Female Genital Mutilation Community Based Stakeholder Campaign

As part of the London Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, the GLA awarded MOPAC with one-off funding of £600,000 to enable the commissioning of communication campaigns to tackle the attitudes which can lead to VAWG.

As set out in PCD542 £200,000 of this budget has been allocated to the creation of a community based stakeholder campaign which was aimed at changing attitudes and therefore behaviours on FGM.

After a competitive tendering process, run by TFL on MOPAC’s behalf, a bid with a value of £199,715 was successful. The purpose of this decision is to award the contract to M and C Saatchi, the successful bidder.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to award the contract to M and C Saatchi, to the value of £199,715. This will deliver a community-based stakeholder campaign, which focuses on changing attitudes towards FGM and therefore behaviours. The campaign materials will be developed with key stakeholders and the affected community themselves.

1. Introduction and background

1.1 Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is a key priority in the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan (2017-21). The refreshed London VAWG Strategy (2018-21) aims to reduce the prevalence of VAWG in London, tackling perpetrators and supporting victims and survivors to cope and recover.

1.2 MOPAC were awarded one-off Mayoral funding of £600,000 for campaigns to tackle the attitudes which lead to VAWG.

1.3 In PCD542 it was agreed that the £600,000 would be divided across three campaigns;

• £200,000 - FGM Campaign

• £125,00 – Modern Slavery Campaign

• £275,000 – Stakeholder Review (This will be a review of stakeholder engagement that develops a Target Operating Model that creates a whole systems approach to tackling VAWG)

1.4 This decision relates to the first campaign, developing community based stakeholder campaign designed to change attitudes and therefore behaviours.

1.5 MOPAC went out to tender via TFL for £200,000 to commission a provider to create, research, develop and deliver this campaign in conjunction with us and the communities identified by the research.

1.6 The overarching objectives of the work as defined in the RFP were:-

- A measured change of attitude around the acceptability of FGM in the selected communities, this would likely involve benchmarking attitudes before and after the campaign to see results.

- Ensure that front line workers have a better understanding of what constitutes a harmful practice, what the legal parameters are and how to identify the signs that a child or woman may be at risk and refer on accordingly

1.7 Through a fair and legal process M and C Saatchi were chosen from the bids we received.

2 Issues for Consideration

2.1 The work will be developed with an advisory board of FGM specialists from across London to ensure that the messages created will resonate with the communities affected by FGM.

2.2 Both the creative approach and distribution/channel plan will be researched and socialised with members of the community to ensure that it works and is scheduled to be seen in the right places.

2.3 A small amount of budget has been set aside for Digital Advertising which is included in the cost proposed by M and C Saatchi.

2.4 This is not an Pan-London campaign and will be created to exist in small pockets across London where FGM continues to be a challenge. The assets created from the campaign are intended to have a “long tail” and for community groups and VCS to able to distribute and use them on an ongoing basis.

2.5 M and C Saatchi are developing this campaign now, expected sign off of the creative iterations and distribution will be presented to the DMPC and Mayoral Advisor on External and International Relations in November 2019, after the community and advisory board consultation.

3 Financial Comments

3.1 This work has a fixed fee value of £199,715, and will be carried out and completed, including and evaluation by 31st March 2020.

3.2 Should MOPAC wish to extend this campaign beyond its current boundaries, extra money would need to be allocated.

3.3 The resource allocated for this piece of work, and approved by the Deputy Mayor of Policing and Crime will come from the budget as agreed in PCD542.

4 Legal Comments

4.1 As set out in 5.5 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation, the Chief Executive Officer can sign contracts for MOPAC with a total value of £50,000 to £499,999.

5 Commercial Issues

5.1 MOPAC undertook a competitive procurement process, to award a contract using a Marketing Framework provided by TFL. The Transport for London Procurement team managed the process to ensure it was conducted in line with MOPAC’s Contract Regulations and the Public Contracts Regulations (2015).

5.2 M and C Saatchi were awarded the contract because they achieved the highest score with their bid demonstrating their ability and capacity to deliver the work to a high quality and within the time scale.

6 Public Health Approach

6.1 VAWG is a significant public health issue, costing the health care system £1.3 billion a year. VAWG offences have a significant and enduring impact on an individual’s physical health and mental wellbeing and it is important that all partners are working together to support victims/survivors and are able to identify VAWG.

7 GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1 The providers are not being commissioned to process any personally identifiable information. If over the course of the delivery, it appears necessary for the provider to process personally identifiable information then MOPAC’s GDPR Project Manager will be consulted and a Data Protection Impact Assessment will be completed.

8 Equality Comments

8.1 The Equality Act 2010 puts a responsibility on public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and promote equality of opportunity.

8.2 MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

8.3 The Mayor’s Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy Impact Assessment

can be found here: /mopac-publications/mayors-violence-against-women-and-girls-strategy-2018-2021

9 Background/supporting papers

• PCD542