Media for Social Change Training (MFSC) – Trainer Terms of Reference

About Search

Search for Common Ground (Search) is a non-governmental organization working to transform the way societies deal with conflicts. We have over 37 years of experience in peacebuilding and are based in 53 local offices worldwide. We strive to build sustainable peace for generations to come by working with all sides of a conflict, providing the tools needed to work together, and finding constructive solutions. While conflict is inevitable, violence is not! Our mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict, away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. Instead of tearing down an existing world, we focus on constructing a new one. We shift the everyday interactions between hostile groups of people, so they can work together to build up their community, choosing joint problem-solving over violent means. We first worked in Lebanon in 1996, and we opened up our office in Beirut in 2008. Since then, our activities and capacities have grown significantly. We rely on local staff as well as local partner organizations in order to ensure our work is culturally sensitive, sustainable and well-grounded in the context.

For more information, visit www.sfcg.org and https://www.facebook.com/sfcg.lebanon.

Project Information

Search is implementing a 24-months DRL-funded project called Voices of Hope, with an aim to support local organizations (CSOs) and community stakeholders to reintegrate and protect women and children impacted by conflicts. This will be done through a series of training sessions, outreach work, campaigns, and small grants. To highlight those activities, the project also aims to empower media actors by building their capacities so they can amplify the stories of CSO-led reintegration and protection of the targeted audience.

Position Summary

Search is looking for a trainer who can facilitate a “Media for Social Change” training. The training will be held both in-person and online. The training aims to enable media professionals within the “Voices of Hope” project to design, develop and produce positive and powerful messages that aim at challenging social norms around reintegration and protection mechanisms. The training will be delivered to three groups of approximately twenty participants from our six targeted locations. Participants will be split by region, gathering two regions in each group, which should encourage the trainer to ground its content in local contexts.

The trainer shall be working with media professionals who will be supported in developing and implementing regional campaigns, and messages that nurture a change of perceptions and attitudes and trigger a behavior change in the wider community audiences.

Important Guide to the Trainer – The training is expected to be guided by the following key considerations in the development of the training content, agenda and guide, and its delivery:

• The role of media in creating social cohesion, especially when tackling topics related to reintegration and protection, human rights, gender equality, extremism, diversity and inclusion, VAWG, men engagement and masculinities;
• The media strategies for awareness-raising and advocacy purposes at different levels – how to tailor awareness-raising and advocacy messages to fit into different media platforms and adhere to different communities;
• How to assure the resonance, responsiveness, and relevance of the final media product(s) to the needs of the communities and the project’s objectives;
• Social media listening and response strategy (what to expect and how to reflect);
• Best practices to deliver socially and communally sensitive messages in a strategic manner for maximum effect;
• New multimedia tactics and techniques, and how to use them effectively in the new media to highlight their work on awareness-raising & advocacy campaigns;
• The training will occur in sensitive areas, it is then essential to ensure conflict sensitivity and the Do No Harm Approach while developing and delivering the content; and
• The training will guide the trainees in the development of their advocacy plan for the campaigns through the use of the tools provided by the trainer.

The position holder will more specifically have the following Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

The trainer will guide the participants into developing a deeper understanding of the community needs and to translate those needs into effective awareness-raising and advocacy messages through customized communication and awareness-raising and advocacy activities. The design and application should be related to the media’s ability and capacity to influence community members to shift their perceptions and attitudes around the Reintegration and Protection mechanisms of women and children affected by conflict.

The trainer will perform activities in accordance with the program and project objectives set out below:

Roles and Responsibilities

In coordination with Search, the trainer will be responsible for:

1. Attending an induction meeting with Search;

2. Attending a Training of Trainers (ToT) on media for social change with Search;

3. Submitting a clear and detailed methodology for the training including training materials, tools and an agenda to be validated by Search;

4. Developing and submitting pre and post-tests and an evaluation form in Arabic (and/or any other relevant MEAL tool) to be validated by Search and to be used at the start and end of the training to determine the knowledge increase of each participant;

5. Delivering a seven-day training for each of the three groups of participants of the six target areas;

6. Creating a training guide, to be approved by Search;

7. Creating a plan for coaching sessions to address the specific needs of the media professional, which needs to be validated by Search;

8. Delivering two to three coaching sessions for each area (12 to 18 sessions in total), designed based on the participant’s needs;

9. Reviewing the campaign concept/materials; and

10. Submitting a training report upon finalization of implementation of the training, in English with the presentation of a separate pre and post-test analysis as an annex to the training report.

11. Submitting a coaching report upon finalization of implementation of the coaching sessions, in English.

Required Profile

Education

University degree in media and/or communications with a focus on training and advocacy or on any other related field

Minimum requirements that qualify a potential candidate to apply:

1. Excellent knowledge on reintegration and protection concepts;

2. Proven familiarity with MENA context with a good understanding of violent extremism;

3. A minimum of five (5) years of progressively advanced professional experience in delivering trainings and working in the mentioned field (advocacy, social campaigning, strategic management, etc.) using participatory approaches;

4. Sensitivity to cross-cultural dynamics and experience working with NGOs;

5. Strong analytical and conceptual thinking skills; able to understand highly complex issues and translate them into simple, workable actions and plans;

6. Experience in creating, designing, developing and monitoring advocacy campaigns online and offline related to reintegration and protection, extremism, human rights, gender equality, diversity and inclusion, women’s issues, men engagement and masculinities is a plus

7. Excellent communication skills and high flexibility;

8. Fluency in Arabic and English is a must.