We’re looking for a consultant to produce a documentary to create awareness on the role of women in bio-diversity, food and seed systems. The assignment is part of the Rural Women Cultivating Change (RWCC) Project in Kenya.

Rural Women Cultivating Change (RWCC) Project

Implemented in Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia, the RWCC project aims to shift the cultural attitudes and structures that limit young and adult rural women (particularly women smallholder farmers, female heads of households and survivors of sexual gender-based violence (SGBV)) allowing them to take control of their own lives, advocate for themselves and others and take leadership within communities and beyond. Using gender transformative, participatory agroecological, women leadership approaches and reinforcing interventions aimed at preventing SGBV, the project focuses on the intersection between women’s rights and climate adaptation in order to better support sustainable and equitable resource management, agricultural production and access to markets. It further alleviates poverty through reduced personal and collective vulnerability to social, economic and climate shocks.

The project targets remote rural regions of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, where farming is the primary occupation and principal use of women’s labor, to undertake work at the intersection of women’s rights and climate adaptation. RWCC targets a number of areas, including North Wollo Zone of Amhara Region in Ethiopia; Baringo, Nakuru, Laikipia and Kitui counties in Kenya; and Morogoro and Gairo District Councils of Morogoro, Babati and Mbulu District Councils of Manyara and Mwanga and Same District Councils of Kilimanjaro Regions in Tanzania. The project works in collaboration with women’s rights organizations and agricultural-based organizations to support climate adaptation, increase food security, enhance gender equality, reduce sexual and gender-based violence, and improve livelihoods for rural women.

Purpose, scope and objective

Hivos is seeking to hire a consultant to produce a documentary to create awareness on the role of women in bio-diversity, food and seed systems.

As part of the documentation strategy to amplify women voices in agriculture, Hivos intends to produce a 20-30 minute documentary to highlight the important role of women in food systems, the existing barriers and opportunities and the role of women on agricultural transformation.

To accomplish this, Hivos seeks to obtain the services of a consultant or firm that will produce the documentary. The documentary should be produced in English, at the highest market quality standards, high-definition, fast paced and colorful, with clean stylistic touches. The total running time of the documentary is to be 20-30 minutes.

Rationale

Women are the primary drivers in the agricultural sectors of many developing countries, they invest a significant amount of time in planting, weeding, ridging and harvesting while at the same time taking care of their daily domestic responsibilities.

It is a well-known fact that rural African women, especially women farmers, are the backbones of household and communal agricultural productivity and food security. In Kenya, women make up the majority of those employed in the agricultural sector, making them important contributors to food security and the growth of our country’s GDPs. Sadly; these women endure poor working conditions, with little or no access to financial services, pay, or resources like land. This reality continues to aggravate the devastating effects of climate change on food production and creates new barriers for women farmers.

Over the last few decades, a lot of research has been produced on the important role of women in food systems, the existing barriers and opportunities and the role of women in agricultural transformation. The evidence has revealed that achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in food systems will greatly improve food security and nutrition.

Additionally, gender inequality coupled with climate change has been branded one of the greatest challenges of our time. It poses threats to ways of life, livelihoods, health, safety and security for women and girls around the world. In practice it has been difficult for policy practitioners to make the vital connection between gender, social equity and climate change.

This is exacerbated by inadequate documentation and thus undermines amplification of these issues on relevant platforms where redress can be sought. Therefore, the video documentary will document and raise public awareness on these issues while at the same time providing grounded policy analysis, insight, and perspectives to inform the program.

Objectives

1. To document real time stories from the women farmers in the four project counties (Baringo, Nakuru, Laikipia and Kitui)
2. To amplify the voices of women farmers on issues affecting them.
3. To understand the roles and contributions of different actors towards addressing issues of women in agriculture.
4. Develop and suggest appropriate recommendations to inform policy planning and development.

Tasks

The consultant will embark on the following tasks:

1. Develop the documentary overall concept and scenario.
2. Develop the documentary script and storyboard to be used in shooting and production of the documentary.
3. Conduct field visits of the project area (Kitui, Nakuru, Laikipia and Baringo) and interview women farmers and their local leaders.
4. Perform appropriate video filming and shoot interviews with the projects’ major beneficiaries and stakeholders.
5. Present a draft documentary to Hivos for review/comments.
6. Incorporate the comment and produce a final documentary and raw footage to Hivos
7. Copyright: All materials arising out of the consultancy shall remain the property of Hivos.

Expected outputs

The expected outputs/deliverables from this assignment are:

• A financial and technical offer, detailing the proposed methodology and the work plan for the study. Before the contract is signed, the selected consultants will present the technical offer and work plan to Hivos during a face-to-face or virtual work session and will review it in line with the feedback received.
• A draft documentary
• A final documentary

Time frame

It is expected that the documentary should be finished within 40 working days from the date of engagement.

Skills and qualifications of consultants

We are looking for consultants/team with the following skills and qualifications:

1. Must have more than 5 year’s proven experience in film production.
2. Extensive experience in producing development work related documentaries for organizations with the aim of reaching out to both local and international audiences.
3. Excellent technical capacities (Full High Definition video) to ensure high quality production.
4. Additional experience in development communication will be an added advantage.
5. Experience with smallholder farmers especially in rural areas will be an added advantage

Application process and requirements

Qualified and interested parties are asked to submit the following:

A detailed technical and financial proposal clearly demonstrating a thorough understanding of this ToR and including but not limited to the following:

• Company profile (where applicable).
• Description of the methodology and work plan (technical offer).
• Demonstrated previous experience in similar tasks and other qualifications outlined in this ToR.
• Team composition ( if applicable)
• Detailed list with technical information of the equipment intended for use, including camera, light, sound, editing software etc.
• A detailed budget with breakdown of costs for the production of the documentary.

All proposals should be sent electronically with attachments in pdf and a subject line: RWCC Documentary to eastafricajobs@hivos.org not later than 2^nd September 2023.