Request for Proposals: Public Health (NTDs) Economic Impact Study - Nigeria at The END Fund

RFP: Economic Impact Study - Nigeria

Proposals Due By: 27th September, 2021, 11.59pm WAT

Issuing organisation(s): The END Fund and the African Philanthropy Forum
Corporate overview:

The END Fund

The END Fund is the leading collaborative philanthropic fund solely dedicated to ending the five most common neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). A nonprofit organization, the END Fund manages a portfolio of programmatic funds to advance our vision to ensure that people at risk of NTDs have the opportunity to live healthy and prosperous lives. Currently, the END Fund offers three funds as investment opportunities for private philanthropists, foundations, corporations and others: the Flagship Fund, the Deworming Innovation Fund (DIF), and the Reaching the Last Mile Fund (RLMF).

NTDs are parasitic and bacterial infectious diseases – including intestinal worms, river blindness, trachoma, schistosomiasis and lymphatic filariasis – that affect over 1.7 billion people globally, including more than 1 billion children. The END Fund’s vision is to ensure people can live healthy and prosperous lives free of the risk of NTDs and we have set out to accomplish this by:

• Mobilizing and investing resources for maximum impact,
• Advocating for innovative, integrated and cost-effective NTD programs; and
• Facilitating philanthropic and private sector engagement to end these diseases.
• Since our founding in 2012 through 2020, with our partners, the END Fund has provided over 1 billion treatments for NTDs worth more than $1.3 billion. In 2020 alone, we reached more than 91 million people with more than 133 million NTD treatments, representing an almost 8-fold increase from 2012. The END Fund works globally in over 25 countries, with a primary emphasis in Africa.

African Philanthropy Forum

The African Philanthropy Forum is a strong and vibrant community of partners who through their strategic giving, investments and influence, foster shared prosperity on the African continent.

Our vision is to transform the culture of giving on the continent to the extent that it exceeds development aid by 2030.

The African Philanthropy Forum (APF) was established in 2014 to build a learning community of strategic African philanthropists and social investors committed to inclusive and sustainable development throughout the Continent. Since our founding, APF has established a strong presence on the continent, with footprints in 14 African countries through its regional meetings, conferences and activities. The APF has also invested in the development of Toolkits for African Philanthropists and the “Why Give” Series, which consists of interviews with Africa’s strategic philanthropic leaders to showcase their motivations for giving.

To date, APF has reached over 2,500 philanthropists and social investors in Africa and across the world.

Project overview and goal:

This project will entail the development of a comprehensive economic impact study on the elimination of five of the most common neglected tropical diseases in Nigeria. The study will examine the broader implications of Nigeria successfully eliminating these diseases as public health concerns by 2030. It will also proffer solutions on economic and sustainable development policy and programmes’ formulation; to guide the achievement of the overarching goal of disease elimination.

The purpose of this RFP is to solicit bids from qualified vendors and identify a research organisation that is best-qualified to support the END Fund’s work in support of the afore- mentioned goal. This engagement is for the duration of this project (12 months), please refer to the Project deliverables and Scope of Work delineated below for full details on the project.

The economic impact study will be developed through a combination of qualitative and/or quantitative research methods, including desk research and interviews with relevant experts at country and regional levels; adopting lessons learned from other countries and climes in which similar research has been conducted and similar goals met.

Scope of work:

The selected research organisation will do a thorough analysis of relevant economic and societal considerations associated with eliminating prevalent NTDs in Nigeria. The results of this work will be captured in a research-based report and a PowerPoint Presentation.

The Project will comprise deliverables including Research (collating and assessing available evidence and expert perspectives to produce a detailed report on the economic implications of effectively tackling NTDs in Nigeria by 2030), Reports’ preparation (written report and PowerPoint presentation, including an executive summary), Presentation of the reports at identified physical and virtual fora, and Amplification of the reports using other approved media.

Project deliverables: Essential deliverables

• Production of an economic briefing paper (the report) that makes a compelling case for government (heads of finance, health, humanitarian affairs, etc. ministries at federal and state levels), private sector, philanthropists and other key stakeholders to rally around this cause; while also developing a blueprint for NTD investments that can be adopted by other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The report will be accompanied by an executive summary of this report, and a PowerPoint presentation.
• Development and hosting (for a period of 9 months minimum) of an animated infographic that highlights the salient findings of research in a visual way
• Support with marketing objectives to generate top-level visibility of the report, through targeted press placements, issued newsletters, and social media posts
• The curation and delivery of a minimum of five influencer blog posts to further drive awareness of the report, and engagement by the target audience (government, private sector, philanthropists, academicians, and civil society), and by the general public.
• Co-hosting public engagement conferences to discuss some of the research findings with key cross-sector stakeholders and members of the press

Optional deliverable

Provision of a micro-site that will be utilized to share the agreed deliverables in an online format. This will be hosted at a URL uniquely created or this purpose, for a period of 9 months’ minimum

Evaluation metrics and criteria:

• Proven technical expertise, and clear demonstration of ability to deliver optimally on the work required
• Level of innovation and creative thinking showcased in the submission
• Strength of quantitative and qualitative skills; as expressed in RFP
• Required quality of the submission, and timeliness of completing RFP
• Years of experience producing similar bodies of work, and previous work portfolio
• Vendor’s organizational values
• Vendor’s proven commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Budget: TBC