Oxfam Business Development Skills Digital Content Development Consultancy Opportunity

Oxfam Consultancy Opportunity – Re advertisement
 

Terms of Reference for Development of Digital Content for Business Development Skills
 

Location: Nairobi
 

Region: HECA
 

Division: International
 

Job Type: Consultancy
 

Background: Oxfam in Kenya works with others to alleviate poverty and inequality for the most vulnerable communities living in the arid and semi arid lands in Northern Kenya and in the impoverished slums of the capital of Nairobi. 

Oxfam through its partners works in Turkana, Wajir and the informal settlements of Nairobi, namely Mukuru, Kibera and Korogocho.
 

As part of its livelihoods diversification and improvement programmes, Oxfam has an elaborate business skills improvement intervention that targets an estimated 4,000 small traders, majority of whom are women. 

The programme seeks to improve such business aspects as identification and evaluation of business opportunities, basic book keeping, business planning, access to financing etc.
 

In the past two years, Oxfam has used the traditional capacity building models, which involved the physical interaction between a facilitator and traders. 

The facilitator would take the traders through the course content in groups of 15-30 for a period of one week (or as appropriate). The training content would be replicated over several geographical locations, often taking several days making it repetitive and costly.
 

Oxfam has since reviewed its training and capacity building processes and is considering piloting the use of professionally developed digital content that will be tailored to meet the needs of adult learners as well as the increasing numbers of youth seeking to engage in business and trade. 

Oxfam has already developed a training brochure for the business skills improvement programme. We are looking for expertise that will creatively disseminate the content to an adult audience with low literacy levels in diverse geographical and social cultural contexts across the country. Effective use of appropriate audio-visuals will form a key part of this assignment.
 

Once the content is developed, discussed and approved, it will be made available to interested stakeholders who will then host the content in open source web based platform, where the content can be easily accessed and regularly updated.
 

The key objective of this consultancy will be to evaluate the appropriateness of this proposed model, and if feasible, develop the required digital content and to advice on modalities of managing the rollout process.
 

Timeframe: This consultancy project is expected to take a period of 30 days. 

The process will include Interaction with Oxfam management team, field teams, small traders, key stakeholders and report writing. 

The expected start date of the work is March 2015 and the final report will be produced by April 2015.

Consultant (s) Qualifications
 

The candidate(s) must be multidisciplinary as the assignment includes aspects of grounded understanding of business as well as adult training methodologies. 

At the minimum, the consultant(s) must demonstrate and posses the following:

1. Experience in developing and using audio-visual tools/approaches/products in business development for small enterprises and rural communities


2. A degree in business related disciplines, Development Studies or Economics, with a minimum of five (5) years demonstrated experience in business skills training and/or practice


3. Grounded and practical understanding of adult teaching/learning methodologies


4. A good understanding of the Arid and Semi Arid Areas (ASALs) as well as the urban informal settlements with practical working experience or research/training in such environments


5. Experience of effective interaction with local and national institutions, government departments, and business service providers


6. Be conversant with current small and micro enterprises/business models and practice in Kenya


7. Practical application of cross cutting themes like gender mainstreaming, and gender competence


8. Good spoken and written communication skills in English and Swahili. Basic understanding of the local Somali and Turkana languages is preferred.


9. Proven experience of using participatory tools and methodology.


10. Excellent analytical and report writing skills.

Expected Deliverables
 

The required outputs of this consultancy will be as follows:

1. An inception report (maximum five pages) outlining the approach/methodology and execution programme/timetable. The consultant(s) shall then submit this report for review and approval by Oxfam two (2) days after signing the contract, but before commencement of the work.


2. Content development tools which shall be submitted to Oxfam within two days after acceptance of the methodology for review and approval.


3. Draft digital content that shall be shared and pre tested with communities and reviewed by Oxfam, and partners for approval before dissemination in the field.


4. Draft digital content for business skills training module and report which shall be submitted within five days after completion of the content dissemination in the field and collection and analysis of feedback


5. Presentation of the key findings to Oxfam and partner staff


6. The final report which shall be submitted within five days after the stakeholders’ dissemination workshop and shall incorporate both Oxfam and stakeholders inputs.

Key Considerations in the Assignment

1. Development of the training content and methodology must take into consideration the literacy levels of the target audience


2. The content and methodology must apply key aspects of adult teaching and learning principles


3. The content needs to be presented in an interesting and engaging manner with possible use of appropriate audio-visuals


4. The content needs to take into consideration appropriate languages/dialect to suit the local context


5. The proposed module(s)/Options taken should be cost effective


6. The digital content must be delivered using easily available hardware equipment that would be appropriate for the context.

Business Skills & Content Report
 

Outline of the Report: The report should contain the different elements mentioned below. All parts should be clearly distinguished from each other and of sufficient quality.

1. Cover page


2. Table of contents


3. An executive summary that can be used as a document in its own right. It should include the major findings of the assignment and summarise conclusions and recommendations.


4. The objectives of the assignment


5. A justification of the methods and techniques used (including relevant underlying assumptions, theories).


6. A presentation of the findings and the analysis thereof (including unexpected, relevant findings).


7. Conclusions will have to be derived from field experiences / findings and analysis thereof.


8. Recommendations should be clearly related to conclusions. Recommendations should be practical and include guidelines of how they can be implemented.


9.  Report annexes.

The production of the report will be the responsibility of the consultant(s) covering all the aspects as outlined in the TOR. 

Oxfam and its partners will be responsible for coordinating the exercise.

The report will be:

1. Produced in English language and should be simple in expression and easy to understand.


2. Maximum of 30 pages with some short annexes.


3. The report format and text should be on A4 paper size and a legible font (preferably Arial font size 11 or 12).


4. The team will be expected to submit at least two hard copies and one electronic copy of the digital content and report by the agreed deadline.


5. The reporting style should be simple, and clear.

Confidentiality of information: All documents and data collected will be treated as confidential and used solely to facilitate analysis. Interviewees will not be quoted in the reports without their permission.

Bid Requirements: Firms or Consultant(s) who KNOW that they meet the requirements should submit a maximum of 10-paged expression of interest, which should include the following:

1. A suitability statement, including commitment to availability for the entire assignment.


2. A brief statement of on the proposed delivery methodologies including a detailed work plan.


3. A detailed financial proposal, including daily cost per major activity.


4. Updated curriculum vitae that clearly spell out qualifications and experience for the key Consultant(s). These can be annexed, and are not part of the statement of expression of Interest in 2 above


5. Samples of similar work done, together with Contacts of three organizations that have recently (but preferably the last 3 years) contracted the firm/consultant(s) to carry out relevant or related work

Application Guidelines
 

All interested and qualified consultants should CLICK HERE to send their expression of interest online

Application deadline is 20th February 2015, at 5:00 pm.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.