UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa seeks the services of a consultant to support an ongoing campaign against early and unintended pregnancy in the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region through coordinating the conceptualization and dissemination of a Regional Radio/TV program that looks to start conversations and dialogue to change norms around Early and Unintended Pregnancy. The campaign to address early and unintended pregnancy (EUP) in Eastern and Southern Africa was commissioned by UNESCO, UNFPA, Save the Children Sweden (SCS) and SAfAIDS. The joint effort was borne out of a recognition that EUP is affecting an increasing number of adolescents throughout the ESA region, and a cohesive plan is needed to effect change. The following are the main target audiences for the campaign in no particular order. Whether or not an audience is primary, secondary or tertiary target will depend on the messages.
Policy makers
Teachers, educators and school principals
Parents and guardians
Community leaders, religious and traditional leaders
Men and boys; women and girls
Health service providers
Countries in the ESA region will be divided into 2 categories and implementation strategies will differ for focus countries and supporting countries. Focus countries will be targeted with full implementation of the campaign while lighter touch campaigns will run in the supporting countries.
Focus Countries; Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Supporting countries; Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles.
Radio/TV Program key objectives
Bring attention to the alarming rates of EUP in the region
Spark conversation on issues of EUP among targeted listener groups
Create awareness and bring attention to the need for scaling up comprehensive sexuality education and youth-friendly SRHR services for adolescents and young people.
Using Edu-tainment as an efficient tool to engage young people on issues of EUP
Create opportunities to secure more partnerships for the campaign and for further addressing the issue
One of the key goals for the EUP program is to be inclusive and bring together different audiences for conversations. While the primary beneficiaries are adolescent girls and young women, the drama should equally speak to and engage men and boys as agents of change. The program will create dialogue and opportunities to engage audiences on the issues of EUP through a medium that not just educates but entertains. The program will look to start conversations in order to create a dialogue about the core issues and facilitate knowledge, attitude and behaviour change across groups.
There are three main areas of focus which frame the “Let’s Talk!” campaign, which will be tackled in the radio drama and are intended to distinguish the core social and structural barriers that keep adolescents from effectively preventing early and unintended pregnancy. These are Health, Education and Rights. The program will address issues related to EUP such as: reproductive health, SRHR, contraceptive use; family planning; early onset of sexual activity; violence against women; and improvement of women’s reproductive health.
Scope of the Radio/TV Program
The characters in the radio/TV program will be under the conflicting influences of positive and extremely negative narratives of EUP. These positive and negative characters are not only positive and negative role models for the audience, but they also help to define the extremes of thought and behaviour on issue of EUP for the audience. The characters in the drama will be those that people can identify with which will therefore be more effective at bringing about behaviour change. The radio drama program will be disseminated in the following countries:
Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles.
The assignment/ Activities
The consultant will provide support to build ongoing momentum by supporting the conceptualization, production and dissemination of the EUP campaign radio/tv program. Specifically, the consultants will be tasked to;
Organize and facilitate 2 Advisory Committee meetings
Co-ordinate the conceptualization of a EUP regional tv drama series/ web series
Produce a Concept Note and agenda for the EUP Advisory Committee meeting and mobilize Journalists to participate.
Co-ordinate the production of a guideline document that will be utilized by production firm as a guide on content and format for radio/tv program
Produce reports on the Advisory committee meetings
Liaise with selected production company on selection of script writers and development of script writing workshop
Co-ordinate with production company and organize the pretesting of the pilot episode during the second advisory committee meeting
Draft dissemination plan for countries, with guidelines on how to adapt and produce radio drama at national level
Timeline and duration of consultancy
The consultancy will run from 6 March 2020 – 30 September 2020
Expected Deliverables Deliverable Deadline Produce Brief proposal to conduct the assignment 6 March 2020 Production of Concept note and Agenda for the EUP Advisory Committee meeting and Consolidated participation list 10 March 2020 Create report on the 1st advisory Committee meeting 25 March 2020 Create Regional TV/ Radio/ Web series dissemination plan 30 March 2020 Draft guideline document that will be utilized by production firm as a guide on content and format for radio/tv program and Report on the first advisory committee meeting 10 April 2020 Create project roadmap post script -writers workshop 24 April 2020 Draft report on the 2nd Advisory committee meeting 18 May 2020 Draft Dissemination plan for countries with guidelines on how to adapt and produce radio/tv program at national level 8 June 2020 Hold consultation calls with NPO’s from focus countries where the script will be adapted to discuss progress of production 1 July 2020 Report on rolling out of the radio/tv program at regional and national level 15 September 2020
Consultant selection
The consultant will be selected following a competitive bidding process. Interested consultants should provide a short proposal, either individually or in a team, indicating the approach, daily rates, number of days and timelines.
Copyright, Patents and Other Proprietary Rights
All rights, including but not limited to title, to property, copyright, trademark and patent; in any work produced by the consultant by virtue of his/her contract, shall be vested in UNESCO which alone shall hold all rights of use.
Qualifications
High-level skills in multimedia campaign development.
Track record in developing Radio drama programs
Track-record in developing policy advocacy tools such as policy briefs, factsheets, guidelines, etc.
Advanced academic degree in an appropriate field (preferably education, communication for development, public health education).
Extensive professional knowledge and at least 10 years of experience in the field of health promotion, education, marketing and advertising. Familiarity with the UN system an asset.
Demonstrated experience in strategy and policy analysis and design.
Excellent writing and communication skills.
Demonstrated ability as a trainer, particularly developing training material and plans of action on relevant topics.
Interested Consultants who meet the set criteria based on the Terms of
Reference can submit their application and brief proposal to; vacancies.harare@unesco.org copying Ruvarashe Matambo r.matambo@unesco.org by Friday 6 March 2020