FOR THE CONSULTANCY: UPDATING OF THE ONLINE PLATFORM OF THE SEI CENTRE IN BRČKO DISTRICT

For the project: Brčko Inclusive Socioeconomic Initiative

Deadline for application: 4^th, March, 15h Purpose of the consultancy

CARE International, within its project “Brčko Inclusive Socioeconomic Initiative” (in further text: the Project), is looking to contract an external consultant to secure updating of the Online Platform of the SEI Centre within Regional Guarantee Fund of Brcko District (RGFDB), during March to December, for:

• Creating content about the project activities and progress and uploading on the SEI Centre web site and social media feed,
• Reporting about the project’s meetings, various events organized by our project partners and other project activities around SEI Centre, previously agreed with CARE Project Manager (PM) and RGFBD designated staff.

Job title:                                                    Consultant for Updating of the Online Platform of the SEI Centre

Project title:                                             Brčko Inclusive Socioeconomic Initiative

Donor:                                                       Czech Development Agency and CARE Czech Republic

Project country:                                       Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brčko District

Place(s) of work:                                     Brčko District

Anticipated consultants:                       Individual consultant, with qualifications fitting the consultancy

task

Engagement period and duration:      4 working days a month, during March-December 2024

CARE’s mission in the region of Balkans is to contribute to post-war recovery, socio-economic development and building the societies of equality in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia (FYROM). CARE’s work in the Balkans started in 1993, when it provided humanitarian support to people affected by war. In the late 90-ties, CARE shifted its focus in the region from humanitarian post-war assistance and rehabilitation to socio-economic development, engaging in interventions directed at conflict prevention and peace-building, sustainable livelihoods, gender equality and the prevention of gender-based violence.

CARE in the Balkans places the quality of its program at the centre of its mission and has developed a regional strategy that encompasses two main program directions: Gender Equality and Social and Economic Inclusion. The goal of the Social and Economic Inclusion Program is to strengthen capacity and create opportunities for the marginalized, socially excluded and poor to integrate into society and access rights. CARE’s Gender Equality Program aims to empower women vulnerable to violence, discrimination and poverty, to reach better life opportunities and social justice and to work on prevention of peer violence and building of tolerance among young men in the Western Balkans. CARE’s engagement and contribution lies in strengthening sustainability of key regional, national and/ or local civil society organizations and networks promoting equality and diversity, in the context of social inclusion and non-violence.

The project “Brčko Inclusive Socioeconomic Initiative” will contribute to socio-economic integration of disadvantaged and vulnerable categories of citizens of Brčko District. The Project concentrates its efforts to Brčko District and invests in increasing the socio-economic inclusion of marginalized groups. This is mirrored in the Project Objective: to increase social inclusion and create sustainable employment opportunities for citizens in Brčko District (BD) with a particular focus on disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, through raising employment capacity, support to entrepreneurial activities and enabling a conducive environment for more inclusive economic development.

The following project results/outputs are expected:

Output 1:            Disadvantaged and vulnerable populations of the Brčko District have increased their capacity for employment and knowledge of their citizens’ rights, through project conducted trainings and awareness raising.

Output 2:            Increased capacity, skills and job opportunities for the unemployed citizens of BD and creation of new employment for the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, via project financial and technical support.

Output 3:            Enhanced environment for a more efficient economic inclusion of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, by creation of public-private partnerships to address labour market barriers and promotion of sustainable employment models.

The Development-Guarantee Fund of Brčko District Government – RGFDB (https://rgfbd.com/) is a public institution established under the Government of Brčko District (BD), responsible for providing financial support or guarantees to small and medium-sized enterprises, individuals or agricultural producers.

More specifically, the main current RGFDB services include:

1. Approval of credit funds and their placement,
2. Allocation of funds to small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs,
3. Investing in securities,
4. Providing guarantees for loans to small and medium-sized enterprises and independent entrepreneurs and farmers with the aim of faster employment,
5. Providing guarantees for lending in the rural sector,
6. Other credit and financial intermediation.

Role in the Project: Unit for Implementation of International Projects at RGFDB (further PIU) has been mandated by the Government of BD to act as the main Project partner and beneficiary focal point (for all three project Outputs). PIU will also act as an intermediary between the selected the project applicant/implementer and the Government of BD, in particular on strategic issues such as legislation, long-term financing and sustainability of project outputs, etc. PPIU will, through this Project, establish and develop the (Self) Employment Socio-Economic and Entrepreneurship Centre, which will aim to provide comprehensive support to BD residents, and especially marginalized persons, on their path to self-employment, entrepreneurship and long-term/permanent employment. The Centre would serve to develop, strengthen and upgrade the skills of BD residents so that they are employable in the labour market. At the same time, it can provide retraining and other training courses, personalised training, coaching, consulting, mentoring, therapeutic and psychosocial services and similar types of help and assistance. It would serve also serve as an incubator for start-ups and early stage entrepreneurs.

Consultants’ Outputs

CARE International is looking for consultant to undertake the following activities:

• To cooperate with CARE and RGFBD staff on daily basis to receive updates on the project activities that need to be covered and reported on on the SEI website and social media. All content on project activities produced by the Consultant will have to be approved by CARE Project Manager and RGFBD designated staff in written form prior to publishing.
• The Consultant will produce at least 3 stories of the project interest quarterly in accordance to the project activity plan on SEI Centre web site and at least 3 posts for social media on monthly basis. The Consultant will share the content produced for the website with at least 10 media outlets in BiH (TV, Radio, Web portals),
• The consultant will submit quarterly reports which will include narrative reports with products (high quality photographs, stories, press release on the project news/stories published on SEI Center web site, social media and press clipping from other media related to the project). Report is to be sent to CARE, in English, up to 1 page per quarter with Annexes containing the published news.

RGFDB’s Outputs

• Provide the Consultants with information necessary for understanding the local context
• Approve the detailed consultancy plan of the Consultant
• Provide contacts with local stakeholders who should be included in this process
• Provide logistics for the meetings held within this consultancy
• Regularly collaborate with the Consultant regarding the participation during whole time of engagement, provide all relevant documents in/for the process and actively participate in news design and its release.

CARE’s Outputs

• Provide necessary information and documentation on the project to the Consultant and agree on the work plan with the Consultant;
• Coordinate with partner organisation RGFBD with the Consultant during the entire preparation and realisation of the task;
• Provide logistical support to the Consultant necessary for the realisation of the task, other than travel logistics (travel and accommodation costs for the fieldwork envisaged should be included in the Consultants’ bid).
• Monitor the entire process within this consultancy.

Schedule

The Consultant will be engaged for 36 working days, over the period 15^th March to 15^th December 2024, according to the following timetable:

Action

Responsible        Date

Submission of the bid (electronically)       Consultant          5^th March 2024

Contract signing, initial agreements          CARE, Consultant             15^th March 2024 Deadline for realisation of the task                  Consultant                                                                           by 15^th December 2024 Submission of the Consultancy report      Consultant          15^th December 2024

Payment schedule

The detailed payment schedule will be outlined in the Consultancy Contract and will be made upon the work completion and the approval of the final consultancy report by CARE. The Payment will be carried out in line with all necessary documentation as per CARE’s administrative procedures (time sheets, consultancy report, etc).

Required qualification of the Consultant:

CARE invites individual experts, teams of experts, NGOs and agencies, familiar with the type of work required in the context of a CSOs development project, to submit their bids and present in details their expertise, experience, division of work and responsibility levels/responsible persons (in case of teams or agencies). The general requirements are:

• Individual or Company to be based in Brčko district, with contracts with local and international TV/Radio houses,
• Good communication skills as well as good expression in speech and writing.
• Knowledge of computer skills, web design, graphics and image editing
• Creativity to write your articles as exciting and interesting as possible for readers, sometimes under time pressure due to the deadlines in which you have to deliver some news.
• Professional knowledge in journalism: interviewing, research, media law and copyright
• Computer skills (web, image and video processing)
• Excellent expression in speech and writing
• Communication skills
• Work under time pressure
• Creativity
• Independence
• Organization
• Excellent knowledge of Brcko District socioeconomic landscape and stakeholders,
• Good facilitation capabilities,
• Proven team worker,
• Excellent command of local and English languages, oral and written.

The Consultant’s bid/application should consist of the following:

1. Consultant’s CV or portfolio, with detailed information relevant to the required qualifications.

• Draft consultancy plan outlining the approach and tentative timeline (schedule) for the consultancy.
• Bid – financial offer: The Consultant shall suggest a daily fee/rate in BAM per consultancy day. (Transportation, food and accommodation costs should be included). There is no standard format for the bid.

THE APPLICATION- BID SHOULD BE IN ENGLISH!

The received applications will be evaluated against the below stated criteria:

Interested candidates are invited to apply to the address:

CARE International, Balkans, Derviša Numića number 6, 71000 Sarajevo, or to the e-mail: [email protected]

Closing date for applications is March 4^th, 2024, 15h

We thank to all applicants for their interest. Only selected applicants will be contacted. For any additional information concerning the application, please contact:

Branislav Tanasijevic, Project Manager, E-mail: [email protected]

REMARK: This and other project activities are pending approval by the donor CZDA for this year

Sarajevo, 16^th February 2024