Write Journalistic Articles on Topical Capacity Development Issues and/or Act as Media Consultant to Organize Media Coverage of Events and Issues

• Country: Zimbabwe
• Summary: Write Journalistic Articles on Topical Capacity Development Issues and/or Act as Media Consultant to Organize Media Coverage of Events and Issues
• ZWT Ref No: 14879985
• Deadline: 20 Jul 2017
• Financier: Other Funding Agencies
• Purchaser Ownership: Government
• Tender Value: Refer Document
• Notice Type: Tender
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• Description:
• Tenders are invited for Framework Agreement to Write Journalistic Articles on Topical Capacity Development Issues and/or Act as Media Consultant to Organize Media Coverage of ACBF Events and Issues. 1. Background The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) was established in 1991 to build sustainable human and institutional capacity in support of Africa’s development. The Foundation’s goal is to improve the lives and prospects of people throughout the African continent. ACBF supports capacity development in Africa through grants making, knowledge sharing and technical assistance to countries and regional and sub-regional organizations. ACBF’s approach to capacity development focuses on addressing capacity needs and gaps as well as on stakeholder ownership of interventions, project and program sustainability and synergy of interventions with other development funding institutions. With 26 years of experience in Africa, the ACBF is transforming itself from a “go-to” place for grants into a “go-to” place for investments in integrated capacity development. The Foundation has therefore developed and is operationalizing a 5-year strategic plan (20172021) based on four strategic pillars and five service lines. The four strategic pillars read as follows: enabling effective delivery of continental development priorities, supporting countries to achieve tangible development results, enhancing private sector and civil society contributions to sustainable development, and leveraging knowledge and learning to increase development effectiveness. These four Strategic Pillars, built along with four corresponding programs, express the goals that the ACBF Strategy for 2017–2021 aims to achieve. The operational method for delivering these goals is through of five service lines: resource mobilization, advisory services, knowledge services, innovation services and investment and fund management. ACBF therefore has to communicate robustly on the objectives and actual delivery of its programs based on its strategic pillars, in a way that revives the confidence of traditional donors and member States to keep supporting its work (which is crucial for Africa’s transformation); to attracts new funding partners and strategic supporters of such work; to help boost the level of uptake and implementation of its policy advice and to enhance its visibility for greater public appropriation of its advice across think tanks, academia, the media and the general public to, in turn, gain the widespread buy-in needed for the policy changes that will help transform Africa. For the purposes mentioned above, ACBF now invites proposals from highly skilled journalists to produce high quality journalistic articles on topical capacity development issues and/or act as fixer to organize media coverage of ACBF events and issues. 2. Objectives of the assignment 1. Attain greater visibility to ACBF’s achievements in the past 26 years and moving forward. 2. Engage and inform ACBF stakeholders and general public on ACBF’s successes and activities. 3. Revive the confidence of traditional donors and member States, to help garner more support for the work of ACBF. 4. Engineer more buy-in into, and implementation of the ACBF’s policy advice. 3. Scope of work The individual consultants will run interviews and write well-researched and high quality articles. They will specifically be engaged to perform the following duties: 1. Write articles on capacity development issues with themes suggested by the Communication unit. 2. Write human interest feature articles on ACBF supported projects. 3. Writing analytical articles from the ACBF publications including but not limited to the Africa Capacity Report, Development memoirs and policy briefs as assigned. 4. Writing success stories including testimonials from beneficiaries of ACBF supported learning institutions. 5. Draft Opinion-Editorials (Op-Eds) 6. Follow-up for media placements of ACBF stories/Op-Eds and public service announcements (construed as adverts by some media entities). 7. Mobilize media to cover ACBF events and visits of the ACBF Executive Secretary in their countries/constituencies through drafting and forwarding of coverage requests and with follow-up phone calls. 8. Package a round-up of media coverage (press book) of such activities in accessible formats such as links and PDF files on audio-visual and print media outputs resulting from each assignment. 9. Negotiate for interview opportunities with the Executive Secretary of ACBF or any delegated spokesperson given such a mandate by the Executive Secretary and work with the ACBF’s Senior Communication Officer or other designated official to propose interview protocols. 10. In collaboration with the designated ACBF officials, pitch story ideas to journalists covering the events from which the consultant has been assigned as well as to those within the Consultant’s network. 11. Respond in good time to media inquiries on the events/issues assigned to cover. 12. Collaborate with the ACBF’s Senior Communication Officer or other designated official to organize/handle accreditation matters for journalists covering ACBF events within the consultants’ jurisdiction. 4. Specific tasks The individual consultant is expected to provide/ perform any of the below tasks. ACBF might as well request a combination of two or more tasks. 4.1 Writing Tasks News articles must be submitted within a maximum period of 5 days from the date of assignment, while opinion editorials must be submitted within 8 days from the date of assignment. The articles will be submitted by email as soft copies in MS Word, editable format. Pictures taken should be at least 5 mega pixels, high resolution, jpeg or png format) 4.2 Mobilization of Press for Media Coverage and Content Placement For events organized within the he Individual Consultant’s constituency or elsewhere as agreed upon with ACBF, the said consultant would be required to mobilize at least the following types of media outlets to cover the event and conduct interviews with the Executive Secretary or other ACBF spokespersons: · The country’s National Television Broadcaster · The Country’s National Radio Broadcaster · The Country’s most influential state-owned newspaper · At least two international radio broadcasting correspondents (BBC is mandatory for Anglophone Africa, while either BBC Afrique or Radio France International is mandatory for Francophone African countries) · At least 2 international TV correspondents from any of the following: BBC, CNN, CNBC · Africa, Africa 24, Africa 24, Vox Africa, Channel Africa, SABC, TV5 Monde, CGTN, VOA, Deutsche Welle, Sky News, France 24, Euronews, Africanews, Afrique Media, News 24 · If in East Africa, at least one of the following regional papers: East African, Daily Nation, The Standard · If in Southern Africa, all should be done to ensure coverage by at least one of the following regionally circulated papers: Mail & Guardian, the Sunday Times · At least one private nation-wide newspaper · At least one private Television channel · At least one influential local FM Radio 4.3 Special Interview Opportunities For special missions of ACBF’s Executive Secretary not requiring the mobilization of media from a protocol standpoint or as a matter of time exigencies, the Individual Consultant will be required to negotiate for interviews with specific international news outlets that would be specified by ACBF. 5. Reporting Line The individual consultants’ report to the Senior Communication Officer and any other staff as may be designated. 6. Qualifications and Experience Requirements 1. Higher diploma or first degree in Journalism, Communication or Literature. A master’s degree in social sciences or arts is desirable. Without any of these qualifications, 10 years of distinct journalistic/writing experience would be considered 2. At least five (5) years’ experience as writers/reporters. Two years writing on developmental issues is desirable. 3. At least three (3) years’ work experience at a national or regional mainstream newspaper/publication or five years of editorial experience with a recognized broadcasting company. 4. The candidate should provide link/ access to at least five (5) published articles or broadcast stories under their by-line. 7. Consultancy Duration The journalist will be contracted under a Framework Agreement for an initial period of one calendar year. The contract is renewable, subject to satisfactory performance and ACBF option for up to three calendar years. 8. Working arrangements In terms of news article writing, ACBF will assign themes and provide guidance on the scope for the articles to be written, avail publications for review and other documents to inform the articles to be prepared. The individual consultants will write and submit the articles to his/ her respective line of reporting. ACBF will subsequently determine what articles will be used for its communication. Equally, with regard to mobilizing press for media coverage of events as well as negotiating for interview and Op-ED placements, ACBF will provide guidance for the type of media it seeks for such coverage and placements and define jointly with the consultant quick interview protocols. When such a need arises, ACBF will contact the individual consultant in advance with a summary description of the assignment. Upon confirmation and agreeing on the delivery timeline and subsequent execution modalities, ACBF will raise a Call Order for the assignment. During the assignment, ACBF will provide the necessary guidance and di
• Documents:

 Tender Notice