Hiring a Consultant  for  video record on GEMS Training and 04 different  TfD show at community level under the Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO) project. 

Background and Introduction:

The EU-funded Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO) project is seeking a consultant to undertake the work required to conduct video record of 04 days duration of GEMS teachers training and 04 saperate  TfD show at community level under the Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO) project.

Two types video recording is required one:  04 days durations of non-residential GEMS teachers training and Two:  04 separate TfD show under Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO) project including user guide. The Consultant will work with Plan International Bangladesh and the Eco-Social Development Organization to develop video record and user guide of GEMS training and TfD show video records through consultation with relevant persons from the Ministry of Primary Education (MOPE), Plan International Bangladesh.

Purpose of the Video records:
In the country context of Bangladesh, adolescents are the largest portion of the total population. The JANO project addresses adolescent nutrition, sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equity issues. In Bangladesh country context woman aged 20-24 years married before 18 rates is 59%, Teenage pregnancy (15-19 y)- Have had live birth before 18 is 21.85% and under Rangpur is 27.0%. In nutrition aspects, percentage of children under 5 stunting: 30.8 %, Wasting: 8.4%, Under weight: 21.9%.  Nationally Total Fertility rate is 2.5 (Children per woman).  Data source BDHS 2017-18.
The JANO project is now aiming to reach adolescent through school-based interventions and simultaneously interventions with out of school  adolescents. There are numbers of structured activity has developed for school-based interventions. TfD show is one of the key activities which is targeted to reach out of school adolescents.  During the COVID pandemic situation JANO team is aiming to reach out of school adolescent through the different modalities with  TfD show implementation, like; video recorded vision TfD show share in the community  people with small groups  by using small projector. In this reason JANO team is going to conduct a video record of TfD show.   

Plan International Bangladesh:

Plan International Bangladesh plays an important role in mobilising children, communities and civil society organisations to claim the rights of children and achieve agreed upon local development priorities, towards a commitment of ensuring the wellbeing of children in support of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Plan International is an independent organisation, with no religious, political or governmental affiliations, and with a vision of a world in which all children realize their full potential, in societies that respect people's rights and dignity. Plan International started its operations in Bangladesh in 1994. The vision of Plan International 2030 is “too empower girls and young women, to be heard, to live without fear of violence and to achieve their rights”.
Project Overview:

The JANO project is a 5-year project running from 01 September 2018 to 31 August 2023. The overall objective of the Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO) consortium project is to contribute to ending malnutrition of children under five years of age, together with addressing the nutritional needs of Pregnant and Lactating Women (PLW) and adolescent girls. To achieve this, the strategic objective of the JANO project is to improve maternal and child nutrition through implementation of a multi-sectoral approach and strengthen the nutritional governance in Nilphamari and Rangpur districts. The project is working at district and sub-district level, to implement the National Plan of Action for Nutrition (NPAN -2). One of the major expected results of the project is the introduction of Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and adolescent nutrition issues. This European Union (EU) funded project is managed through a consortium led by CARE Bangladesh and implemented together with Plan International Bangladesh and the Eco-Social Development Organization (ESDO).

The JANO project targets 7 upazilas across 2 districts of Rangpur and Nilphamari. This covers 64 unions.  The project works in a total of 330 schools, of which: 30 are primary schools, 251 are secondary schools, and 49 are madrasas. 

The Project intentionally selected Rangpur and Nilphamari as its implementation districts. Both districts fall under the Rangpur division, which has been identified as one of the two most vulnerable divisions in Bangladesh, with a stunting rate of 42.1 percent, according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of Bangladesh (2012-2013). Within the Rangpur division, Nilphamari and Rangpur have been identified among the most vulnerable districts. The JANO project works in the following seven most vulnerable upazilas of Rangpur and Nilphamari districts: Gangachara, Kaunia, Taraganj, Domar, Jaldhaka, Kishorgonj and Nilphamari Sadar, reaching all 64 unions. Apart from stunting, the number of underweight children is also very high (over 36%) in these upazilas. Also, in poverty head count ratio, these upazilas are ranked as the poorest (e.g. 58% of population is poor in Gangachara). Issues such as status of open defecation are still high in most of these upazilas, too. Poor caring of children is also pre-dominant in these areas according to the data of Mother and Child Nutrition Survey of Bangladesh (2012-13). During stakeholder consultation, a number of key challenges were identified in relation to poor nutrition outcomes and nutrition governance in Rangpur and Nilphamari. In general people are not informed about both nutrition-sensitive and specific services as well as not aware of climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive agricultural practices. At institution level, the understanding of local authorities and Government line departments about their roles in improving nutrition outcomes is very poor and the coordination mechanism amongst them is very weak. Their accountability towards service receivers is also weak. On the other hand, the private sector is not adequately offering appropriate nutrition products, especially for the poor and women. Poor availability of information at local level makes it difficult to develop appropriate local action plans. Finally, gender inequality is persistent which further contributes to malnutrition of girls.

The Overall Objective of JANO is to “contribute in ending malnutrition of children under five-years of age, together with addressing the nutritional needs of Pregnant and Lactating Women and adolescent girls.”  Achieving this objective will bring long-term impact where children will grow to become healthy adults, and not be constrained with the afflictions of a stunted individual. The primary beneficiaries remain the children, right from the onset, where Pregnant and Lactating Women are prime participants, ensuring that they consume the appropriate nutrition to pass on to their babies.

To meet this objective, JANO’s Strategic Objective is to “improve maternal and child nutrition through implementation of multi-sectoral approaches and strengthened nutritional governance in Nilphamari and Rangpur districts of Northwest Bangladesh.” The project recognizes that long-term impact can only be achieved by working at all levels of systemic governance and supporting the government to implement the National Plan of Action for Nutrition. To achieve this objective, JANO has four Estimated Results (ER):

  • ER1: Women and adolescent girls in communities, through Community Support Groups, are empowered to demand and utilise both nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific services
  • ER2: Coordinated and resourced sub-national and local government structures recognise, respond to, and are accountable to the demand of poor and marginalised communities
  • ER3: Increased productivity and income growth, through nutrition-sensitive value chains and affordable access of households, to nutritious products and services
  • ER4: Government departments, both vertically and horizontally, are connected through effective ICT platforms leading to better planning, coordination, monitoring and accountability 

As part of the JANO project, Plan International is responsible for supporting delivery of Expected Result 1 which focuses on engagement with schools.

By the end of the action, the project will have raised the awareness and strengthened the capacity of 410,620 adolescent girls and boys on gender equitable resilient health, hygiene and nutrition practices, through community campaigns, and introducing school gardens and focused topics in 330 primary and secondary schools.  Systemic structures will also be sustainably strengthened where 10,557 community members, through 621 Community Support Groups, will be trained and mobilised to engage with local Nutrition Action Plans, and undertake gender and diversity sensitive Social Action and Analysis.  Structures will be strengthened to develop the capacity of 77 Government Nutrition Coordination Committees at district, upazila and union parishad levels; 207 Community Health Care Providers; 465 Family Welfare Assistants; 198 Health Assistants; 990 Government proposed multi-purpose health volunteers; 40 Agriculture Extension Officers; 10 Livestock Officers; 7 Public Health and Engineering Officers; and 30 multi-national, national and local private sector companies.  Through these actions, JANO will have secured access to information, and strengthened services to 4.3 million people, including 250,000 Pregnant and Lactating Women and married adolescent girls, and 215,000 under five-year old children in the districts of Nilphamari and Rangpur.

The project intends to impact on several of the core challenges faced by Nilphamari and Rangpur districts. Knowledge and awareness will be raised and strengthened within communities in areas including appropriate feeding practices and care of infants, young children, and Pregnant and Lactating Women (PLW); appropriate hygiene behavior; and adoption of nutrition-sensitive and climate-smart-agriculture techniques. Government structures at the local and regional levels will be key partners, where JANO will work with the Nutrition Coordination Committees such that they implement effective nutritional programmes within their regions, which are inclusive of all citizens, and accountable to their citizens. The private sector is also seen as a major systemic partner, where JANO will motivate and encourage businesses to invest in local markets, where they consider local populations as a part of their “core” business. Information systems will feature prominently in JANO, where the project will work closely with the government to make the National Nutrition Information System more accessible and easier to use. This will include developing a single platform to be used by different governmental agencies – leading to better coordination, multi-sectoral planning, and more effective monitoring and follow up. Throughout JANO’s activities, women and girls will be central. All activities will follow a gender-transformational approach, to develop capacity of women and girls to be better producers and income earners, yet at the same time carefully considering a more equitable balance of workloads within their households to ensure that women do not become overly burdened. There are four domains of change JANO intends to shift:

  • Domain 1: Communities particularly adolescent and women are informed, engaged and empowered to improve their nutritional status
  • Domain 2: Committed, capacitated and invested local government structures and systems
  • Domain 3: Responsive, engaged private sector and civil societies in co-creating innovative and affordable solutions for improved nutrition
  • Domain 4: Well-coordinated multi-sectoral efforts to transform nutrition governance process

Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO) project also works with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) at the national, regional and local levels, to support the effective implementation of the National Plan of Action for Nutrition (NPAN). The NPAN provides the strategic vision for Bangladesh to achieve nutritional security, where all relevant ministries are compelled to support the initiative, which reports directly to the Prime Minister’s office. JANO works at multiple levels of government, specifically with the Nutrition Committees at the district, Upazila and union levels – building their capacity for them to better develop nutritional programmes, implement and budget for these programmes, and to provide effective oversight in its implementation. The NPAN calls for a multi-sectoral approach. JANO embraces this concept and works with the NPAN Steering Committee to develop operational guidelines of how best this can be achieved.

Objective/s of work:

Objective of the consultant work:

Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be downloaded from this link.

Submission of Proposal
The technical and financial proposals should be submitted electronically to the email address:
Planbd.consultant.hiring@plan-international.org with subject line “Hiring a Consultant  for  video record on GEMS Training and 04 different  TfD show at community level under the Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO) project”.

Proposal submitted to any other email account except this and in hard copy will be treated as disqualified.

Submissions deadline 11 April, 2021 at 3:00 pm. Both technical and financial proposal should be submitted PDF format into one zip folder with a covering letter addressing to Md. Enamul Haque, Supply & Procurement Specialist, Plan International Bangladesh.