Terms Of Reference for documentation of learning products and production of mini documentaries on the impact of Riverine and Pastoral Food Systems Strengthening Project (RFSS)

Terms Of Reference for documentation of learning products and production of mini documentaries on the impact of Riverine and Pastoral Food Systems Strengthening Project (RFSS)

       I.            Summary

CARE is currently implementing the Riverine and Pastoral Food Systems Strengthening Project (RFSS) in South West, Somalia. CARE is seeking to procure the services of an external consultant to undertake documentation of learning products and production of mini documentaries on the sustainable food production and community resilience.

CARE is a humanitarian non-governmental organization committed to working with poor women, men, boys, girls, communities, and institutions to have a significant impact on the underlying causes of poverty. CARE seeks to contribute to economic and social transformation, unleashing the power of the most vulnerable women and girls.  CARE has been providing emergency relief and lifesaving assistance to the Somali people since 1981. CARE is implementing three mutually supportive programs and are designed along the humanitarian-development nexus: Education and Gender Equality: Builds the capacity of government institutions to provide gender responsive education services while building adolescents and young people’s life skills. It strengthens the capacity of feminist organizations and Savings Groups Networks and supports their collective advocacy. Climate Justice and Food, Water, and Nutrition: Contributes to increased food security and an improved nutritional status of vulnerable populations through promoting gender-responsive, climate-smart and sustainable crop and livestock production, diversifying livelihoods, linking pastoralists and smallholder farmers with financial services and markets, promoting WASH and nutrition, and strengthening early warning systems and family and community contingency planning. Humanitarian Assistance: Provide a wide range of humanitarian services covering food security and economic recovery as well as education, health, nutrition, WASH, and protection in emergencies, ensuring investments into recovery. We will continue to contribute to humanitarian coordination and promote gender-responsive emergency assistance with the help of Rapid Gender Assessments and the promotion of women’s leadership in response.

    II.            Project overview

The RFSS is designed to address the vulnerabilities of people residing across villages of Afgoi that are within the flood-prone and agriculturally significant. The project adopts a synergistic approach. It integrates substantial investments in climate-resilient irrigation infrastructure with a range of adaptive interventions aimed at mitigating the impacts of recurrent shocks, sustainably elevating food production levels, and empowering farming populations through enhanced access to profitable markets. The project's significant emphasis on upgrading and expanding irrigation systems is specifically intended to not only reduce the immediate threat of flooding by improved water management but also to strategically channel floodwaters to other arable lands, thereby expanding the area under cultivation and ensuring a more reliable water supply for intensified agricultural production across the targeted regions.

Project outcomes

Outcome 1: Improved capacity of households in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities to implement effective disaster risk management and positive coping strategies to mitigate the immediate and future effects of exposure to shocks: This outcome targets households in both pastoral and agro-pastoral communities, equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to implement effective disaster risk management strategies. This includes enhancing their understanding of local risks (floods, droughts, etc.), developing and adopting early warning systems at the community level, strengthening community-based disaster preparedness mechanisms, and promoting the adoption of positive coping strategies that minimize negative impacts during and after shocks.

Outcome 2: Improved capacity of individuals, households and communities to adhere to positive development trajectories despite exposure to shocks and utilize strategies designed to allow adaptation to rapid and slow onset hazards: Focuses to build long-term resilience by enabling communities to adapt to the increasing frequency and intensity of both rapid-onset (e.g., floods, flash droughts) and slow-onset (e.g., prolonged droughts, land degradation) hazards. This involves promoting diversified livelihood options beyond traditional farming and pastoralism, enhancing access to climate-resilient agricultural technologies and practices, strengthening natural resource management skills, and fostering community-level planning for adaptation. The project will also support the integration of climate change considerations into local development plans and decision-making processes.

Outcome 3: Improved capacity to engage in strategies for sustainable livelihoods and economic growth to enhance food security and resilience: The outcome seeks to empower individuals, households, and communities to engage in sustainable livelihood activities that contribute to long-term economic growth and food security. This will be achieved through interventions such as strengthening producer organizations and cooperatives, facilitating access to improved agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilizers), providing training in farm business management and value addition, improving access to financial services and credit, and fostering linkages with profitable markets. The project will also explore opportunities for diversifying income sources and promoting entrepreneurship within the agricultural value chain.

Outcome 4: Programming, policy actions and decisions on resilience in Somalia informed on evidence-based resilience research, learning and innovation: This aims to influence broader resilience efforts in Somalia by generating robust evidence through dedicated research, systematic learning from project implementation, and the promotion of innovative approaches. While directly impacting households through the improved interventions informed by this outcome.

The project is currently in its final year of implementation and has made tangible improvements including:

The development of climate-resilient infrastructure, involving the construction and rehabilitation of essential water management systems such as irrigation canals, water diversion structures, and water storage facilities. Flood protection measures, including dykes and early warning infrastructure, were established to mitigate disaster risks. Furthermore, the project strengthened producer organizations by establishing and building the capacity of farmer cooperatives and associations. This empowered farmers through improved collective bargaining, enhanced access to vital inputs and markets, and facilitated knowledge sharing.

The project focused on enhancing extension services, delivering tailored support that emphasizes climate-smart techniques, improved crop varieties, effective pest and disease management, and efficient post-harvest handling, utilizing innovative communication methods to reach beneficiaries. Improved market access and information systems were established to provide real-time price data, create crucial linkages between producers and buyers, and support the overall development of agricultural value chains. The implementation and strengthening of functional early warning systems. Rehabilitation and Upgraded Productive Assets focused on essential community infrastructure such as water points, storage facilities, and small-scale processing units to enhance productivity and resilience.

Objectives

The primary objective of the exercise is to support the preparation of learning products in print, photography, and video/audio (documentary) to capture and effectively communicate the key achievements, impactful stories, and valuable lessons learned from the RFSS project in South West, Somalia.

Specifically, the exercise is aimed at capturing and documenting successful cases through field visits/data collection, capturing stories, photos, and videos of individual and group interventions.

Scope of work

a)      Develop inception report

Describe methodology, timeline, and include data collection instruments and tools

b)      Prepare detailed work plan and methodology

Outline steps to implement and achieve task objectives with high quality

c)      Review of existing project documents

Assess annual reports, monitoring assessments, evaluation studies, and other relevant materials to identify key successes, challenges, and lessons learned from the project.

d)       Conduct interviews

Engage with a diverse range of stakeholders, including:

o   Pastoral and agro-pastoral communities

o   Internally displaced persons (IDPs)

o   Women, youth, and marginalized groups

o   Smallholder farmers

o   Livestock herders

o   Ministry of Agriculture

o   Ministry of Livestock

o   Local government authorities in target districts

o   Microfinance institutions supporting Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs)

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e)      Design learning product templates

Develop and tailor templates for different types of learning and communication products.

f)       Develop and share draft learning products

Share initial versions with project staff for feedback

g)      Finalize learning products

Incorporate the feedback received and finalize the learning products, ensuring they comply with branding guidelines of CARE and donor (including appropriate logos) and obtaining necessary consents.

Deliverables

The consultant shall deliver the following:

1.      Briefing Paper: Technical papers detailing projects’ intervention, methodologies, and processes.

2.      Impact stories

Five impact stories - (up to 1,200 words per story) to provide detailed account of the impact on the lives of communities supported by the project – the stories should include high-resolution pictures, edited, captioned, and supplied separately with all relevant permissions secured. The impact stories should be organized by the following categories:

                                i.            Resilient Farming Communities: Focus on the transformation of farming communities, where improved irrigation infrastructure has enabled farmers to increase their crop yields.

                              ii.            Community-Led Adaptation Planning: The participatory process of developing Community Action and Adaptation Plans (CAAPs) and how community members worked together to identify risks and prioritize interventions, showcasing the power of collective action in tackling climate challenges and enhancing resilience.

                            iii.            Explore stories of farmers supported by the project and how access to quality inputs, training on climate-smart agriculture, and market linkages led to increased yields and transforming their livelihoods.

                            iv.            Early Warning: How communities prepare for climate shocks by actively using the Sadaal Early Warning System and the local Early Warning Committee. Exploring a specific instance where an early drought warning allowed them to take anticipatory actions.

                              v.            Up to three short impact stories on climate resilience focusing empowering women through bee keeping, fodder banks secure feed for livestock during dry seasons and how restored water points improved access to water during dry seasons, allowing people to follow well the transhumance routes.

3.      Content for a Two blog (up to 1,200 words) Building Resilience: This will explore the RFSS project's integrated approach, highlighting the interconnectedness of infrastructure development, agricultural support, market access, and community empowerment in building resilience. Also highlighting successful interventions, personal stories of beneficiaries, and the importance of localized approaches to resilience building in the face of climate challenges.

4.      Documentary

1.      Produce 2 documentaries, a 15-minute documentary and a 2-minute mini-documentary which would be suitable for social media platforms showing the success of interventions on the program participants across the project locations.

5.      Photography 

At least 100 high-resolution photographs, raw files and captioned, including informed consent and assent associated to all. 

Support provided by CARE.

• Identification of suitable sites and suggestions on the most suitable stories and contacts of relevant people where necessary
• Learning product design and documentation guidelines 
• Support community mobilization.
• Review of all deliverables, supervise the process, provide feedback and approval of final project learning documentation products.

BRAND STANDARDS

• Consent forms should be signed for all written stories and videos, care will provide consent forms for minors and adults
• Succes stories to be written using a CARE template which will be provided
• CARE will also provide branding standards to be used for editing videos and typography.

The consultant is expected to complete the assignment within a period of 20 days.

Budget

The budget prepared by the consultants should cover all the activities outlined above, including design, documents review, data collection, analysis and learning products. This budget is inclusive of all costs covering team member costs, travel, research costs and any other costs associated with the completion of the work including where required costs for reasonable adjustment. The selected consultants are required to organize and fund their own duty of care arrangements as required.

The consultant/s is required to provide a costed proposal in the form of a price schedule that should include:

·         Sub-total of fees for the delivery of any task or deliverable.

·         Expenses and overheads broken down by deliverables.

·         Reasonable adjustment costs; and

·         Total costs before and after any taxes that are applicable.

The selected consultants are required to provide a payment schedule based on milestone payments for the successful delivery of each deliverable.

Proposals should include the following:

·         Technical proposal –approach to the study; work plan with milestones; how meet qualifications.

·         Financial proposal

·         CVs of all involved persons

The consultancy team should comprise the following:

1.      Technical lead: having advanced degrees in a relevant field (e.g. agriculture, social science etc.) with at least 5 years of proven experience in high-quality documentation, research, M&E, impact storytelling in the field of resilience. strong analytical skills to deeply understand project context, approaches and impacts.

2.       Videographer/photographer: with a minimum of 5 years of experience in producing high-quality learning documentation, cases studies and documentary films and photos. Demonstrated expertise in visual storytelling, film production, and video editing. Ability to capture compelling footage and photographs to effectively convey project impacts and experience.

3.      Relevant subject matter knowledge and experience; research, climate and resilience, gender to ensure that the design and methods are as relevant and meaningful as possible given the aims and objectives of the project and the context in which it is being delivered.

4.      Excellent writing and communication skills in the local language and English

5.      Country experience: it is particularly important that the team has the appropriate country knowledge /experience and ability to document impact from a contextual perspective as required.

6.      Safety and ethical considerations: Ensuring the whole process adheres to best practice for research including the implementation of child protection policy and procedures to ensure safety of participants.

Submission Information

• The TOR deadline for submission is 24/05/2025
• The submission should be emailed to: [email protected] with subject line documentation of learning products and production of mini documentaries on the impact of Riverine and Pastoral Food Systems Strengthening Project
• Questions about TOR should be sent to Mohamed Abdirizak <[email protected]>