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Self-Care Trailblazer Group
Request for Application
To Provide: Development of how-to toolkit
RFA Release: June 16, 2025
Applications Due: July 4, 2025
Award Winner Announced: July 21, 2025
Project Implementation Begins: August 1, 2025
How to Apply to this RFA:
Applications must be submitted in English and emailed electronically to secretariat@selfcaretrailblazers.org, and cc: crothschild@psi.org
Introduction
SELF-CARE BACKGROUND
The WHO defines self-care as ‘the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider. Recent advances in medical and digital technology combined with changing consumer expectations provide an opportunity to refocus attention on this important and evolving approach. Self-care interventions, particularly in the realm of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), have transformative potential to increase individuals’ autonomy in making decisions about their own care, strengthen countries’ health systems, and ultimately pave the way toward universal health coverage (UHC).
In 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the WHO guideline on self-care interventions for health and well-being building on the global guidance published in 2019. This guideline includes people-centered, evidence-based recommendations to support individuals, communities, and countries with quality health services and self-care interventions, as a critical pathway to achieving universal health coverage.
The WHO released Implementations of self-care interventions for health and well-being in 2023 to build upon the normative recommendations and offer key considerations to support the introduction and scale-up of self-care interventions in countries, at the national or subnational level. This global guidance is intended to assist countries in implementing the recommendations to their local context.
ABOUT THE SELF-CARE TRAILBLAZER GROUP
Established in 2018, with funding from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Self-Care Trailblazer Group (SCTG) is a global coalition working to sustain the momentum, following the publication of the WHO Consolidated Guideline on Self-Care Interventions for Health in 2019 (updated in 2022), and further advance the self-care agenda. The SCTG is focused on expanding the safe and effective practice of self-care to ensure individuals can better manage their own health, health outcomes are improved, and health systems are more resilient and better equipped to achieve UHC. By improving the enabling environment for self-care, particularly through policy development, the SCTG aims for self-care to be institutionalized into policy and integrated into national health systems. The SCTG works with global, regional, national, and local partners to achieve this goal and the outcomes contributing to it. Population Services International (PSI) serves as the Secretariat of the SCTG.
The SCTG operates both as a coalition and a set of related programs:
PROGRAMMATIC WORK TO DATE
The SCTG launched its 2021-2025 Strategic Plan which reflects a focus on national and subnational advocacy in early 2021, and selected National Self-Care Network (NSN) leads from 5 focus countries to lead in-country advocacy efforts - Nigeria (White Ribbon Alliance Nigeria (WRA Nigeria)), Senegal (PATH Senegal), Uganda (Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD)) in 2021, from Kenya (the Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK)) in 2022, and from Ethiopia (Ethiopia Society for Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG)) in 2023. The National Self-Care Networks (NSNs) are Ministry of Health (MOH) led working groups, which bring together key in-country stakeholders, including civil society organizations working in SRH, health provider associations, academia, country based advocates and implementers, private sector among others, to develop and lead in-country, grassroots self-care advocacy efforts and serve as models for guideline adoption and implementation efforts in subsequent countries.
All five focus countries, have made significant progress through establishing and convening National Self-Care Networks, that have been instrumental in the development of national self-care guidelines and are at various stages of implementing these guidelines and institutionalizing self-care into their health systems (see SCTG’s learning journey here for more information).
Scope of Work
GOAL
The World Health Organization (WHO) and SCTG are seeking to develop a Self-Care Implementation Toolkit to facilitate the adoption of the WHO self-care recommendations at the country level. Current normative guidance is high-level, and countries require practical tools for implementation. The development process for this toolkit should be highly consultative, including country-based experts, global topical experts, and WHO regional representatives, and user-driven (i.e., addresses use cases by WHO, national MOH, and development partners).
Through this RFA, PSI seeks to identify a strategic partner to lead the development of the how-to toolkit that will accelerate implementation of normative self-care guidance from policy to practice.
DESCRIPTION OF CONSULTANCY
To reach this goal, PSI will award a consultant group a 9-month grant with an anticipated budget ceiling of $40,000 USD. PSI reserves the right to modify this budget based on available funding and other considerations, including adaptations of the project scope.
The selected consultant will serve as the facilitator and drafter of the self-care implementation toolkit working with the SCTG secretariat, the toolkit sub-working group, and the WHO on the creation and dissemination of the toolkit. A highly collaborative process, the selected organization will need to bring together country, regional, and global partners inside and outside the SCTG to facilitate their inputs informing the toolkit. The process of toolkit development will be broken up into three phases:
The consultant will lead the process through these three phases, responsible for ensuring the toolkit development milestones are met in a timely manner. While the consultant is responsible for execution, the work will be guided by an ELWG-led SCTG member Sub-Working Group who will advise the workstream. The consultant will work closely with ELWG and the Implementation Toolkit Sub-Working Group (ITSG) through the life of the process and will be reporting progress to them.
Qualifications and Conditions of Award
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Eligible consultants will demonstrate past successes in developing toolkits, frameworks, guidelines, or policies; experience coordinating and liaising with diverse, global partners (e.g., Ministries of Health, World Health Organization); and substantive subject matter expertise in global health and ideally sexual and reproductive health self-care.
FUNDING
PSI anticipates selecting a consultant with relevant capabilities, past experience, and proposed staffing to execute the development of the implementation toolkit. PSI anticipates a budget of $40,000 USD for nine months but reserves the right to revise this budget ceiling prior to contracting.
DURATION
This is a short-term investment to maintain momentum to develop the toolkit. The consultancy will be funded for a maximum of nine months, with the possibility of a no-cost extension reserved by PSI based on changes to scope and timing of progress towards deliverables.
Evaluation Criteria
Organizations wishing to apply are asked to submit Capabilities Statement and Past Performance Review (PPR) that demonstrate:
The selected consultant will have:
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted in English and emailed electronically to secretariat@selfcaretrailblazers.org, and cc: crothschild@psi.org A complete application should include the following:
Required:
Receipt of all applications will be acknowledged. Proposals will undergo a thorough, multi-step, expert review managed by the SCTG Secretariat.
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