REQUEST FOR QUOTATION

RFQ Nº UNFPA/IND/RFQ/2024/011

Dear Sir/Madam,

UNFPA hereby solicits a quotation for the following service:

“Design and Implementation of Digital Strategy and Campaigns through Influencer Engagement to Amplify the Reach of ‘Just Ask/Khulke Poocho’ Chatbot Among Adolescents and Youth in India”

I.About UNFPA

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is an international development agency that works to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every child birth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.  

UNFPA is the lead UN agency that expands the possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy sexual and reproductive lives. To read more about UNFPA, please go to: UNFPA about us

Service Requirements/Terms of Reference (ToR)

UNFPA India is seeking proposals from qualified digital and media agencies to provide services for increasing the reach of the 'Just Ask/Khulke Poocho' AI Chatbot, through a targeted user acquisition strategy. The selected agency will be responsible for designing a digital strategy, executing campaigns along with engaging influencers, managing social media engagement, leading performance marketing and analyzing user engagement for measuring outcomes.

Objectives and scope of the Services

a)Background information

UNFPA has been operating in India since 1974 to strengthen and ensure rights-based and quality sexual and reproductive health services in the country. In partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the Government of India (GoI) and the state health departments of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Bihar, UNFPA strives towards ensuring the availability and accessibility of rights-based family planning information, counseling and services.

With over 1.36 billion people, India is one the world’s fastest-growing economies with 369 million young people aged 10-29 years, the largest youth population in the world. However, there are several factors that act as barriers for young adults and couples to access to accurate information and quality SRH services, which include lack of accurate information that leads to the proliferation of myths and misconceptions, deep entrenched negative social norms, taboo towards sexuality, and provider biases across the health service chain. There is an absolute need to provide a safe, non-judgmental space to adolescents and young adults for accessing information and health services. UNFPA, in partnership with National Health Mission (NHM), Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, has developed and launched a digital engagement platform (JustAsk! Khulke Poocho! chatbot) in 2023 for adolescents, young adults and couples to increase awareness and access to health services.

About JustAsk! Khulke Poocho! Chatbot

JustAsk!/ Khulke Poocho! is an AI-powered digital engagement platform that revolutionizes adolescent and youth education on sexual and reproductive health and rights, paving the way for a future free of stigma and one of informed choices.

Built on open-source AI, behavioral science, and human-centered design principles aligned with UN2.0 Quintet of Change, UNFPA India’s 'Just Ask' digital platform enables users to ask questions on various SRHR topics such as puberty, menstruation, family planning, gender identity, mental health awareness and safe internet use. Through interactive conversations, the chatbot delivers accurate and cost-free information, ensuring a safe, personalized, and multilingual user experience. Featuring relatable role models Dhruv and Drishti, the platform communicates information in a simple and relatable manner, supported by engaging infographics for easy comprehension. Additionally, the 'Just Ask' Chatbot connects adolescents and young people to Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics, government facilities, and helplines.

The overall objective of the assignment for the contracting agency will be to design, develop and deliver a digital and influencer engagement strategy towards the uptake of the ‘Just Ask/Khulke Poocho’ Chatbot amongst the target audience in India, to increase the number of unique users to ~5,00,000 in 2024 and increase UNFPA’s brand presence on social media.

Interested agencies are invited to submit their proposals detailing their approach, experience, team capabilities, timeline, and budget estimates.

Proposals should be prepared based on the guidelines set forth in Section II, along with a properly filled out and signed price quotation form and are to be sent by email to the contact person indicated below no later than: Thursday, May 23^rd 2024 at 23:59 hours IST]

Please note the following guidelines for electronic submissions:

The following reference must be included in the email subject line: RFQ Nº UNFPA/IND/RFQ/2024/11 -  Design and Implementation of Digital Strategy and Campaigns through Influencer Engagement to Amplify ‘Just Ask/Khulke Poocho’ Chatbot to Reach Adolescents and Youth in India 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.

For detailed RFQ, please check the attachment.