Addendum_1_-_The_USAIDZimbabwe_Broad_Agency_Announcement_(BAA)_for_Zimbabwes_Development_Challenges.pdf

BAA Number: BAA‐Zimbabwe-2017 Addendum No.: 001

Identifying Opportunities for Mass-Media Messaging for

Adolescent Girls and Young Women Under the USAID/Zimbabwe Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Zimbabwe’s

Development Challenges

Issuance Date: August 21, 2017

Deadline for Questions: August 29, 2017 at 17:00 Harare Time

Closing Date: September 20, 2017 at 17:00 Harare Time

E‐mail: harareprocure@usaid.gov

I. Purpose

This is an Addendum to the USAID/Zimbabwe Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) referenced above. The purpose of this Addendum is to request Expressions of Interest for innovation and collaboration in support of a mass-media product that satisfies the definition of “Development” set forth below to reach adolescent girls and young women.

The mass-media product should fall within the definition of Development as outlined in the FAR2.101 as follows:

“Development” means the systematic use, under whatever name, of scientific and technical knowledge in the design, development, test, or evaluation of a potential new product or service (or of an improvement in an existing product or service) for the purpose of meeting specific performance requirements or objectives.

Development includes the functions of design engineering, prototyping, and engineering testing. Development excludes—

(1) Subcontracted technical effort which is for the sole purpose of developing an additional source for an existing product, or

(2) Development effort for manufacturing or production materials, systems, processes, methods, equipment, tools, and techniques not intended for sale.

BAA Number: BAA-Zimbabwe-2017 Addendum No. 001

II. Problem and Challenge Statement

Context

High levels of preventable deaths, a heavy disease burden, and an under-resourced health service delivery system all contribute to a low life expectancy and poor health status of Zimbabweans. The delivery system is weak and overstretched by the high burden of HIV; TB; malaria; and maternal, newborn and childhood (MNCH) illness. These contributors to morbidity and mortality are complex and intertwined. HIV, TB, and malaria are the most common causes of death in pregnant women and children under the age of five. 1 The single most significant contributing factor to the TB burden is the HIV epidemic with 68 percent co-infection rates.2 Malaria is the third leading cause of mortality and morbidity.3 Three-quarters of maternal deaths are preventable,4 and nearly half of women who die of pregnancy-related complications are infected with HIV.5 While unmet family planning needs have been declining since 1994, 12% of sexually active unmarried women have unmet family planning needs. In addition, more than half of the women surveyed in the 2015 Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS) said that they have not heard mass media family planning messages.6 Infant, child, and maternal mortality are higher in the rural areas compared to the urban areas. Under-five mortality varies from 50 deaths per 1,000 live births to 100 deaths per 1,000 live births in some provinces.

For maternal deaths associated with pregnancy and childbearing; the maternal mortality is 651 deaths per 100,000 live births for the period from 2008-2015.7

While the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) has policies that address the most prevalent health risks and are aligned with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, more is needed to ensure these standards are appropriately implemented nationwide.

Zimbabwe’s prolonged economic crisis is at the root, leading to an eroded health system that is now heavily dependent upon donors. Currently, the national health budget comprises about eight percent of the total government budget (as compared to the 15 percent called for in the Abuja Declaration),8 however, actual disbursements against that budget fall far shorter.

Although the national budget’s contribution to the health sector had been declining, it has stabilized in the last few years to around $330 million annually for MOHCC.9 The majority is allocated for salaries although the GOZ has placed a freeze on hiring of nurses.

Alternative financial mechanisms, such as the national AIDS levy and results-based financing schemes, help support the sector, but donor dependency will continue to be a

1 MOHCC National Health Profile 2 World Health Organization Global TB report, 2015.

3 MOHCC National Health Profile.

4 Annual Report for Notified Institutional Maternal Deaths:2010-2011.

5 Maternal and Perinatal Mortality Study, 2007.

6 Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency and ICF International. 2016. 2015 ZDHS Key findings. Rockville, Maryland, USA: ZIMSTAT and ICF International 7 Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency and ICF International. 2016. 2015 ZDHS Key findings. Rockville, Maryland, USA: ZIMSTAT and ICF International 8 2016 National Budget Statement.

9 2016 National Budget Statement.

major issue given the large gaps between needs and GOZ resources.

Given Zimbabwe’s significant disease burden, USAID/Zimbabwe is taking a highly focused approach to improving the health and wellbeing of Zimbabweans by targeting the major causes of morbidity and mortality and coordinating closely with the GOZ, which is the largest provider of health services. Since HIV, malaria, and TB are the top three causes of illness and death, efforts to improve prevention, care, and treatment services for these diseases have the highest potential to reduce morbidity and mortality in Zimbabwe. HIV prevalence for young people continues to be a major concern; in Zimbabwe 7% of young women aged 15-24 are HIV positive, however in some provinces 16% of young women are HIV positive10. Also included are reproductive health (RH) and MNCH issues, and maternal child mortality affects this population significantly.

Interventions are prioritized according to the major causes of disease and deaths, with a preference given to activities that have the highest potential to increase the number of Zimbabweans living longer lives and to achieve the greatest impact on the health status of the population. In addition the recent ZDHS identified that 60% of women age 15-49 report at least one problem in accessing health care.11

Addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV): GBV is widespread in Zimbabwean society.

Despite Zimbabwe’s relatively strong GBV legal framework, women and children remain vulnerable to multiple forms of violence. A recent United Nations report on GBV showed that all forms of GBV, especially physical and sexual violence, remain high in Zimbabwe.

The risk of experiencing GBV increases substantially as women move into adulthood and enter into marital and other forms of sexual relationships with men. A National Baseline Survey on the Life Experiences of Adolescents found that 33 percent of women in Zimbabwe had experienced sexual violence by age 18 and that only 2.7 percent of them received professional help for any incident of sexual violence. USAID will focus its GBV interventions on mitigation, education, and prevention, incorporating men and women as well as youth and adults into GBV activities. Activities will focus on providing services to address physical and sexual violence against adolescent girls, as well as political intimidation and violence targeting women.

Addressing all of these sources of morbidity and mortality requires significant behavior change communications, at a significant scale, to make an impact. However, none of the prevention messages around any of these issues is new, and the population as a whole, as well as the adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) that are particularly targeted, suffer from message fatigue. Communicating the same messages, through the same channels, over a long period of time has reduced their effectiveness. Behavior change communication (BCC) messaging around these issues and with this population requires a significant change in strategy and implementation.

Country Development Cooperation Strategy For a description of the USAID/Zimbabwe Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) please visit: https://www.usaid.gov/zimbabwe/cdcs

10 Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency and ICF International. 2016. 2015 ZDHS Key findings. Rockville, Maryland, USA: ZIMSTAT and ICF International 11 Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency and ICF International. 2016. 2015 ZDHS Key findings. Rockville, Maryland, USA: ZIMSTAT and ICF International

Challenge:

There is a need for innovative products and approaches targeting adolescent girls and young women to address message fatigue for the following areas: HIV and AIDS; family planning; gender-based violence; maternal mortality, malaria, and women’s empowerment. USAID/Zimbabwe is looking for a mass media product that satisfies the definition of “Development” set forth below that can be used throughout the African continent to provide evidence-based information to promote behavior change in an innovative way, and which specifically targets adolescent girls and young women.

The mass-media product should fall within the definition of Development as outlined in the FAR2.101 as follows:

“Development” means the systematic use, under whatever name, of scientific and technical knowledge in the design, development, test, or evaluation of a potential new product or service (or of an improvement in an existing product or service) for the purpose of meeting specific performance requirements or objectives.

Development includes the functions of design engineering, prototyping, and engineering testing. Development excludes—

(1) Subcontracted technical effort which is for the sole purpose of developing an additional source for an existing product, or

(2) Development effort for manufacturing or production materials, systems, processes, methods, equipment, tools, and techniques not intended for sale.

III. Instructions for Expressions of Interest

Expressions of Interest must indicate the research or development idea(s) which will deliver a potential solution to the Challenge discussed in Section II; specifically, they must outline the proposed development of a mass media solution which increases the knowledge and understanding of the Challenge, suggest potential solutions to overcome the Challenge, and address the specific needs of the target population.

USAID expects all parties that are addressing this challenge will contribute organizational resources to solving the challenge. Therefore, all expressions of interest must explicitly state what resources are being brought to the table and quantify them with a dollar value.

Expressions of Interest must:

1. Be in English

2. Be no more than 5 pages in length, Times new roman size 12 font. An Expression of

Interest that exceeds this page limit will only be evaluated through page 5 and the remaining pages will not be evaluated.

3. Be in .pdf or .docx format

4. Expressions of interest should be submitted by email to harareprocure@usaid.gov by

5:00 pm Harare time on September 20, 2017. Please include the following subject in your email: “BAA‐ Zimbabwe-2017 – Addendum 001 – [name of the submitting organization/individual]” mailto:harareprocure@usaid.gov

USAID/Zimbabwe reserves the right to disregard submissions that do not meet the criteria stated above.

The Expressions of Interest should be submitted using the following format:

a) Header. BAA-Zimbabwe-2017 – Addendum 001 – name of the submitting organization/individual

b) Title of the Idea or Solution.

c) Submitter’s Name and Contact Information.

d) Problem Statement. Explain the direct linkage to development challenge (Section II of the Addendum) and why the submitter is interested in working in partnership with USAID to address the problem.

e) Description of the Solution.

f) Total Value of the Solution.

g) Partnership Expectations and other relevant information. Describe the organization or group of organizations which currently support the solution, the strengths they bring to a potential partnership, and any ability to provide matching resources. Describe any other relevant information, such as intellectual property rights associated with the proposed solution, etc.

IV. Selection Criteria

Expressions of Interest will be evaluated using the criteria specified in Section IV.B of the BAA. In addition, the following criteria will be also applied to all Expressions of Interest:

Criterion 1: Extent to which the proposed solution involves and was developed in consultation with beneficiaries, communities, and local indigenous organizations.

Criterion 2: The size and nature of the leverage, cost share, or resources that the applicant can offer to the project.

V. Potential USAID Funding

While specific ideas submitted in response to this Addendum may form the basis of future co‐investment partnerships with USAID, USAID does not anticipate providing U.S.

Government funding in response to any initial Expression of Interest submitted under this Addendum. Rather, this Addendum is intended to facilitate an exchange of ideas that could lead to the co‐design of an intervention with USAID.

VI. Intellectual Property

Please refer to the USAID/Zimbabwe Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for instructions on how USAID will work with organizations to protect intellectual property.

Expressions of interest should be free of any intellectual property that the submitter wishes to protect, as the expressions of interest may be shared with USAID partners as part of the selection process.

VII. Process

Section V of the BAA provides a detailed over view of the Award Process.

IX. Questions

Any questions about the process should be sent by email to harareprocure@usaid.gov no later than the Deadline for Questions specified on page 1 of this Addendum. No questions will be accepted after this date. Any amendments to this BAA or BAA addendum will be issued and posted on http://www.fbo.gov and http://www.grants.gov.

http://www.fbo.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/