UNICEF
Determine protective and risk factors of overweight and obesity among adolescents in Belize. Request for proposal

Reference: RFP 03/2020
Beneficiary countries: Belize
Registration level: Basic
Published on: 07-Feb-2020
Deadline on: 23-Feb-2020 21:50 (GMT -6.00)

Description

DETERMINE PROTECTIVE AND RISK FACTORS OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY AMONG ADOLESCENTS. 

 

BACKGROUND 

 

Data from the 2011 Global School-based Student Health Survey among 13-15-year-old adolescents in Belize showed that 32.3% of boys and 39.1% of girls are overweight; and 12.5% of boys and 12.6% of girls are obese.1 1 

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have developed strategies to prevent and reduce overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. Their strategies include influencing government policies and their implementation to protect children and adolescents from non-communicable diseases (NCD), engage children and adolescents, their families and their communities,2 promote the intake of healthy foods, reduce unhealthy foods and sugar-sweetened beverages intake, promote sleep and physical activity, provide multicomponent support managing obesity,3 among others. 

 

Individual and community factors can expose adolescents to higher risks of overweight or obesity; nonetheless, promoting health habits at individual and community level in addition to implementing strong health and nutrition policies, act as protective factors against malnutrition. 

 

OBJECTIVES 

 

Addressing malnutrition among adolescents is a priority of the National Sustainable School Feeding Technical Committee (NSSFTC), a multi-sectoral and inter-ministerial body formed by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Agriculture. In partnership with the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), UNICEF Belize will provide support to the NSSFTC through this study, that can be used for designing evidence generation health and nutrition policies and intervention strategies.  

 

The general objective of the study is to identify the drivers of overweight and obesity among adolescents (aged 13-15). 

 

The proposed study aims to:  

  1. Determine the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and behaviour of 13-15-year-old adolescents and their parents/care givers on a healthy or unhealthy lifestyle (that includes healthy eating and physical activity, among other relevant aspects);  
  1. Determine adolescent’s motivation towards habits that they currently exhibit (healthy or unhealthy eating and physical activity). 
  1. Identify risk factors of overweight and obesity that adolescents are exposed to (interpersonal, community and public policy) in Belize.  
  1. Determine the underlying factors of healthy and unhealthy life style among adolescents and their parents. 
  1. Provide recommendations for intervention studies that target specific areas of interest based on scientific evidence. 

 

QUALIFICATIONS 

 

The consultancy team will also be graded based on their technical expertise and experience. Therefore, applications should include a CV in which they detail the following minimum qualifications and experience.

 

APPLICATION 

 

Deadline for submission is February 23rd, 2020 at 11pm (GMT-6)  To submit your application, please email belize@unicef.org with the subject: Determine protective and risk factors of overweight and obesity among adolescents, and include in attachment the following documents as separate files: 

 

  1. Technical Proposal (Word format). Please identify your file with TP_the name/acronym of your consultancy team. 
  1. Budget. Please name your file B_the name/acronym of your consultancy team. 
  1. Updated CV (PDF format and no longer than 2 pages per participant) highlighting your experience based on Section 7.1 Qualifications. Please name your file CV (add consecutive numbers to identify the CV of your team members)_the name/acronym of your consultancy team.