Beschreibung der Beschaffung
Health security has a high political priority in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region. As the ECOWAS Commission's regional technical agency for health, the West African Health Organization (WAHO) is in charge of achieving the highest possible health standards and protection for the population of the 15 ECOWAS Member States. Its tasks are to ensure the provision of adequate health care across the region through harmonisation of policies, provision of resources to Member States, cooperation with Member States for joint strategic planning of interventions and problem solving. In the area of preparedness and response to epidemics and pandemics, the 2018 established Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control (RCSDC) is mandated to strengthen the capacities of Member States in surveillance and prevention, as well as to support them in coordination, communication, and control in the event of an outbreak.
Since 2016, the Regional Programme Support to Pandemic Prevention in the ECOWAS Region (RPPP), commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ GmbH, has been supporting the ECOWAS Commission and its specialised agencies WAHO and RCSDC in supporting ECOWAS Member States to better implement the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) with regard to prevention, detection and control of outbreaks of infectious diseases by improving IHR core capacities at regional and national level. From 2016 to 2021 it operated in four output areas aligned with these capacities, implementing measures both at regional level and at national level: (1) Risk Communication, (2) Interinstitutional Communication and Coordination, (3) Human Resource Strengthening and (4) Digitalised Surveillance and Outbreak Management. The overarching objective was to strengthen the network of national coordinating institutions (NCIs) of the ECOWAS Member States connected to the RCSDC. The first implementation period ended in August 2021.
Since July 2021, GIZ is implementing RPPP2 as a follow-on project building on the achievements attained previously on multiple levels. While substantial improvements have been made since the Ebola crisis in the national and regional preparedness and response capacities, the need for further support remains as the successful prevention and control of infectious disease outbreaks requires a coordinated, multisectoral approach. The integrated approach to human, animal and environmental health - One Health (OH) - in ECOWAS has gained prominence but is not yet fully functional. With a specific focus on improving the application of the OH approach to strengthen the OH-oriented pandemic prevention and control system in the region, RPPP2 focuses on the establishment of the RCSDC as the regional collaborating centre for West Africa of the Africa CDC, the strengthening of early warning systems as well as the further strengthening of core capacities as per the International Health Regulations (IHR).
To achieve these objectives, the programme works closely with other international stakeholders in the region as well as with bilateral health programmes of the German development cooperation. The project focuses on strengthening selected core capacities of the NCIs (Output 1), on improving cooperation between regional OH actors and ECOWAS Member States (Output 2), strengthening human resources (Output 3) and the digital disease surveillance and outbreak management system in the ECOWAS region (Output 4).
1. Tasked to be performed by the contractor
The project is recruiting a consultancy firm to support the delivery of Output 3 "Institutionalising human resource strengthening in ECOWAS with regard to pandemic prevention and control, including the One Health approach". This includes:
- Creating and implementing two interlinked courses designed to support the improved implementation of ECOWAS policies in the area of pandemic prevention and response at both the management and technical level:
o A leadership summer school aimed at mid- and high-level staff of e.g., public, animal and environmental health institutions, One Health Platforms, Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Environment etc. The aim of the summer school is to support current and aspiring public health leaders in acquiring advanced skills and competencies that will allow them to manage preparedness and response activities in a regional context. The summer school will take place once a year at the partner universities in Benin (French course) and in Ghana (English course).
o A linked outreach programme aimed at operational level staff of NPHI/NCIs, One Health Platforms, Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Environment etc. The programme will take place once a year in up to four selected ECOWAS Member States in the format of a one-week presence-based training course. Each Member State chooses the course topic (risk communication, interinstitutional communication and coordination or One Health) according to their priorities.
- Strengthening the capacity of the partner institutions in both the delivery and the management of the training courses by working closely with the academic staff of the institutions in the design and delivery of the courses and with the administrative and finance teams on marketing, website design and student management etc.. The overall objective is to establish the courses as an important part of building the capacity to respond to outbreaks of disease at a regional level.
- Supporting the design and implementation of a scholarship programme for the leadership summer school. The scholarship approach shall contribute to the sustainability of the course by covering the costs incurred to the training institutions.