I. Position Information

Position Title

Firm/Institute/Organization for ‘Awareness Sessions in School regarding epidemic diseases prevention), in 4 districts of Balochistan: Killah Saifullah, Zhob, Khuzdar and Lasbela.  (List of schools attached)

Duty Station

Balochistan

Project

BSDGs Accelerated Delivery Project - BSDGs

Engagement Modality

Contract after competitive process

Period of assignment/services

6 months starting with effect from the date of signing of the Contract.

Background

The project needs to recruit a firm/organization/institute for the following reasons:

Balochistan, the largest province in area and the smallest in population, is bestowed with enormous natural resources which unfortunately could not bring substantial improvement in the socio-economic condition of its inhabitants, particularly the rural poor and still showing extremely slow progress in certain indicators of HDI and SDGs. It is located in a strategic region of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It owns Gwadar port and well-built highway and has promising prospects for economic growth and development. CPEC is promoting development of Balochistan and bringing potentially significant changes to the people who live in the province. However, low capacities and engagement of the local communities and poor conditions of the social sector services especially health and education, constrains the population of the province from taking an in-depth part in and benefiting from the CPEC.

The aftermaths of 2022 floods in Balochistan further aggravated the public health system in Pakistan. The Pakistan’s health system struggling to function with only one doctor for every 963 people and one hospital bed for every 1,608 people[1] and is facing a severe shortage of health care workers, with more than 200,000 doctors and 1.4 million nurses vacant. The health sector of Balochistan displays a very dismal state. Whether it is Doctor to Patient Ratio (1:1000) or Nurse to Patient Ratios (1:50) in Pakistan, it reflects a dim and grave situation. In Balochistan, the prevalence of diarrhea in children under five is severe, with nearly one in five impacted. However, due to low awareness about diarrhea management, only 32.9% of children suffering from diarrhea are treated with LO-ORS, and a mere 5% receive zinc. Waterborne diseases in Balochistan: Typhoid, gastroenteritis, cryptosporidium infection, intestinal worms, giardiasis, some strains of hepatitis, intestinal worms and diarrhea are the major diseases which is caused by polluted potable water in Balochistan.

Keeping the risk of the pandemic in view, it is important that the stakeholders of schools are made aware of how best to protect themselves from the virus. For this purpose, UNDP is launching epidemic diseases awareness campaign in 60 schools of 4 districts of Balochistan: Killah Saifullah, Zhob, Khuzdar and Lasbela. 

Background and Objective:

With the onslaught of the epidemic diseases, Balochistan province like the rest of the country went through hardship in curbing the pandemic. It directly affected not only the economy of the province but also caused severe damages to the lives of the people and education sector as well. With the limited resources available with the province, the outreach of the health departments was restricted to big cities only. The faraway rural setups remained deprived of the basic amenities to curtail down the spread of the epidemic diseases. In that situation, UNDP with the support of Government of China to provide the awareness sessions on epidemic diseases in the schools of 4 districts of Balochistan.

To supplement the work done by UNDP, the BSDGS project intends to arrange epidemic diseases awareness sessions in designated 60 schools of the four districts of Balochistan province so that the messages inculcate among the students and cascade upto household level. These sessions will achieve the following objectives:

·         Support the continuation of learning, protecting the health and well-being of students, teachers and educational staff and building resilience in the education system;

·         Create awareness to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with the epidemic diseases.

·          Provide education to prepare school stakeholders to meet the challenge of epidemic diseases.

2.      Scope of Work

The scope of work includes the following:

·         Inception meeting with UNDP team to understand scope and deliverables of this assignment.

·         Design and develop awareness tools (handouts, posters, learning videos etc.) on following topics for students (children and adolescents), teachers and other staff:

1.      Epidemic diseases overview and symptoms 

2.      Basic preventative measures

3.      Slowing down spread

4.      Infection prevention and vaccination

5.      Medication and medical care 

6.      Safe school and home

·         Printing of handouts, posters dissemination and display in schools;

·         Conduct two rounds of health and hygiene session in 60 schools for 100 students (children/adolescent), 10 teachers and other staff members per school. Total 120 sessions will be conducted in the targeted schools identified by the education department of Balochistan;

·         Quarterly reports on status of sessions conducted in schools;

·         Prepare and submit a completion report including achievements, best practices, lessons learnt and way forward of this awareness campaign.

Deliverables

Percentage of Payment

Timeline

1.       A short project inception report after meeting with UNDP

10%

July 2025

2.       Development of awareness tools (handouts, posters, learning videos etc.) for students and teachers of targeted schools

20%

August 2025

3.       Delivery of 1st round of awareness sessions in each targeted schools (60 schools).

30%

 Oct 2025

4.       Delivery of 2^nd round of awareness sessions in each targeted schools. 

30%

Nov 2025

5.       Completion report of the assignment.

10%

Dec 2025

Total

100%