[Deadline Extended] Now Hiring: Communications Consultant

Revised 3 September 2020

Supporting Documents:

ToR AHA Communications Consultant_Revised 030920

AHA Communication Consultant Technical-Financial Proposal Template

About AHA

The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers (Network) is implementing the European Union-funded consortium project: “AHA! Awareness with Human Action.” The 18-month project began in July 2020 and is being implemented in consortium with Finn Church Aid (FCA), World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD), the Center for Peace and Justice – Brac University (CPJ), Center for Communication and Development of Bangladesh (CCD), Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), Youth Development Foundation (YDF) and Sarvodaya.

The AHA project seeks to contribute to the response efforts of the COVID-19 pandemic by preventing conflict and building social cohesion in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and broader South Asia. The specific objective is to increase outreach for initiatives that promote awareness of COVID-19 and constructive narratives that reduce discrimination, hate speech, and stigmatization against specific communities, primarily targeting religious leaders, and women and youth leaders as community influencers.

As one of its key outputs, the project will implement targeted activities focused on the use of media to advance social cohesion through the prevention of hate speech and discrimination by developing an effective communication material package and overall strategic communication campaign for dissemination and amplification of messages in targeted countries and region. The communications consultant will work to develop a holistic regional communications campaign for the project with interlinked three country level campaigns. The project partners, including dedicated communications staff in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, will collaborate in the design of the campaign in country level.

As a result of the communication campaign and broader communications activities, target stakeholders will be more aware about factual information related to COVID-19, the importance of amplification of positive narratives against divisive ones, and their role in peace building and mitigation and prevention of the escalation of potential violent situations. This output will contribute to the empowerment and support of such actors and influencers in this region to collaboratively spread effective messages to prevent and counter hate speech and discrimination.

Eligibility Criteria

• Bachelor’s degree in communications or related field
• At least five years’ experience in developing country/regional specific online and offline communications campaigns in a position directly related to public relations, communications, marketing or related career
• Demonstrated experience in strategic communications planning, program management and implementation, including multi-country campaigns, to be verified by sample of previous communication campaign as well as in a reference letter by previous employer
• Strong knowledge of the local to regional level context in South Asia, including in targeted countries Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, as demonstrated in CV with previous work or research-related experience.
• Previous work or research experience in intra- and inter-religious dynamics especially with youth and women networks in targeted countries, as demonstrated in CV
• Ability to interact and communicate with people from different backgrounds and cultures, with a high degree of cultural sensitivity. Your CV should clearly indicate experience of cross-cultural engagement.
• Excellent knowledge of working in virtual space and designing communications campaigns, as demonstrated in the communication portfolio
• Demonstrated design skills and creative approach to communications with the ability to use Adobe Suite, Microsoft Office or similar multimedia software, as demonstrated in the communication portfolio
• Proficiency in English (oral and written),working knowledge of local languages in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is an asset

These are minimum requirements and evidence must be included in the proposal documentation, for example in CV. If no evidence of fulfilling the minimum requirements is found in the documentation, the bidder will be disqualified.

Application

Interested parties should email Network Communications Coordinator, Sarah Tyler (sarah.tyler@kua.fi) to request the Technical and Financial Proposal form. Application deadline is 10 September. The application package will include the following materials:

• 1-3 page CV
• 1 page cover letter
• Sample of previous communication campaign, including campaign evaluation (If available)
• 3 professional references
• Technical and financial proposal (maximum 8 pages)

Late, incomplete or partial bids will be rejected.

FCA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, and to annul the bidding process and reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to Bidders.

At the time the contract is awarded, FCA reserves the right to increase or decrease the quantity of Goods, Works or Services originally specified in the tender notice, provided this does not exceed the percentage(s) specified in the tender notice, and without any change in the unit prices. If no percentage was determined in the tender notice, the percentage to be taken into consideration by default is 10%.

Tenderer´s bid should remain valid for a delay of at least 90 and up to 120 days (according to the estimated amount of the contract). Should a tenderer retract his bid before the delay is up, he shall run the risk of not being considered in a future tender.

FCA has zero tolerance concerning aid diversion and illegal actions and may screen consultants against international lists to ensure due diligence and compliance with Anti-money laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism requirements.