Trócaire is an Irish organisation that works in partnership with communities in over 20 countries to

· Defend human rights,

· Achieve climate and environmental justice,

· women’s girls’ protection, voice and influence,

· Save lives and protect human dignity and

· Mobilize the public to achieve global justice

Since 1992, Trócaire Somalia has been providing comprehensive, safe and inclusive humanitarian and development programme in the Gedo region of the Southern Somalia by integrating health, nutrition, WASH, protection, resilience and basic education to address needs among the most marginalised and vulnerable people during emergencies and building resilience of communities to prepare for and mitigate future emergencies.

While our work in the Gedo is best understood as an ongoing humanitarian programme in a complex emergency, Trocaire Somalia is committed to addressing longer term recovery, by linking essential relief/lifesaving work to resilience and ‘building back better’ in most of its programming.

OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The overall objective of the assignment is to collect human-interest stories coupled with high quality photographs demonstrating the impact and success of a resilience project implemented in Gedo.

Decades of conflict and natural hazards have severely affected food production systems in Somalia with the worst affected segment of societies being women and children experiencing high displacement, enormous human, social and economic losses and severe levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. Trocaire in partnership with Centre for Research and Integrated Development (CeRID) engages 100 women (80 from IDP and 20 from host communities) in a range of activities to improve food production at the household level and increase their access to nutritious foods in the effort to curb malnutrition. Activities include land preparation for cultivation, provision of agricultural inputs including diverse seeds, trainings on resilient agricultural and nutrition practices, and engagement in micro-gardening activities. The project also accommodates a Cash for Work scheme targeting 100 male participants from the target women’s households and includes rehabilitation of productive assets, which cushions beneficiaries from extreme food insecurity in the lean months of the year. Project beneficiaries are also provided with livelihood assets and informal financial services through savings and loaning groups, to encourage good financial planning and financial preparedness in the face of shocks and stresses. Additionally, 90 young students from the Luuq Agricultural Training Centre are benefiting from hands- on experience acquired from an attachment programme with the women farming groups. A graduation model will be considered as an exit strategy, where beneficiaries will be mentored through trainings, mentorship sessions on food production, preparation, storage and sale, with a component of Voluntary Savings and Loans for improved financial management. At the end of the project, at least 80 percent of beneficiaries are expected to have sufficient produce for consumption at the household level. The project is be considered more successful if 60 percent of the beneficiaries produce surplus for sale, and use income received to cater for other basic needs. The project is considered sustainable if beneficiaries will use income received to invest in livelihood assets.

The assignment will focus on collecting stories that clearly communicate and in a compelling style the positive impacts that the project is having upon households and communities that are marginalized, with a focus on women and other vulnerable groups and will include

ü Testimonials of community members who have benefitted from the project

ü What were their lives like before? How has their life change for the better? What do they like about the project? How do they see the future?

ü Examples of project interventions/approaches/technologies that have been particularly successful

ü What was the problem Trócaire Somalia tried to address? How did they address it? What was the result? Why was it successful?

The assignment will focus on collection of stories and photos from the following activities: Women tending to their farms/kitchen garden, small businesses, livelihood assets, harvesting, voluntary saving group component e.g. during saving group meeting and interviews with the some of the women, members of their households and local authority/ specific stakeholders.

SPECIFIC TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the direct supervision of Trócaire’s team, the Consultant(s) will be required to:

· Meet with the project management team at a kick-off meeting to concretize the expectations of the consultancy, develop the scenario and themes, and agree on the work schedule and logistical arrangements required for collecting the case studies.

· Interview selected stakeholders who will include actual beneficiaries, local government officials and key project staff (partners and Trócaire) to understand the projects and to refine the stories that they will capture in the case studies.

· Visit sites as advised by Trócaire and CeRID team in Gedo.

· Collect high quality, high-resolution photos. Photos should focus on the subjects of the stories. Each photo must be accompanied by information collected by the contractor on site, signed consent including the names, ages, family details and ‘back stories’ of the people photographed.

· Produce 5 stories (up to 500 words each each). The stories should focus on testimonials of women and their households who have benefitted/are benefitting from project interventions. Include quotes from the beneficiaries

· Each success story should be accompanied by at least 20 high-quality, high-resolution photos. Photos should focus on the subjects of the stories. Each photo must be accompanied by information collected by the contractor on site, signed consent including the names, ages, family details and ‘back stories’ of the people photographed. The photos should be well captioned

Photo Specifications

· Pictures need to be over 300 DPI

· Files should not be compressed to ensure they are of high resolution for print

· Focus on people from the testimonials, direct photos of the beneficiaries involved specifically.

· Pictures to show need where possible while maintaining the dignity of beneficiaries

· Eye contact is very much essential where we are photographing people directly especially for those whom we will get testimonials from.

· Full names and ages of people in the photos are essential and consent (in writing) should be obtained for use both online and in print.

· The picture should not be too crowded (one or two people maybe more impactful depending on the setting)

· Portraits and medium-format images

Shot list

· Contextual shots including aerial images

· Aerial photographs of the women’s farms

· Aerial photographs of Luuq Agricultural Training Centre

· Portraits and medium shots of project beneficiaries

· Shots of the demo plots

· Shots of the project beneficiaries tending to their farms

· CeRID and the resilience consultant facilitating a training at the respective women’s farms

· Shots of project beneficiaries harvesting, managing the livelihoods assets distributed, undertaking a saving groups meeting

· People carrying out daily tasks – fetching water, firewood, cooking food. (Focus on the HH of the beneficiaries)

· Landscape shots to show the full extent of the terrain in Luuq.

· Close up (and in focus) imagery of the farms, types of the crops grown, different permaculture methods applied.

· Interviews with the women farmers and graduates from Luuq Agricultural Training Centre

· Shots of people walking, children playing, the marketplace.

· General shot of the community and daily activities.

· Shots of sack gardening at the beneficiary’s homes

DELIVERABLES

· Submit a detailed proposed script, budget and work plan

· Participate in an inception meeting with Trócaire to review the proposal and agree on any revisions

· Submit a final proposed script, budget workplan and field visit schedule within 48 hours of the inception meeting

· Meet with Trocaire and CeRID to concretize the field visit schedule.

· Present a first draft of each success story for comments from Trócaire team.

· Use comments to make edits and submit finalized draft to Trócaire for approval, at most 4 working days from receipt of initial comments.

· Provide final draft of each story, including well captioned photographs with signed consent to Trócaire in four (4) working days from receipt of final comments.

· Submit all raw materials collected during the exercise upon approval of the deliverables.

EXPERTISE REQUIRED

Trócaire Somalia seeks to engage the services of qualified and experienced consultant with the following qualifications and experience

· At least Five (5) years of professional experience working in communication

· Extensive experience in producing resilience programming related communication materials for international organisations with the aim of reaching both local and international audiences.

· Experience in working with other international organizations.

· Excellent writing skills

· Knowledge of the local context in Somalia

· Excellent technical capacities to ensure smooth and high-quality production.

· Additional experience in humanitarian -development communication will be an added advantage.

TIMEFRAME

The assignment is expected to take approximately 44 calendar days from the date of signing the contract, with approximately 5 days’ field travel and work.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

All information pertaining to this project (documentary, audio, digital, cyber, project documents, etc.) belonging to the client, which the Consultancy firm may come into contact within the performance of his/her, duties under this assignment shall remain the property of the Client who shall have exclusive rights over their use. Except for purposes of this assignment, the information shall not be disclosed to the public nor used without written permission of the Client in line with the national and International Copyright Laws applicable. The contractor will however be credited in all pictures when used by Trócaire.

REMUNERATION

The Consultancy firm’s payment shall be based on the financial proposal developed for this consultancy.

Payment shall be made in three instalments of.

· 20% down payment upon signing contract, invoice and following approval of the inception report by Trócaire

· 50% Upon review of draft pieces of work

· 30% final payment upon receipt by Trócaire of the final outputs that meet expectations for quality, including photographs, accompanying information and all raw materials.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Applicants are requested to submit the following:

· A letter of interest, stating why you consider yourself/your firm suitable for the assignment.

· Brief methodology outlining the approach you will take to deliver the assignment effectively, on time and with attention to quality of results.

· Financial proposal indicating consultancy fee and a breakdown of all other costs related to the assignment.

· Personal CV(s) of technical personnel proposed for this project, highlighting qualifications and experience in similar projects.

· Work references – contact details (e-mail addresses) of referees (firms for whom you’ve produced similar assignments).

· Samples of work produced on similar assignment by your company.