Germany - Health and social services - Increasing availability of sexual and reproductive health products in SADC via regulation, pooled procurement and private sector support

.The Southern African Development Community (SADC) region faces significant challenges in accessing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), which hinder sexual and reproductive well-being. One of the reasons for these challenges is the lack of quality reproductive health commodities. The identified key constraints limiting access to those commodities include: 1. Lack of Pooled Procurement: The absence of a regional pooled procurement mechanism leads to limited access and availability of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) commodities. Fragmented procurement processes across different central medical stores (CMS) cause delays, uneven distribution, and hinder efficient acquisition of SRH commodities. 2. Lack of regional Regulatory Harmonisation: There is a lack of regulatory harmonization of National Regulatory Authorities (NRA) in the region hindering the registration of SRH commodities across different member states in the SADC region. Divergent regulatory frameworks make it difficult to ensure consistent quality and safety standards for SRH commodities, resulting in delays and inconsistencies in their availability of qualitative SRH commodities 3. Insufficient Local Production Capacities: The region"s reliance on imported SRH commodities exposes it to supply chain vulnerabilities and price fluctuations. A stronger local manufacturing base is needed to ensure consistent and affordable access to SRH commodities, reducing dependence on external suppliers. To tackle these challenges, the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) support SADC in their endeavor to increase the availability of essential, underused, or hard-to-access quality-assured SRH commodities by promoting pooled procurement mechanisms, supporting regulatory harmonization, and promoting local production - 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 implement regional training programs for NMRA staff, streamline regulatory processes, and reduce delays in the product registration process. The goal is to improve the availability and accessibility of essential medical products, particularly SRH commodities. The support will target the eight SADC member states that have not yet reached Maturity Level (ML) 3 and have institutional development plans. Further, the intervention will support the implementation of activities in the approved SADC MRH work plan. Additionally, the contractor will provide support to improve the functionality of the SADC Medicine Database, a searchable database of verified supply information for medicines and health commodities. The platform aims to increase equitable access to essential quality medicines and health commodities by sharing information of pharmaceutical procurement data. - Work Package 3 (Output 2.3): Promoting Local Manufacturing of SRH Commodities This work package promotes the local manufacturing of quality-assured SRH commodities within the SADC region. Private sector companies involved in SRH commodity production will receive technical assistance to improve their capabilities and competitiveness. The technical support will include production capacity, technology transfer, quality assurance, Intellectual Property management, market intelligence, and skills development. Skills development will be addressed through the development of the regional industrial pharmacy fellowship program. This program addresses the shortage of skilled labor in industrial pharmacy and supports local pharmaceutical manufacturing by providing hands-on experience and training. Integrating SRHR into the fellowship will improve technical expertise and capacity. - Work Package 4: Coordination Support to the SADC Secretariat for TEI SRHR This work package involves providing coordination support to the SADC Secretariat for the implementation under the Team Europe Initiative (TEI) Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Action in the SADC region. An integrated expert, who will act as a TEI SRHR Supporting Coordinator, will provide technical, operational, and administrative support for the efficient execution of the project. Based at the SADC Secretariat in Gaborone, the coordinator will work alongside the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)-funded SADC SRHR Coordinator, facilitating coordination between the different objectives of the SRHR Action and ensuring effective information exchange. The expert will also help organize coordination and steering meetings within SADC and East Africa Community (EAC), ensuring that SRHR initiatives are aligned and harmonized across the region. The collaboration with SIDA-funded SRHR efforts will further support the efficient and impactful execution of all SRHR initiatives in the region.