Request for Proposal (RFP)
Project Name : USAID’s Bagh Activity
Implementer : WildTeam
Funded by : United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Bangladesh
Release Date : 16 October 2016
RFP Number : BAGH-RFP-017
Description : Design, Production, and Event Management Services for National Tiger Awareness Week 2016
Query Due Date : 25 October 2016 by 12:00 pm Bangladesh Standard Time (BST)
Debriefing session : 27 October 2016 at 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm at USAID’s Bagh office, WildTeam, Gulshan 2, Dhaka
Submission Due Date : 06 November 2016 by 5:00 pm (BST)
Place of Performance : Dhaka / Khulna
Section 1: Scope of Work
1.1 Objective
Key objectives of the National Tiger Awareness Week 2016 are:
· Create widespread awareness throughout the country about conservation of critically endangered Bengal Tiger and its habitat, the Sundarbans
· Create greater awareness among the local population to spur social commitment to conservation of tigers and the Sundarbans
· Engage local, national celebrities, and cricketers with the National Tiger Awareness Week to deliver maximum outreach and exposure
· Promote the importance of wildlife and biodiversity conservation through the mass media
· Promote saving tiger and other biodiversity conservation as the acts of heroism to the youth and students
1.2 Background
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) joined hands with the Government of Bangladesh to protect wild tigers in Bangladesh through USAID’s Bengal Tiger Conservation Activity (Bagh). USAID’s Bagh Activity aims to improve wildlife conservation as an effective means to improve the status of the country’s rich biodiversity that millions of people depend upon for livelihood, carbon sequestration, shelter from extreme weather, and socio-economic well-being.
Under the leadership of the Bangladesh Forest Department, USAID’s Bagh Activity is implemented by WildTeam, an organization working for biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh since 2003. The Bagh Activity is also receiving technical support from the Smithsonian Institution and the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies.
From creating conservation awareness in the communities living adjacent to the Sundarbans to increasing vigilance against wildlife crime, Bagh will tie people, institutions, and policymakers together with the opportunity to contribute to tiger conservation under its five different components:
Expanded knowledge base
Bagh supports priority research to inform management interventions for the targeted landscapes. The activity also develops tools and platforms for knowledge sharing, collaborative research, and learning.
Reduced illegal wildlife trafficking
Bagh provides support to the development of the national Wildlife Crime Control Unit, facilitates engagement with regional and international enforcement bodies, strengthens patrol efforts on the ground, and pilot models for community-based anti-poaching action.
Minimized human-wildlife conflict
Communities living adjacent to the Sundarbans still have unhealed wounds resulting from tiger-human conflict. Bagh is strengthening the Village Tiger Response Teams who manage stray tigers, provides veterinary training for conflict tiger handling, establishes a system for conflict prediction and monitoring, and promotes safety skills inside the forest to minimize injury and fatalities to tigers and humans.
Enhanced communication, outreach and gender engagement
Bagh is building on and expanding the ‘Mother-like Sundarbans' campaign across the Sundarbans periphery inspiring people to participate in activities that protect the ecosystem. National and global awareness raising campaigns are aimed at engaging audiences and building social and political will. To promote long-term support, Bagh is creating a Wild Learning Center to serve as a platform to engage women, young people, and future conservation leaders.
Improved livelihoods for conservation
Promoting environmentally sustainable livelihood ideas in the Sundarbans region is imperative for conserving the forest. Bagh is launching a national competition to inspire innovative eco-friendly livelihood ideas for people who depend on the Sundarbans for food and income and will potentially pilot selected outstanding ideas in the Sundarbans region. Bagh is also supporting the growth of eco-tourism in Bangladesh through supporting the development of an eco-tourism master plan for the Sundarbans.
The Bangladesh government and other stakeholders have developed the Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan, 2010-2017 which broadly categorizes the threats to tigers as habitat degradation, prey depletion, and direct killing. These have been broken down further and prioritized to focus on conservation efforts. Tiger poaching, stray tiger killing, deer poaching and its consumption have been identified as high priority threats to be tackled over the coming years.
Recognizing that these threats are linked directly to human behavior, WildTeam has developed a five-year Social Behaviour Change Campaign utilizing social marketing theory to change the behavior of local communities and therefore increase the chances of survival of the Sundarbans tiger, initiated in 2012. The campaign has been divided into 5 phases to take the target audiences (adult male, adult female, and children) through the desired steps to bring about long-lasting change.
In February 2016, USAID’s Bagh Activity launched a National Tiger Awareness Campaign under which a tiger-shaped bus ‘TigerCaravan’ traveled to47 districts across the country with a mobile exhibition and street drama shows to raise mass awareness about tiger conservation.
With the slogan ‘Tiger is our pride- We shall Protect Tiger’, the TigerCaravan pulled more than 250,000 visitors across the country during its four-month tour. TigerCaravan has also been engaging general public, especially the youths through social media using the hashtag #iStandForTigers. The TigerCaravan has reached around 2 million people on social media. Engagement with the #iStandforTigers was around 350,000.
National Tiger Awareness Week2016
To continue the momentum of its efforts to raise awareness for tiger conservation, USAID’s Bagh Activity will organize a weeklong National Tiger Awareness Week in December 2016. The objective of the event is to deliver a long-lasting awareness in favor of Bagh's efforts for protecting the natural habitats of tigers and mobilize greater public understanding and support towards tiger conservation issues. The National Tiger Awareness Week will be a part of the National Tiger Awareness Campaign.
In collaboration with the Forest Department, USAID’s Bagh Activity intends to host the seven-day event both in Dhaka and Khulna in a befitting manner with different integrated programs and activities. The activities/programs will include seminars, cultural events (Local & National), musical concert, sports event (Cycling marathon), film festival, kids’ day, and photography and art exhibition for children---all focusing on tiger conservation issues. Through these events, the Bagh Activity aims to reinforce the key messages from both the local campaigns, and the National Tiger Awareness Campaign.
USAID’s Bagh Activity seeks to hire an Agency for providing communications, production and event management of all the activities proposed in the Calendar of Illustrative Events (see below) that focus the common theme: “Tiger is Our Pride – We shall Protect Tiger”
1.3 Brief of the event(s) and services required
A well-decorated venue with necessary branding should be arranged for the event(s). There should be stalls showcasing tiger-themed elements with compatible creative ambiance/outlook. The duration of the event will be seven days (4 days in Dhaka, and 3 days in Khulna). Well-planned cultural events will be organized featuring live performance by prominent national and local celebrities. Under the sporting event(s), the agency will organize a marathon or cycling event in Dhaka. There will be a National Essay Competition on selected topic related to Sundarbans and tiger conservation with submissions from young students from all over the country. A jury board will evaluate those submissions and select the best ones for awards to be distributed among the winners during an award-giving function during the weeklong event. There will be an Art Competition for children. Children will attend the event and make tiger-inspired artworks, and the best paintings will be awarded. A film show will be an important part of the weeklong event to screen some of the world’s most acclaimed tiger-themed movies/ documentaries. Bagh Activity also intends to host a ‘Kids’ Day’ dedicated to children as part of the National Tiger Awareness Week 2016. The venue for the ‘Kids’ Day’ will be decorated with cheerful, distinctive, and tiger-inspired themes. Popular children’s games including Chorki, Nagordola, Bioscope, Balloon shoot, Clay shop, Mask shop, Painting elements should be arranged for the ‘Kids’ Day’ event. The cultural events will also include street drama show, pot show, and dance shows.
Promotional takeaway materials such as poster, sticker, caps, wrist- bands and T-shirt for adults, youth and children will be distributed during the event(s).
The objective of this RFP is to engage a capable and efficient event management firm to execute National Tiger Awareness Week in Dhaka and Khulna (near the Sundarbans) to promote tiger conservation through building awareness among the local people. To accomplish this objective, the selected firm/agency will work on the following events/tasks:
1.3.1 Cultural program
Two cultural programs will be organized on two separate dates----one featuring local artists and another will be attended by prominent national artist(s). The theme song (already created) of the National Tiger Awareness Campaign will be performed by the celebrity artists at the cultural events. The celebrity artist(s) will perform folk songs (10 to 15 folk songs) at the cultural event. In between the songs, the artists will pitch the importance of conserving Sundarbans, tiger, deer and other wildlife. The singer will also emphasize the role of communities to conserve Sundarbans and tiger. The artists will inspire the audiences to make a pledge that they will never cause harm to a tiger or other wild animal and will never consume deer meat. A script will be developed for a live drama show which will be performed by a professional theater group. A pot song will be performed by locally hired performers.
1.3.2 Venues for cultural programs
The selected firm will arrange and decorate the venues for the cultural programs. The venue(s) will be an open space having the capacity of accommodating at least 10,000 people. A temporary boundary will be created where it is necessary to ensure smooth entry and exit. An open stage will be set up inspired by Sundarbans theme to accommodate the artists. Necessary sitting arrangement for VIPs, women and other guests, lightings and high- quality sound system, and efficient power generator(s) will be in place. Large screens (at least 4 nos) will need to be placed for the audience. The venue must be decorated with festoon, poster, dangler and other necessary materials with distinctive interior and exterior decorations. Necessary safety and security will have to be ensured. The interested firm needs to submit the detailed venue arrangements plan in their proposal.
1.3.3 Art Camp for Children
Around 350 / 400 children will attend the Art camp / competition with their own equipment during the event.
They will paint water-color/acrylic color on paper on the community and Sundarbans landscape, tiger conservation and other thematic issues during the event. The whole ground will be decorated with Kids theme on that day. There might be some entertaining item for the children; like film show and educational videos. Some celebrities will visit the event to encourage the kids for the Art Camp. They celebrities may want to make a painting or anything like that as a token of their presence at the event. Ten best artworks will be awarded and the chief guest will distribute prizes to the winners. Journalists will be invited specially for this event and they will cover the Art Camp. All the artworks will be treated as the property of the Project, to be exhibited or auctioned in future for raising funds for tiger conservation.
1.3.4 Cycling Marathon
The event management firm will organize a Cycling Marathon. The track will be 20-25 kilometer long (The parliament building to Shahbag or Gulshan to Shahbag). We are expecting 250-300 bicycles in the cycling marathon. The event management firm will decorate the whole path/road/track with colorful papers to give the cycling a festive look. Prior to the event, the selected firm will widely advertise the event to ensure maximum turnout. Well-known cyclist groups may be engaged in this event. Journalists from newspapers and TV channels will be invited to cover the event. Essential safety and medical instruments must be arranged to handle any emergency during the cycling marathon. Water, towel, food, fan and doctor will be there and two ambulances will be arranged for any medical emergency. Political big shots and celebrities will attend in the prize giving ceremony. The cyclists will wear Tiger T-shirt to spread awareness messages.
1.3.5 National Essay Competition
A national essay competition will be organized by the event management firm. Based on a topic related to tiger conservation, the essay competition will commence at least one month before the start of National Tiger Awareness Week. Advertisements inviting submissions for the competition should be published in print and electronic media as well as on different social media platforms. A dedicated jury panel will review the submissions to select the best essays for awards. An award giving ceremony will be organized to hand over the awards. The selected firm shall prepare a stage for the essay competition winners and invite some celebrities/eminent personalities to the prize giving ceremony.
1.3.6 Film show
World famous tiger related films/documentaries will be screened at the National Tiger Awareness Week. The event management firm will set up a theater hall for the film show audiences. Chairs, sound system and all necessary logistics will be made available to run the film shows. The sitting arrangement should be made for around 200 people per show. There should be promotional/adverts advertisement to invite the potential audiences to the film show.
1.3.7 Kids day
Out of the five days of the, a day should be reserved for kids. The whole venue should be re-decorated only for kids. The children will set free to paint, play and enjoy as they want. A group of children can also make a stage performance. An art competition might take place during the event day. The children can make tiger with clay, they can fly tiger-shaped kite, and they can write a song on tiger conservation. Different children’s’ games like Chorki, Nagordola, Bioscope, Balloon shoot, Clay shop, Mask shop, Painting materials should be there for them. Street show, Putul nach, Tiger Dance will be arranged in the kids’ day. An open stage will be set up for adults and the children to allow them to say/sing anything for Tigers. There will be a tiger shaped selfie stand to allow people to take selfies. There will be a food corner and a sitting arrangement for the parents at the venue. Informative leaflets about tiger and Sundarbans might be distributed on the Kids day.