Production of 3 Public Service Announcements as part of Behavioral Change Campaign to Combat Child Marriage in Kurdistan Region, North Iraq

UNFPA requires the provision of UNFPA Iraq and its partners are working to initiate a behavioral change campaign to combat child marriage in Kurdistan region through using different media outlets and channels. Accordingly, UNFPA is planning to produce 3 Public Service Announcements each covering one segment of the campaign target audience, young women, families/parents, the general society in Kurdistan region.
This Request for Quotation is open to all legally-constituted companies that can provide the requested services and have legal capacity to deliver in the country, or through an authorized representative.

I. Terms of Reference (ToR)

Background:
While the rates of child marriage globally have decreased in the past 30 years, the rates of child marriage in Iraq are some of the highest in the Middle East. Child marriage is defined as marriage of a child under 18 years old and it disproportionally affects girls; globally, more than 700 million women alive today were married before their 18th birthday and more than one in three (about 250 million) entered into a union before age 15.

Child marriage has disastrous and life threatening effects on the health, protection, health, economic, social and psychological development and wellbeing of children. It limits their access to education, sexual and reproductive health care and increases their isolation. A girl under 15 years is five times more likely to die in childbirth than a grown woman is; young girls are at increased risk of contracting HIV due to a lack of negotiation power for safe sex and are more likely to experience domestic violence than those who marry later. Sex with a child under the minimum age of consent and unwanted sexual relationships are gross violations of a child’s rights, regardless of whether they take place within the context of a marriage. Child brides typically end up having children at a young age and are often much younger than their husbands. In many countries, marriages of children under 18 are not legally recognized and this has implications for the birth registration of their children.

In Iraq, child marriage is a practice that in many communities is culturally, religiously and socially accepted and this is exacerbated in refugee and Internally Displaced People (IDP) contexts. 21% of females between 15-19 years are currently married in Iraq. The recent and ongoing conflict and displacement has disproportionately affected adolescent girls. The majority are out of school, experience growing levels of sexual violence, abductions, sexual harassment, early and forced marriage, sexual exploitation and abuse and have restrictions placed on their movement by their families. Limited opportunities for education remain a major obstacle.

Additionally, many families are afraid to send their girls to school due to security concerns, and girls continue to be at risk of GBV and early marriage as a coping strategy. Key findings from the 2014 Interagency Child Protection Assessment Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Duhok indicate that child marriage was one of the most common forms of GBV reported by key informants (24.06%). Whilst the amended Law on Personal Affairs No. 188/1959 sets the minimum age of marriage at 18 years, it allows for the marriage of children between the ages of 15 and 17 if the approval of their legal guardians is obtained. The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) raised this age to 16, but it remains below the global standard of 18 years.

In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), child protection and gender based violence (GBV) actors have identified a gap in the prevention of and response to child marriage. In order to harmonize efforts to prevent and respond to child marriage in the KRI, the Child Marriage Task Force was established, with representation from the child protection and SGBV working groups in KRI, to provide technical support, build capacity and coordinate responses to address child marriage.

Product:
UNFPA Iraq and its partners are working to initiate a behavioral change campaign to combat child marriage in Kurdistan region through using different media outlets and channels. Accordingly, UNFPA is planning to produce 3 Public Service Announcements each covering one segment of the campaign target audience, young women, families/parents, the general society in Kurdistan region.

Responsibilities:
The selected company will be responsible for all phases of the production of the 3 public service announcements. The company will also be responsible for testing and measuring the proposed messages and ideas in the PSAs will result in the expected impact among the local society with focus on the target audience segments.

Target Audience:
1. Primary: Young and adolescent girls in Kurdistan region. (including IDPs and Syrian Refugees)
2. Secondary: Households decision makers
3. Tertiary: Local community

Deliverables:
• Development of a visual Identity & branding toolkit for the campaign
• Development of creative concepts and main messages that suits each specific group of the target audience of the campaign (adolescent girls and young people, families, the society)
• Development & production of 3 TV spots
• Develop a PR outreach plan for the campaign in 2016 with special focus on highly viewed TV programs and talk shows by the target audience in each component respectively