Request for Proposals
WomenLift Health Stakeholder Analysis:
Southern Africa
Background
WomenLift Health was established in 2019, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to expand the power and influence of women in global health and catalyze systemic change to achieve gender equality in leadership. Its work is based on the theory that advancing accomplished mid-career women to senior positions in global health will lead to improved health outcomes and advancements in gender equality. WomenLift Health believes that elevating these women to senior positions requires both investment in their individual leadership skills and contributing to and influencing change in the environment in which they live and work.
WomenLift Health implements a portfolio of interventions that reinforce transformative change and that ripple out to reach an increasing number of women and men. One core intervention is the Leadership Journey, which is designed to give talented women leaders the tools – confidence, networks, understanding of barriers – along with peer, mentor and coach support, to successfully use their voice, expertise and leadership skills for health impact.
Affecting organizational and societal level changes is also key to addressing barriers for women in global health. WomenLift Health affects these levels through convening thousands of men and women to address issues and share solutions through its Speaker Series and Women Leaders in Global Health Conference.
WomenLift Health is committed to continuous learning and adaptation to ensure we, along with our network of partners, leverage best practices to advance women’s leadership and gender equality. WomenLift Health has partnered with Bixal as a global monitoring and evaluation (M&E) partner since its inception. Bixal is a US-based consulting firm that conducts annual evaluations, regular monitoring, and other research and learning services for WomenLift Health.
Stakeholders Analysis
Based on its successful launch of the U.S.-based Leadership Journey, WomenLift Health aims to expand its network of talented women leaders around the world including in India, Southern Africa, East Africa, Nigeria, and Europe. To ensure the model is country-owned and country-driven, WomenLift Health, with support from Bixal, will be conducting a stakeholder analysis across these regions. As such, WomenLift Health is looking for a partner to design and implement a stakeholder analysis study in Southern Africa, which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Kingdom of Eswatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
We anticipate that this partner will coordinate with Bixal, who has been working with local firms across geographies.
The objectives of the Stakeholder Analysis are to:
1.) The current status of women’s leadership in the public health sector and the factors that support them in each of the eight countries.
2.) Barriers around women’s leadership in public/global health to address in the program design.
3.) Current efforts and opportunities to foster women’s leadership, diversity and inclusion within organizations.
4.) Various ways organizations and the WomenLift program may work together.
Key activities to accomplish the objectives include:
1.) Landscape Analysis: The partner will conduct a desk review of peer-reviewed and gray literature to contextualize women’s health leadership in each of the eight countries and help WomenLift understand the data that exist and current context.
2.) Stakeholder Mapping: The partner will develop a list of top influential organizations in public health from the countries, using a cluster approach.
Suggested clusters are:
The mapping will begin with identifying top influential organizations in each cluster by the following sectors:
• INGOs
• Local NGOs
• Government
• Universities
• Private sector
• Philanthropy
• Multilateral institutions
From this list, the partner will select organizations to be a part of the final sample for interviews in consultation with WomenLift Health and Bixal. The partner will work to identify one senior or executive-level individual (male or female) at each targeted organization, as well as one mid-level woman, to interview as part of the analysis. The partner will also identify mid-level individuals with whom to share the online survey. Finally, the partner should also track key attributes (mission, scope, size) to build a profile for the final organizations selected.
3.) Interviews: It is anticipated that the partner will conduct interviews virtually, but may opt to conduct some interviews in-person. WomenLift or Bixal staff may also join some of the interviews. The table below shows the anticipated sample size. The interviews should cover the mix of sectors identified in the Stakeholder Mapping exercise.
Target Geography | Comprehensive | |
# Organizations | # Interviews | |
Total for Southern Africa | 35 | 70 |
Cluster 1: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa | 10 | 20 |
Cluster 2: Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho | 10 | 20 |
Cluster 3: eSwatini, Zimbabwe | 10 | 20 |
Cluster 4: Regional Institutions | 5 | 10 |
In partnership with Bixal and WomenLift Health, the partner organization will develop an interview guide. The guide should be pilot tested to ensure its suitability to the local context.
Rigorous documentation should be maintained for each interview, including an English language translation if applicable. The partner will work with Bixal to get necessary approvals to work in each country.
4.) Online Survey: A survey will be used to contact mid-level individuals in the influential organizations not selected for an interview to ensure a breadth of findings related to specific needs of this cohort that should be considered within program design.
5.) Analysis & Report: The partner will analyze the data collected and produce a summary narrative report of the primary data and desk review findings, as well as profiles of the organizations interviewed.
- An inception report for the Stakeholder Analysis including the landscape analysis and interview guides.
- Routine check-in calls with Bixal to share progress, lessons learned, and emerging findings.
- A list of influential organizations in public health spanning the four clusters, including key attributes.
- Comprehensive documentation of interviews in original language and a summary in English (if applicable).
- A virtual presentation of findings for WomenLift Health (including a PowerPoint presentation).
- A draft and final report highlighting key findings and providing profiles of target organizations.
WomenLift Health will be funding the Stakeholder Analysis. The partner is expected to own and lead the stakeholder analysis process and will receive on-going support from Bixal.
The expected timeline is below. This may be impacted by the RFP award process. A final timeline will be agreed upon in the Inception Report.
Activity | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | |
Award local contracts | X | ||||||||
Local partner inception reports and training | X | ||||||||
Desk review | X | ||||||||
Stakeholder Mapping | X | ||||||||
Interviews | X | ||||||||
Analysis | |||||||||
Draft country/regional reports | X | ||||||||
Report QA and country report revision | X | ||||||||
Global summary slide deck | X | ||||||||
Deliverable submission | X |
Organizations interested in applying for this work should submit a proposal via email to RFPsubmission@womenlifthealth.org by 12pm EST on July 5, 2023. The proposal should contain the following:
- No more than 5 pages describing your organization’s overall technical approach to completing this work.
- No more than 2 pages outlining your organizational qualifications, including relevant past performance in qualitative methods.
- No more than 2 pages on the team structure and management approach that will be used to complete the work.
- A short (Word or Excel) cost proposal (no page limit), including all costs, fees, and expenses required to carry out the consultancy. The level of detail should be sufficient for reviewers to understand the key drivers and facilitate negotiations if necessary. The cost proposal should be in US dollars.
- Annex: CV of the principal investigator.
Questions on this opportunity can be addressed to RFPsubmission@womenlifthealth.org and should be submitted by 12pm EST on June 9, 2023
- Overall cost (20%)
Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Quality of technical approach (40%)
- Relevant past performance, including demonstrated knowledge of the public health landscape in Southern Africa through past research and/or experience with qualitative research methods using key informant interviews (20%)
- Team structure and management approach (20%)(20%)
- Overall cost (20%)
Organizations based in the region are strongly encouraged to apply. Presence in one of the countries with the capacity to conduct multi-country assessments is preferred. Multiple awards may be considered.
Questions on this opportunity can be addressed to RFPsubmission@womenlifthealth.org and should be submitted by 12pm EST on June 9, 2023.