1.1.     Request for Proposals – Service Notice

1.1.1.        Nutrition International (NI), a non-profit agency dedicated to eliminating vitamin and mineral deficiencies worldwide, invites proposals from competent agencies to for the event management of a dissemination meeting for sharing evaluation results under Adolescent Nutrition CCT Pilot Project.

1.2.     Background

1.2.1.        Nutrition International is Canada’s global nutrition organization. Founded in 1992, Nutrition International is dedicated to delivering proven nutrition interventions to those who need them most. With its vision to eradicate hidden hunger and nourish lives, NI has worked in Pakistan since year 2000 on low-cost, large scale nutrition programs. Nutrition International has planned and implemented programs to support Government of Pakistan to support to improve maternal and new-born care and infant and young child nutrition practices in selected districts of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces and piloted Weekly Iron & Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFAS) project for in-school adolescent girls in one tehsil of district Lodhran, Punjab.

1.2.2.        Pakistan is the fifth largest ‘young country’ in the world with an estimated 63% of its population comprising of youth. Pakistan is home to about 40 million adolescents (aged 10-19), equivalent to 23% of the total population (UNICEF, 2013). In Pakistan, girls have a comparatively low social status, remain marginalised and unable to avail opportunities restricting their socio-economic empowerment, thus remaining a neglected target group for health and nutrition interventions. The two-major adverse manifestation of adolescent girls’ disempowerment in Pakistan are their early marriages and poor nutritional status.

1.2.3.        Adolescence is a critical stage of the human life cycle, both physically and psychosocially. The fact is that adolescent girls and boys have remained a neglected target group for health and nutrition interventions in Pakistan and over half (54.7%) of adolescents aged 15-19 years suffer from anaemia. However, the evidence for the 10-14 years age bracket of adolescent girls and boys are insufficient to draw any conclusion. Overall, that translates into maternal anaemia and a subsequently anaemic neonate, low birth weight and premature births contributing to the vicious cycle of malnutrition and its health risks.

1.2.4.        Nutrition International is leading in adolescent nutrition programming in Pakistan with the objective of tackling anemia through provision of WIFAS. Reducing anemia for adolescent girls can contribute to 1) improved school performance; 2) increase productivity/energy and overall wellbeing for community and household activities; and 3) improved reproductive outcomes for adolescent girls who become pregnant. The opportunity to reduce anemia with Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFAS) is a key intervention for improving health and wellbeing of adolescent girls.

1.2.5.        To showcase the results of the evaluation to key government and other stakeholders e.g. MoNHSRC, provincial DsOH , key donors , UN partners, INGOs , Civil Society and media; a one day dissemination meeting is planned to be held in Islamabad tentatively in second week of September 2025. For organizing a day long dissemination meeting for around 100 participants, the services of an event management company is required to support Nutrition International in organizing the dissemination event.

1.2.6.        This Request for Proposals (RFP) and particularly the Guidelines for Preparing Proposals that follow, are designed to help Respondents to produce proposals that are acceptable to the NI, and to ensure that all proposals are given equal consideration. It is essential, therefore, that Respondents provide the complete information that is requested, and in the formats and on the terms specified.

DETAILED RFP ATTACHED