About Us

EXTERNAL MID-TERM PROJECT EVALUATION BY CARITAS BO-SCHOOL OF MIDWIFERY

Recruitment of consultant to assess a project “strengthening the health system in Sierra Leone: Post Ebola through scaling up a new midwifery school in Bo District/Southern Province”

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The health system in Sierra Leone is characterized by an acute lack of appropriately qualified healthcare workers in all sectors. The physician-patient ratio is reported to 1:20,000, with a mare 190 physicans serving 5.3 million people across the country, including five gynaecologists. In 2014 the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone brought an already weak health system to its knees: by January 2015 296 healthcare workers had been infected with Ebola, out of which 221 lost their lives, including eleven physicians. The high death rate debilitated the fragile health system still further and compounded the chronic shortage of health professionals.

As a consequence, Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world (ranking 160 to 179 out of 179 according to the “State of Mothers 2015” report). In 2013 the maternal mortality ratio was estimated at 1.165 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, with 92 neo national deaths per 1,000 live births and under-five mortality at 156 per 1,000 live births. At an average of 4.78 children born per women, the total fertility rate in Sierra Leone is high.

Only one in four babies is delivered at a health facility, attended by qualified staff, whereas 71.8% are delivered at home (BPoEHS). It follows that there is urgent need for qualified staff to provide care and support throughout pregnancy and birth, as well as for access to specific educational and consulting services including information on sexual and reproductive health and rights and family planning.

Midwifery training at present: Sierra Leone has two national schools of midwifery. In Freetown and Makeni. Between the two they produce on average 100 midwives. These two institutions lack sufficient capacities to cover the minimum requirement of around 3,000 midwives by 2020. Their locations mean that midwives are currently trained primarily for the West and North of the country. School of Midwifery Freetown: State Registered Nurses (SRN, 3.5 years of training) are trained as midwives in an 18-month course. Once qualified, the midwives stay largely in urban areas. School od Midwifery in Makeni. The school trains State Enrolled Community Health Nurses (SECHN, 2.5 years of training) as midwives in 24 months.

Direct target group are the annual 50 State Enrolled Community Health Nurses (SECHNs), who wish to complete a qualified and state-recognized training in midwifery in theory and practice. Indirect target group are pregnant women, mother and children together with their families in the Southern district, which benefit of an improved care and assistance during childbirth and in the pre-and postnatal stages. Currently there is only one midwifery available for 1,000 births in Sierra Leone. The midwifery school thus contributes significantly to the strengthening of the health care system in the country.

The School of Midwifery Bo is located in Nyandehun about 8 kilometers from Bo along the Bo-Kenema highway. This new Midwifery School (third in the country) was funded by BMZ, the Quandt family and Action Medeor through Caritas Bo. Prior to its partial accreditation, the Nurses and Midwives Board of Sierra Leone did an assessment of the School on the 17th October and the school was inaugurated on the 21st October, 2017. At the moment, the school is offering a two-year curriculum midwifery training for SECHNs who have worked for at least three years.

GOAL

To compliment Government’s efforts in reducing maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality rates through Midwifery education in Bo District by 2020

VISION

A school of excellence, producing Competent and Committed Midwives dedicated to delivering safe services that are acceptable, affordable and accessible to women and their new borns in the rural communities in Sierra Leone.

MISSION

The School of Midwifery Bo strives to contribute to the reduction of maternal and newborn morbidity and morality by providing quality education to nurses who will provide safe, effective and respectful care to women, new borns and their families in Sierra Leone.

VALUES

Accountability, Stewardship and Integrity

OUR MOTTO:

COMPETENCY, QUALITY AND INTEGRITY

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES:

To increase the current number of midwives by 300 by 2020
To reduce maternal and new-born mortality and morbidity by 10% by 2020
To increase positive midwife attitudes, ethics and etiquette towards patients, and also increase positive community perceptions of midwives by 50% by 2020

41 New Gerihun Road Company address Company website : www.caritasbo.org Contact information Name: David S. Yambasu, Tel. +23276632659, caritasbo2014@gmail.com	CAPABILITY STATEMENT Caritas Bo is a reliable, accountable and competent partner with technical capacity to handle multiple grants, meet donor demands and deliver on commitments to target communities.

Core Competencies Core Competencies: Caritas Bo implements human interest driven programmes in response to the needs of vulnerable communities. We focus on health, food security and Nutrition, Child Protection , Education, School Feeding , Midwifery Education , Peacebuilding and Livelihoods and other emergencies. We are very competent in community engagement, social mobilization, participatory advocacy, strong lobbying and networking skills, results-based programme management and a permanent presence in the entire southern region of Sierra Leone. Our Vision : “Inspired by the Gospel and the Catholic social teachings, Caritas Sierra Leone envisions a society where everyone exercise their fundamental human rights and live in dignity, free from poverty and social injustice irrespective of class status, gender or social orientation.” Our Mission : “CSL’s mission is to empower men, women and children to fight poverty, social injustice, through advocacy, social mobilization and through provision of services for long-term development for vulnerable communities based on the Catholic Social teachings.” Financial Capacity” Caritas Bo has a sound financial system which guarantees transparent and accountable use of resources. We use QuickBooks software system with a web-based backup system for effective financial data security. Our books are audited by external auditors on an annual basis. We make public our financial statements We manage an annual funding basket of approximately 1.5 million USD. Strategic Objectives: SO1. An effective, efficient, financially sustainable and self-reliant organization SO2 To rollout interventions for the eradication of poverty, inequalities, empowerment of communities and the holistic development of children, women, PWDs and youth through innovative means SO3 To build climate resilience for all especially the vulnerable (including pastoralist, farmers and fishing communities) through collective climate change mitigation actions and to respond to humanitarian crisis with the means of CSL in Sierra Leone. SO4 Improved people-driven governance, constitutionalism and rule of law. SO5 Improved socio-economic status of disadvantaged youth and young people prone to local and international migration through entrepreneurial skills development and vocational training and migration flows halted

Past Performance	Differentiators (bullets)
We are rated as competent and reliable by the following partners: UNICEF Sierra Leone Country Office Child Protection TUFTS University / USAID Four Food Projects UNFPA Sierra Leone Country Office – Midwifery Education Kindermissionswerk – School Feeding Programme and WASH Cordaid Netherlands – Women Empowerment and Livelihoods BMZ / Action Medeor – Health and Midwifery Education Catholic Relief Services– Child well being and Livelihoods UN Peacebuilding Fund – Women’s Safety and Security – SGVB	Caritas Bo has a comparative advantage of demonstrating evidence of credible track records of effective and efficient grant and programme management which most national NGOs lack. Caritas Bo has a pool of highly skilled, qualified and experienced staff compliment that is not likely to be identified most competing NGOs With over 30 years of existence and performance in the development space, Caritas Bo guarantees sustainable presence in all the target communities which is not a common practice among other NNGOs. We do not parshute, our community engagement approach ensures that our staff live in the target communities.

Legal Status	List Pertinent Codes
We are registered with the Ministry of Development and Economic Development ( MoPED ) as a National Non Governmental Organization . Registration No. NNGO / 359/2020-2021 We are also registered with the Sierra Leone Association of Non Governmental Organizations (SLANGO) Caritas Bo is the Lead NGO for the coordination of the COVID Response in Bo District.	DUNS : 561213114 NGO REGISTRATION NUMBER: NNGO/359/2020-2021 Tax Identification Number: TIN 1075874/7