1.       BACKGROUND

BRIDGES is a five-year program (2019-24) aiming to create and support 530,000 youth jobs, mostly for women. It’s implemented by First Consult in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation. The program focuses on the manufacturing sector, covering all regions and city administrations to address unemployment in Ethiopia. BRIDGES supports both self- and wage employment, targeting unemployed youth and enterprises, to provide them with demand-based skilling, information, mind-set training, linkage, capacity building and access to finance.

With Ethiopia's labor force expanding by two million each year, BRIDGES seeks to contribute toward the country's efforts of creating highly productive and decent jobs for its young population by direct job creation within factories, as well as creating employment opportunities in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The result of these efforts will be the creation of jobs for more than 600,000 young people. BRIDGES programme aims to contribute towards Ethiopia’s efforts of creating highly competent, skillful, and productive young people, ultimately supporting the creation of dignified and fulfilling jobs.

BRIDGES is part of the MasterCard foundation’s Young Africa Works initiative and is being implemented by First Consult. First Consult is one of the prominent development consulting firms in Ethiopia, with more than 15 years of experience in designing and implementing several private sector development and access to finance projects.

The BRIDGES Programme is comprised of four focus areas: Employment Linkage BRIDGE, Enterprise Competitiveness BRIDGE, Enterprise Development BRIDGE, and Access to Finance BRIDGE.

One of the interventions under BRIDGES Programme is Awaqi, an online youth digital platform inspiring, skilling, connecting, and sharing information geared towards enterprise and employment creation. It includes short inspirational and motivational videos, training materials, internships, training and job opportunities for young people. It also serves as a guidance and coaching hub for young entrepreneurs to create micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and diversify windows of opportunities. Awaqi is currently active on five social media platforms and has gained huge traction amongst young people, with more than 290,000 followers and subscribers across all channels. Awaqi is always striving to bring engaging and interactive content to its growing follower base. This involves videos that are useful for young people through interactive contents.

2.       OBJECTIVES

The main objective of the assignment is to select a production company for the Awaqi digital platform. The selected production company will create contents, develop scripts, and do the production for an Awaqi podcast which are going to be pushed through different podcast channels and YouTube. 

3.       SCOPE OF WORK

The selected service provider is expected to:

•         Create podcast contents that attract young people and help enhance their skills

•         Present and discuss the contents with Awaqi/BRIDGES team and get approval

•         Develop scripts as per the concepts developed

•         Assign a production team that will work closely with the Awaqi/ BRIDGES team

•         Do the production of the videos at an acceptable quality

•         Ensure that deliverables are delivered within agreed-upon timelines

4.       WORKING ARRANGEMENT

• The service provider will work closely with and report to the Awaqi/Enterprise Development Bridge Team of the BRIDGES programme. 

5.       DELIVERABLES

• Developed script

• Produced videos with Awaqi copyright

 6.       REQUIRED EXPERTISE

• The service provider should be a firm with formal business license and registration documents

• Have the necessary production equipment for a podcast content and have an experienced production team

• Previous experience in working content targeted at the youth

 7.       TIMELINE

• The service provider should provide a detailed breakdown for the proposed timeline.

 8.       BUDGET

• All costs should be stated in ETB and including any taxes. The budget should be presented in a format where cost areas are clearly identified for each activity. The budget should also indicate unit cost, quantity and number of days, if applicable.

9.       APPLICATION PROCESS

• Applicants should email their proposal (both technical and financial) to bids3@firstconsultet.com with the relevant information detailed in technical and financial section of a proposal. The technical proposal should comprise: understanding of the assignment, proposed team and production equipment, and proposed interviewees, among others.

• The subject of the email should be stated as “Terms of Reference for the Development of a Podcast/Video Contents for Young People for the Awaqi Digital Platform”.

Proposals must be received no later than 5 PM on May 31, 2023. For any queries relating to this assignment please contact Dawit Alem at dalem@firstconsultet.com