Capacity-building on Media & Information Literacy

Ref RAM/2017/CI/HT/289           

UNESCO: Request for Proposals: Capacity-building on Media and Information Literacy in Palestine

Deadline: 17 October 2017
Assignment finalization period: October – December 2017

The UNESCO Ramallah Office is requesting a written proposal for the assignment described below, to engage an experienced organization/party to conduct Capacity-Building on Media and Information Literacy in Palestine, in the context of the NET-MED Youth Project, which is funded by the European Union, and the "Promoting democracy and freedom of expression" project, which is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Introduction

The objective of the EU-funded NET-MED Youth Project (www.netmedyouth.org), which is implemented by UNESCO in 10 Southern Mediterranean countries, including Palestine, is to contribute to the creation of an enabling environment for young women and men to develop their competencies, exercise their rights and meaningfully engage as active citizens. Toward this overall aim, the project supports Media and Information Literacy, awareness of freedom of expression and media production skills among young women and men, building their capacities to critically and effectively engage with media and information providers. In turn, the “Promoting democracy and freedom of expression” project, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and implemented by UNESCO in the Arab region, Africa, South East Asia and Latin America, aims to foster peace, sustainable development and democracy through freedom of expression, and includes a component that facilitates youth-empowerment through enhanced capacities in Media and Information Literacy.

In the framework of both these projects, UNESCO Ramallah will support the implementation of an activity in Palestine that will enhance Media and Information Literacy competencies among young women and men, thus contributing to mutual understanding, intercultural and interreligious dialogue and non-violence. The launch of the activity will also serve to commemorate Global Media and Information Literacy Week  in Palestine.

This activity will be implemented in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education as part of an agreement and approach to support Information Literacy in Palestine.

Background

UNESCO is a global leader in promoting Media and Information literacy (MIL) as a tool for sustainable development. As the world moves towards ‘knowledge societies’, timely access to relevant, useful and quality information is critical for making informed decisions and improving the lives of the people. With the convergence of new communication technologies with media, the ascent of the Internet and social media, as well as the growing use of computer and mobile devices, the promises of information and media have increased manifold.

This opens new horizons for every woman and man to exercise their rights to freedom of opinion, expression and access to information – to be actors in, and beneficiaries of, sustainable development. However, to enjoy these benefits, every citizen needs to be equipped with adequate devices and affordable connectivity. Without this, the gap between the information rich and the information poor will continue to grow – contributing to development gaps that would be unsustainable. Enhancing media and information literacy (MIL) as well as intercultural competencies among youth organizations, teachers and other stakeholders is a key action of UNESCO’s strategy to promote knowledge societies and foster the development of free, independent and pluralistic media and universal access to information and knowledge for good governance.

While Media Literacy (ML) and Information Literacy (IL) may embrace several notions of literacy, they traditionally have been treated as separate fields. UNESCO’s use of the term MIL harmonizes the different notions. Though Media Education (ME) is also used to refer to this field, UNESCO more recently chose to use the terms Media and Information Literacy rather than ME to clearly demarcate the field, to distinguish it from advanced media studies and to highlight the convergence between media and information.

During the preparation of this proposed activity, UNESCO  considered all up-to-date achievements and results in the field of MIL in order to build upon them, including the MILID yearbook “Media and information literacy: Reinforcing Human Rights, Countering Radicalization and Extremism”; UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy online training modules and other resources, such as the MIL Curriculum for Teachers, the MIL Policy and Strategy Guidelines, MIL Assessment Framework, Guidelines for Broadcasters on Promoting MIL and User-Generated Content, and Civic Education for Media Professionals: A Training Manual. UNESCO also took stock of other MIL activities and tools developed under the NET-MED Youth Project, including two MIL Summer Camps that were recently organized, respectively, in the West Bank and in Gaza, and as an MIL Toolkit that is being produced in Tunisia. The proposed activity will build upon these experiences and resources, as well as on other relevant ones.

Objectives and Expected Results of the assignment

The main objective of the activity will be to empower young Palestinian women and men aged 15 - 17 who are school students, by enhancing their media and information literacy competencies through capacity building; while also contributing to the development of a national MIL policy and related strategies, including the adaptation of the UNESCO MIL Curriculum for Teachers for systemic implementation of concrete MIL activities in Palestine.

It is also important to ensure youth engagement in social and democratic discourse, tolerance and peacebuilding after having acquired MIL competencies.  Youth involvement in UNESCO MIL CLICKS shall thus be facilitated. .

The specific objectives of the activity will be:

-    To build MIL capacities among Head of Public Relation officers in the different West Bank governances part of the Ministry of Higher Education in a 2-day intensive training raising awareness besides schools, in line with UNESCO guidelines; namely, through two MIL capacity-building phases; one targeting school directors and teachers, and the other one targeting school students. Each of these capacity-building phases will take place in parallel in the West Bank and  in Gaza;
-    To contribute to assess the current levels of youth involvement in Media and Information Literacy initiatives as well as MIL capacities in Palestine;
-    To help identify the policy and administrative structures and national programmes relevant to the implementation of MIL activities in Palestine; and
-    To contribute to the development of recommendations toward a national MIL Policy and Strategy.

The expected results of the activity are:

-     Palestinian school directors, teachers and young women and men in Gaza and the West Bank gain and apply Media and Information Literacy competencies and take action to further promote awareness of MIL as an important prerequisite for fostering equitable access to information and knowledge and promoting free, independent and pluralistic media and information systems.
-    Increased understanding, among concerned stakeholders, of the levels of Palestinian the levels of Palestinian school directors’, teachers’ and students’ MIL capacities and involvement, MIL capacities and involvement in Media and Information Literacy initiatives, as well as of relevant policies, structures and programmes; contributing to advance MIL in Palestine.

Specifically, the selected organization/party shall carry out the tasks as shown in the matrix below. Interested parties should provide, in their response to this call for proposal, the proposed budget for each:




Duration

The assignment is expected to start on 25 October 2017 and to be concluded not later than 31 December 2017. The contract will be issued in October 2017.


Roles and responsibilities

UNESCO Ramallah office will:

a)    Host an initial inception meeting to provide suggestions on approaches for the development of the trainings;
b)    Share relevant material to be considered in the development of the trainings and final report;
c)    Regularly monitor content and the effective and timely implementation of the contract tasks;
d)    Review drafts for all deliverables and request revisions where necessary (also liaising, as needed, with the NET-MED Youth National Youth Working Groups in the West Bank and Gaza and the European Union);

The interested organizations/party will:

a)    Prepare a detailed action plan to present at the inception meeting, implement the tasks according to the agreed work plan, in regular consultation and coordination with the UNESCO Ramallah Office;
b)    Ensure that reporting requirements are met to the highest standards;
c)    Ensure that the expected outputs are delivered within agreed deadlines


Qualifications and experience of interested organization/party

It is mandatory for the interested organization/party to have the following qualification and experience:

-    At least 5 Years of Media experience and knowledge of the Palestinian media landscape;
-    Proven experience of similar activities carried out previously;
-    Availability to carry out the activity in Palestine (West Bank and Gaza) during the contract period as necessary;
-    The team should within itself have excellent communication skills in Arabic and English, as well as excellent writing and reporting skills in English.
-    Previous working experience with UNESCO, other UN agencies and International NGO’s is of added-value.


How to apply

By the deadline date of 12 October 2017, please submit ALL of the following via email to: 
 

[email protected]

Including the subject: Proposal for Capacity-Building on Media and Information Literacy in Palestine A proposal (2-3 pages) for the activity (including methodology, time-line and budget quoted in US dollars per task, according to the outputs/deliverables foreseen)

-    A description of the proposed team, including CVs.
-    A description / profile of the organization/party interested in undertaking the assignment.

Missing, unclear or incomplete information or documentation and evidence of experience as requested above, may exclude you from further consideration.

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