Kinshasa ()

Vitamin Angels (VA)

Request for Proposals (RFP) for Landscape Analysis of Vitamin A and Albendazole for Children Under Five in Democratic Republic of Congo.

March 12, 2025

1. About Vitamin Angels

Vitamin Angels (VA) is a public health non-profit working to improve nutrition and health outcomes in low-resource settings worldwide. We strengthen, extend, and amplify the impact of our partner organizations to reach the most nutritionally vulnerable groups—pregnant women, infants, and children—who are underserved by existing systems. VA uses an implementation science approach to improve access to proven interventions, optimize implementation outcomes, and promote quality and health equity.

Vitamin Angels supports the Ministry of Health in DRC while working with partners—including local community partners, regional and national government, NGOs, and academic institutions, to deliver maternal, infant, and young child nutrition solutions and strengthen routine VAS+D programs among children under five.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is among the countries with the world's highest vitamin A deficiency [1]. Forty-four percent of children under two years are undernourished. UNICEF is a main contributor to the result achieved in Vitamin A supplementation coverage, which reached 18,314,859 children (91% of the target) compared to 9 million in 2021 [2]. In addition, Soil-Transmitted Helminths are endemic, and there is a high prevalence of anemia among children [3,4].
In 2023, over 2,5 million children were screened for malnutrition and 320,000 severely malnourished children were provided treatment; out of which 81% were discharged and 95% (of the discharged) healed. In terms of prevention interventions, UNICEF maintained over 90 percent national coverage of vitamin A supplementation, reaching almost 19 million children aged 6-59 months, and supported deworming for nearly 14 million children aged 12-59 months [5]. In addition, nearly 1,8 million mothers/caregivers of children under the age of two received orientation on optimal nutrition practices through preschool consultation in more than 8,000 health facilities.

While coverage data is available, there is a significant lack of information on program delivery, barriers to uptake, and the quality of VAS+D programs in locations with low coverage, which is crucial for improving the situation. To this end, VA seeks an agency or consultant to conduct a comprehensive landscape analysis of the VAS+D policies and delivery context in DRC.  The assessment will identify barriers, constraints, and opportunities for improving VAS+D coverage and strengthening routine implementation in the country.

2. Objective and Methodology

The landscape analysis seeks to assess VAS+D delivery in the Democratic Republic of Congo using existing data and key informant interviews (stakeholders assessment). The goal is to gain an in-depth understanding of the country's VAS+D policies and delivery approaches, including their coverage and quality, enablers, and barriers. The findings from this analysis will be shared with MOH, VA partners, and relevant key stakeholders and used to strengthen VAS+D delivery in the country.

2.1 Objectives:

The main objectives of the landscape analysis are to:

• Map the context and the status of the VAS+D delivery program in the country covering both campaign and routine distribution.
• Assess the opportunities for strengthening the routine delivery of VAS+D interventions that complement (address gaps) government programs and/or leverages government systems in the country and,
• Develop recommendations about how to effectively strengthen and scale routine VAS+D delivery in the country (including the use of implementation science to ensure a systematic approach to this).

2.2 Methodology:

The VA landscape analysis involves a series of structured steps adapted from WHO’s Landscape analysis on countries’ readiness to accelerate action in nutrition:

• Step 1: Preparations and planning
• Step 2: Desk review
• Step 3: Stakeholder mapping and key informant interviews
• Step 4: Data analysis
• Step 5: Contribute to a consensus-building workshop
• Step 6: Preparation of final report

3. Scope of Work

The expected activities under this assignment are summarized below:

• Desk review of the nutrition situation for children, existing policies, and guidelines related to routine and campaign VAS+D supplementation.
• Stakeholder mapping to identify key stakeholders involved in VAS+D programming in DRC
• Key informant interviews with relevant stakeholders to understand their power or influence and provide insights on the context, status, and recommendations on how to strengthen routine VAS+D delivery in the country (including the use of implementation science to ensure a systematic approach to this).
• Draft a report and prepare a presentation summarizing findings and recommendations.
• Contribute to a consensus-building workshop to discuss and validate findings and collectively identify priority actions for strengthening routine VAS + D programming in DRC.
• Prepare a final report with stakeholder and VA input.

4. Activities, Deliverables, and Timeline

The selected agency will provide Vitamin Angels with the following deliverables as scheduled:

5. Target Geography

While the document review will represent the country's policies, strategies, and related guidance documents, key informant interviews will primarily target national-level policymakers and implementing partners with a footprint in other regions.  Physical interviews are expected to be limited to Kinshasa, with the rest of the regions participating in virtual interviews.

6. Security and other indemnities

The consultant is responsible for their own insurance and security arrangements while undertaking this assignment.

7. Proposal Submission Requirements and Evaluation Criteria

Interested agencies/consultants should submit an English technical and Financial Proposal highlighting relevant experience, as indicated below.

Technical Proposal: 70%

• Technical Approach: To demonstrate capability and capacity to meet the requirements of this RFP. Please describe how your organization plans to answer the objectives and suggest research questions that could be used to guide this assignment and complete the outlined deliverables (maximum of three pages). 25%
• Clarity of work plan and specific project activities 5%
• Summary of relevant work experience (2-3 pages), including relevant technical experience, relevant experience working in DRC, and experience delivering similar landscaping projects. Ability to work with high-level government offices and stakeholders 20%

- Ability to write clearly and concisely in English

• Company profile: a brief (1-2 pages) description of your company, including its date and location of incorporation and number of years of work experience relevant to this RFP.
• List of representative clients in DR Congo and 2 samples of previous similar work undertaken.
• Key personnel: please specify which personnel are key to the project implementation and provide a short biographical statement for each. Please attach the CVs of three (3) key personnel not exceeding three pages per CV.15%.
• Two references. The Vitamin Angels recruitment team can contact the two references for whom the applicant has delivered similar work. 5%

Financial Proposal: 30%

* Financial offer, aligned to the provided budget template, which details the following:

• Fees for all personnel, including project managers, field supervisors, and data collectors, with daily rate and number of person-days.
• Travel costs, including transport, per diems (if applicable), and lodging.
• Communications (airtime)
• Equipment and printing
• Any indirect costs or overhead
• Other costs with appropriate justification
• VA will not cover the following: medical insurance and security

* VA is not liable for any cost incurred during the preparation, submission, or negotiation of the award/contract. Upon contract, all submitted documentation and/or materials shall become and remain the property of VA.
* Please note that the maximum budget for this assignment is USD 25,000.

8. Assignment management arrangements

The agency or consultant will work under the overall supervision of the VA Technical Specialist, and the Africa Region Director, incorporating input from other VA staff.

Once designated, the successful agency or consultant will receive additional information before the inception meeting to guide the analysis and report.

Interested agencies or individuals are invited to submit their proposals and send any requests for clarification or additional information to dkalombo@vitaminangels.org copying bowino@vitaminangels.org by 23rd March 2025 (5 pm Central African Time).

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Vitamin Angels is committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity, or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

References

1. World Health Organization. Global Prevalence of Vitamin A Deficiency. 1995.
2. UNICEF. Country Office Annual Report - Democratic Republic of the Congo-2022. Kinshasa: 2022.
3. MPSMRM, MSP, ICF. Democratic Republic of Congo Demographic and Health Survey 2013-14: Key Findings. Demographic and Health Survey 2014;
4. Kismul H, Acharya P, Mapatano MA, Hatløy A. Determinants of childhood stunting in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Further analysis of Demographic and Health Survey 2013-14. BMC Public Health2017;18(1).
5. Unicef. Update on the context and situation of children. 2023.