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Expression of Interest are invited for Firm to provide Behavior Change Communication for Stimulation in Low Literacy Populations Healthy development in the early years (particularly birth to age five), often referred to as early child development (ECD), provides the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, lifelong health, strong communities, and successful parenting of the next generation. During the early years, childrens exposure to nurturing and responsive relationships are necessary to develop foundational social and emotional competencies and core cognitive skills needed to communicate with others, problem solve and maintain attention. In Pakistan, the state of stunting and the impact of early stimulation on childrens development are pressing concerns with significant implications for the nations human capital. The World Banks Pakistan Human Capital Review highlights that a staggering 40% of children under the age of 5 in Pakistan are stunted. This has crippling impacts that are largely irreversible, damaging a childs cognitive and physical capacity, leading to lower educational attainment, lower economic productivity, and reduced income earning potential. This level of stunting is indicative of chronic environmental and nutritional deficiencies and poses a severe challenge to achieving optimal human development and economic productivity. Improving child outcomes requires addressing the nutritional, health, and environmental determinants of stunting. However, existing programs aimed at stunting reduction in Pakistan primarily focus on the former with dietary and nutrition interventions for pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of two. While essential, these programs do not account for the critical environmental factors that contribute to neural damage and cognitive impairment, thereby preventing nutrition interventions from reaching peak effectiveness. Most importantly, an unsafe environment can expose a child to pathogens that cause chronic infection, limiting the bodys ability to absorb and use nutrients. This leads to nutritional deficiencies and poor immune function, eventually causing cognitive damages. Effectively reducing child stunting, therefore, requires comprehensive and well-coordinated multisectoral interventions that go beyond nutrition to address the underlying environmental drivers of stunting including access to water and sanitation, safe management of solid waste, and dietary diversity and quality. In an environment like Pakistan, where tackling these complex and multisectoral issues will take time, even with the highest level of attention and support, complementing such interventions with ECD could help moderate stunting-related cognition losses and protect generations of young children who are, or soon will be, past the age where the reversal of these losses is feasible. Against this background the World Bank is seeking a firm to assist with the following activities: 1. Review existing information guides for low literacy settings to identify messages related to stimulation. The World Bank task team has compiled a repository of communication materials and training content that could be used in a behavior change campaign surrounding parenting, stimulation, and stunting reduction. The firm would need to review the existing communication materials and training content, and identify whether a subset could be adapted for use in high stunting, low-literacy areas in Pakistan. 2. Develop messages on stimulation in high stunting areas. In addition to reviewing existing content, the firm will review published and grey literature on child development and stimulation in the context of stunting to propose a set of messages that will serve as the central component of the behavior change communication. The messages selected must be theoretically and empirically driven, selected due to their relevance to low literacy, high stunting areas in Pakistan, and adapted to the Pakistani context. 3. Produce a package of behavior change communication for low literacy populations following UNICEFs guidance on Social and Behavior Change (SBC). After the messages are identified, the firm will hold a session with the Bank task team to review them. Based on feedback received at this stage, the set of messages will be adapted into a behavior change communication campaign to be delivered through multiple media formats. The formats will be proposed by the firm (i.e., social, print, in-person, electronic or radio media). The formats should be proposed with effectiveness and reach in mind. 4. Propose strategies for disseminating the key messages. The firm will develop a guide for local NGOs to pre-test the material through pilot(s). The local NGOs will conduct the pilot(s) with support of the World Bank convergence team and the firm. Once the feasibility, adequacy and efficacy of the messages is established, the firm will create a detailed implementation plan. 5. Campaign design and NGO training: The finalized messages, dissemination strategies and materials will be handed over to local NGOs for delivery. Materials must include a comprehensive training program, equipping NGOs with the skills and tools for effective implementation. The firm will train the local NGOs and provide ongoing technical support as needed during the course of this assignment. Tender Link : https://wbgeprocure-rfxnow.worldbank.org/rfxnow/public/advertisement/4997/view.html
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