German Foundation for World Population
INTRODUCTION
DSW has been implementing sexual and reproductive health and youth empowerment programs in Kenya since the year 2000. With a presence in at least 15 counties, DSW Kenya is headquartered in Nairobi and has regional offices in Mombasa and Kitale from where interventions are coordinated. Satellite offices exist in Migori and Kisumu leading work in those two counties.
DSW envisions a world where all youth – especially girls and young women – live free from disease and make independent and informed choices over their sexual and reproductive lives with full access to sexuality education, health services and modern contraceptives.
We do this by advocating with policy makers for investment in domestic resources and policies for youth-friendly SRHR, through multisectoral approaches. Through the DSW Youth Empowerment Strategic Approach (YESA), and the Young Adolescent Empowerment Strategy (YAES), we work with young people to raise their awareness on sexual reproductive health and rights, gender equality and access to modern contraceptives and to strengthen their livelihoods.
BACKGROUND
Adolescents and young people in Kenya have continued to experience negative health outcomes compared to the wider population. High prevalence of teenage pregnancy, coupled with new HIV infections, GBV and harmful cultural practices continue to disproportionately affect this population. Recent estimates from the KDHS (2022) indicate that 15% of adolescent girls between the ages of 15-19 years have ever been pregnant. Similarly, data from the KHIS indicates that over 270,000 adolescent pregnancies are recorded in health facilities annually. In 2022, young people aged 15-24 accounted for 35% of all new HIV infections and 42% of adult HIV infections according to the Kenya HIV estimates report. The KDHS (2022) further estimates that 5% of adolescent boys and 7% of adolescent girls between the ages of 15-19 years have ever experienced sexual violence. These grave statistics continue to paint a grim picture of the health status of adolescents and young people in Kenya and are testament of the gaps that still need to be addressed to improve health outcomes of this critical population. They are attributable in part to inadequate access to comprehensive and accurate information on Sexual reproductive health rights (SRHR) by adolescents and young people tied to curriculum gaps, inadequate capacity of teachers and parents to provide the information and general fear/embarrassment to engage in discussions on issues of SRH.
Imara TV is an online TV platform that leverages innovation, art, technology and capitalizes on the growing numbers of young people online to respond to the gap in accessing sexual reproductive health rights information. The platform designs and distributes video content on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, GBV, HIV and harmful practices such as FGM, child marriages. Drawing from real life experiences shared by young people, they package the information into short entertaining films to capture the attention of the target population and inspire behaviour change and responsible sexual health practices. These short films are primarily disseminated through online and offline channels comprising Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, youth empowerment centres and community fora. Their approach of employing audio-visual content for sexual reproductive health rights is unique and sets them apart as an innovative platform.
DSW is therefore looking for a consultant to revamp and redesign the Imara TV website to optimize user experience, navigation and create visual appeal to users.
The Consultant will work in close collaboration with the lead consultant overseeing sustainability of Imara TV.
RATIONALE FOR THE CONSULTANCY
Imara TV as an online platform was incubated in 2016 as a start-up through UNFPAs I-Accelerator program. The platform has demonstrated potential for enormous growth and potential having generated revenue through partnerships and online adverts totaling to about $50000 and in the process had a reach of 1.8 million young people with SRHR information through their online activities and campaigns. The goal is to add a fresh new look to the Imara TV website to attract viewership and produce content that is visually appealing to the users and especially the target audience that is primarily adolescents and young people of between ages 10-24. In this way, the platform will be able to present professional and quality SRHR content that will create more visibility for Imara TV platform as well as position it to generate revenue that can support its online activities, production and other operational costs associated with running and maintaining the online platform.
PURPOSE OF CONSULTANCY
Making reference to robust web platforms such as amaze.org, the consultant will employ creative and technical skills to deliver a fresh new look for the website. He/She will work closely with Imara TV, DSW and UNFPA and lead the redesign of Imara TV platform.
Specific Objectives:
- Re-design and present a new visual look for the Imara.TV web platform and ensure that its functionalities are enhanced for a better experience to users
- Develop a user manual and deliver guidelines for Imara TV staff and system administrators to perform content upload, system maintenance and administration
Provide advice to the Imara TV team on technical maintenance of the platform
TASKS AND DELIVERABLES
The tasks to be performed and expected deliverables include:
Tasks
- Participate in a debriefing session with Imara TV, DSW, UNFPA and the lead consultant to understand the overall project and expectations.
- Develop and design concept for the site redesign after debriefing
- Adjust concept based on feedback and comments from Imara TV, DSW, UNFPA and the lead consultant
- Redesign the Imara. TV platform in line with the concept and ensure that the content categorized according to different SRHR topical issues and age cohorts of users
- Upload content to the redesigned Imara TV platform
- Test site before going live
Deliverables
- Concept for the redesign of the Imara TV platform
- New look & feel of the Imara TV platform
- Design, brand and deliver a new look & feel for the Imara TV website capturing different functionalities
- Develop a graphic concept and visual language of the new template
- New look and site should be adapted to homepage, sections, sub-sections and components of the site
- Design standard page elements including header, footer, tabs, persistent navigation, contact us , email, subscribe, follow
- Consistent visual language ensuring consistency in fonts, formatting, icons, images, layout techniques
- New template should guarantee that the most recent content on the site is captured automatically in the homepage in an organized way following specific categories, tags, custom taxonomies
- Adapt database of the site to include new categories to display information in an organic way
New sections
- Based on the agreed templates, develop sub-sections to the Imara TV site based on age – cohorts and SRHR topics including structure, functionalities and features as may be desired
- Incorporate functionalities to guarantee the latest information on each subsection is displayed
Functionalities to include in the new template
These features will be guaranteed through the new template:
- Responsive design
- Feed links
- Social sharing features – X, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook share by text selection and Facebook feed by handle and hashtag
- Multiple page styles and custom post types
- Language options feature
- Search function by age,title, SRH thematic area e.g, SGBV,FGM, GBV e.t.c
- Search content by free text
- Sign up for newsletter/latest news
- Follow
- Subscribe
- Knowledge transfer tools
- User manual for the Imara TV website with assigned system administrators to perform content upload, system maintenance and administration
- Support & maintenance advisory
Technical brief on advisory support provided to Imara on maintenance, administration and quality control of the platform
REQUIRED QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE
The ideal candidate should demonstrate their qualifications and proven experience in graphic design and technical implementation of user interfaces in a web-based environment. He/She should have:
- A degree in Information Technology, Computer science or any other relevant field. An advanced degree will be an added advantage
- At least 7 years’ experience in the field of web development and design
- Demonstrated knowledge in web programming, Search Engine optimization and Google analytics
- Hands-on experience in Java, HTML,CSS, MySQL and any other relevant programing languages
- Must be able to work independently with excellent demonstrated teamwork and coordination skills;
- Concept for the redesign of the Imara TV platform -10%
- Validated New look and feel of the Imara TV platform with uploaded content-80%
- Knowledge transfer tools and technical advisory report-10%
How to apply
APPLICATION GUIDELINES
Interested firms or individuals are requested to submit a bid dossier. The dossier as well as any inquiries shall be submitted through email [email protected]with the title “Individual consultancy to redesign Imara Tv Platrform” in the subject line.
Application Deadline: Friday December 14, 2023 COB.
The bid dossier should contain a technical proposal, financial proposal and organizational/personnel capacity statement.
Note: Only shortlisted consultants will be contacted. Consider your application unsuccessful if you have not heard from us 8 weeks after the deadline of this application.