Media Consultant

1. Introduction

 The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is an award-winning, independent think tank working to accelerate solutions for a stable climate, sustainable resource management, and fair economies. Our work inspires better decisions and sparks meaningful action to help people and the planet thrive. We shine a light on what can be achieved when governments, businesses, non-profits, and communities come together. IISD’s staff of more than 200 people come from across the globe and from many disciplines. With offices in Winnipeg, Geneva, Ottawa, and Toronto, our work affects lives in more than 100 countries.

The Climate Adaptation and Protected Areas (CAPA) Initiative promotes natural solutions to strengthen climate resilience and protect biodiversity in and around Protected Areas and critical landscapes in the Global South. The initiative’s intervention sites cover marine, coastal, and terrestrial ecosystems and landscapes in Belize, Fiji, and the Greater Virunga and Kavango-Zambezi landscapes. The CAPA Initiative is jointly implemented with the World Wildlife Fund, WWF Africa, and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Fiji and Belize programs.

WCS Belize is an international non-government organization committed to working with communities, government, and other partners to safeguard Belize’s biodiversity and natural resources through integrated landscape and seascape management underpinned by applied research. WCS has long been at the forefront of marine conservation in Belize and has an over 30-year history of providing technical and scientific support. In 2021, under the Maya Forest Corridor Trust, WCS also began the management of 30,000 acres of land entrusted for the benefit of the government and people of Belize to protect and conserve its natural ecosystems and wildlife.

1. Assignment Background

IISD and WCS seek to contract a media consulting team to support the design and implementation of a communication campaign in Belize. Single-source income communities, such as fishing and agricultural communities that are heavily reliant on natural resources and ecosystem services, have high exposure and high sensitivity to climate variations, making them especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This campaign will support the adoption of supplementary livelihood options for fishing communities that utilize Glovers Reef Marine Reserve and South Water Caye Marine Reserve, as well as communities that buffer the Maya Forest Corridor. These supplementary livelihood options, which integrate nature-based solutions (NBS) for adaptation, are designed to strengthen the economic resilience of stakeholders while reducing the vulnerabilities of biodiversity, ecosystems, and communities to the impacts of climate change.

The campaign should incorporate multiple mass media tools focusing on an Entertainment-Education approach. The objectives include the following:

• Understand the enabling conditions needed for local communities to successfully adopt supplementary livelihood options, which integrate NBS for adaptation.
• Promote positive change in the relevant knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours toward adopting supplementary livelihood options, which integrate NBS for adaptation.
• Build a community of supporters that engage in activities to promote the overall objectives of the CAPA Initiative being implemented in Belize.
• Support the involvement of women and underrepresented groups in activities and decision-making regarding NbS for adaptation.

Entertainment-Education is a communication strategy that aims to impact social issues with various mass media tools designed to educate people and shift their attitudes and behaviours. The communications strategy should primarily focus on designing and broadcasting an Entertainment-Education radio drama, corresponding radio call-in shows in local languages, and community mobilization events. The media team will conduct preliminary formative research to inform the communication tools developed, mentor the local production team, and design monitoring and evaluation assessments to track pre- and post-event changes in stakeholders’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours.

1. Scope of Work

As the Media Consultant team, your primary responsibilities are to:

• Work with WCS and project partners to design the preliminary formative research tools and monitoring and evaluation assessments to assess information preferences and impacts at the community level.
• Work with WCS and project partners to design a communications campaign that incorporates an Entertainment-Education methodology that combines gender-responsive and transformative methods and messages to foster and sustain support for the engagement of women and underrepresented groups in NbS for adaptation and support the adoption of supplementary livelihood options that integrate NBS for adaptation.
• Work with the WCS Communications Coordinator to implement the communications campaign, including work planning, programming, coalition-building, convening of workshops, and other activities.
• Train WCS and project partners to use the Entertainment-Education and communication for social change theory methods to effectively reach and engage their communities.
• Work with the WCS Communications Coordinator to coordinate the campaign with communications activities and initiatives of project partners.
• Support the contracting of a production team to lead the production of a radio drama and call-in show.
• Provide ongoing mentoring and support to the WCS Communications Coordinator in supervising the production team.
• Develop, as needed, partnerships with media outlets for campaign implementation.
• Provide ongoing advice and professional support to build the WCS’s capacity in communications and campaign design and implementation to enable WCS to sustain support for supplementary livelihood options that integrate NBSC.

1. Deliverables

The Media Consultant team will undertake the following:

Deliverable: Mobilization Fee

• Due Date: Upon signing the contract
• Payment %: 15%

Deliverable 1: Summary Report, including the results of the following:

1. Media landscape analysis
2. Entertainment-Education program design and production workshops, and
3. Program strategy

• Due Date: September 30th, 2024
• Payment %: 25%

Deliverable 2: M&E strategy and survey tools and report consisting of:

1. Community assessment tools
2. Baseline report

• Due Date: October 31st, 2024
• Payment %: 10%

Deliverable 3: Documentation of:

1. Production team contracted
2. Episodic treatments for 26 episodes
3. 26 episodes of the radio drama and draft call-in sheets

• Due Date: November 29th, 2024
• Payment %: 15%

Deliverable 4: Recordings of produced and broadcasted Radio Drama and Call-in Shows

• Due Date: July 31st, 2025
• Payment %: 15%

Deliverable 5: Impact report, lessons learned workshop and final project summary report

• Due Date: August 31st, 2025
• Payment %: 20%

1. Reporting and Work Arrangement:

The Media Consultant team will be contracted by IISD and work closely with WCS Belize.

1. Qualifications 

The Media Consultant team should possess the following qualifications: 

Qualifications (Essential)

• Lead consultant(s) with a minimum of bachelor’s degree in strategic communications, social and behavioural change communication, marketing, media and public relations, or another relevant field.
• Professional proficiency in English (Garifuna and Spanish spoken is an asset).

Knowledge and Experience (Essential)

• Demonstrated experience in developing and executing communications for social change, particularly communications campaigns focusing on environmental conservation and protection.
• Experience designing and implementing a communications strategy that incorporates multiple mass media tools with a focus on Entertainment-Education (a minimum of 8 years of relevant experience is required).
• Demonstrate knowledge of developing clear knowledge, attitude, and behavioural change objectives and key planning tools, such as a values grid and objectives matrix for tracking and assessing the impacts of communication tools.

Skills (Essential)

• Demonstrated ability to communicate with a variety of partners and stakeholders and to mediate and resolve complex issues that involve multiple actors and/or interest areas.
• Demonstrated strong project management skills.
• Excellent analytical and English writing skills, with proven experience in producing high-quality reports and publications for external audiences.

Behavioural Competencies (Essential)

• Sensitive to a multicultural working environment

Location: Belize

Term: Short-term contractor

Duration of assignment: 13 months

Start date:  July 1, 2024

Closing date: Friday, June 7, 2024

Application Procedure

All submissions must be in English. 

Applications will only be accepted through Bamboo HR.

• The application package should include a CV and Technical Proposal, a cover letter, and the budget.

Local candidates must hold appropriate work authorization for Belize.

Only those candidates we wish to interview will be contacted. Resumes will be kept on file

for one year.

IISD is committed to fostering a more equitable and sustainable world and welcomes candidates who uphold our values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition, to correct the conditions of social injustice and disadvantage in employment around the world, we encourage candidates from historically marginalized groups, including women, Indigenous Peoples, people with disabilities, people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, and those who identify themselves as 2SLGBTQIA+, to apply for this position. We offer reasonable accommodations in our recruitment process and seek applicants' advice on how best to accommodate their needs. 

IISD does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, caste, ethnicity, religion, colour, disability, marital status, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status.

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