CONSULTANCY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN APHRC COMMUNICATION AND ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

About APHRC

The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is a premier research-to-policy institution, generating evidence, strengthening research and related capacity in the African research and development ecosystem, and engaging policy to inform action on health and development. The Center is Africa-based and African-led, with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and a West Africa Regional Office (WARO) in Dakar, Senegal. APHRC seeks to drive change by developing strong African research leadership and promoting evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) across sub-Saharan Africa.

Background

In 2022, APHRC developed its Strategic Plan, articulating the Center’s vision to be a transformative force on the continent, building on 20-plus years of experience in evidence generation, and promoting its use to guide decision-making for Africa’s development. The organization currently implements over 100 projects in 35 countries, with a spectrum of global, regional, and national stakeholders. Over the years,  APHRC has built strategic partnerships and meaningful engagement with partners, funders, governments, academia, researchers, policymakers, media, civil society, communities, and internal staff.

Scope of Work

The Center’s geographic footprint, presence on different platforms, portfolio of projects implemented, and media coverage have all increased significantly during the current strategic period. This increased visibility and growth comes with a similarly significant challenge of coordination, consistency, and impact tracking. APHRC’s comprehensive center-wide Communication and Engagement Strategy (CES), which will be executed under the Policy Communications and Engagement (PEC) program, aims to provide a framework that supports the implementation of APHRC’s Strategic Plan, ensuring better coordination, greater outreach with increased awareness of the Center’s activities, consistent messaging, efficient engagement with internal and external stakeholders, and comprehensive impact tracking. Additionally, the CES will help foster the “one APHRC” culture across programs, projects, and regions.

The APHRC Communication and Engagement Strategy will cover the following main deliverables:

1. An overall Communication and Engagement Strategy
2. Stakeholder Engagement Plan
3. Media Engagement Plan
4. Digital / Social Media Plan

 

1. The Communication and Engagement Strategy

Below are the objectives of the strategy:

a)  Streamline Communication and policy engagement: Improved, concise, coordinated, and timely information flow across the Center as well as between APHRC and its stakeholders.

b) Enhance awareness: Increase the Center’s visibility as a thought leader in the research and development ecosystem.

c) Encourage collaboration: Facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration, knowledge exchange, and policy to contribute expertise to the continent.

d) Enable networking: Create and participate in interactive platforms and events for meaningful engagement, exchange of ideas, and collaboration among participants, stakeholders, and partners.

e) Disseminate knowledge: Share insights from the initiative widely, making valuable findings accessible to stakeholders in Africa and globally.

f) Showcase impact: Creatively and innovatively champion the Center’s research-policy work, ensuring the enhanced presence and visibility are leveraged for business development, policy engagement, advocacy, and influencing.

g) Ensure sustainability: Remain relevant by embracing upcoming trends and technology, and explore partnerships, funding opportunities, and strategies for the Center’s long-term impact and scalability.

h) Monitor and evaluate: Review and establish robust mechanisms and tools to track progress, measure the impact, and gather feedback from stakeholders and across the Center.

2. Stakeholder Engagement Plan: APHRC has numerous and diverse stakeholders at the national level, in various regions, on the continent, and across the globe. Given the Center’s current implementation of its Strategic Plan, the Stakeholder Engagement Plan will provide insights into the linkages, networks, influence, interests, and relationships that APHRC needs to be aware of, participate in, or collaborate with. Also, mapping of strategic events such as key global, regional, and local conferences. The plan should cover the following:

a) Stakeholder mapping and subsequent report

b) A stakeholder engagement plan

3. Media Engagement Plan: This will guide APHRC’s visibility as a research-to-policy organization, profiling as a thought leader in the research and development ecosystem and brand positioning. Through enhanced engagement with the media, APHRC can influence and enlighten decision-makers on population, health, and policy issues. This plan will identify the most effective ways of media engagement, identify the target audience, and different media channels to convey APHRC’s message. This will involve the following:

a) A media audit and inception report

b) A media engagement plan and implementation matrix (outline the objectives, tactics/activities, media channels, media partners, deliverables, and indicators).

4. Digital / Social Media Plan: This social media strategy aims to position APHRC as the go-to source for evidence-based research on development issues in Africa, profiling our work and experts in research and policy engagement. The strategy will also shape public discourse on development issues the Center focuses on that are profiled on social media. The social media plan should cover the following:

a) A social media audit of APHRC’s current platforms (Linkedin, X, Facebook, and YouTube).

b) A media engagement plan (outline of how APHRC social media platforms can be optimized to reach and respond to the organization’s target audience).

Therefore, APHRC is seeking an expert consultant/firm to develop this overall Communication and Engagement Strategy and its accompanying three plans (Stakeholder Engagement Plan, Media Engagement Plan, and Digital/Social Media Plan).

The consultant is expected to develop the strategy in liaison with the Center’s Policy Engagement and Communications (PEC) Program.

Methodology

APHRC and the consultant will collaborate with a supervisory team from the Policy Engagement and Communications program to accomplish all the deliverables of this ToR. Below are the proposed steps for executing this task:

1. Inception meeting: The consultant and supervisory team will agree on a date for this meeting. It will involve the design methodology for developing the CES, sharing the quality of expectations, and agreeing on the timelines for the various engagements and specific deliverables.
2. Audit reports – These will indicate the status of the issues outlined per the ToR.
3. Inception reports – These will include the proposed methodology, a matrix, instruments to develop the strategy and plans, findings from interviews, desk studies, data collection, and the proposed workplan.
4. Stakeholder mapping report: Identify all relevant APHRC stakeholders, both internal and external, and the levels of interaction based on the power interest matrix model or any other tools. Identify opportunities for engagement and influence.
5. Draft 1 CES Strategy – It will comprise all the deliverables for initial review and feedback from the main Policy Engagement and Communication program supervisory team and a subsequent validation workshop.
6. Draft 2 Strategy – This will incorporate all the feedback and comments from draft 1 and will be shared with the larger APHRC senior leadership team for final feedback, comments, and approval.
7. Final CES Strategy – A clean copy of the Communication and engagement strategy document (e-copy in Word and PDF).

Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for undertaking the following tasks:

1. Conduct a thorough desk review of existing documents, including the Center’s Strategic plan, reports, and policies. Also, conduct any interviews or surveys as needed.
2. Identify Communication and engagement gaps and possible solutions.
3. Identify opportunities for engagement and influencing relevant stakeholders.
4. Conduct consultation meetings with key stakeholders and partners in Kenya and the region.
5. Develop a comprehensive communication and engagement strategy outlining the objectives, target activities, channels, partner organizations, deliverables, indicators, and an implementation plan for 2024-2026.
6. Organize and facilitate validation workshops and any other engagements as required.
7. Provide recommendations and develop tools for operationalizing and implementing the Communication and engagement strategy in alignment with the Center’s strategic priorities.

Mode of Operation – The consultant must conduct the above deliverables through scheduled meetings via Zoom and in person, in liaison with the Head of PEC and the supervisory team. All the work will be shared in PowerPoint, Word, and PDF.

Essential Requirements/Qualifications

The consultant firm must have the following:

1. Have a proven track record of developing relevant communications and engagement strategies and accompanying plans per the ToR.
2. Experts in communications and public relations, media, digital/social media, and stakeholder engagement.
3. At least ten years’ work experience in communications, media engagement, digital media, and stakeholder engagement (research and analysis are an added advantage).
4. Proven experience developing and implementing communication and engagement strategies in multi-sectoral working contexts in various African countries.
5. Desired expert knowledge and experience working with international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), specifically those in the research and science realm.
6. Understanding of the media environment in Kenya and the African region at large.
7. Excellent communication, reporting presentation, and writing skills.

Other Requirements

1. Under this agreement, consultants are NOT to be paid for weekends or public holidays.
2. Consultants are not entitled to overtime payment. All remuneration must be within the contract agreement.
3. No work may commence unless both APHRC and the consultant sign the contract.
4. No consultant may travel without a signed contract and authorization to the duty station or the field.
5. Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority.
6. All materials and other intellectual property produced while working under this contract, including, but not limited to, documents, presentations, white papers, photographs, and other media, will remain the property of APHRC, and these materials MUST be submitted to the supervisor regularly.
7. The successful applicant must abide by the Center’s Code of Conduct to carry out their duties professionally, transparently, participatory, and culturally appropriate.
8. In the case of unsatisfactory work quality, payments will be withheld until quality is assured.

Budget and Planning

The consultancy is expected to submit remuneration requests based on the submission of key deliverables, provided that they meet the specified requirements as stated in the Term of Reference.

The proposed budget should also include all evaluation expenses and applicable taxes. The contractor must make provisions to cover all costs associated with the assignment.

The consultancy is estimated to run for 50 days, including traveling days.

Payment shall be made upon completion of the project. In instances where installments are needed, this should be included in the final financial proposal shared.

How to apply

The application for the consultancy should include the following:

1. A technical proposal detailing the consultant’s understanding of the task, proposed methodologies, expected activities and deliverables, proposed work plan, and the composition of the consultancy team to be engaged, if any, in PDF format.
2. A financial proposal detailing the costs that the consultant expects to complete the assignment in PDF format.
3. At least three sample outlines of previously developed relevant strategies –  Communication and Engagement Strategy, stakeholder engagement plan, media engagement plan, and a digital/social media plan.
4. Detailed and updated CV’s of experts included in the technical proposal.
5. Three professional references from previous clients with full contact details of the referees.
6. The proposal must be in English.

Submission of a technical and financial proposal to consultancies@aphrc.org and cc procurement@aphrc.org by close of business on August 7, 2024, with the subject line, “APHRC Communication and Engagement Strategy.”

*Please note the APHRC procurement team may request for additional business documents.   

Applicants are not required to make any payments to anyone during any stage of the recruitment process.

Special Notice

APHRC is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications and organizational needs. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process.