Expression of Interest For Consulting Services Firms Selection: Design And Conduct The Project Baseline And Endline Surveys

Expression of Interest are invited for Consulting Services Firms Selection: design and conduct the project baseline and endline surveys. I. Background The Integrated Perinatal Care Project (IPCP) supports the governments commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in which perinatal health has become a main priority area of the government policy. The project addresses identified needs in perinatal health, namely regionalization of perinatal care by strengthening care and treatment capacities at each level of care. It aims to improve the quality of perinatal services in the country and has four outputs: Output 1: Perinatal centers modernized and upgraded. The project will provide about 230 perinatal centers throughout Uzbekistan with high-quality and energy-efficient medical equipment. The equipment provisions will replace worn-out and outdated equipment and support the planned increase in number of maternity beds, NICUs, and functional operating theaters. To help ensure reliability and sustainability of the project equipment, suppliers of essential equipment will be required to provide post-warranty comprehensive maintenance services for at least 2 years. Proper inventory, functioning, and maintenance of medical equipment will be recorded and monitored through an asset management system being developed by the government. Capacity building under the project will ensure that knowledge about corrective and preventive maintenance will be transferred to local levels. Output 2: Perinatal referral system strengthened. To ensure access to timely and quality risk-appropriate care of pregnant women and newborns, the project will enhance the perinatal referral system through further assessment and strengthening of current implementation gaps, including capacity building of emergency response teams. It will support the national rollout of EHRsthat would allow intra- and inter- facility sharing of patient information to strengthen efficiency and effectiveness of the perinatal referral and counter-referral system. Patronage nurses, attached to district antenatal clinics, will be equipped with digital tablets and provided with access to the EHRs to register and track pregnant women in their catchment areas. Output 3: Quality adherence at perinatal centers enhanced. The project will enhance continuous medical and professional education through support for developing and updating relevant training curricula and modules aligned with international standards. Training on supportive supervisionemphasizing mentorship, joint problem solving, and two-way communication between supervisors and supervisees will be provided to support ongoing government efforts to improve monitoring the quality of care. Health workers will be trained to recognize and provide services to victims of gender-based violence, as well as on managing health risks to pregnancy women and newborns associated with climate change. Quality adherence including monitoring compliance with clinical pathways and referral protocols and establishing quality committees in health facilities will further improve the quality of care of perinatal care. Output 4: Maternal health-seeking behavior improved. The project will support interventions to improve maternal health-seeking behavior and help women receive timely and appropriate care. Targeted media campaigns will inform and influence women and families about the importance of antenatal care, focusing on empowering young women. It will also support (i) developing knowledge and capacity of midwives and nurses in social and behavior change communication (BCC), in line with the implementation of the universal-progressive model of home-visiting nurses, (ii) assignment of BCC focal persons in higher-level perinatal facilities, and (iii) sensitizing and engaging policy makers regarding the importance of perinatal health. II. Survey objectives The consult firm will support the PIU to design and conduct the project baseline and endline surveys. Baseline survey. The survey will establish the baseline situation for subsequent assessment of project outcome and achievements, including in terms of improving utilization, quality of services including referrals, and maternal health seeking behaviors. The survey will establish baseline values for the indicators in the design and monitoring framework (DMF) and gender action plan (GAP). The firm will develop survey methodology (consisting of both quantitative and qualitative methods), survey tools, and sampling approach in consultation with the EA/PIU. Endline survey. The endline survey will assess the before-after achievements of the project as measured by, among others, the project indicators in DMF and GAP. The survey will provide endline estimates for project indicators in terms of implementation outcome and outputs and measure changes in all DMFs indicators. The endline survey may also include additional questions to evaluate the project design and implementation issues and lessons. III. Scope of work A firm is sought to carry out the baseline and project completion surveys. The work will include: further consideration and finalization of the sampling design; finalization of the data collection methodology; development, pre-testing and finalization of the data collection tools: preparation of the data collection schedule; and carrying out data collection, data analysis and report writing. The Firm is also expected to provide relevant data analysis software and equipment such as tablets. General tasks under the assignment include the following: Review all project documents Undertake consultations with PIU to confirm the scope of work Design overall survey methodology for review and approval of the PIU Based on the approved methodology, develop the evaluation tools and detailed implementation plan. Undertake field data collection, data processing and analysis. Prepare draft reports and recommendations for review by the PIU/EA and ADB Finalize report based on feedback. Tender Link : https://gov.uz/ssv/sections/tenderlar/