Call for Consultant to Produce 20-Episode Entertainment-Education Radio Drama Series at Grassroots Researchers Association (GRA)

Type of Service: Short Term Consultancy
Number Required: 1 Consultant

Reference Number: GRA-DSW/MGR/18/05/001
Job Summary
The consultant will support GRA in the production of radio drama series for target audiences in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe State through the engagement of a production house with expertise in scriptwriting and radio drama production.
Job Description
To Produce 20-Episode Entertainment-Education Radio Drama Series for the Strengthening Social Mobilization and Accountability towards Ending SGBV and VAWG Project

Background
As part of its commitments towards empowering local actors in ending SGBV and VAWG, Grassroots Researchers Association (GRA) in partnership with the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation and with technical support from UN Women Nigeria is strengthening women-led and women’s rights networks and groups on social accountability mechanisms and tools to more effectively mobilize to end SGBV and VAWG in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe communities.
The project is being funded under the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) / EU-UN Spotlight Initiative and aims towards:
Supporting women's rights groups and relevant civil society organizations to more effectively use social accountability mechanisms to support their advocacy and influence in preventing and responding to VAWG, including SGBV/Harmful Practices (HP), and Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE)

Strengthening and empowering women's rights groups and relevant civil society organizations representing groups facing intersecting forms of discrimination/marginalization to design, implement and monitor programmes and policies on VAWG, including SGBV/HP, and promote women’s and girls’ Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR); and

Promoting advocacy for GEWE and ending VAWG, including SGBV/HP.

The project will contribute to the elimination of SGBV/VAWG through the creation of a broad partnership with Civil Society, Government, Private Sector, Media, among others; and, build a social movement of women and girls as champions and agents of change at the national, subnational, and community levels.

Context
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) including sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is one of the most widespread human rights abuses. Globally, one in three women is raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. As widespread as these crimes are, the acceptance and discussion of sexual violence continue to be plagued with tremendous societal stigma which results in continued silence, inadequate resources and coordinated efforts aimed at prevention and holding perpetrators accountable.

In North East Nigeria especially in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe State, the Boko Haram insurgency coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in sexual and gender-based violations mostly against women. Hence, SGBV survivors have continued to suffer physical, physiological, emotional, and displacement consequences. This drama series aims at promoting advocacy for gender equality and women’s empowerment as well as ending violence against women and girls, including SGBV and harmful practices, and also promoting women’s and girls’ Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

Objective
The objective of this consultancy is to support GRA in producing a 20-episode radio drama series for target audiences in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe state. These radio drama episodes require high standard dramatic soap opera scripts and high-quality audio recordings in languages spoken in the above-mentioned landscapes. The overall goal is to increase knowledge of target audiences (local communities, traditional authorities, national decision-makers, and the general public) on the impacts of SGBV/VAWG within the target populations with the aim to elicit desired changes in behaviour, policies, and practices.

Task
A production house with expertise in scriptwriting and radio drama production is expected to carry out the following main tasks with timelines included:

• Conduct a desk review of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) about factors exacerbating violence against women and girls, including SGBV and harmful practices; define target audiences by threat; and identify potential key themes, messages, languages and radio stations for the drama production and broadcast.
• Develop an overarching storyline, character profiles, episodic treatments and scripts for a 20-episode radio drama series that effectively capture information generated from the desk review, and translate them into the major languages spoken in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe State.
• Audition talented and professional actors who speak Standard English and relevant local languages to play the radio drama characters.
• Record the drama episodes, and edit high quality audio for 20 episodes of the radio drama series
• Support the pretesting of the radio drama in communities and integrate feedback from this process into final products.

Timing and Level of Effort

• Timeline for completion of the above-mentioned activities starting on/about June 7, 2021.
• First phase – conduct desk review of KAP about factors fueling SGBV/VAWG, identify themes, write episodic treatments, character profiles, scripts and translations.
• Second phase – cast actors, record drama, edit 20 episodes and support pretest.
• We will receive the final recordings in 3 tranches of 7-7-6 as follows, 4 July, 4 August, and 4 September 2021, respectively. We expect the radio drama broadcast to start by the end of July 2021.

Reporting/Supervision
The production house (representative) will report directly to the GRA WPHF Spotlight Initiative Project Manager based in Maiduguri, Borno State.
The Consultant will also work with relevant technical staff to ensure accurate representation of technical themes and messages in the drama production.
 
Deliverables
Character Profiles
A Storyline of the entire drama
Episodic Treatments for 20 episodes (1-2 pages each)
Scripts for 20 episodes (9-11 pages each) written in Standard English and in the other major languages spoken among the target populations. Initial drafts of each of the 20 episodes will be submitted to the Technical Advisory Committee for comments and revisions where applicable.
The first 7 episodes must be completed and finalized in ALL languages ready to be broadcasted by 25 July 2021. The completion of the remaining 13 episodes will be discussed after the award.
A short theme song (2-3minutes) composed specifically for the radio drama series
20 recorded and edited episodes (13-15 minutes each) mixed and mastered with the jingles and theme song on CD or External Hard drive to be submitted in 3 tranches of 7-7-6 episodes in the established languages.