Communications Consultant

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international relief and development agency of the Catholic community in the United States.  CRS supports more than 100 million people in more than 100 countries on five continents based on need regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity.  CRS has been present in Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza (JWBG) since 1961 supporting emergency, recovery, and development programs with activities in the sectors of: food security, shelter, psychosocial support, agricultural and urban livelihoods, youth and women’s empowerment, and health.  For further information about CRS, please visit: www.crs.org. 

CRS is implementing a $5M, 6-month program funded by USAID to help mitigate the spread and impact of COVID-19 in the West Bank.  The program has two key components: 1) supporting public and charitable health facilities to effectively respond to COVID-19; and 2) supporting vulnerable households to practice safe behaviors that reduce the spread of COVID-19.  CRS is working in close coordination with the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Health Cluster on the response.  The project has two months remaining with many achievements, higher-level impacts, and lessons learned to capture in the final period of the program.

Objectives:

CRS seeks the services of a communications professional to adequately collect, document, and share the results of the program in formats tailored to various stakeholders and audiences.  This may include but is not limited to: photo/video-journalism, human interest stories, case studies, social media pieces, and similar.  Communications products will primarily be in English.

Description of Work:

The communications consultant will be responsible for:  

• Review the project implementation plan in close coordination with CRS’ COVID-19 Emergency Coordinator and develop a communications plan for the remaining months of the project.  The communications plan should include key communications events/opportunities to be captured, products to be developed for targeted audiences and relevant dissemination plans, and timelines for implementation.  
• Travel to CRS project sites (primarily government and non-government health care facilities, COVID-19 testing facilities, and supermarkets) in the West Bank to collect images, video footage and interviews highlighting achievements of the program.
• Undertake interviews with direct and indirect beneficiaries to gather sufficient information for communications products.
• Take relevant and mutually pre-agreed upon high resolution photographs of beneficiaries and CRS programming that meet CRS COVID-19 guidelines; edit photographs and provide captions; and send images to CRS through an agreed upon FTP delivery process such as WeTransfer or Dropbox. 
• Draft communications products such as success stories and social media stories; receive and accommodate CRS feedback and provide final draft within a mutually agreed upon timeline.  
• Ensure all beneficiaries photographed or interviewed sign a release forms using CRS’ template.

Key Documents:

CRS will share the following documents with the consultant at the start of the work:

• CRS job aid for success stories
• CRS branding guidance
• CRS guidelines for interviews and releases
• CRS JWBG release form template 
• CRS JWBG success story interview tool
• CRS COVID-19 communication/photo guidelines
• CRS Standard Operating Procedures for COVID-19

Conditions:

• The consultant will receive an initial briefing from CRS’ COVID-19 Emergency Coordinator to provide additional context and parameters to the scope of work.
• The consultant will provide his/her own transportation to project sites across the West Bank unless otherwise arranged with CRS.  
• The consultant will utilize his/her own camera, laptop, internet connection, and mobile phone.  
• CRS will provide the consultant with PPE when conducting visits to health care facilities treating COVID-19 patients.
• The consultant takes responsibility to adhere to all MoH recommendations to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and follow all COVID-19 precautions.
• The consultant and CRS’ COVID-19 Emergency Coordinator should agree on the format of all written products in advance.
• All information received during the execution of the scope of work shall be treated as confidential and proprietary to CRS and cannot be reused without written consent of CRS.

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Profile of the Consultant:

• Bachelor’s degree in communications or related field
• At least five years of experience in communications, ideally in the humanitarian or NGO sector  
• Experience working in the health sector, preferred.
• Fluency in Arabic and English.

Expected outputs:

• Communications plan, prepared in consultation with COVID-19 Emergency Coordinator
• Approximately six one-page success stories that meet CRS’ standards for effective success stories, including layout and photography (quantity to be confirmed based on communications plan)
• Approximately six social media stories, with content and photos suitable for Facebook and Instagram (quantity to be confirmed based on communications plan)
• Approximately two case studies of approximately 1-3 pages, including layout and photography, providing a deeper perspective on a project result (quantity to be confirmed based on communications plan).
• Approximately 100 high resolution photographs with captions

Location of the Work:

The work will include field visits approximately 2-3 days per week with the remaining work done from home.  CRS can also make a workspace available in its offices in Jerusalem or Bethlehem for non-field work, as desired.  The consultancy may also include periodic in-person meetings with CRS staff in Jerusalem, Ramallah, or Bethlehem.

Consultancy Duration:

The consultancy period is 15 September - 31 October 2020.  The volume of work may fluctuate from 1-2 days per week to 5-6 days based on an “as-requested” basis derived from the communications plan jointly developed.      

Reporting:

The Consultant will report directly to the COVID-19 Emergency Coordinator on all aspects related to this consultancy. 

Payment

The consultancy rate shall be proposed by the consultant per working day (where a working day is 8 hours) paid at the end of each month according to the total days worked per aggregated working hours.

General Rules:

• CRS has the right to request illustrations or modifications/negotiations after awarding decision.
• CRS is NOT committed to the least price offer and has the right to cancel or re-advertise this TOR without explicating the reasons.
• CRS may select more than one consultant(s) to complete the full scope of this ToR. If this is the case, the components for which each individual / firm is responsible will be made clear in each respective contract. 

Tentative Dates:* 

• Submission deadline: 14 September 2020, 12:00pm (noon)
• Selection decision: 14 September 2020, close of business 

*Final dates are subject to change based on volume of applications received.