Individual international consultancy on technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan (MoHMI) in conducting a Turkmenistan National Micronutrient Survey

Consultant Medical & Health Programme & Policy

Contract

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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, healthy nutrition

Turkmenistan pays high attention to maternal and child health and nutrition. There have been tangible efforts to fight iron deficiency and anemia over the past two decades leading to the introduction and nationwide implementation of flour fortification and universal salt iodization (USI) programmes by the Government. The flour fortification and salt iodization interventions has been started in early 2000 by the Government and have gradually achieved universal coverage. Since 2008 all premium and firsts flour produced in the country has been fortified with iron and folic acid, according to the decree of the President of Turkmenistan. In 2004, the country was certified as having achieved universal salt iodization.

However, the data on anemia, iron deficiency, folic acid deficiency, and Vitamin A deficiency are outdated as the last study of anemia among women and children were conducted in 2011.

Given the significant impact of micronutrient deficiencies on the well-being of children and women and considering the fact that the current evidence on micronutrient deficiencies is outdated, undertaking a national micronutrient survey is critical. The national nutrition survey will support the policymakers to understand how the flour fortification programme and supplementation have worked; it will also provide fresh and applied evidence needed for policy advocacy and programming to address the priority of micronutrients.

UNICEF office in Turkmenistan as per signed work plans for 2021 and 2022 is committed to supporting the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry (MoHMI) to undertake this survey and is looking to contract international expertise to ensure quality control of data processing.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of Assignment:

The survey will assess the nutritional and micronutrient status and the coverage of the wheat flour fortification and salt iodization programs. The results of the survey must be representative to national and sub-national levels of all 6 regions.

The TNMS will be nationwide in scope, and will collect data about four target groups:

households, 2) children 6-59 months of age, 3) non-pregnant women 15-49 years of age, and 4) pregnant women.

The Intended users of the Survey are the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry, UNICEF, all line ministries, local governments, and academia which will use the results of the Survey to gain more knowledge on the situation with anemia and other nutrients deficiency prevalence and to improve their advocacy and practical actions in development nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions.

The Survey is implemented in 2 phases. The first phase was completed in 2021.

1st phase resulted in the development of the comprehensive survey protocol, tools, supply procurement support, and sampling. All documents are agreed upon with the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry.

The purpose of this assignment is to provide technical support to the MoHMI in data collection, entry, processing, and establishment of the internal data quality assurance mechanism.

Specific Tasks:

1. Development of a “Logic file”, consisting of a set of commands in the CSPro language (CSPro language), necessary to control the operation of the application and a “Message file”.
2. Development of an Interface for entering data on clusters.
3. Development of programme of secondary editing (if necessary).
4. Development of a programme of consolidation and export of data to SPSS.
5. Support of Welfare Index calculation (to disaggregate data by wealth quintiles) based on the questions used in the Household Questionnaire.

Work Assignment Overview

The consultancy is covering the period of December 15, 2022 – June 30, 2023.

Day-to-day supervision will be provided by the Health and Nutrition Specialist of the UNICEF Turkmenistan Country Office. Additional guidance and lead will be provided by the Deputy Representative and CRM Specialist.

The schedule of the TNMS and distribution of days by tasks and corresponding deliverables:

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline:

Estimate

Budget:

1. Development of a “Logic file”, consisting of a set of commands in the CSPro language (CSPro language), necessary to control the operation of the application and a “Message file”.

The “Logic file” consisting of a set of commands in the CSPro language is available.

December 2022

2. Development of an Interface for entering data on clusters.

Interface for entering data developed.

December 2022

3. Development of a programme of consolidation and export of data to SPSS.

Programme of consolidation and export of data to SPSS.

December 2022

4. Support of Welfare Index calculation (to disaggregate data by wealth quintiles) based on the questions used in the Household Questionnaire.

Welfare Index calculated

January 2022

5. Final activity report developed

Report submitted

June 2023

UNICEF will regularly communicate with the selected consultant and provide formats for reports, feedback, and guidance on performance and all other necessary support so as to achieve the objectives of the exercise, as well as remain aware of any upcoming issues related to the expert performance and quality of work. UNICEF will provide logistical support for the in-country trips, such as the provision of office space, a vehicle for site visits at velayats level and official meetings, organization, and coordination of meetings, interpretation, and translation, and support with obtaining visa and registration, once in-country.

General Terms and Conditions

UNICEF’s general terms and conditions will apply to the contract awarded to the vendor. Please note that, in the evaluation of the technical merits of each proposal, UNICEF will take into consideration any proposed amendments to the UNICEF General Terms and Conditions. Proposed amendments to the UNICEF general terms and conditions may negatively affect the evaluation of the technical merits of the proposal.

UNICEF retains the right to patent and intellectual rights, as well as copyright and other similar intellectual property rights for any discoveries, inventions, products, or works arising specifically from the implementation of the project in cooperation with UNICEF. The right to reproduce or use materials shall be transferred with the written approval of UNICEF based on the consideration of each separate case. Consultants should always refer to UNICEF Turkmenistan’s support in developing the materials when publishing the results of the research conducted in Turkmenistan in academic journals, books, and websites.

In the event of unsatisfactory performance, UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the Agreement. In case of partially satisfactory performance, such as serious delays causing a negative impact on meeting the programme objectives, low quality or insufficient depth and/or scope of the assignment completion, UNICEF is entitled to decrease the payment by the range from 30% to 50% of the contract value as decided jointly by the Contract Supervisor and Operations Manager.

Quality Assurance:

Quality assurance reviews are undertaken to assess and ensure methodological soundness, compliance with research standards, appropriate research capacity, and ultimately the validity of the findings and the written quality of the documents. The feedback from national and external reviewers will include a recommendation on whether the product is meeting the minimum technical standards or whether it should be revised or rejected.

UNICEF Cos can use external QA (LTAs) in all cases where they have not established an alternative quality assurance process adherent to all internal technical quality requirements listed above. Quality assurance is recommended for all three outputs of the survey (ToRs, Research Protocol, and Draft Final Report) and Draft Final Reports.

Reference Groups (RG) are established at the start of the Survey if convened by the RSE-SC Chair and are normally composed of 8-12 members including key partners, relevant CO staff, and other internal UNICEF colleagues (RO and HQ). The members review and provide comments on the ToR, inception report, draft report(s), and the final report prior to its approval, suggest steps for improvement or other actions and recommend relevant clearance/approvals.

Ethical reviews are undertaken to ensure that measures are in place to guarantee the dignity, rights, and well-being of research participants and the safety of participants and researchers. Reflection on ethical considerations supports the purpose of RSEs, which is to generate and use evidence to promote the realization of children’s rights, equity, and social justice. The survey is involving primary data collection from human subjects and blood tests a meeting the UPES criteria and must go through a relevant external ethical review board or panel. Compliance with the provisions of the UPES (as well as UPQAR) may be subject to audit.

Reporting requirements

All documents are to be submitted during the assignment in English/Russian in e-copies and validated with the national team of experts.

Performance Indicators

Evaluation of performance will be based on the following indicators:

Quality of work (timely submission of the relevant documents to UNICEF);

Quantity of work (completing the assignments as indicated in parts 2 and 3);

In addition, such indicators as work relations, responsibility, and communication will be taken into account during the evaluation of the consultant’s work;

Work conditions and Payment Schedule linked to deliverables

The payment will be linked to the deliverables upon satisfactory completion and acceptance by UNICEF.

1st payment to be paid upon completion of deliverables No. 1,2,3 (10 working days).

By January 31, 2023

Final payment is to be paid by upon completion of deliverables No. 4,5 (5 working days).

By June 30, 2023

Submission of applications

The submissions should contain two separate proposals: Technical Proposal and Financial Proposal. Interested individuals are kindly requested to apply and upload the required documents accordingly.

Assessment Criteria

A two-stage procedure shall be utilized in evaluating proposals, with the evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Applications shall therefore contain the following required documentation:

Technical Proposal

Each proposal will be assessed first on its technical merits and subsequently on its price. In making the final decision, UNICEF considers both technical and financial aspects to ensure best value for money. The Evaluation Team first reviews the technical aspects of the offer, followed by a review of the financial offers of the technically compliant vendors. The proposal obtaining the highest overall score after adding the scores for the technical and financial proposals together, that offers the best value for money will be recommended for the award of the contract.

The technical proposal should include:

• A cover letter describing suitability vis-à-vis the requirements of this ToR;

• A summary of experience in similar assignments;

• Links to/attachments of examples of similar work;

• Proposed Workplan against deliverables

• CV

• References

The technical proposal should address all aspects of the above terms of reference. It will be evaluated against the pre-established technical evaluation criteria. No financial information should be contained in the technical proposal.

Please make sure to provide sufficient information/substantiating documentation to address all technical evaluation criteria. The assessed technical score must be equal to or exceed 70 of the total 100 points allocated to the technical evaluation in order to be considered technically compliant and for consideration in the financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria

Criteria

Technical Sub-Criteria

Maximum Points

70

Overall Response.

Completeness of proposal

Understanding of objectives and how they propose to perform the tasks in order to meet the objectives and requirements of the ToR

15

Range and depth of individual experience with similar projects

Samples of previous work

Relevant experience and qualifications for the assignment

20

Proposed Methodology and Approach

Description of methodology and timeline

Description of approach to ensure quality of services, absence of conflict of interest and respect of ethical standards

35

The minimum passing technical score is 50

Financial Proposal

The financial proposal shall indicate total budget estimated in USD. Payments will be based on outputs, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.

Items

Unit

Unit cost

Quantity

Total

Consultant International fee

Daily fee

Total

Evaluation criteria

The ratio between the technical and the financial criteria established in the RFPS depends on the relative importance of one component to the other 70/30 (technical/financial). Sum of technical and financial must always equal 100 points.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• University/advanced degree in programming or statistics
• Strong experience in statistical analysis and social analytics, development of the statistics codes, and work in SPSS;
• Statistical software knowledge is a requirement;
• Good communication and networking skills;
• Knowledge of English language. Knowledge of Russian is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

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Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org