Engender Health Ethiopia

Reporter
(Jan 26, 2025)

Call for bid- Development of Culturally Sensitive Family Planning Counseling Tools for pastoral regions in Ethiopia

EngenderHealth is a leading global women’s health organization. EngenderHealth’s vision is a world where sexual and reproductive health rights are respected as human rights, and women and girls have the freedom to reach their full potential. This emphasis on rights directly underpins EngenderHealth’s values and principles: choice, quality, and excellence. To achieve transformational change leading to true social and economic progress, EngenderHealth collaborates with diverse organizations across sectors with shared goals of highlighting women’s value to sustainable development.

Applicants are advised to carefully review and comprehensively respond to and integrate relevant portions of the TOR in their proposal submissions. Proposals not meeting the TOR requirements will not be considered.

The final date for proposal submission will be Friday, Feb 4, 2025@4:00 pm in the afternoon

Late submissions will not be accepted.

Physician address of EngenderHealth Djibouti Avenue (around Adey Ababa International Stadium), in front of Abegaz Tower. Office Phone: 0116-63-08-33 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

SCOPE OF WORK FOR CONSULTANCY SERVICES

Development of Culturally Sensitive Family Planning Counseling Tools for pastoral regions in Ethiopia

1. Background and Context

The USAID Lowlands Health Activity (LHA), supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is dedicated to improving health and nutrition in Ethiopia’s pastoral areas. The activity aims to enhance access to and the use of quality Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent, and Youth Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH-N) services. It operates in 35 selected woredas across the Somali, Afar, South Omo Zone of Southern Ethiopia, and Borena Zone of Oromia, focusing on strengthening Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities and fostering community involvement to elevate health outcomes and service quality.

LHA acknowledges the considerable obstacles that community members encounter in obtaining high-quality RMNCAH-N services, especially in remote pastoralist regions. Despite various government-led efforts and initiatives, including the Transforming Health in Developing Regions (THDR) Activity, contraceptive use in Ethiopia’s lowland areas remains significantly low. Furthermore, postpartum family planning (PPFP) counseling is infrequent and has not been adequately integrated into existing health programs. Numerous obstacles have impeded advancement. The frequent turnover of staff disrupts the continuity of service delivery. Additionally, the scarcity of culturally appropriate family planning counseling tools and practices diminishes the acceptability of services among pastoralist communities. Furthermore, the perceptions held by healthcare providers regarding family planning adversely affect both the quality of services and their utilization. This is linked with unique cultural and societal dynamics influencing the acceptance and use of FP services. Existing counseling tools often fail to address the specific needs, beliefs, and social structures of these communities.

This consultancy aims to develop culturally tailored FP counseling tools to improve service uptake and enhance informed decision-making among pastoral populations.

2. Objectives

  • To design a culturally sensitive FP counseling tool incorporating local beliefs, gender roles, and socio-economic factors.
  • To ensure the tool supports healthcare providers in delivering respectful, community-appropriate FP counseling services.

3. Scope of Work

The consultant will undertake the following activities:

1. Situation Analysis and Literature Review

  • Review existing FP counseling tools and their application in pastoralist regions.
  • Analyze cultural norms, gender dynamics, and traditional beliefs affecting FP service adoption.

2. Stakeholder Engagement

  • Conduct consultations with religious leaders, elders, community members, health professionals, and government officials.
  • Facilitate participatory workshops to gather insights and ensure the tool reflects community perspectives.

3. Design and development of Culturally Sensitive Family Planning (FP) Counseling Tool

  • This focuses on creating innovative and inclusive counseling tools that resonate with the cultural context and literacy levels of pastoralist communities to enhance the effectiveness of family planning services.
  •  Design counseling tool and messaging that respects local values, beliefs, and traditions while providing clear, evidence-based information about family planning options.
  • Incorporate language and narratives that highlight the health benefits of family planning for mothers, children, and families, using non-confrontational and positive framing to promote acceptance
  •  Use storytelling as a powerful tool to convey family planning concepts, featuring stories that reflect real-life situations and decision-making processes. Include relatable characters, such as mothers, fathers, community leaders, clan leaders, and religious leaders, to demonstrate how family planning improves lives.
  • Develop role-based counseling guides that train healthcare providers to use culturally respectful communication techniques. Tailor these approaches to engage husbands, elders, and other influential figures in the community to foster supportive environments for women’s reproductive choices.

4. Validation and Testing

  • Pilot the counseling tool in selected health facilities.
  • Collect feedback from healthcare providers and community members to refine the content.

5. Finalization and Dissemination

  •  Incorporate feedback and finalize the tool.
  •  Develop a user guide for healthcare providers

4. Deliverables

  • Inception report with work plan and timeline.
  • Review existing FP counseling tools and their application in pastoralist regions.
  • Organize a consultative workshop to enhance the findings from the desk review regarding culturally appropriate family planning counseling tools.
  • Develop a draft of a culturally sensitive family planning counseling tool for review.
  • Final FP counseling tool tailored for pastoralist settings translated into local languages
  • User guide for the culturally sensitive FP counseling tool

5. Duration and Timeline

The total duration of the consultancy with milestones for all deliverables is three months from Feb 10 to May 09, 2025

6. Qualifications and Required Expertise

i. Educational Qualifications

  • Medical Doctor with a master’s in public health or specialization in Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Public Health with masters in Reproductive Health
  • Additional experience in social and behavioral change (SBC) activities, including designing, implementing, or evaluating SBC interventions is preferred

ii. Relevant Work Experience of a minimum 8 years

  • Experience in developing Family planning Counseling tools for low-resource and pastoralist settings.
  • Knowledge of Reproductive Health, FP, and culturally sensitive Counseling methods.
  • Proficiency in participatory tool design and community engagement.
  • Experience in consulting or advisory roles with demonstrated project successes.

7. Reporting and Supervision

The consultant will report to the senior Family Planning and Maternal Health Advisor of USAID LHA, providing regular updates and seeking feedback at key stages of development.

8. Required Submissions

  1. Technical Proposal: a document outlining the consultant’s understanding of the USAID LHA needs, the scope of work, and the approach to delivering the service.
  2. Curriculum Vitae (CV): evidence of experience and skills relevant to the consultancy service.
  3. A financial proposal with a detailed budget.
  4. At least two references from similar assignments.

Proposals should be submitted to EngenderHealth by Feb 4, 2025@ 4:00 PM in the afternoon

This SoW serves as the guiding framework for the assignment, ensuring alignment with USAID LHA’s objectives and the overarching goal of improving RMNCAH-N service delivery in Ethiopia’s pastoral communities.