Roll-out of IPU campaign Parliaments for the planet

1. Background and objectives

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments. It was founded more than 130 years ago as the first multilateral political organization in the world, encouraging cooperation and dialogue between all nations. Today, the IPU comprises 179 national Member Parliaments and 14 regional parliamentary bodies. It promotes democracy and helps parliaments become stronger, younger, gender-balanced and more innovative. It also defends the human rights of parliamentarians through a dedicated committee made up of MPs from around the world.

The IPU 2022-2026 Strategy has made climate action a top policy priority for the IPU in its work to empower parliaments and parliamentarians.

Parliaments are key to climate action. They ensure that international agreements on climate change, such as the Paris Agreement, are translated into national legislation with the corresponding budgets. They are also responsible for scrutinizing government action on climate change and holding it to account. Parliamentarians themselves, as representatives of the people, have a critical role in advocating for climate action and leading by example.

After a consultation and testing phase with key stakeholders in 2022, the IPU launched the first phase in March 2023 of a climate campaign called Parliaments for the Planet, designed to mobilize parliaments and parliamentarians to take action on the climate emergency.

The purpose of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to select one or more suppliers to support the roll-out of the IPU campaign and take it to the next level for maximum impact.

The IPU is looking for suppliers who can provide strategic advice, produce the right mix of tools and assets, draft an implementation roadmap and suggest ways to measure the success of the campaign.

Communications/Advertising/Public Relations agencies and consultants with experience in climate action are strongly encouraged to apply.

2. The campaign so far

The Parliaments for the Planet campaign is made up of two parts:

• Part 1: My Parliament! Climate action begins at home

Rationale

Climate action begins at home: Parliaments and parliamentarians must lead by example before preaching to the people. The IPU also has to work on reducing its own carbon footprint.

Objectives

To encourage parliaments and parliamentarians to become greener by helping them calculate their own footprint, facilitating the exchange of good practices, building processes to mainstream climate action and raising awareness through tools and research. Also to encourage the IPU itself to become greener, especially its Assemblies.

• Part 2: My Planet! Implementing the Paris Agreement

Rationale

Overlapping with Part 1 of the campaign, Part 2 is designed to build on the IPU’s existing work on climate change to help parliaments step up action through legislation, budgets and, in particular, scrutiny of government measures to implement the Paris Agreement.

Objectives

Working with the UN and other key climate action partners, Part 2 of the campaign will empower parliaments and parliamentarians so that they can pass effective legislation, vote in budgets and oversee government actions, especially progress on nationally determined contributions.

This phase builds on the existing work of the IPU in facilitating networking opportunities and the exchange of good practice between parliaments as well as its programmatic work and research.

The first elements of the campaign were launched to the full IPU membership in March 2023 at the 146th IPU Assembly in Manama, Bahrain. 

A number of assets have already been created for the campaign including an initial design concept and branding, a slogan (My parliament, my planet, our shared global future!), some key messaging, a practical tool for parliaments 10 actions for greener parliaments (and those who work in them), and dozens of video testimonials from MPs around the world.

The campaign is designed to be white label. i.e. other parliaments may use the assets and adapt them to their own contexts while co-branding with the IPU.

3. Target Audience

The key audience targeted for this campaign are the 179 Member Parliaments that make up the IPU as well as the 45,000 parliamentarians in the world.

Parliamentarians themselves are influencers and catalysts for change. More specifically, the campaign targets IPU Office Holders, Speakers of parliament, chairs and members of environmental and climate parliamentary committees, young parliamentarians, women parliamentarians, and indigenous parliamentarians. Parliamentary staff are also a key audience, particularly the Clerks or the Secretaries General of a parliament.

4. Calls to action

The IPU seeks to inspire parliamentarians to take the following actions through its campaign.

• For part 1: My Parliament!

Calls to action

calculating carbon emissions of parliaments and those who work in them and setting concrete targets to reduce them policies and good practice that can be replicated on energy use within parliament procurement practices sustainable building and infrastructure considerations travel and commuting practices virtual parliamentary meetings and work on e-parliaments parliamentarian work in constituencies mainstreaming climate issues in parliamentary committees and processes parliamentarians as role models (link to Cremer-Passy prize for MP action on climate action)

• For part 2: My Planet!

Calls to action

legislation and budget allocations for low-carbon development and emissions reductions legislation and budget allocations for adaptation, with a particular focus on supporting vulnerable and underrepresented groups ensuring that government has prepared and submitted revised NDCs as part of its commitment to the Paris Agreement ensuring that legislation is aligned with the Paris Agreement and NDCs and propose amendments and new legislation when needed support the commitment made in the Paris Agreement for climate education in schools

5. Partners

The IPU works closely with UN organizations and technical partners to ensure parliamentarians are provided with latest scientific knowledge on climate change, including UNEP, the UNFCCC Secretariat, IPCC, the ASU Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute.

With these partners, the IPU ensures parliaments receive tailored capacity-building support and that climate change information and resources are adapted to a parliamentary audience.

6. Languages

The IPU operates in four working languages: English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

7. Expected overall deliverables

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the IPU communications and climate change teams, the supplier(s) will be asked to deliver the following:

1. 1. Strategic advice

The supplier(s) will be expected to advise the IPU in the overall communications strategy of the campaign including messaging, the communications mix, the outreach strategy and how to evaluate its success.

1. 2. Communications mix

The supplier(s) will be expected to propose a creative and innovative communications mix of printed and digital collateral to better reach the audience and meet the objectives of the campaign.

• promotional items, flyers, posters and sustainable merchandising
• enhancing the campaign webpages
• videos featuring parliamentary good practice and MP testimonials
• social media assets and sponsored links to drive traffic
• media outreach for quality coverage and opinion pieces in top media outlets
• communications support for IPU events on climate (assemblies, webinars, COP28...)
• support for the annual Cremer-Passy prize for an MP who has made an outstanding contribution to climate action

An initial design concept for the campaign is already available but the supplier(s) would be expected to develop and take it to the next level.

As part of the mix, the IPU, as the global organization of national parliaments, organizes dozens of events a year, either virtually or in-person, bringing together parliamentarians from different countries and horizons. These events are good opportunities to engage with the key audiences of the campaign.

The above communications mix is indicative only. The supplier(s) should propose and cost a mix in line with the campaign’s objectives.

1. 3. Implementation roadmap and support

The supplier(s) will be asked to map out over 12 months the outreach strategy according to each target group and opportunities through events or other initiatives.

The supplier(s) will be asked to help implement the strategy directly by, for example, attending IPU events or being given access to the IPU’s digital and social media platforms.

In terms of outreach, the IPU has access to most of the world’s parliamentarians but the supplier(s) will be expected to help the IPU to find creative ways to engage better with them.

1. 4. Monitoring and evaluation of the campaign’s success

The supplier(s) will be asked to produce a monitoring and evaluation matrix for the campaign to measure its success.

The supplier(s) will be asked to monitor regularly the campaign’s success and feedback to the IPU for any course corrections.

8. Project Timeline

Proposals should be submitted no later than: 11 May 2023

Proposals will be evaluated immediately thereafter and the supplier chosen in time for a contract to start as soon as possible.

9. Budget

The total budget for the roll-out of the campaign is 80,000 CHF pending confirmation of funding.

10. The tender process

Proposals should contain the following: 

• Your company’s qualifications, credentials and bios of core team
• A brief rationale for your proposed communications strategic approach
• Details and costs of proposed communications mix including daily and weekly rates
• Two case studies demonstrating similar experience

Supplier(s) may bid for all four of the expected overall deliverables above in point 7 or one or more specific deliverable(s).

11. Criteria for selection

The IPU will evaluate each proposal and may contact the top proposals for follow-up questions or face-to-face meeting.

The IPU will choose the supplier(s) based on the following criteria:

• Experience of the company
• Technical expertise and flexibility to accommodate the proposed timeline
• Quality of proposal
• Quality of past work 
• Cost proposal of communications mix