UNFPA hereby solicits a quotation for the following service: “Communications Support for the project Improved health literacy and access to health care services of Roma women and girls in Serbia”
UNFPA Serbia is looking to engage a legal entity to support the communication activities of the project. The services should be designed to achieve the following objectives:
- Raise awareness of Roma women and girls about the issues related to their sexual and reproductive health and rights and the possibilities for prevention and health improvement
- Draw the attention of policy and decision-makers, health authorities and health professionals at local and national level as well as potential partners to the programme on specific health related challenges faced by Roma women and girls
- Raise awareness about the programme and its activities, achievements, and its potential impact among key stakeholders at the national and especially local level
This Request for Quotation is open to all legally-constituted companies that can provide the requested services and have the legal capacity to deliver in the country, or through an authorized representative.
About UNFPA
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the lead United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency for ensuring rights and choices of all. The strategic goal of UNFPA is to achieve the three transformative results: ending unmet need for family planning, ending maternal death, and ending violence and harmful practices against women and girls. In pursuing its goal, UNFPA has been guided by the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (1994), the Millennium Development Goals (2000) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015).
Service Requirements/Terms of Reference (ToR)
Background information:
Results of the most recent Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS 6, 2019) show significant health inequalities between Roma women and women in the general population, especially in relation to reproductive health: use of effective contraception (7% in Roma women versus 21% in women from general population), independent decision making about sexual and reproductive health (56% in Roma women, versus 83% in general population) adolescents birth rate 163 vs 19 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19, etc. At the time of survey 34% of young women aged 15–19 years in Roma population were married or in a union, versus 3% in the general population.
Health literacy of Roma girls is especially affected by poverty, traditional upbringing and gender-related expectations, leaving them with fewer options, and less developed life skills, including for protection of their health and rights and use of available health services. Roma women often seek medical attention only in cases of urgent need, pregnancy, delivery, or when the disease reaches an advanced stage, adversely impacting overall health and prognosis.
In 2024, UNFPA Serbia initiated a project which aims to address limited health literacy and limited access to preventive health services for Roma women and girls in five selected cities (Belgrade, Kragujevac, Leskovac, Sabac i Pirot), with particular focus on sexual and reproductive health services. Project activities are designed to support Roma women and girls to benefit from all existing preventive measures and health services including receiving age appropriate information and advice about healthy lifestyle through peer led workshops and awareness raising campaign, promotion of HPV vaccination covered by health insurance for youth 9-19 years of age, regular preventive gynecological examinations available in primary health care centers, and cervical or breast cancer screening (where available).
Project aims to decrease stigma and discrimination, and to increase the reproductive decision-making autonomy among Roma women and to increase cultural sensitivity and capacity of health professionals to provide adequate care to Roma women and girls in selected cities. Target groups are Roma women and girls of various ages: young girls up to 18 years old, adult women and Roma women older than 50, (minimum 300 direct beneficiaries), but also health professionals working in primary health care centers in selected cities (30-50) health professionals. The project will be implemented in 5 cities that have a high number of Roma citizens (between 4.9-10 % of Roma population), (Belgrade, Kragujevac, Leskovac, Sabac and Pirot). Many activities shall be implemented directly in Roma settlements, in order to reach the most underprivileged women.
Important part of the project is the local health promoting campaign that will be designed to raise awareness of Roma women, but also of a broader community about healthy lifestyles, prevention and control of chronic, non-communicable diseases, HPV infection, and the importance of prevention, regular medical examination or organized screening, if available. Content and means of communication will be adapted to reach as many Roma women as possible and should be implemented through various means of communication, printed materials, infographics, human interest stories, traditional and social media.
Social media campaign will be executed from UNFPA Serbia social media accounts and in line with the MSD policies and rules.
Traditional and social media campaigns should promote activities and results implemented under the project and the Final Event, as per UNFPA and MSD rules and policies. Additionally, campaign should raise awareness among both, general population and Roma communities on the topics related to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Selected entity should work closely with Roma educators at the local level, supporting better outreach of the local activities and communication with the local stakeholders, including local health centers, authorities etc.
Objective(s)/Task(s):
The selected entity is expected to execute the following tasks/activities:
Task 1: Prepare Campaign Strategy outline that shall include: creative concept, campaign implementation plan (including for activities at the local level), traditional media plan, social media synopsis with social media calendar.
Task 2: Finalise the Campaign Strategy.
Task 3: Design and produce the visual tools including quote cards, IC materials, reels, professional photographs that will be used for the campaign.
Task 4: Develop of the Social and Traditional Biweekly Media Calendar.
Task 5: Prepare and execute the local events and support the outreach activities in agreement with UNFPA and Roma Women Network.
Task 6: Prepare and organise the Final Conference.
Task 7: Prepare half year and annual progress reports (with dates agreed with UNFPA Serbia) with detailed specification of all deliverables that are completed and media clipping reports.
Task 8: Prepare the Final Report.
Outputs/Deliverables:
Deliverable 1. Campaign Strategy outline
Bidders are expected to prepare Campaign Strategy outline that shall include:
- Creative Concept: Campaign slogan/hashtag, Visual identity, Layout of the Key Visual, plan of communication - information material, and in case video production is envisaged please include video storyboards.
- Campaign Implementation plan indicating calendar of activities and plan of its execution based on the above-mentioned Communications Plan.
Communications activities should follow and promote all activities implemented at national, but also at local level in selected municipalities in cooperation with local stakeholders. - Traditional Media plan that should include at a minimum:
- two TV appearances on national frequency TV stations programs for UNFPA and MSD, and Full PR support for the project activities and final event, in line with UNFPA and MSD policies and procedures
- 2 OpEd/written interviews published in at least one daily/weekly magazine and one portal
*In case campaign video is being produced, please indicate if/how it will be placed on the traditional media.
- Social Media Synopsis with Social Media Calendar in both English and Serbian, with reels and quote cards but also with a list of proposed influencer(s) that can be engaged. Proposed influencer(s) should be well versed in topics of SRHR and similar. UNFPA does not provide financial compensation to influencers.
*Social media campaign will be executed from UNFPA Serbia Facebook, Instagram and X accounts in collaboration with MSD.
The Campaign Strategy outline (with outreach activities included) will be treated as the key document in the evaluation of the Technical Proposals. Financial Proposal should include two budget scenarios, starting with the most economic one.
Deliverable 2. Final Campaign Strategy
Final Campaign Strategy should include defined tone, slogan and messages of the campaign traditional Media Plan and final Social Media Plan.
Deliverable 3. Design and production of visual tools including quote cards, IC materials, reels, professional photographs that will be used for the campaign, in line with the MSD and UNFPA policies and procedures.
Deliverable 4. Development of the Social and Traditional Biweekly Media Calendar.
Deliverable 5. Preparation and execution of the local events and final event based on the agreed concept with UNFPA. The agency is expected to carry out all logistics arrangements for the events, including branding the venue, branding the invitations, providing PR support for the event, catering etc. The agency is also requested to support outreach activities with local stakeholders. Final event will be held in Belgrade, Serbia. Local activities will be implemented in selected municipalities (Belgrade, Kragujevac, Leskovac, Šabac and Pirot).
Deliverable 6. Half year and annual progress reports (with dates agreed with UNFPA Serbia) with detailed specification all deliverables that are completed and media clipping reports.
Deliverable 7. Final Report (around 10 pages in English) will be presented by the Contractor to UNFPA, annexing all the deliverables and results of the campaign.
Final products should carry the logos of all partners or be clearly specified that it was developed with UNFPA/MSD project support in line with UNFPA and MSD Communication and Visibility policies and procedures Work will be done under the overall guidance and supervision of the Head of Office and/or communication staff of UNFPA, who will check and approve all deliverables
Timing / Schedule:
All deliverables are to be completed by 15 April 2026. This schedule could be altered only in case of force majeure that would prevent implementation of activities.
For all delays in the completion of the tasks, the contractor should notify UNFPA stating the reasons for the delay and proposing alternative actions or dates for completion of delivery.
Questions
Questions or requests for further clarifications should be submitted in writing to the contact person below:
The deadline for submission of questions is 16 August 2024, 12:00 CET. Questions will be answered in writing and shared with all parties as soon as possible after this deadline.
Instructions for submission
Proposals should be prepared based on the guidelines set forth in Section 4 above, along with a properly filled out and signed price quotation form and are to be sent by email to the contact indicated below no later than: Monday, 26 August 2024, 11:00, Belgrade Time.
Please note the following guidelines for electronic submissions:
- The following reference must be included in the email subject line: RFQ Nº UNFPA/SRB/RFQ/24/002 – [“Communications Support for the project Improved health literacy and access to health care services of Roma women and girls in Serbia”].
- Proposals, including both technical and financial proposals, that do not contain the correct email subject line may be overlooked by the procurement officer and therefore not considered.
- The total email size may not exceed 20 MB (including email body, encoded attachments and headers). Where the technical details are in large electronic files, it is recommended that these be sent separately before the deadline.
- Any quotation submitted will be regarded as an offer by the bidder and does not
constitute or imply the acceptance of any quotation by UNFPA. UNFPA is under no obligation to award a contract to any bidder as a result of this RFQ.