Responding to the recommendations in the National Neonatal Health Strategy, this operations research seeks to evaluate alternative approaches for the management of neonatal sepsis in the community. The evaluation will focus on assessing intervention coverage, provider quality of care, and referral and referral compliance, and will undertake cost-benefit analysis of community-based neonatal sepsis management. The programme and evaluation will be within the existing health service delivery system in Bangladesh and is thus designed to inform the effective scaling up of neonatal sepsis management and contribute to the implementation of the NNHS. The interventions to be evaluated will be nested in the Maternal, Neonatal and Child Survival (MNCS) programme being implemented by the Government of Bangladesh, in partnership with and supported by UNICEF, and several national NGOs.