Catholic Relief Services
Jerusalem, West Bank, & Gaza (JWBG)
Communications and Information Consultan

Catholic Relief Services is an international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States and has been present in the Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza since 1961. The CRS JWBG country program currently supports development/relief programs and activities in the sectors of civil society, humanitarian assistance, youth empowerment, education, and peace & justice. For further information about CRS, please visit: www.crs.org.

Background

The Envision Gaza 2020 program, a five-year $50 million USAID cooperative agreement, has two Strategic Objectives: 1) Vulnerable Gazans better cope with ongoing stresses and unexpected shocks: and, 2) “Gazans are engaged in Livelihoods activities appropriate to their skills and experience and prevailing market conditions. Envision Gaza 2020 will build resilience and self-reliance in vulnerable populations through targeted emergency assistance and the expansion of employment opportunities.

Envision Gaza 2020 is built on the premise that if households can meet their basic needs during
times of crisis, and have increased livelihoods opportunities, they will become more resilient to
the frequent shocks and stresses that define life in Gaza. To maximize sustainability, CRS draws
on the experience of local partners and CRS’ proven track record in local partner capacity building. With CRS oversight and support, all activities will be implemented by local organizations, who are best placed to understand community needs and well positioned to quickly respond to emergencies.

To provide vulnerable Gazans with much-needed opportunities to earn income to meet their
families’ needs, CRS and local partners will implement a multitrack livelihoods program that offers an array of income-generating options. Each year, CRS and partners will offer training and short-term job placements for skilled and non-skilled workers, focusing particularly on vulnerable women and youth. CRS and partners will also provide small capital grants for
business owners and entrepreneurship training and start-up grants to stimulate growth and job creation. Through this complement of activities, CRS hopes to build the adaptive capacity of vulnerable Gazans by giving them job and life skills that can be used beyond the life of the program. At the same time, the program will focus on investing in businesses to strengthen their productive assets, workforce, and market competitiveness.

Communications and Information Consultant

As CRS enters its second year of implementation of Envision Gaza 2020, there is a need to share program progress and achievements with both a local audience in Gaza and with other stakeholders who are interested in how the program impacts the lives of beneficiaries. Now that Envision Gaza 2020 is fully operational there is significant information coming in on how food assistance is improving the lives of beneficiaries, and how the livelihoods component of the project is providing essential skills building, income, and career development for qualified applicants who have registered through the online system. CRS seeks a Gaza-based consultant to expand awareness and impact of Envision Gaza 2020 activities by producing human interest stories, interviews, short videos and other promotional pieces intended to highlight the positive differences that Envision Gaza interventions have made on the lives of beneficiaries. These informational pieces will be tailored for a variety of audiences, including Gazans, staff at USAID, and possibly a US-based audience.

Objective 1:

Consult/discuss/brainstorm with the Envision Gaza 2020 Manager for Program Quality (PM/PQ), teams and core partners to identify which program activities can be developed into stories, videos, or one pagers. This includes visiting core partners in their offices to understand which program components they implement and the beneficiaries they assist.

Objective 2:

Write high quality, well written, concise and impactful information pieces on various aspects on Envision Gaza 2020, based on input and direction received from the PM/PQ and other staff, and prepare them for publication as stand-alone handouts or as part of awareness raising articles for the EG2020 Facebook page and website. The consultant will be responsible for writing the articles in both English and Arabic, depending on the target audience.

Objective 3:

Produce a short video on EG2020 activities, for example, interviews with beneficiaries who receive food assistance or livelihoods placements, interviews with employers or vendors, or other program stakeholders as identified by the PM/PQ and programming team.

Objective 4:

With the PM/PQ, assist in the compilation of quarterly reports to the donor to enhance the report’s visual impact, including the addition of graphics and photos that will improve the balance of narrative and visual information.

Deliverables

The consultant will provide the following deliverables for the four objectives:

– Conduct an assessment with Project Officers, Assistant Project Officers and PM/PQ to determine which stories should be prioritized and for what audience. The assessment should include suggestions on the most effective outlets for information sharing,
– Hold one individual meeting with each of the core partner organizations to better understand their contributions to EG2020 and to assess their informational needs
– Deliver two informational pieces per month (articles, one-pagers, monthly updates) to be submitted to the PM/PQ for review.
– Support the Regional Information and Communications Officer during her visit to Gaza in mid-July as production assistant on the video that the Regional Officer will shoot on Envision Gaza 2020 activities
–  Produce one short video (3-5 minutes) on program activities, e.g. beneficiary interviews, following a livelihoods beneficiary from application to employment, to be reviewed and approved by the PM/PQ and CoP.
– Based on input from EG2020 programming staff, provide content for EG2020 Facebook page with current photos and project information and on a weekly basis
– Create graphics and other visuals, including photos and captions, linked to narrative information to be added to the 3rd quarterly report, to be reviewed and approved by PM/PQ

Contacts

The primary contact person for this consultancy will be the Envision Gaza 2020 Manager for Program Quality (PM/PQ). The consultant will work in close coordination with the PM/PQ and take direction and assignments from her. The consultant will also interact with programming and partner staff as necessary.

Timeline

The timeline for this consultancy will be for three months beginning on or about June 15th. The consultant will work in the CRS Gaza office as necessary and may work from home, depending on the need to interact with program staff.

Requirements:

– Minimum 3 years’ experience working for an INGO in Gaza in the areas of communications or advocacy
– Written and spoken fluency in English and Arabic
– At least three writing samples of articles or informational pieces that have been used to promote project activities or achievements
– Demonstrated ability to produce charts, graphs, and other visuals that are part of quarterly reports
– Sample of a short video (3-5 minutes) produced and edited by the applicant

How to Apply:

Interested applicants should submit their CV, at least 3 current writing samples, and a short video that the applicant produced and edited.

Please submit these documents to
 

jwbg-accounts@crs.org

by close of business June 8th, 2017.
For any questions, kindly contact CRS at jwbg-accounts@crs.org.