Germany – Health and social work services – Increase availability of sexual & reproductive health products in SADC via regulation, pooled procurement, private sector aid

- Work Package 1: Strengthening Pooled Procurement Mechanisms This work package focuses on enhancing the regional coordinated procurement mechanisms for SRH commodities in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The main activities involve supporting the SADC Secretariat in operationalizing the SADC Pooled Procurement Services (SPPS), including integrating Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) commodities into the system. Key tasks include providing technical assistance in establishing the SPPS Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and implementing the business plan to operationalize SPPS. Further, the intervention will review the SPPS financing models for sustainability and efficiency, analyze potential cost savings pooled procurement mechanisms, and assess SRH commodity consumption patterns across member states. Additionally, the contractor will foster synergies with other regional or continental procurement initiatives, such as the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism and UNFPA's reproductive health commodities supply system. The capacity-building efforts will be conducted to provide technical capacity in the procurement process to national medical stores to improve inventory management and skill development. This intervention will include training sessions based on procurement best practices, such as demand aggregation and forecasting, to promote joint market research. The contractor will also help scale up the SADC Medicine Database, an information-sharing platform for stock levels, consumption forecasts, and medicines' costs, including SRH commodities. Moreover, selected central medical stores will be supported in implementing electronic procurement systems. - Work Package 2: Strengthening Regulatory Harmonization This work package seeks to enhance the capacity of national medicine regulatory authorities (NMRA) in SADC to expedite the registration of pharmaceutical products and medical devices, focusing on SRH commodities. The intervention will design and...