Request for Proposal (RFP) “Organizing and managing 1-day session on youth influence”

Background:

The USAID Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) Project managed by FHI 360 is a global project with specific scopes of work in multiple countries. In Thailand and in several other countries in the Asia Region, EpiC focuses on interventions to reduce HIV transmission among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), male sex workers (MSW), and transgender women (TGW) populations (collectively known as “key populations”) and to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV (PLHIV). Most interventions are implemented through community-based organizations (CBOs) and include reach-recruit-test-treat-prevent-retain (RRTTPR) interventions such as targeted online interventions on social media, differentiated service delivery for HIV testing, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), and antiretroviral treatment (ART) including telehealth services, and cross-cutting issues of stigma and discrimination reduction and policy advocacy.

As part of a comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment strategy, some of the above countries are using youth influencers to encourage young key populations to test for HIV, initiate PrEP if they are HIV-, and initiate ART if they are HIV+. However, influencers engaged by EpiC and our implementing partners (who tend to focus on health, LGBTQI+ rights and advocacy, and other social issues) may not always be the best positioned or capacitated to reach risky online youth audiences, and content strategies that lead with HIV are often not attractive to young people. Meanwhile the more experienced and influential online personalities (often but not exclusively from the private sector) who reach larger audiences of high-risk youth may have insufficient or incorrect information about HIV prevention, testing, and treatment and do not typically integrate these topics into their content at all.

To partially address these concerns, the EpiC Project will hold 2-day regional forum in January (tentatively planned for January 17-18) where youth influencers from selected countries in Asia (including but not limited to Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, India, Laos, Vietnam) will meet to share innovative content creation strategies for reaching youth, build advanced social media skillsets to further develop their individual brands, discuss the impact of emerging trends such as the use of AI in social media content development, and collectively problem-solve on areas of concern such as the use of sexually explicit online content and management of online harassment and/or misinformation. Other topics may be proposed by the vendor and will be negotiated with FHI 360 prior to finalization of the forum agenda. On day two of this workshop, technical experts from FHI 360 and our implementing partners will review key information regarding HIV prevention, testing, and treatment and discuss the role youth influencers can play in helping to protect the health and well-being of their online audiences.

With this announcement, we seek a consultant or a firm to organize and manage the first day of the meeting which will focus on private sector youth influencer strategies, skill-building (noting that this is only a one-day session), and creative interaction between this group and the youth influencers from the various countries.

Purpose:

• To improve the skills of youth influencers working in HIV from selected countries in Asia through exposure to youth influencers from the private sector and skill-building in selected techniques in youth influencing

Deliverables and required outputs:

• The vender will plan and deliver a one-day session on youth influencers, including recruiting youth influencers in Thailand to participate and discuss their social media strategies and experiences.
• The vender will provide a facilitator, speakers in addition to the proposed youth influencers, and a full agenda that meets the purpose of the session.
• The vendor will provide a written summary of key discussion points from Day One of the regional forum, not to exceed five pages in length.

Vendor Qualifications:

• Experience in engaging and managing youth influencers in the private sector
• Experience in managing capacity building and/or skills-building sessions
• Experience in facilitating workshops and/or meetings with participants from diverse cultural, socio-political, and gender identity and sexual orientation backgrounds.

The vender must include the following components:

• Company profile or past portfolio and relevant information to support the abovementioned required deliverables and outputs.
• Quotation which includes their service fee that includes all costs for managing the session.
• Implementation plan, payment condition, and other necessary information.

Evaluation

Evaluation will be based on past experiences and expertise on workshop facilitation especially on youth influencing, payment condition and price.

Reserved Rights

All RFP responses become the property of FHI 360, who reserves the right in its sole discretion to:

• Disqualify any offer based on offeror failure to follow solicitation instructions.
• Reserve the right to award based on the initial evaluation of offers without discussion.
• FHI 360 will not compensate vendors for preparation of their response to this RFP.
• Issuance of this RFP is not a guarantee that FHI 360 will award a purchase order.

Disclaimers

The vender to be selected to perform this work is subject to all the terms and conditions set forth at this web location[https://www.fhi360.org/partner-us/business-opportunities]. Consultant/ Supplier’s delivery of products, performance of services, or issuance of invoices in connection with this purchase order/consultant agreement establishes Consultant/Supplier’s agreement to the Terms, including, the safeguarding policy [ https://www.fhi360.org/about-us/compliance-office