The meeting between suppliers and UNICEF contributes to a better promotion of children's rights
More than 150 suppliers, currently recorded in the new UNICEF database, have demonstrated their willingness to better support UNICEF in carrying out its mandate in Madagascar.
Out of the calls for expressions of interest launched by the Supply Division of UNICEF Madagascar over the last few months, only a handful of suppliers could submit complete and admissible files, according to the requirements of the process set up internally. Some of them stop in the middle of the process without UNICEF being able to identify the blockage and sort it out. Another part of the suppliers claims not to be informed in advance of these open markets, which has a strong impact on the number of responses received.
However, the involvement of the local private sector is crucial to meet the needs of UNICEF beneficiaries, in terms of supply of goods, services or works. That is why an open day was organized on 28 October: an opportunity to meet and discuss with those key partners and to contribute together and effectively to the implementation of the various programmes of UNICEF in Madagascar. The hundreds of companies present at the event were reminded of the key principles governing procurement issues at the United Nations (UN) and UNICEF, as well as awareness raising on the United Nations code of conduct and responsible business practices.
The qualities of a well-prepared offer or proposal have been presented in order to increase the chances of being awarded contracts and to assimilate the whole process. The submission of tenders through the UNGM platform has been demonstrated, confirming the digitization of the procedure and the consideration of electronic files only. “We remain fully at your disposal and are ready to support you to ensure that you can express your interest at the appropriate time,” reassured the Supply division team.
Target suppliers are the result of a market study carried out upstream in order to update the database and ensure that we always have the most precise and recent knowledge of the local market. "In addition to providing clarification, discussing and redirecting possible misunderstandings of the tools, the open day was also an opportunity to remind that the involvement of private sector companies is important to inform us about the main innovations in their fields. Their expertise is as much in demand because new products and new services can always be of interest in order to effectively issue responses,” says Anne Cabrera-Clerget, Supply Manager at UNICEF Madagascar. Issues related in particular to the environment, climate change or even water, hygiene and sanitation are key areas in which UNICEF intends to carry out significant actions.
UNICEF has also taken advantage of discussions with private sector companies to highlight its accountability and transparency values in conducting its procurement processes. Responsible business practices were also put forward as regards human rights issues, namely gender, inclusion of people with disabilities, children's rights with a focus on child labour as well as prevention of sexual abuse and harassment. “We are sharing this because it is essential that partners are informed and adhere to all of these principles in order to remain consistent with its status as a partner of UNICEF,” as it says.
