Local Consultancy - Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EmONC)

Tags: Human Rights Covid-19 Environment
  • Added Date: Friday, 01 August 2025
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Background

EmONC Assessment

Although maternal mortality is declining, Zimbabwe is not on target to meet its SDG goals of reducing maternal mortality to below 70/100000 or its neonatal rate to less than 12 /1000 as per the ENAP goals. It is imperative to generate evidence that will guide the development of robust, evidence-based strategies that will accelerate the current rate of decline of maternal mortality. Emergency Obstetric and newborn Care (EmONC) plays a pivotal role in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality by providing life-saving interventions during pregnancy-related complications. The Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) initiative set a global target to ensure at least 60% of the population can access a functional EmONC facility within two hours of travel time. Achieving this target is essential for minimizing maternal and neonatal mortality and improving overall reproductive health outcomes.

The 2023 national harmonized health facility assessment (HHFA) report shows that EmONC coverage is low. Only 5% of facilities offer all seven BEmONC signal functions, and 3% offer all nine CEmONC signal functions. Thus, the proportion of deliveries happening in โ€œcertifiedโ€ EmONC facilities is therefore low. The HHFA however does not comprehensively explore the reasons for the low coverage. In addition, it does not assess all the key EmONC indicators and therefore vital information required for planning or improving EmONC is missing. The last EmONC assessment was done more than 10 years ago.

The following key questions need to be answered:

Are there enough facilities providing EmONC? Are the facilities well distributed? Are enough women using the facilities? Are enough critical services being provided? Is the quality of the services adequate?

Specific objectives

Assess availability and geographical distribution of EmONC servicesย  Assess utilization of the available EmONC services Determine the obstetric case fatality rates for the leading direct causes of maternal mortality in Zimbabwe (post-partum haemorrhage, eclampsia)ย  Assess the quality of the EmONC services Identify gaps, reasons and constraints of availing EmONC services Develop an EmONC improvement plan.ย 

SDP Survey

Zimbabwe is one of the countries supported under the UNFPA Global Supplies Programme. This programme is aimed at strengthening commodity security for family planning and other reproductive health services.ย  The key survey used to monitor progress and impact is the SDP survey. The main objective of the 2025 SDP assessment is to assess the availability of modern family planning methods and essential maternal and reproductive health medicines as well as coverage and quality of family planning services. The assessment will help understand progress made on the availability of RH commodities at service delivery points, rates of stock out, readiness of facilities to provide quality FP services and the level of family planning method mix. The results and recommendations facilitate actions for improving RH commodity security and quality of services.ย 

Specific objectives

1. Assess the availability of contraceptives and other selected RH and maternal health medicines, including reasons for stock-outs.ย 

2. Assess the readiness of facilities to provide family planning services (human resource capacity/training, availability and use of guidelines, job aids, ICT tools)

3. Examine health facilities' supply chain mechanisms, including cold chain storage, transportation, and logistics.

4. Analyze clientsโ€™ perceived quality of family planning services

5. Assess cost and financial barriers to accessing family planning services.ย 

6. Propose practical recommendations to enhance RH commodity security and quality of servicesย 

ย 

Why are we integrating the two surveys?

Both surveys are essentially โ€œhealth facility assessmentsโ€, cross-sectional descriptive surveys. The sampling to be done is almost the same. Review and adaptation of tools, and data collection can be done concurrently, saving time and potentially resources. Dissemination of results can also be done at the same time.

ย 

ย Methodology.ย 

Both surveys will adopt a cross-sectional design integrating quantitative and qualitative data collection methodsย  The EmONC assessment will be conducted using EmONC assessment standard tools. The WHO handbook โ€œmonitoring emergency obstetric careโ€ will also guide on the indicators to be assessed.

ย 

The SDP survey will follow a standardized design, tools and procedures to enable global comparison with all the countries supported under the UNFPA Global Supplies Partnership programme.

Data collection โ€“ Will be done through desk reviews, interview administered questionnaires to health workers, key informant interviews and client exit interviews.

The Position:

๐Ÿ“š ๐——๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—๐—ผ๐—ฏ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—จ๐—ก ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ! ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿค ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ก๐—˜๐—ช ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐˜๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—š๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—จ๐—ก ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—จ๐—ก๐—›๐—–๐—ฅ, ๐—ช๐—™๐—ฃ, ๐—จ๐—ก๐—œ๐—–๐—˜๐—™, ๐—จ๐—ก๐——๐—ฆ๐—ฆ, ๐—จ๐—ก๐—™๐—ฃ๐—”, ๐—œ๐—ข๐—  ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€! ๐ŸŒ

โš ๏ธ ๐‚๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐‹๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ฐ: ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐“๐ž๐œ๐ก๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐š ๐ฃ๐จ๐› ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐”๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐Ž๐–!

The purpose of the consultancy is to conduct a National Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EmONC) and Service Delivery Point (SDP) assessments

National EmONC Assessmentย 

Assess availability, distribution and quality of EmONC services to ย inform ย develop a National EmONC Improvement Plan and build/strengthen the National Referral Obstetric Network.ย  ย 

SDP Survey

The main objective of the 2025 SDP assessment is to assess the availability of modern family planning methods and essential maternal and reproductive health medicines as well as readiness of facilities to provide quality FP service delivery at public health facilities.ย 

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.ย  UNFPAโ€™s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to โ€œbuild forward betterโ€, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on womenโ€™s and girlsโ€™ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

Scope of Work

The consultant will:

Conduct literature review Develop research protocols Lead and finalize the adaptation of the survey tools, including pre-testing of tools Train enumerators Coordinate data collection Analyze data Write two separate reports โ€“ EmONC assessment report and SDP survey

Expected Deliverables

Inception Report with reports outline and methodological approach and the tools to be used First Draft Reportsย  Draft EmONC report Draft SDP survey report Final reports Final EmONC assessment report Final SDP survey report PowerPoint Presentation slide deckย 

ย Qualifications and Experience:ย 

ย Educationย 

Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery Degree ย Masterโ€™s in Public Health or equivalent
ย 

Knowledge and Experience:ย 

At least 10 years of proven experience conducting health facility assessments Understanding of family planning, reproductive and maternal health Experience working in Zimbabwe Experience working with the Ministry of Health and Child Care Excellent written and verbal communication skills

UNFPA Work Environment:

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click hereย to learn more.

Disclaimer:

Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements.ย 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts.ย 

Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.

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