BACKGROUND



Terms of Reference for Communications Documentation for REALISE Project BACKGROUNDActionAid is a global alliance of organizations, working towards achieving a world without poverty and injustice in which every person enjoys the right to a life with dignity. ActionAid works in more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas and our expertise lies in community-led development, working in partnership with people living in poverty and their organizations.In 2006, ActionAid Afghanistan (AAA) committed itself to long term work with poor and excluded sections of the society through the human rights-based development approach. The new country strategy for Afghanistan titled ‘PEOPLE’S POWER FOR INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE’ is for the period 2018-2022 and focuses on ending violence against women and girls; improving resilient Livelihoods; protecting children, promoting girls' education and advancing grassroots democratic governance. Women and girls’ needs are central to all of Action Aid’s work.In line with ActionAid (AAA) Afghanistan strategic priorities, ActionAid is implementing “Resilient Agriculture and Livelihoods Initiative for Socio-economic Empowerment (REALISE)” projects implemented under the Australia Afghanistan Community Resilience Scheme (AACRS) which funded by Department of Foreign Affair and Trade of Australia (DFAT). the AACRS project is being implemented by 4 scheme partners as consortium in Afghanistan. Other implementing partners are World Vision, Aga Khan Foundation and Oxfam. REALISE has an overall objective to ensure the meaningful participation of 68 rural communities in Balkh and Bamyan provinces in developing their resilience to shocks and seasonal fluctuations in food and livelihood security. Totally this project covers about 8100 households in these two provinces. It aims to improve food and nutritional security and increase the economic asset base of vulnerable households, as well as strengthen their engagement in influencing decision making, policies and services. The project has 3 outcomes which are as following:Increased food & nutritional security for vulnerable women, children and men in participating householdsAn increased economic asset base for vulnerable women and men in participating householdsParticipating groups of vulnerable women and men influencing decision-making, service provision and policies affecting their food and livelihood security.OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY To produce a series of story packages (which each include high quality photo essays, in-depth interviews and written success stories) that capture the impact of the REALISE project by focusing on the personal stories of women farmers and their communities. The consultant(s) should refer to the project final evaluation report (by ARM, April 2021) for a detailed description of the project activities, outcomes and impact. This will help the consultant identify which parts of the activity need to be capture as best practices and successes under the broad areas of efficiency, sustainability and impact. SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT Over the course of 15 days, the Consultant(s) / Firm will visit rural communities in Balkh and Bamyan provinces to document the impact of the REALISE project. The Consultant will:Interview REALISE project beneficiaries (focusing on women) to capture their personal success stories and demonstrate the project impact. Transcribe and translate interviews into English. Photograph each interview subject in their environment (3-5 photos each)Prepare 10 x photo essays of 10-15 photographs each with descriptive captions that demonstrate the impact of the REALISE projectPrepare 10 x written success stories (approx 600 words) that demonstrate the impact of the REALISE project told through women’s stories, including direct quotes from women benThese stories will focus on women wherever possible, and will be from:vegetable growers/backyard gardenersalmond producerscotton growershoney/beekeepersdairy processingvegetable farmerspotato farmers soap making vocational skill traineessmall scale infrastructure & community developmentConsultant(s) / firm will work 15 days in Balkh and Bamyan (including travel days) to carry out interviews and photography. This may vary according to progress will be made for each locations. The work will involve travel to select project locations, capturing activities and stories of change. The consultant(s) / firm will coordinate with the selected beneficiaries with support from the REALISE project team in the field. During its work, the consultant / firm will be supported in terms of community mobilization and coordination with stakeholders in the field locations by local project staff of ActionAid partners. And also one ActionAid staff from country office will accompany the consultant to give him/her advice on the context with regards to project. The consultant must collect written consent from all people being interviewed or photographed before conducting the interview.The final products must be delivered in English. The overall time for completion of this assignment is one month from the agreed start date of the contract. 4. REQUESTED SERVICES, INCLUDING SUGGESTED METHODOLOGY:The consultant must consult at each step of its work with the REALISE project manager on operational & technical issues and the ActionAid Australia communication specialist. The consultant / firm is expected to present an inception report to ActionAid management to clearly outline their methodology and any requirements to accomplish the task within the agreed timeline.The consultant/Firm must have ability to travel to the districts, villages under coverage of the project and have direct communication with project beneficiaries.The consultant(s) / firm is expected to personally travel to select areas from the aforesaid provinces of Afghanistan (Balkh and Bamyan) to capture impact of the program through storytelling (written and visual). The consultant must not assign other contractors or technical volunteers not named in the proposal and agreed to by ActionAid. The consultant must share drafts of all communications products for review by the AAA team and deliver the final draft after incorporating comments from the project team. The consultant must have excellent written English, and/or have their work professionally translated into English.The consultant must describe their qualified technical team and assets (including, at minimum, use of quality DSLR camera and lenses) which they will be using. 5. KEY DELIVERABLES: Following are the expected deliverables from the consultant (s) / Firm (s) under this assignment: Inception meeting and briefing with AAA Afghanistan and Australia teamsSubmit drafts for review by AAA team:Transcribed and translated interviews (English)Written success stories (English)Photo essays (with captions in English)Review and revise success stories and photo essays based on feedback from AAASupply final communications products:Beneficiary interviews translated into English (word document) with 3-5 photos of interview subjects (high resolution jpegs)10 x written success stories (word document)10 x photo essays (high resolution jpegs)Photograph captions (word document)6. DURATION AND EXPECTED TIMELINE OF THE ASSIGNMENT The timelines of the assignment can be arranged by the consultant to be completed within 30 days (June 15, 2021 – July 15, 2021) that includes planning, travel, interviewing, shooting, editing, writing and finalizing the communications products. Consultant / Firm will be required to prepare a detailed workplan using following table any other one to be attached in the application. Final product needs to be submitted to ActionAid Afghanistan by 15th July 2021. The last parts of the schedule will be completed by consultant once signed the agreement with AAA.SNTaskDaysLocationDate1Morning:Travel to Balkh provinceAfternoon:Preparatory meeting with partners in OHW office in the morning1Mazar cityMazar city June 15, 20212Fully day:Visit almond association / producer.Visit vegetable producer / greenhouse.Meeting with Para Vet 1Dawlatabad June 16, 20213Full day:Visit soap making group.Visit the small-scale infrastructure.1Dawlatabad June 17, 2021Off day 1Mazar cityJune 18, 20214Full day:Meeting with DAIL representative (extension worker) in Kaldar districtMeeting with Para vetVisit the vocational skill trainees.1Kaldar districtJune 19, 20215Full dayVisit small scale infrastructure. Visit dairy processing group. Leaving to Mazar in afternoon1Kadlar districtJune 20, 2021 6Morning:Meeting with government official (DAIL)Afternoon:Meeting with government official (MoWA)1Mazar cityJune 21, 20217Morning:Travel to Bamyan in the morning Meeting with government official (DAIL) Afternoon:Meeting with government official (MoWA)1Bamyan center June 22, 20218Morning:Travel to Yakawlang Meeting with DAIL representative (extension worker) Afternoon:Visiting potato association Visiting reflect circle women group 1Yakawlang district June 23, 20217 Full day:Visiting vegetable grower (women group) Visiting Potato grower (individual men)Meeting food security network1Yakawlang districtJune 24, 2021Off dayJune 25, 20218Travel to Panjab district Meeting with district DAIL (extension worker)Small scale infrastructure Visiting green house / vegetable grower 1Panjab districtJune 26, 20219Seed production Para vet Vocational skill trainees Visiting demo plot 1Panjab June 27, 202110Visiting Honey beekeeping (individual, collective) Travel to Bamyan1BamyanJune 28, 202111Travel to Kabul1Kabul June 29, 202112Selection of photos for photo essaysTaking interview with partner directors (OHW, LSO)Taking interview with ActionAid Afghanistan and ActionAid Australia directors Transcribe and translate interviews into EnglishPrepare success storiesSubmit drafts of all products to AAAfg and AAAus for review.Revise and finalise all productsKabul June 30 - July 14, 202113Submit final products (video, photos, stories, documents, raw materials)1Kabul July 15, 20217. CONSULTANT PROFILE AND TEAM COMPOSITION ActionAid Afghanistan is looking for an expert individual(s) and / or firms with substantial experience in content collection, story and photo documentation working in fragile and conflict contexts, having past experience in Afghanistan and developing similar communications products would be preferred. The consultant / firm should demonstrate their past experiences in undertaking similar kind of work in the Civil Society context. The consultant application should clearly demonstrate their capacity to deliver outputs within strict timelines in Afghanistan and demonstrate knowledge and experience of developing video documentary in fragile and conflict affected countries. 8. EXPECTED PROFILE OF THE CONSULTANT / FIRM: Individual national or International consultant (expert) / Firm who has following competency can apply; Requisite qualifications in communication, journalism, photography or another related field.Significant experience in storytelling, especially in the Afghanistan context. Proven experience in storytelling especially in the development context (experience of covering women’s issues will be preferred).Excellent development communication, photography and writing skills.Excellent technical capacities (state of the art camera equipment) to ensure high-quality imagery.Extensive experience in producing development work related documents for publication for international organizations with the aim of reaching both local and international audiences.9. PAYMENT SCHEDULE AND MODE OF PAYMENT Mode of Payment: Transfers will be made to bank accounts of the consultants upon submission of deliverables as stated above along with an invoice by the consultant per the following tranches: 1st Tranche: 25% within 7 days of signing the contract and delivery of an inception report. 2nd Tranche: 35% of the total contracted amount will be made subject to the work progress according to the work plan proposed and within 15th days of the inception report.3rd Tranche: 40% of the total contracted amount will be made after completion of all deliverables and submission of the final product (video documentary) after the satisfaction of ActionAid. And ActionAid finance team will deduct taxes as per the extant income tax rules of ActionAid Afghanistan. 10. OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS Working language: Interviews will be done in Dari, Pashto, Uzbek & Turkmen languages. Deliverables must be supplied in English. Cost related to field visit and study: While preference is for an Afghanistan based consultant / firm, If the most suitable application is from outside Afghanistan, we may consider the application. Tickets for all domestic flights and all local transportation will be arranged by Consultant / Firm. Modest accommodation will be facilitated in Kabul and in the field sites after appropriate security assessment by ActionAid Afghanistan. Insurance coverage: The consultant/firm is responsible for insurance coverage for both the international and domestic travels, health and stay in Afghanistan during performance of the assignment. ActionAid will, in no case, bear the cost or responsibility for the insurance and security coverage for the said purposes. Payment of fees:The payment of fees is subject to deduction of Taxes and levies at source in line with the policies of Afghanistan Government. Failure to submit reports within agreed timeframe will be subjected to deduction @0.5% of the agreed contract value for each of the delayed days, unless the submission date is agreed and rescheduled, due to unavoidable circumstance, and agreed in writing between the parties. Other statutory obligations: ActionAid Afghanistan Reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal without giving any reason. All reports and documents prepared during the assignment will be treated as ActionAid Afghanistan property. The recorded videos, reports/documents or any part, thereof will be the property of ActionAid, cannot be sold, used and reproduced in any manner without prior written approval of ActionAid Afghanistan. The selected consultant should implement the work in coordination with the focal person of ActionAid. ActionAid Afghanistan or its representatives reserve the right to monitor the quality and progress of the work during the assignment11. HOW TO APPLY Interested individual consultant / firm should submit a “letter of intent” to perform the consultancy work with following documents to the addresses given in the Request for Proposal: i. Technical Proposal, not more than 5 pages outlining methodologies for the assignment. ii. Financial proposal: A financial proposal showing the cost of consultant (s), services, and other relevant costs with breakdown should be annexed with the technical proposal on both assignments. iii. The lead consultant should provide summary of experiences and strength to demonstrate it fits for this consultancy and attach CVs of consultant. iv. Evidence of recent/previous relevant work of could be attached. v. Should there be a need, ActionAid Afghanistan may get back to the consultant / firm for any query, clarification and negotiation during the selection process.12. APPLICATION DEADLINE AND ADDRESS Soft copies of the application and relevant documents e.g. technical proposal, financial proposal, CVs and application of the consultants and agreement on the anticipated timeline should be submitted on or before June 15, 2021 to: jobs.kabul@. For any question or clarification, please contact at: 0775925190 ................
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