Consultant to Develop Communication Strategy at Self Help Africa

Overview of Baringo Resilience Project

Self Help Africa, with funding from the European Union under the Ending Drought Emergency Strategyis currently implementing a four (4) year Support to Resilience for Sustainable Livelihoods initiative through implementation of the project ‘Baringo Resilience Initiative, Nurturing Greater Opportunity’. The Project is implemented in partnership with implementing partners-Farming Systems Kenya (FSK) and Sustainable Agricultural Information Initiative (SAII) with close collaboration with the County Government of Baringo and National Drought Management Authority who are key stakeholders. The Project’s objective is to promote secure and sustainable livelihoods amongst 10,000 (40% women) individual households that are prone to negative effects of drought in4 Sub-Counties of Baringo County (Tiaty, Baringo North, Baringo South & Mogotio), by enabling them to spread their risk through prevention of productive asset loss and diversification, thereby increasing their income. The pathway to change is premised on mitigating the effects of climate change and building community resilience. Key mitigation strategies in building community resilience focus on;

• Increasing agricultural productivity through provision of widely-accessible inputs and extension services for livestock and crop production;
• Increasing household nutrition through nutrition education on dietary diversity and nutrition sensitive agriculture
• Improving land use management through water & soil conservation and regenerative agriculture techniques to ensure better protection/restoration and utilization of high, medium & low potential lands;
• Increasing market access for agricultural produce through enterprise development initiatives; and
• Enhancing partnerships and collaborative efforts among stakeholders for efficient drought response in Baringo County.

Objective of the Assignment

Terms of Reference: Communications Strategy for Baringo Resilience Project

Self Help Africa is seeking a consultant to develop a communication strategy for the Baringo Resilience Initiative to enhance program visibility, knowledge & learning, and stakeholder engagement. The purpose of which is to promote efficient and effective information flow among various stakeholders including beneficiaries, partners, key stakeholders, Baringo County Government, other collaborating development partners and the European Union. The pathway to achieve this is through an innovative communication and visibility plan that describes stakeholder communication plan, case studies, strategies for dissemination of research findings, interventions, training, project publications, project visibility & branding, press releases, impact stories and desired communication platforms for information dissemination delivery.

Scope of Work

This assignment will involve but not limited to the following activities;

• Desk review of the project documents and guidelines,
• Conduct a stakeholder analysis to identify target audiences,
• Review project intervention strategies and stakeholder engagement mechanisms,
• Conduct communications needs assessment for the different levels of stakeholders,
• Develop appropriate messaging framework for target audience,
• Develop a project visibility plan,
• Develop a comprehensive 4-year communications strategy with clear audience definitions, context, objectives, resource needs, media channels, delivery strategies including key messaging,
• Provide a measurement plan for tracking progress with the communication strategy,
• Develop a 2-year implementation framework,
• Provide a budget for all activities.

Methodology

The consultant is required to choose and use suitable methodology which must be outlined in the technical proposal.

Duration

The services above are to be carried out over a period of approximately 18working days.

Deliverables

The consultant is expected to submit the following deliverables.

• Inception report - Submission of detailed methodology demonstrating a good understanding of the literature review, detailed work plan (indicating dates and activities), an outline of the communication and visibility strategy, crisis response communication plan and data collection methodology & tools within 3 days of signing the contract.
• Draft Communication Strategy - with the following desired headings: Brief summary of the situation analysis, audience segmentation, program theory to inform strategy development, communication objectives, approaches for achieving objectives, positioning/branding, messaging, communication channels to disseminate messages, implementation plan, monitoring and evaluation plan, budgets.
• Final Communication Strategy - revised according to comments provided by SHA core team and approved by the Country Director presented in pdf and word soft copies. Note: Actual days and dates for each deliverable will be discussed and agreed upon with the successful candidate within the duration provided.