Consultancy service to conduct a Community-based Digital Storytelling (CDST) publication – Author and designer

Background

CARE Vietnam

CARE is an international humanitarian aid organisation fighting global poverty, with a special focus on working with women and girls to bring lasting change to their communities. As a non-religious and non-political organisation, CARE works with communities to help overcome poverty by supporting development projects and providing emergency relief. We know that supporting women and girls is one of the most effective ways to create sustainable outcomes in poor communities.

CARE recognizes the need to address the underlying causes of poverty and marginalization in order to bring sustainable, positive change in people’s lives. In Vietnam, we work across 19 provinces and at national level to achieve significant and lasting change for two vulnerable and marginalized groups: Remote Ethnic Minorities, particularly women, who are land poor and have weak resilience to hazards and shocks; and Socially Marginalised people in urban settings, particularly women, who experience denial of realisation of multiple rights, live and work in unsafe environments– including sex workers, people who inject drugs, people living with HIV, sexual minorities and female migrants. We work with a diverse range of partners to maximise the impact of our programs. We are committed to mobilising the capacity of these partners to contribute to positive changes in the lives of vulnerable people. In 2012, CARE supported over 834,000 people in Vietnam through initiatives on advocacy, health, women’s empowerment, economic development, livelihoods, climate change, disaster risk reduction, natural resource management, water & sanitation and emergency response interventions.

CARE recognises the threat that climate change poses to our vision and mission. CARE works toward equitable policy and programme responses to climate change that improve the livelihoods and increase the resilience of poor and marginalised women, men, boys and girls.

Integrated Community-based Adaptation in the Mekong (ICAM) Project

In order to support vulnerable communities in the Mekong Delta Region (MDR) adapt to the emerging climate change effects and improve their climate resilience, CARE Vietnam is implementing the Integrated Community-based Adaptation in the Mekong (ICAM) Project in five communes of An Phu district - An Giang province, and Vinh Chau district - Soc Trang province, from August 2012 until December 2014.

Funded by Australian aid from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the project is specifically targeting the most vulnerable in the two target provinces such as women, landless, land-poor, ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups through achieving the following three expected outcomes:

1. Communities and local authorities have improved capacity to undertake gender-sensitive analysis and planning for community-based adaptation (CBA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR);
2. Improved community resilience through the implementation of sustainable, community-level, integrated CBA and DRR interventions that benefit vulnerable people, particularly women; and
3. A strong evidence base and strengthened civil society provide a foundation for the scale up of community-based, equitable and gender-sensitive adaptation in the MDR.

To build climate change awareness, raise voice and strengthen connections between communities and their governments, in December 2013 the ICAM project launched a communication for development initiative using Community Digital Storytelling (CDST). CDST is a visual storytelling process aimed at creating short, community-created videos based on a sequence of photos that are supported by a narrative and music. CDST videos are designed to be created and used as part of participatory processes that support efforts to empower community members for awareness-raising and policy engagement.

Purpose/objectives and scope

The Community Digital Storytelling (CDST) publication consultancy will assist ICAM with its goals of documenting and disseminating project approaches and lessons learned to build a strong evidence base for adaptation in the Mekong Delta Region.

The objective of the consultancy is to write and design a short (tentatively 10-12 page) knowledge publication about the CDST process in An Giang, including lessons and recommendations. This will be based on a report compiled by the CDST facilitator.

The consultant will be responsible for:

• Drafting the text for the publications, based on an internal report prepared by the CDST facilitator.
• Formulating lessons learned and recommendations for different groups of audiences (policy makers, CBA and non-CBA practitioners, researchers, etc.), in consultation with CARE.
• Editing the text of the document based on feedback from CARE, and allowing enough time for translation into Vietnamese.
• Design and layout of the report with images, maps, etc. from the CDST project, using CARE templates and design standards.
• Make sure the Vietnamese version of the document is correct according to the design and layout.

Roles and responsibilities

The consultant will be managed by the Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Technical Advisor, CARE Vietnam.

The consultant will be responsible for delivering text and layout for the document according to design standards, seeking and taking on board feedback, and working with CARE to articulate lessons and recommendations.

CARE will be responsible for providing the consultant with background content, requirements, and feedback in a timely manner. CARE Vietnam will also provide translation support.

CARE and the consultant will work collaboratively to ensure that the publication is of high quality, attractive to different audiences, encourages replication of the CDST methodology and provides a strong contribution to the evidence base for community-based adaptation to climate change in the Mekong delta.

Qualifications and experience/selection criteria

• Relevant tertiary qualifications;
• Experience in preparing knowledge documents and publications for INGO’s.
• Proven written communication and design skills.
• Experience in participatory methodologies for development, including an understanding of gender dimensions of development and ability to form recommendations for practitioners and policy makers. Experiences with participatory digital methods would be an advantage.
• Knowledge about the CDST method in a climate change context and applied with ethnic minorities is an advantage.
• An understanding of climate change and ethnic minority life and culture in the Mekong Delta is an advantage.
• Fluency in English.
• Skills in the use of Adobe InDesign or other design programs (the consultant must meet the costs of using the package).
• Experience working in Vietnam. Experience working in the Mekong Delta is an advantage.