Nutrition-Sensitive Social Protection: Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) in Palau

Call description

The World Food Programme (WFP) Pacific Multi-Country Office seeks international and local non-governmental and civil society organisations as national delivery hubs under Field Level Agreements. This call concerns Palau only. The programme combines nutrition-sensitive social protection, food security and nutrition with social and behaviour change communication (SBCC): locally delivered messaging and engagement intended to support changes in practice. It targets households receiving or eligible for government social protection cash transfers, prioritising households with pregnant and lactating women and children under 5. The model works through existing community structures and government counterparts rather than a parallel delivery channel.

The call describes an indicative 6-month project delivered in four stages. Its schedule gives an estimated start of 1 February 2027 and estimated end of 30 July 2027; the proposal template uses the same implementation period.

Priorities and eligibility

Mandatory partnership eligibility specifies a legally registered, non-profit, non-political NGO in the country of implementation. All interested NGOs must register in the UN Partner Portal (UNPP). Although the delivery description also refers to civil society organisations, it does not expressly waive the mandatory NGO registration condition.

All NGOs must undergo WFP due diligence and implementing partner protection from sexual exploitation and abuse screening. An NGO not verified through due diligence cannot become a WFP partner, regardless of technical merit. The call also says that, if an NGO has applied to a WFP Field Level Agreement before, further cooperation depends on a finalised and successful performance evaluation.

The mandatory partnership conditions state that an NGO must not be implicated in corruption, fraud or crimes against humanity. The supplied passage does not give a separate date or look-back period for this condition.

Mandatory conditions include relevant experience in similar activities and target areas, project and financial capacity, community engagement, qualified staff and established reporting, procurement and financial management systems with two years of audited statements. Required qualifications also include presence and operational capacity in the target locations and capacity to manage remote-island and cyclone-season access constraints.

WFP says separate panels will assess technical and financial proposals using weighted criteria. The call lists clarity of activities and expected results at 30%, sector expertise and experience at 20%, project management at 20%, local experience and presence at 15%, and cost effectiveness at 15%. These are published assessment weights, not a prediction of an applicant's score.

Priority behaviours include maternal, infant and young child feeding; household dietary diversity and quality; food and water security; drought and cyclone preparedness; and use of cash payouts to improve dietary diversity. If a country has no social protection payouts, the call directs messaging towards emergency preparedness and response and household dietary diversity. Whether that exception applies in Palau needs confirmation.

Does the portal's Ngeremlengui location limit this application, or should the partner plan for the broader sites shown in the call? The portal lists Ngeremlengui, while the call's site table names Koror, Babeldaob states, and outer states and islands. These may describe different levels of coverage; the supplied extracts do not resolve their relationship. Seek written clarification before committing to geographic coverage and corresponding costs.

Funding and application requirements

The complete application package must be submitted only through UNPP, in ZIP format, by 14 December 2026. The call says incomplete or late proposals will not be considered. No alternative submission channel or applicant-specific exception is stated in the supplied call passages.

The ZIP package must include a cover letter of intent signed by the head of the organisation, the project proposal narrative using Annex 1, and the project proposal budget using Annex 2, the Field Level Agreement budget template. The narrative template also asks for a budget narrative justifying major cost categories against the submitted budget summary. References and the listing of relevant completed projects are marked optional in the narrative template.

The inception report, implementation workplan, SBCC implementation plan, adapted materials, reports and sustainability roadmap are listed as results for the cooperating partner to deliver by the end of implementation. They should not be presumed to be separate application attachments. The application narrative nevertheless asks for a workplan and timeline within its implementation methodology.

What language must the application documents use, and are translations of supporting documents required or accepted? The call requires strong English communication and reporting skills and describes Palauan fluency as desirable, but these passages do not establish an application-language rule. The separate requirement to translate project messages concerns delivery, not necessarily application documents.

What total allocation, per-project amount or ceiling applies to this Palau partnership? The portal extract shows a dash under indicative budget, and the call makes implementation subject to funds availability. No amount should be assumed from the project-history budget field or the required budget template. Ask WFP for the available funding and any applicable budget limits before finalising the proposed scale.

The published schedule gives 30 November 2026 as the deadline for clarification requests in UNPP and 8 January 2027 for notification of results. WFP reserves the right to adjust call conditions, and it does not reimburse proposal submission costs.

Recommendations

The weighted criteria and mandatory capacity conditions make a credible delivery plan, local access and financial management consequential together: a strong technical narrative alone does not establish partnership eligibility. Substantiate relevant experience and local delivery arrangements, link key personnel and their level of effort to the budget, and explain major costs and use of existing resources. No organisation profile or project proposal was supplied, so applicant fit and capacity remain unverified.

The proposed approach needs to connect practical community delivery with existing social protection and nutrition structures, rather than present a standalone communications campaign. Messages must be translated, locally adapted and pre-tested, and preparedness content must reflect the verified country outlook. Explain the pathway from identified behavioural barriers to locally tested messages, community delivery and government-system integration; confirm the Palau payout situation before selecting the cash-transfer emphasis.