Request for Proposal

Title:

Implementation of Community Activities to Support the Social Behaviour Change Campaign for the aim of Increasing the Consumption of Iron-Rich Foods and other behaviours in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Purpose:

The purpose of this proposal is the selection of NGO for the implementation of Social Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) Activities in West Bank and Gaza Strip

Location:

West Bank and/or Gaza Strip

Targeted People:

Pregnant and Lactating women, mothers of children under five and their families (who are enrolled in one of WFP’s Food Assistance Projects in West Bank and Gaza Strip), Individuals and communities

Agreement Type:

Field Level Agreement

Closing Date/deadline for receiving the proposals:

Thursday 3 December 2020@ 3:00 pm

1. Background:

1.1. The World Food Programme is an International Organization established through joint resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations and the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations having its headquarters in Rome, Italy and represented through its Palestine Country Office located in Al-Munther Street, Beit Hanina, Jerusalem (“WFP”). WFP has been functional in West Bank and the Gaza Strip since end nineties. WFP started the food assistance to the Palestinian Non-Refugees people though food/in-kind modality. In 2009 started the implementation of the Cash Based Transfers (CBT) activity (value voucher) through the use of paper vouchers and in 2010 moved to the electronic voucher modality. Currently, WFP Palestine is reaching around 72,000 individuals through food/in-kind modality and 340,000 individuals through Cash Based Transfer modality (Voucher) in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

1.2. WFP works with different Governmental and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). The main partner for WFP is the Ministry of the Social Development. This request of proposal covers the activities implemented with Non-Governmental Organization.

2. Objective of the Terms of Reference (ToR)

The objective of this proposal is to solicit technical and financial proposals from Non-Governmental Organization for the selection of a NGO to support WFP to develop and deliver a variety of community-based social behaviour change activities to increase the consumption of iron-rich foods by pregnant and lactating women and children aged 2-5 years old and to address other behavouirs related to COVID, smoking and eating habits (overweight and obesity). The community activities will be supported by a campaign (which is being commissioned out separately).

3. Overview

3.1. Current situation

Palestinians are facing a double burden of malnutrition; high levels of micronutrient deficiencies alongside increasing obesity and overweight rates. Children under the age of five are particularly vulnerable in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Prevalence of mild anaemia in children aged 6–59 months is between 20–24%, with moderate anaemia at 8%.

Recent evidence has highlighted the crucial role of social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) as a fundamental component of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions [footnoteRef:1]. [1: (TMRI study, IFPRI, 2015; Lancet Maternal and Child Nutrition Series, 2013). ]

3.2. Aim of World Food Programme’s social behaviour change work

The aim of the World Food Programme’s (WFP) behavioural change work in the State of Palestine is to use SBCC techniques to increase the consumption of iron-rich foods for pregnant and lactating women and children aged 2-5 years old. This should be complemented by addressing other behaviours related to COVID, smoking and eating habits (overweight and obesity).

WFP have developed a SBCC Plan which includes a number of behaviour change activities which will be delivered at the individual, household, and community levels. They provide practical support for mothers and families around how to include iron-rich foods into everyday meals and their diets. They also work to try and create new positive social norms around the need to eat iron-rich foods within local communities.

The primary audience for the community activities is mothers of children aged between 2 and 5 years old, pregnant women and lactating mothers. However, a review of past SBCC programmes has also highlighted that fathers, grandmothers, and mothers-in-law are important secondary audiences.

The community activities will be implemented in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip over a four-six months pilot period in 2021. Accordingly, the role out of the SBCC campaign will be in 2022.

4. The Behaviour Change Community Activities

All the below activities are potential and subject to change depending on fund availability and engagement of the different communities.

4.1. The community activities will:

· Strengthen motivation to engage in the desired behaviour by:

· Rewarding small changes, developing appropriate beliefs and positive feelings about changing through linking the new behaviour to be a good mother and helping children achieve their ‘firsts’.

· Maximise self-regulatory capacity by:

· Developing relevant skills (helping families to set achievable, small goals through support from healthcare professionals and community outreach workers).

· Maximise supportive activities by:

· Eliciting social support, for example, through family pledges, etc.

· Challenging myths and misunderstandings through humour and create new positive social norms

· Using positive reinforcement to celebrate the small changes.

4.2. Community activities: Scope of work and deliverables

The community activities include:

· Virtual cooking club and ‘Iron Chef’ contest

· Whole family commitment pledges

· Engagement with religious leaders

Virtual cooking clubs

It was initially planned that mothers get together once a month and share a meal, potluck style. However, due to COVID-19, the cooking club will act as a virtual ‘club’. The club will allow attendees to ‘watch’ the cooking sessions and suggest healthy and nutritious recipes/ingredients to use via online chat forums. These cooking club sessions should not be run as educational lectures.

Mothers will be invited to a Facebook group where both pre-recorded and live cooking sessions can be viewed and streamed. The mothers can post comments and questions and interact with each other in the group as well. There will be moderators to answer questions and post and lead discussions. There can be a weekly post types e.g. Mondays can be Recipe of the week, Wednesdays can be Spotlight on one of our members, etc.

· Objectives: Help women to feel excited about food instead of defeated by it. Show women how important their role in the household is when it comes to food and cooking and determining the health of themselves and their offspring.

· Messages: Join us and start cooking with friends. Any small change you make is a cause for celebration.

· Tone: Empowering, socialising, fun, interactive.

· Deliverables: 4 cooking clubs - 2 cooking clubs in West Bank and 2 in Gaza Strip. A minimum of 20 mothers should attend each club. The NGO is also responsible for the promotion and full running of the clubs, as well as the moderation of the comments/posts in between meetings. The NGO should coordinate with WFP around club session content.

· Frequency: Clubs meet virtually once a month during the 4-month campaign period.

“Iron Chef” contest[footnoteRef:2] [2: The Iron Chef contest is an initiative by a cook to spread the awareness, about the importance of iron in the diet and crowd-sourced iron rich recipes.]

Linked to the virtual cooking clubs, each club will host a virtual “Iron Chef” competition where contestants must prepare a health nutritious meal around a certain theme or ingredient and judges decide whose is the best. The winner wins a basket of fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat (all high iron foods).

The Iron Chef contest can be adapted for Coronavirus by pre-recording and releasing the drawing of the secret ingredient and challenging families at home to record themselves cooking a meal incorporating the secret ingredient. They then would have to submit their video or simply their recipes with accompanying photos to the Facebook group.

· Objectives: Publicising creative ways to use high iron ingredients, other than meat[footnoteRef:3]. [3: Meat was seen as the main source of iron but there are many alternative (and cheaper) high-iron foods. ]

· Messages: Make cooking fun. Any small change you make is a cause for celebration.

· Tone: Excitement, fun, competitive.

· Deliverables: 2 contests – 1 in West Bank and 1 in Gaza Strip. The NGO is responsible for the promotion and full running of the contest, as well as the promotion of the contest and the winners. The NGO should coordinate with WFP to identify suitable judges; be responsible to recruit and engage with the judges and to buy the two food baskets for winners in Gaza and West Bank.

· Frequency: Once during the 4-month campaign pilot period in both Gaza and West Bank.

Whole family commitment pledges

Originally a series of public events[footnoteRef:4] were planned. However, this has been changed to socially distanced household visits due to the ongoing pandemic. At these visits, all members of families will make pledges to give their child a variety of iron-rich foods, change behaviours related to smoking, health eating and gender related matters. These events will be used to show that small changes can be made to support good brain development, stressing that the brain continues to develop into a person’s 20s. [4: This public commitment is important as the evidence-base highlights that public commitments work better than private and a combination of individual and group pledges is ideal as it means that people can hold each other accountable, while also taking personal responsibility.]

Pledge certificates will be given to households, which each of the adult family members will sign.

· Objectives: Creating whole family commitment.

· Messages: Enjoy the support of your family and community and ‘Your little wins add up to big things’.[footnoteRef:5] [5: Focused on how high-iron foods and good nutrition support a child’s development. ]

· Tone: Supportive.

· Deliverables: A minimum of 400 households should be engaged with across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank over the four-month campaign pilot period.

· Frequency: Once per household during the campaign period.

Engagement with religious leaders

Religious leaders will be engaged with and supported to talk to fathers about such issues and link them to the Quran teachings. The talks will be held during Friday prayer meetings. Additional sessions will be held with female religious leaders for the mothers and mothers-in-law. These should be recorded and shared virtually if the Mosques are closed.

· Objectives: For religious leaders to emphasise that pregnant and lactating mothers need to eat an iron-rich diet (both male and female religious leaders), importance of not smoking and avoid eating unhealth (to avoid overweight and obesity).

· Messages: Enjoy the support of your community.

· Tone: Supportive.

· Deliverables: A half-day nutrition workshop for religious leaders will be held. Attended by a minimum of 7 female religious’ leaders per workshop, and 7 men religious leaders per workshop. The NGO is responsible for the identification and engagement of religious leaders, developing the workshop agenda and contents (with the support from WFP), delivering the workshops, venue hire and any refreshment costs.

· Frequency: Each of the religious leaders who attended the training will then be asked to give at least two talks during the four-month campaign period. The NGO is responsible to ensuring this is done and collecting attendance data.

5. NGO Role and Responsibility:

5.1. SBCC Campaign Pilot and Roll Out

The NGO will be responsible on the following points:

· Carrying out the community activities at the field level through the 4-6 months pilot period;

· Sharing lesson learned of the campaign piloting and improving the activities based on the results of the pilot period;

· Rolling out the SBCC campaign in 2022;

· Outreaching to WFP beneficiaries and households in different areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip;

· Providing ideas for the development and implementation of the community activities and promoting for the campaign;

· Using of digital channels and proposing alternative ways for implementing SBCC activties during the COVID-19 restrictions;

· Providing a community activity delivery plan with indication of key milestones;

· Mitigating the risks that might accompany the campaign implementation.

5.2. Reporting and Data Collection

5.2.1 The successful NGO must produce progress reports as follows:

· Monthly planned activities disaggregated by activity type and number of participants and other data as appropriate.

· Monthly progress report, reflecting the status of planned activities and reporting on the actual implemented activities disaggregated by type of activity, target group, number and sex of participants, and other types of data in response to output level indicators.

· Monthly narrative report reflecting on the main achievements, challenges, and how were they dealt with.

· Final Report to be submitted at the end of the campaign period, it will detail the activities that were held, with all levels of disaggregation in terms of number of activities, type of activities, number and sex of participants, feedback from participants, etc…. The report should be written in English and be no longer than 25 pages. Photos from the activities should be included.

5.2.2. The successful NGO will provide support as needed to the pre and post surveys that will be conducted by WFP. The expected support will be in the form of semi-structured interviews with a sample of targeted groups.

6. Reporting and Follow Up:

6.1 The NGO should be readily available to communicate with the designated WFP responsible project manager and the rest of the WFP team, to answer any technical queries for the duration of the contract. Communication will be conducted via email or online facility, as well as face-to-face meetings in Jerusalem, West Bank or Gaza (COVID restrictions allowing). In addition to regular updates, the NGO will be required to participate in monthly review meetings with WFP to review overall progress of the community activities.

6.2 Qualification or Specialized Knowledge/Experience Required:

The NGO (NGO)should have the following qualifications:

· It should be registered with the Palestinian Authority;

· It should have active field presence in the area of operation;

· It should have its accounts audited through a Chartered Accountant. The reports should be made available as public documents, as and when required;

· It should have at least one-third female members in the governing body or staff;

· It should have expertise in nutrition, health and/or behaviour change;

· It should have high reputation for honesty and integrity in its area of operation;

· Strong technical and managerial capability;

· High level of achievement/performance in fulfilling their objectives;

· Strong participatory approach particularly women’s participation (how many people participating; in what ways, what kinds of activity, who are participating, whether people’s organizations are formed or not and how these organizations are functioning);

· Have adequate personnel and in-country organizational structures, including staff, field offices, vehicles and access to communications. The staff must be reliable, qualified and suitably experienced, with reasonable continuity in assignments;

· Have a transparent institutional framework, active grass root participation, information systems and documentation, technical knowledge and geographical presence;

· Agrees to employ all reasonable efforts to ensure that such resources (a) are not knowingly transferred directly or indirectly or otherwise used to provide support to any individual or entity associated with terrorism as designated on the list maintained by the Security Council Committee established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) (available at http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/committees/1267/1267ListEng.htm); or (b) any other similar lists that may be established by the United Nations Security Council, including the list of individuals and entities maintained by the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea; and/or (c) are not used in any other manner that is prohibited by a resolution of the United Nations Security Council adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations;

· Acknowledges and agrees with WFP’s Anti-Fraud and Anti-Corruption (the “Policy”) that states that WFP has zero tolerance for Fraudulent, Corrupt and/or Collusive Practices (as such terms are defined below).

7. Guidelines for The Proposal

7.1. The technical proposal :

7.1.1Characteristics of the NGO

Status:

The NGO shall operating in the field of community engagement, with proven expertise in outreach work with mothers. The NGO must also be able to work in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and have experience of working in these locations.

The NGO can submit a proposal for any region (West Bank or Gaza) and for the both regions (West Bank and Gaza). The NGO should specify clearly in the technical and financial proposal the region (West Bank and Gaza Strip) that they are applying for in the technical and finacial proposals.

7.1.2Previous experience

Previous work with WFP and/or other international organizations is required. With proven experience in:

· Engagement with local community groups in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

· Previous experience working with different target groups for example religious leaders.

· Running outreach health/nutrition activities.

· Running digital/online outreach activities (if available).

7.1.3. Staffing

The NGO should identify a dedicated project team with combined experience in project management and community outreach work in the Gaza and the West Bank. An overall Project Manager should be designated and be WFP’s focal point, in charge of management of the project, follow up and reporting.

7.1.4. Proposal Structure

Bidders are requested to provide answers to the following questions:

Q1) Please provide details of the team you propose to carry out the community activities including their expertise and an explanation of why they are suited to the role, the number of days allocated to the project, and their day rate. Please also indicate which person would lead the project from your organisation (i.e. the person who would be WFP’s day-to-day contact). (1000 maximum words)

Q2) Please describe your ideas for the development and implementation of the community activities, including how they would be promoted and how you would use digital channels and deal with the COVID-19 restrictions. (1500 maximum words)

Q3) Please provide evidence of the following core competencies within your organisation and indicative of the expertise available for deployment on the proposed project. Core competencies include: 1) Community outreach work around health topics; 2) Work with mothers and other family members in Gaza and the West Bank; 3) Work with religious leaders; and 4) digital. (1500 maximum words)

Q4) Please outline your community activity delivery plan with indication of key milestones. (1000 maximum words)

Q5) Please demonstrate how you will work collaboratively and communicate effectively with the WFP and other stakeholders. (1000 maximum words)

Q6) Please provide details of relevant community activities successfully delivered in the past five years. Please specifically detail:

· Who the work was developed for (the client)

· Location

· Status: Under development or completed

· Brief description, including details of the activities, how long they were run for, and target audience/s.

· Reason for relevant (experience applicability to this work)

· Team members

· Roles and responsibilities, including: 

o   Client’s Role and Responsibility

o   NGO’s Role and Responsibility

o Third party NGO’s Role and Responsibility (if applicable)  

Q7) Description on how your organization can link between WFP’s project with those that you are already implementing or planning to implement in such a way that the beneficiaries that we jointly support can participate in and benefit from;

Please describe any external factors, security issues or risks that need closer attention and management.

Q8) Please describe and share the NGO policy related to Gender and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

(max 1500 words) 

7.1.5 A timeline should be included in the proposal.

7.2. A Financial proposal, submitted as per the provided template, uploaded in the financial envelope.

8. Evaluation of Proposals

8.1.Examination of Proposals

8.1.1. WFP will examine the proposals to determine whether they are complete, whether any computational errors have been made, whether the documents have been properly signed, and whether the proposals are generally in order. Technical proposals found to contain financial bid or pricing information will be rejected. Proposals which are not in order as aforesaid may be rejected.

8.1.2. Please note that WFP is not bound to select any NGO and may reject all proposals. Furthermore, since a contract would be awarded in respect of the proposal which is considered most responsive to the needs of the campaign concerned, due consideration being given to WFP’s general principles, including economy and efficiency, WFP does not bind itself in any way to select the bidder offering the lowest price.

8.2.Evaluation of Proposals

8.2.1. Following the examination of proposals, bidders may be asked to present (either face-to-face or online) their proposal.

Technical Weighting:

70 % of total evaluation

Financial Weighting:

30 % of total evaluation

8.3. Technical Evaluation

8.3.1. The technical evaluation of the proposals will be conducted using the following criteria:

· The experience of the organisation in carrying out related community activities

· The extent to which WFP's requirements and expectations have been satisfactorily addressed

· The quality of plans to work collaboratively and communicate effectively with the WFP and other stakeholders

· The experience and competence of the personnel proposed

· The quality of the overall proposal

The number of points which can be obtained for each evaluation criterion is specified below and indicates the relative significance or weight of the item in the overall evaluation process.

A minimum of [70] points is required to pass the technical evaluation.

Background and the experience of the company in carrying out related community activities

20

The extent to which WFP's requirements and expectations have been satisfactorily addressed and clarity of proposal

25

The quality of implementation and reporting plans to work collaboratively and communicate effectively with the WFP and other stakeholders

30

The experience and competence of the personnel proposed

10

The quality of the overall proposal

15

8.3.2. WFP may, during the evaluation period, at its discretion, invite selected bidders to supply additional information on the contents of their proposal (at such bidders' own cost).

8.4. Financial Evaluation

Financial proposals shall remain sealed until the completion of the technical evaluation. During the financial evaluation, only the price proposals of those bids which have achieved the minimum technical threshold according to the evaluation process will be opened and compared.

8. Method of Submission:

The proposal should be submitted in two parts consisting of the following:

"PART "A"-TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

Cooperating Partner for the implementation of WFP’s Social Behaviour Change Communication in the West Bank and/or the Gaza Strip

Note: No financial information should be included in the Technical Proposal

Second Part: this part should only contain the cost indications related to your technical proposal. It should be clearly marked:

"PART "B"-FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Cooperating Partner for the implementation of WFP’s Social Behaviour Change Communication in the West Bank and/or the Gaza Strip

The financial proposal should be separated from the technical proposal.

Considering the COVD 19 situation, please send the technical and the financial proposals separately to INFO.WFPPAL info.wfppal@wfp.org;

10. Request for Clarifications:

Requests for clarifications must be sent via email to the following (Please make sure to copy all the below emails):

Nihal.nassereddin@wfp.org, Samah.Helou@wfp.org

Last day for submitting questions will be 1 December 2020 at 3:00 pm

WFP Palestine Country Office

Al-Munther Street, Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem Telephone: +972 (0)2 5401340/1/2 Fax: +972 (0)2 5401227

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