Request for Expressions of Interest

For Selection of Consultants Name of Country: Islamic Republic of Pakistan Name of Project: Sindh Enhancing Response to Reduce Stunting Project (SERRSP) Project ID: P161624 Loan / Credit No: IDA / 60470 Plan published date: 02.05.2018

Assignment Title: COMMUNICATION STRATEGY AND BENEFICIARY OUTREACH

DESIGN FOR CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER – SOCIAL

PROTECTION UNIT

The Government of Sindh has received financing from the World Bank towards the cost of Sindh Enhancing Response to reduce Stunting Project SERRSP) and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services. . The consulting services (“the Services”) include services for communications and social mobilization for Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) to the utilization of specific services by Pregnant and Lactating Women (PLW)/mothers ensuring positive impact on both poverty and human development outcomes. To this end, the Government of Sindh through the platform of Accelerated Action Plan (AAP) with multi-sectorial approach is collaborating with the World Bank in the piloting of a Health and Nutrition Conditional Cash Transfer (H&N CCT) program in the districts of Tharparkar and Umarkot. The Social Protection Unit, Social Welfare Department, Government of Sindh now invites consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section-3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for Borrowers for Goods, Works, Non-Consulting and Consulting Services dated July 1, 2016 Consultants may associate with other firms in the form of a joint venture or a sub-consultancy to enhance their qualifications. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Consultant’s Qualification Based Selection (CQS)

method set out in the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations 2016.

Interested firms are requested to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) on the standardized form, which can be collected at the address mentioned below or can be downloaded from SPU’s website. The firm should have at least five (05) years of experience in advisory services. The applicant firm(s) must provide specific details of projects conducted by them. Should have documented experience of completing at least three assignments of comparable scale and complexity. They should have adequate human resources and logistical arrangements. The Detailed TORs and standard form for the assignment are also available on SPU’s website www.spu-sindh.gos.pk (Form label ‘‘Expression of Interest for Communication Strategy and Beneficiary Outreach

Design’’). Further information can be obtained at the address mentioned below during office hours.

Expressions of Interest must be delivered in a written form to the address mentioned below by 8th June 2018.

PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Social Protection Unit, Accelerated Action Plan for Reduction of Stunting and Malnutrition Social Welfare Department, Government of Sindh

5th Floor, State Life Building No.11, Abdullah Haroon Road, Saddar, Karachi.

Tel: 92-021-35631931-2 Website: www.spu-sindh.gos.pk Email: spu.procurement@gmail.com

Terms of Reference

Communication Strategy and Beneficiary Outreach Design for Conditional Cash

Transfer – Social Protection Unit

1. Introduction

Government of Sindh has recently adopted an Accelerated Action Plan for Reduction of Stunting

and Malnutrition (AAP). The AAP aims to reduce stunting in Sindh by at least 1 percentage point

per year, or from 48% to 43% by 2021 and to 30% by 2026 by increasing and expanding coverage

of multi-sectoral interventions proven to reduce stunting in the first five years of children’s lives. It

comprises objectives and expected outcomes related to the underlying causes (by sectors) of

stunting: health, population, sanitation and hygiene, agriculture, social protection and education.

Nutrition centric social protection component of AAP – Sindh, for reduction of stunting and

malnutrition envisages a pilot Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program to create demand for

health and nutrition (H&N) services, promote behavioural change, and increase uptake of these

services focused on the first 1000 days of life by incentivizing health check-ups of pregnant and

lactating mothers, growth monitoring and immunization of children under 2 years of age through

provision of a regular and predictable cash transfer within the targeted poor and vulnerable

households.

A Social Protection Unit (SPU) within the Social Welfare Department has been established with a

mandate to perform key functions such as, social mobilization, communication, enrolment,

compliance verification, payment, grievance redress and monitoring and evaluation for the

H&NCCT design and implementation. The SPU is headed by a Program Coordinator and comprise

of suitably qualified and experienced staff.

2. Background

Pakistan presents a dismal scenario with respect to health and nutrition statistics. According to the

National Nutrition Survey 2011, more than 29.7 per cent of children under-5 are underweight for

their age, 43.7 per cent are affected by stunting and around 15.1 per cent by wasting. In addition,

62.1 per cent of children and 26.1 per cent of pregnant women have anemia. Pakistan is at the brink

of witnessing the double burden of under nutrition and declining reproductive health of women.

Sindh which is home to more than 50 million people in Pakistan, holds the key in the achievement

towards the health-related SDGs. However, despite ongoing efforts, the health sector performance

and pace of change in Sindh is slow and uneven, particularly with respect to maternal, newborn and

child health (MNCH) outcomes. The infant mortality rate in Sindh is 80 per 1000 live births.

Malnutrition has been found to reduce the likelihood that children will be enrolled in school and

reduces the learning capacity of those who are enrolled, putting constraints on social, economic and

long-term human development, particularly, with respect to the marginalized and disadvantaged

communities.

3. Health and Nutrition Conditional Cash Transfer (H&N CCT) The evidence on maternal and newborn health suggests that the first 1,000 days between pregnancy

and a child’s 2nd

birthday sets the foundation for the life-long cycle for human capital. Further, the

international evidence supports the positive outcomes of linking demand side interventions such as

Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) to the utilization of specific services by pregnant women and

mothers, ensuring positive impact on both poverty and human development outcomes. To this end,

Government of the Sindh through the platforms of Accelerated Action Plan with multi-sectorial

approach is collaborating with the World Bank in piloting a Health and Nutrition Conditional Cash

Transfer (H&N CCT) program in the districts of Tharparkar and Umarkot.

The primary objectiveof the CCT pilot is to create demand for nutrition services, promote

behavioral change and increase uptake of health and nutrition services focused on the first 1000

days of life by incentivizing health check-ups of pregnant and lactating mothers, growth monitoring

and immunization of children under 2 years of age through a regular and predictable cash transfer

within targeted poor and vulnerable households. The complementary objective is to contribute

towards promoting investment in human capital by encouraging desirable behaviors from pregnant

and lactating mothers to ensure safe birth and healthy children. Initially, the program will be piloted

in two selected districts of Sindh province.

As part of the implementation of H&N CCT initiative, one of the important activity requiring

technical support relates to outreach and communication activities. The overarching goal of

communications and outreach is to support and facilitate the effective implementation of the CCT

program by clearly communicating program eligibility criteria; important milestones and timelines;

and other key program design parameters. To this end, the SPU intends to develop a comprehensive

communication strategy in collaboration with all the concerned departments, particularly, the

Health Department. This communication strategy will be based on the analysis of communications

needs of the H&N CCT program and will translate them into the vision of SPU communications

and outreach, its objectives, key messages, and appropriate channels for each objective. The

communications strategy will be complemented by a well-designed action plan that will include a

series of key actions along with required activities and products to accomplish objectives for each

group of target audience. The impact of the strategy will be monitored through a monitoring

framework.

SPU’s overall communications framework will rest on a three-pronged communications platform

aimed at internal and external communications. These include:

i. Strategic Communication: Strategic communication aims at branding of the SPU by

reaching out to stakeholders for constituency building. It is an important institutional

activity to generate acceptance and cooperation of stakeholders, including

government agencies, departments, development partners, non-governmental entities

and community structures with an interest and role in SP.

ii. Public Outreach: Public outreach targets general public to create awareness about SP

as a right of the people and the various programs that are available for the poor and

vulnerable. This also includes targeted communication that will provide information

about key H&N CCT program features, objectives, eligibility criteria, and co-

responsibilities etc. to potential beneficiaries, stakeholders and the general public.

Such beneficiary outreach strategy will specifically focus on mobilizing the potential

beneficiaries and to motivate them for enrolment into CCT program.

iii. Internal Communication: This relates to communication within SWD/SPU staff,

including collaboration with key implementation stakeholders that enable SPU to

fulfil its functions. These stakeholders may include local implementation partner,

Social Mobilisers, Lady Health Workers, District Administration officials, Local

Government, etc.

4. Objective and scope of services:

The overall objective of the proposed consultancy is to support the SPU towards the development,

implementation and monitoring of a Beneficiary Outreach and program communication Strategy for

Sindh H&N CCT pilot.

Working in close collaboration with the SPU and the Communications Team/Focal Person of the

H&N CCT, the Communications and Outreach consulting firm will support the design and delivery

of a time-bound Communications Strategy and Beneficiary Outreach Plan. Salient tasks

include:

1. The design and execution of Strategic Communication activities in collaboration with the

SPU communications personnel and the senior management team. For national and regional

level audiences, these activities may include seminars, workshops, meetings, orientation

sessions and sharing of relevant briefs and documents.

2. H&N CCT beneficiary communications and outreach strategy and action plan aligned with

the program’s operational manual, particularly:

a. Beneficiary outreach and awareness campaign for the roll-out of H&N CCT pilot

sensitizing the target audience about enrolment, compliance, payments and grievance

redress;

b. Defining communication measures that are achievable in the short (within 6

months), medium (within 12 months) and long (within 18 months) terms;

c. Design of key messages, tools and activities in the beneficiary outreach action plan

which would be prioritized and used to complement the objectives of the H&N CCT

pilot;

d. A monitoring plan to gauge the relevance and efficacy of the communications

strategy, tools and implementation arrangements; and

e. Support the development of behavioural change communications tools and activities.

f. The Firm shall develop liaison and operational linkages with main social behavioural

change communication strategy would be implemented by the Task Force Secretariat

for all secotral components under AAP.

5. Key outputs expected from the firm:

Sindh H&N CCT communication and beneficiary outreach strategy with action plan,

particularly focusing on CCT pilot rollout.

Development of key messages and tools for beneficiary outreach and program

communication for H&N CCT pilot.

Development of communication monitoring plan and support SPU in executing same.

Produce an inception report, envisaging overall communication and outreach work plan and

all the phases of communication during the implementation of the H&N CCT program.

Travel to the project area, visit potential audiences (stakeholders, field staff and potential

beneficiaries) and sites to capture linkages and habits of audiences to support design of

information materials and outreach campaign.

Support implementation of standardized branding guidelines to deliver consistent

communications across all activities, through design and production of pilot related FAQs,

standard information kit/pack for beneficiary orientation, verification and enrolment

process, pregnant and lactating mothers’ awareness sessions, payment modalities and

grievance redress.

Support the SPU in carrying out communications training of all implementing partners

during inception to identify and clarify key roles and responsibilities in mobilization,

gender-sensitive rules of beneficiary engagement and feedback, beneficiary outreach and

communications at various touch points.

Prepare key messages and oversee dissemination of information through an effective

media/information campaign (to be hired separately by SPU) with all potential beneficiaries,

stakeholders and implementing partners so that consistency in communications is

maintained through the entire project cycle.

Design and oversee implementation of an outreach campaign (to be hired separately by

SPU) to mobilize local public opinion, motivate beneficiaries to avail services, educate them

about their rights and responsibilities for accessing the cash benefits.

Prepare relevant material for print, electronic and social media (wherever necessary), which

may include but will not be limited to public service announcements, banners, posters, and

campaigns for broadcast media and related material for communication with all stakeholders

required from time to time during the entire cycle of implementation. This would also

include sharing of results with stakeholders through video documentaries, case studies, etc.

Work in close coordination with the Communications Lead at the SPU to deliver and

administer required tasks, including quarterly work plans and progress reports.

6. Selection Method:

The selection process will be carried out following World Bank's Procurement Procedures

for Hiring of Consultancy Services under Consultant’s Qualification Based Selection (CQS)

for a period of 18 Months in accordance with Paragraph 7.11 of World Bank Procurement

Regulations for IPF Borrowers (July 2016).

GOVERNMENT OF SINDH

SOCIAL PROTECTION UNIT

(ACCELERATED ACTION PLAN)

Expression of Interest (EOI) Consulting Firms

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