TOR FOR WEBSITE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANCY

TERMS OF REFERENCE

WEBSITE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANCY

1. BACKGROUND:

Life & Peace Institute (LPI) is an international centre that supports and promotes nonviolent approaches to conflict transformation through research and Action. The core of this work is strengthening existing local capacities and enhancing the preconditions for building peace. LPI has partnered with civil society organizations and research institutions to enhance locally-led peacebuilding processes through capacity development and accompaniment for the past thirty years.

The Horn of Africa Regional Programme (HARP) was designed in 2012/13 to link LPI’s peacebuilding work in the Horn to the regional level through policy engagement with regional actors. Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with the African Union (AU) in 2014 and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in 2016 provide the basis for strong partnerships and collaboration. As such, LPI is well-positioned to build on its rich experience contributing to concrete regional policy initiatives informed by evidence from multiple stakeholders.

Since its establishment, HARP has been implementing strategic initiatives geared towards contributing to concrete regional policy initiatives – most notably the IGAD Policy Framework on Informal Cross-Border Trade – which was informed by evidence from studies conducted in eight border areas in the region. Through its 2021-2024 Programme phase, responding to the changing regional landscape in the Horn of Africa (HoA) and aiming to add value to the structural conflict prevention agenda of the AU, HARP will focus on three thematic areas. Transforming Borderlands into Centres of Peace and Enhancing Human Security (Flagship thematic stand), Transitional Justice and Reconciliation, as well as Climate Change and Conflict. In each theme, the Programme will focus on promoting the role of youth and women.

Emerging from LPI’s previous cross-border cooperation initiative (CBC), LPI, through the HARP Programme, has planned to re-develop a CBC web sharing platform. The platform will document and share the day-to-day realities of different borders in the Horn region throughout our activities. Additionally, we will use the platform as part of experience exchange and raise awareness on and popularize regional and continental level policy frameworks on cross-border collaboration.

2. WEBSITE OVERVIEW AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE

LPI invites proposals from reputable and qualified companies or individual consultants with a track record of successfully designing Content Management Solutions (CMS) to develop a borderlands website platform. The website will act as a tool to raise awareness of and promote cross-border collaboration, a platform to access and share information, a database of local borderlands Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and for local and global visibility of the cross-border initiatives in the Horn of Africa countries. It will also be used as a tool for communication and collaboration between the stakeholders to share expertise, knowledge and resources.

3. METHODOLOGY

The consultant/firm will utilize mainly the primary data provided by the LPI team to develop a CMS website. The platform will use the agreed CMS system based on the usability and requirements of the portal.

4. SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT / DELIVERABLES

1) CBC Mockup website:

Once a contract has been signed, and within 15 working days, the consultant is expected to present a mockup of the proposed website (2 design templates from which the LPI team will select one). The chosen template will be jointly reviewed by the LPI and consultant, feedback provided for enhancement, and the agreed template will become the foundation for the CBC borderlands platform

2) CBC borderlands Website:

The consultant will be required to create (design, develop, and host the website using the agreed template (CBC Mockup website) within the designated timeline, which meets the following criteria:

§ Interactive, appealing, highly usable, and responsive web design. The design and solution must be easy to use.

§ Average site load-time should be reasonable.

§ Search engine friendly. (SEO from design, tagging to keywords)

§ Able to render appropriately on a wide variety of different browsers. (Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Safari among others)

§ Be secure: The design of the solution should adhere to security best practices; i.e. passwords should not be stored in plain-text, all forms of data should be validated, all user input should be sanitized, content copying restricted, user interactions and activities should be logged etc.

§ Design and final solution should adhere to accessibility and compliance requirements (as defined by the project team): The Web solution should be designed to ensure that everyone, including users who have difficulty seeing, hearing, and making precise movements, can use them.

§ Public and registered users (Members) only areas. The portal will hold a database of various CSOs operating in different border areas

§ Site news/trending now content blocks: The web solution will provide content/ areas containing: Calendar of events, Latest News/Site news, Trending topics

§ SSL Certificate: web solution should be secured in accordance with current best practices, for example uses https not http.

§ User registration and administration: The solution should allow users to complete an appropriate user registration process. The solution must persist user registration data and credentials in an appropriate form. The user registration process should adhere to best practices, including CAPTCHA and email verification, and should be able to scale as needed, i.e., no limit on the number of users that can register.

§ Administrators should review user registration/profile details, change user roles/access rights, terminate / close user accounts.

§ User profile and account administration: Users should view and update user-generated information on themselves, for example, personal details, password and account details, posts, preferences and interests.

§ Content Management: The solution should allow authorized project staff (or appointed personnel) to edit and update the website, including creating, removing, editing, and publishing content with a moderation aspect. Content can be in the form of text, video or Photos. Videos will be streamed from other sources, not necessarily uploaded. i.e. from the LPI YouTube page. ((will be decided later)

§ Site Statistics: The solution should provide authorized users with a number of relevant reports, for example, user registration, site usage, key interests/topics being visited within the collaborative spaces and other relevant statistical data.

§ Calendar, Events, Reminders integration: Specific authorized users should have the ability to create and administer events and event details. Other users should be able to search for and find events based on specific criteria. Members should be able to receive notifications in registered emails that an event has been scheduled and reminders of upcoming events.

§ Social Network Integration: including but not limited to Twitter, Facebook, and can be fed by handle and hashtag.

§ Mass Email/Messaging: The system should provide a feature to allow authorized content administrators (or other authorized administrators) to contact all or group/community members. This feature may be used to facilitate the dissemination of newsletters and different project outputs.

§ Document Posting: Document upload (standard file formats i.e. pdf or word) with Description – Who uploaded – Date of upload – File Format etc., creation of new relevant page (if required), Mouse Over description on File Name (compatible to major Browsers) image uploaded should be uploaded with the appropriate meta-data including mandatory keywords / tags / fields (will be decided later) – for internal Search Indexing and SEO.

§ Spam Control: The solution should provide an automated challenge system that reduces the number of spam comments/posts that either needs moderation or slip through filtering mechanisms.

§ Search functionality: The solution should allow users to search for and locate content based on keywords, tags, and key phrases. Search should not be limited to articles, pages or other forms of content-administrator created posts but should also include user-generated content found within the community areas.

§ Website blog: The portal should be capable of having Blog(s) with different themes/designs (at least two themes/designs to choose from).

§ Public Users and members should be allowed to search for, view and/or download articles and documents from the site.

§ Source code handover: Full source code, including the website and all developed libraries /plugins, shall be handed over to LPI in a standard external hard disk.

§ Develop a user manual and deliver training to the project team and website administrators to perform the content upload, system maintenance and administration.

5. TIMEFRAME

The estimated duration of the contract for the website development is 25 working days spread over April-May 2022. The consultant will submit a clear work plan with specific timelines, which will be reviewed and agreed upon at the beginning of the consultancy work.

A first meeting call will be scheduled to brief the company on the background information to develop the requested deliverables.

6. TERMS OF PAYMENT

Payments will be made in two instalments: 30% after delivery of work plan and mockup of the proposed website, and 70% after delivery and approval of complete website**

7. CONSULTANT’S QUALIFICATIONS

The consultant should demonstrate and provide examples of previous experience in the performance of similar services as follows:

§ Be a reputable firm/consultant with at least five years of prior experience designing visually appealing and navigation friendly websites;

§ Familiarity and relevant experience in using different Content Management Systems (CMS), particularly WordPress.

§ Have a broad knowledge of current web development technologies and design tools in the field, and new software and other web programming languages and programs including the use of HTML 5, PHP 8, SEO, Google Analytics, among others;

§ Have excellent knowledge of recent trends in graphic design dynamic websites, including online video publishing, online library catalogue and social media networking.

§ Demonstrate the ability to create an innovative, visually appealing and responsive mobile design.

8. SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS

The applicant(s) is/are requested to submit a technical and financial offer:

i. A technical offer of a maximum of six (6) pages, including:

§ Description of the firm/consultant

§ Firm registration documents

§ Understanding of the scope of work;

§ Proposed methodology / approach and clear timeline with expected working days and deliverables;

§ Proposed technology (with justification); highlighting the pros and cons of the technology proposed;

§ Sample(s) of similar work completed by the consultant; at least three links (preferably for NGO/INGOs).

§ Proposed team structure; showing brief profiles of proposed project team members, including references (attach very short CVs).

ii. A financial offer, including:

§ Detailed cost break-down, the price component must cover all the services to be provided (website development, Training, Upload to the server, hosting etc.), and must be itemized and aligned with expected deliverables.

§ Tax element, if applicable.

9. SUBMISSION DEADLINE

LPI invites eligible and qualified interested Firms/Consultants to submit their non-binding proposals/applications in English, indicating “**CBC Website Portal 2022**” in the subject line via email to [email protected] by Wednesday, 6^th April 2022 latest 24:59 PM EAT (Addis Ababa time). Tenders submitted in another form or to another email account will be excluded from the procedure.

Note:

Complete proposals will be assessed based on the consultant’s qualifications and experience, quality of the methodology proposed, and cost-effectiveness (value for money). LPI may decide to host the website on their own without using the proposed hosting firm. Finally, due to the volume of submissions, only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

10. PUBLICATION AND PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA:

During initiation and performance of contracts, LPI may process personal data[1] of natural persons that are collected by LPI or transferred or disclosed to LPI by prospective contractors or third parties under their instruction, e.g., personal data of employees, legal representatives, agents, or other partners of the prospective contractors or such third parties.

For any inquiries related to this consultancy, don’t hesitate to contact Ruth Getachew via [email protected] and Stephen Kirimi via [email protected] before the deadline.

11. BUDGET

The financial aspects will be included in the evaluation of the best bid. The contracted sum consists of the consultant(s)’s remuneration and all expenses for the services described above, including website development, training, upload to the server, hosting, taxes if applicable, and will be paid upon confirmation of said deliverables. Payment shall be made in two schedules (30% and 70%) and upon delivery of the deliverables (see the – SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT / DELIVERABLES).

[1] By submitting information to LPI, you, as a prospective contractor, acknowledge:

§ to have taken note of LPI’s Privacy Notice https://life-peace.org/policies (Life & Peace Institute’s Privacy Policy (2018).);

§ to ensure that each direct or indirect transfer or disclosure of personal data to LPI during the initiation or performance of a contract is lawful pursuant to applicable data protection law;

§ to ensure that all persons whose personal data are transferred or disclosed to LPI were promptly and demonstrably provided the LPI Privacy Notice; and

§ that if a contract is concluded and in accordance with its terms, LPI or its donor publishes, in particular on the LPI or donor website, information about the contract and the contracting parties.

The total number of days will be agreed upon, informed by the technical proposal submitted to LPI.