RFP - An Integrated Model to Improve Early Childhood Development Outcomes in Meghalaya

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About the Organization

The State Department for Health and Family Welfare under the Minister for Health and Family Welfare is responsible for maintaining and developing the health care system in the State and guiding and supervising the Health and Family Welfare Programmes in the State. The services offered by the department are Preventive Health Care Services, Promotive Health Care Services, Routine Curative Services, and Rehabilitation Services etc. The activities of the department include establishment and maintenance of medical institutions with necessary infrastructure, implementation of National Disease Control and Eradication Programmes, Control of communicable as well as non communicable diseases, etc.

About the Proposal

Meghalaya, a small state in Northeast India, carved out of Assam in 1972, has a Legislative Assembly and three autonomous Hill Councils, covering all 11 districts. With a population of 3 million (2011), the state is on average poorer than rest of India, but more equitable, as only 12 percent of the population live below the national poverty line in comparison to 22 percent at the national level (2011-12). The state is predominantly rural (80 percent), with hilly terrain, rapid urbanization and poor connectivity. With 86 percent of the population categorized as Scheduled Tribe, Meghalaya's main ethnic communities are the Khasis, the Garos and the Jaintias. The complexities in the governance structures provide unique challenges to social and health outcomes that need local solutions.

 The Government of Meghalaya is committed to improving the health status of its citizens. Despite considerable challenges, the state has shown progress in various health indicators over the last decades. To further accelerate the progress, the Department of Health and Family Welfare (DoHFW), Government of Meghalaya with technical and financial support from the World Bank, is implementing ‘Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project’ (MHSSP) in the state. The MHSSP intends to improve accountability, quality and utilization of health services in Meghalaya, especially among public facilities at primary health center (PHC), community health center (CHC) and district hospital levels. In order to achieve its objectives, the MHSSP will over the next five years adopt a systems approach to combine results-based financing and input-based financing with the aim of achieving enhanced performance management in the public sector.

The project activities are structured across 4 broad areas, while the first three address different parts of the project development objective (Accountability, Quality and Utilization), the fourth area is related to the Contingent Emergency Response Component. The details are as under:

• Area 1: Improve accountability and strengthen governance through Internal performance agreements: This will support the creation of an enabling environment for reforms at each level (state, district and sub-district), enhance performance of the DoHFW and its subsidiaries, and improve efficiency of the public health administration.
• Area 2: Strengthen Systems to Sustain Quality of health service: This will focus on improving the quality of care through a comprehensive quality assurance for health service; augmenting systems related to human resource management, bio-medical waste management, procurement and supply chain, and project management capacity.
• Area 3: Increase coverage and utilization of quality health services: This will mainly focus on increasing the coverage of the state health insurance program, pilot for strengthening primary care response through the Health and Wellness Centers, strengthening community interventions and engagement.
• Area 4: Contingent Emergency Response Component: A mechanism for provision of immediate response to an Eligible Crisis or Emergency, as needed.

 The current assignment will enable MHSSP to achieve its objective to enhance young children’s growth and development by promoting positive behaviours and practices related to early stimulation, optimum childcare, health, education, and nutrition. Early childhood development, which refers to the nature of growth and development of a child within the formative stages, requires to be balanced to optimize a child’s potential by addressing all aspects of development i.e., physical, motor, cognitive, language, socio emotional and creative development. Since a child’s development is not onedimensional but holistic in nature, ECD interventions are required to adopt an integrated approach to address children’s basic needs right from conception till the child attains the age of 8 years. The integrated approach requires all interventions for this stage of development to be designed in ways that ensure inclusion of five essential elements, i.e., responsive caregiving, good health, adequate nutrition, opportunities for early learning, safety, and security.

Recognizing this need, the State Government has announced the launch of the State ECD Mission. Accordingly, the State ECD Mission has been formulated through extensive consultations and interactive meetings with all representatives of key stakeholders, using the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach. The Mission envisages establishing frameworks and institutional capacities for provision of ECD services through various government platforms in the State. The Mission will strengthen partnerships and collaborations among various stakeholders (government and private) involved in provision of services to children; and build capacity of service providers for ECD

Objectives

The overall objective of the assignment is to provide technical and implementation support to the Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project (MHSSP) to develop, design, and implement an integrated Early Childhood Development (ECD) model to improve ECD outcomes in the state as envisaged under the State ECD Mission. The ECD model is conceptualized as a comprehensive model covering aspects of Health, Nutrition and Early Childhood Education (ECE) specific to Meghalaya’s context. The specific objectives of the assignment include:

• Develop and roll-out a comprehensive integrated ECD training curriculum (including relevant materials, both face-to-face and virtual mode of delivery) tailored to Meghalaya’s needs targeting frontline workers of the various government safety net programs (including AWW, ASHAs, Community Gender and Health Activists [CGHA] and new cadre of ECD educators).
• Develop and roll-out the training of master trainers and ECD Educators on the integrated ECD package (designed for both face-to-face and virtual mode).
• Develop a mechanism for concurrent assessment of the roll-out of integrated ECD curriculum for adapting and updating the content and implementation design regularly.
• Undertake comprehensive process documentation of the entire process including development and roll out of the ECD package capturing the process, challenges, success stories and learnings from the field.

Scope of work

The agency will work closely with the Project Management Unit (PMU) of the MHSSP, ECD Mission Society and other stakeholders (relevant government departments and Programmes and World Bank) during preparation and roll-out of the integrated ECD package.

How to Apply

Expressions of Interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below through registered post/speed post/ courier/ by hand by 4:00 PM of 29th September, 2022

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Tags Children and Childcare Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Healthcare and Healthtech Others