short institutional profile(s) and biographies of the anticipated team members;
 A brief description of the proposed project approach or methods;
 Estimated and itemized budget summary; and
 Contact details of the lead analyst.
Please specify for which deliverable(s) you are submitting the proposal:
 i: Analysis of Global Strategy commitments
 ii-a: Financing for RMNCH
 ii-b: Accountability for RMNCH
 ii-c: Country case studies
The proposal should be submitted to:
The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health
Email: [email protected], with a copy to [email protected]
Questions, if any, may be directed in writing to the same email address.