Request for Proposals - Organizational and Social Network Analysis for Connected Leadership in Public Health

Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) is a global health organization that partners locally and globally to create and scale solutions to the world’s deadliest health threats. Millions of people die from preventable health threats. We collaborate to close the gap between proven, life-saving solutions and the people who need them. Since 2017, we’ve worked with governments and other partners in more than 60 countries to save millions of lives. We work toward a future where people live longer, healthier lives, communities flourish, and economies thrive. This is an ambitious vision, and it inspires us and our partners to make progress every day. 

Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) is seeking consultancy support as part of its Connected Leadership initiative, which contributes to the broader global effort to strengthen the health emergency workforce. The initiative is aligned with the World Health Organization’s Health Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Resilience (HEPR) framework and supports the operationalization of the Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC). 

1. Background 

Public health leaders in National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) and Ministries of Health (MoH)- at the executive and political level - direct the health response to complex, high-stakes emergencies that can impact on all sectors of society. This requires them to coordinate as part of a multi-sector response across levels, sectors, and boundaries. However, much of the focus of health preparedness and response is on single organizations. This hampers multi-sector work and collaboration. Evidence from complex responses shows that adopting a network approach aids multi-sector collaboration and positively impacts response delivery. Building organizational capacity to activate and coordinate public health activities within the multi-sector response eco-system can improve development of public health response.  The aim of the connected leadership initiative is to co-design, prototype and scale approaches that foster connected leadership in countries that enhance preparedness and response in complex public health environments.  

The initiative will be co-designed between RTSL and countries, focus on country requirements and structures, build on existing structures and practices. Tools and solutions developed as part of the initiative must be capable of being deployed and utilised in low resource environments at zero additional cost and must be replicable and sustainable.  

Phased Implementation 

The initiative will focus on identifying and developing emergency management eco-systems at national level and build individual leadership capacity to develop, maintain and collaborate within those systems. The initiative will be implemented in phases. Elements of the phases can run concurrently as necessary:  

Application of Network Analysis 

To support this, RTSL will engage a consultant or team to co-design a practical and participatory methodology using Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) and/or Social Network Analysis (SNA) that can be used by RTSL staff to support public health leaders: 

• Visualize the networks they rely on for emergency response and understand how to use them 

• Strengthen collaboration across sectors, actors and institutions 

• Steer the system dynamically, adapting to different types of outbreaks and operational contexts 

• Measure change overtime to evaluate the impact of leadership-focused interventions 

The development of the ONA/SNA and resulting products should help leaders visualize their networks and identify ways in which they can use them to build political support and multisector collaboration. It is important that the development of the ONA/SNA is a participatory process. To encourage peer learning and team-building the intention is to conduct a part of the ONA/SNA during a face-to-face workshop in Phase 1. This will be an interactive session (or sessions) lasting around 6 hours (one workshop day) and could involve 12-24 participants from one or multiple countries. The network map developed in Phase 1 will be used as a baseline for comparison in Phase 3. Anticipated elements of comparison will be size of network, strength of connections, utilization and utility of nodes, flow of information and other resources.   

2. Consultancy Objectives 

The objective is to develop a methodology, tools and capacity for RTSL staff to work with National Public Health Institute Leaders and staff to participate in the development of a ONA/SNA that enables: 

• Visualization of formal and informal public health response networks  

• Insight into how networks shift depending on outbreak type (e.g., zoonotic, vaccine-preventable, climate-driven) 

• Identification of connections, communication, authority gaps, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improving trust, coordination, and decision-making 

• Examination of nodes and levels of decision authority for information exchange, workforce deployment (including national and international surge staffing), finance raising and allocation and legal authority and responsibility.  

• Measurement of network size, strength and functionality over time 

3. Scope of Work  

The following activities are envisaged as part of this consultancy 

• Review: Conduct a rapid review of existing ONA/SNA tools applied in public health and/or emergency response systems to use as examples to follow. 

• Capacity Building: Develop and deliver online capacity building session/s and materials for 10-12 RTSL staff to ensure that RTSL has capacity to produce network mapping, analysis, interpretation and presentation of visual products (e.g. a network map).  

• Co-Design Process: Design a workshop with RTSL and selected stakeholders to work with NPHIs to define public health–specific use cases, develop data collection templates, visualization tools, relationship typologies, metrics and other relevant materials. 

• Testing: Apply the draft methodology through a pilot simulation or mock network mapping exercise. 

4. Deliverables 

The following deliverables are required  

1. A rapid review on ONA/SNA applied in public health and/or emergency response 
2. A capacity building event and materials for internal RTSL team  
3. A concise Connected Leadership Network Analysis Methodology and Evaluation Guide
4. Workshop facilitation materials
5. Prototype tools and templates for data collection and visualization
6. Materials for use in future training by RTSL for scale-up
7. Recommendations and roadmap for Phase 2 implementation and scale-up 

NB: materials, processes and methods should be useable and replicable in low resources settings and without the need of further support from the selected provider  

5. Proposal Requirements  

Proposals should be provided in English with an overview not exceeding two-pages and additional annexes as required. The 2-page proposal must include:  

• Approach: Description of the proposed methodology and how it will meet the objectives 

• Team and Experience: Short bios and evidence of experience in ONA/SNA, public health systems, systems thinking, and/or leadership development 

• Timeline: Duration and key milestones (expected 8–12 weeks) 

• Budget: Cost estimate inclusive of all fees and taxes 

Annexes may include CVs or short bios of key personnel, links to relevant past work 

6. Evaluation Criteria 

The following criteria will be used to evaluate proposals: 

• Technical expertise and interdisciplinary experience 

• Clarity and feasibility of the proposed approach 

• Demonstrated understanding of public health systems, especially in low-resource settings 

• Value for money 

• Preference for teams with experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa or similar contexts 

7. Dates and timing  

Please submit bids by 23:59 EST on the 17 August 2025. The anticipated start date for this project is 1 September 2025. 

The date of the workshop will be Oct-Nov 2025. The exact date and location will be made available as soon as known.  

The table below provides an estimated timeline and dates for delivery. Please note that as dates are dependent on the delivery of a workshop element, the dates may vary. However, outline dates are 20 Sep – 12 Dec 2025.  

RTSL believes its programs are strengthened when they are developed and supported by individuals with diverse life experiences whose understanding of social and cultural issues can help make our work and workforce more inclusive. We encourage applications from and provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, organ donor status, or status as a veteran. Resolve to Save Lives complies with all applicable US EEO laws.