Regional approach and guidance development to engage with cities committed to improve urban food environments and prevent childhood overweight and obesity in Latin America and the Caribbean

Location: Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean [LACRO] – Remote work

Closing date for applying to this consultancy: June 14, 2021             

Estimated start date approx.: August 2, 2021 | Estimated end date: January 7, 2022 |Duration:  6 months

BACKGROUND:

Anchored in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF’s strategies for change are aimed to yield concrete results for children, charting a course towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 – and the realization of a better world for every child.

Within the global context of increasing overweight and obesity, concern has been growing over children’s nutrition, particularly in urban environments. The consumption of unhealthy foods is widespread in urban contexts, where foods that are high in fats, salt and sugars are cheap and readily accessible – and healthy options such as fresh fruits and vegetables are often expensive or unavailable. Urban advertisements for junk foods are largely targeted to appeal children, and most schools provide meals with low nutritional value. The increasingly sedentary lifestyle of children due to a lack of playgrounds and recreational green spaces in cities further encourages the prevalence of overweight and obesity. City populations are expected to swell in the coming decades, with the United Nations projecting that 70 per cent of all people will live in urban areas by 2030. This was also highlighted in UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2019 report.

In this context of growing cities and unhealthy urban food environments, the health concerns of childhood obesity in the urban context are increasingly relevant.

In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) there are 7.5% overweight children under 5 years old, and an estimated of 33.6% children aged 5‐19 years overweight and 14.4% obese in the WHO Americas region. Compared to other WHO regions this region has the highest prevalence of overweight among school‐age children. Moreover, the LAC region is one of the most urbanized regions in the world, so addressing the current urban food environments is key to prevent and halt the rise of overweight children and adolescents.

Leveraging existing platforms and guidance – including the Children Eating well in cities: A  roadmap for action to support nutritious diets and healthy environments for all children in urban settings (https://www.unicef.org/media/89396/file/Children-eating-well-in-cities.pdf), Child Friendly Cities Initiative (https://childfriendlycities.org) and Shaping Urbanization for Children: A handbook on child-responsive urban planning (www.unicef.org/reports/shaping-urbanization-children) – UNICEF is seeking an institutional consultancy that can design a regional approach to guide UNICEF LACRO´s work on urban food environments; map engaged and potential prospects cities in LAC that UNICEF could work with; support and guide the engagement process with 2-3 cities; and provide tangible recommendations to UNICEF for advancing this work.

PURPOSE:

Provide technical expertise and guidance to UNICEF Regional Office of Latin America and the Caribbean in the design of a regional and local approach to engage with cities committed to improve urban food environments and prevent childhood overweight.

Reasons why consultancy cannot be done by staff:

The urban food environment is a new and growing agenda for UNICEF. Key partnerships (e.g. Novo Nordisk) signed in 2019 will enable UNICEF to advance this agenda throughout the coming years. In order to do so, a roadmap and regional approach of the existing platforms and guidance need to be developed in LAC to fully understand what/where/how children’s nutrition can be advanced in urban settings as well as the role of UNICEF and its partners. To complement existing expertise and skills, UNICEF is seeking a multidisciplinary team (institutional consultancy) with an urban planning and public health nutrition background including a solid understanding of urban food environments and childhood overweight prevention to support the development of this agenda. At present, there is no such expertise within UNICEF.

2.           Solicitation

2.1       The purpose of this Request for Proposals for Services (“RFPS”) is to invite proposals for the " Approach and guidance development to engage with cities committed to improve urban food environments and prevent childhood overweight and obesity in Latin America and the Caribbean detailed in the Terms of Reference/Statement of Work attached at Annex B].

2.2       This RFPS document is comprised of the following:

• This document
• The UNICEF General Terms and Conditions of Contract (Services) which are attached as Annex A
• The full Terms of Reference/Statement of work attached at Annex B
• MDM Vendor Template Annex C
• Online registration to UNGM -United Nations Global Market – link: https://www.ungm.org/Account/Registration

2.3         This RFPS is an invitation to treat and shall not be construed as an offer capable of being accepted or as creating any contractual, other legal or restitution rights.  No binding contract, including a process contract or other understanding or arrangement, will exist between the Proposer and UNICEF and nothing in or in connection with this RFPS shall give rise to any liability on the part of UNICEF unless and until a contract is signed by UNICEF and the successful Proposer.

PART II – PROPOSAL SUBMISSION PROCESS

1.           Proposal Submission Schedule

CONTRACTUAL PROCESS

The schedule of the contractual process is as follows:

ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE:

1.           Send Proposal:  25.05.2021

2.           Questions and Answer if necessary: Until May 31st, 2021 before 23:59 (Panama Time)

3.           Consolidates Q & A posted in UNGM: June 01, 2021.

4.           Deadline for Proposals: June 14th, 2021 before 23:59 (Panama Time)

5.           Proposals Review: June 15th –22nd, 2021. approximately

6.           Award Notice sent and posted in UNGM: June 29th,2021. approximately

7.           Contract begins August 2nd, 2021 approximately.

1. Acknowledgement of receipt of RFPS.  Proposers are requested to inform UNICEF as soon as possible by EMAIL to at [email protected]  that they have received this RFPS. 

IMPORTANT: PROPOSALS ARE NOT TO BE SENT TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS STATED ABOVE – ANY PROPOSALS SENT TO THE ABOVE EMAIL ADDRESS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.

1. Questions from Proposers.  Proposers are required to submit any questions in respect of this

RFPS by email: [email protected]  with LRPS-2021-9167244.

1. The deadline for receipt of any questions is 31st May,2021 BEFORE 23:59 PANAMA TIME.

IMPORTANT: PROPOSALS ARE NOT TO BE SENT TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS STATED ABOVE – ANY PROPOSALS SENT TO THE ABOVE EMAIL ADDRESS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.