1. Introduction and Background
The AIDS Foundation of South Africa (AFSA) is a Durban-based NGO that acts as an interface between Donors and Community Based Organisations (CBO’s) working in the HIV/AIDS sector, by placing donor funds with strategically selected CBOs in South Africa, and providing them with ongoing, technical support & capacity building.
The South Africa Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism (GF CCM) is responsible for leading the implementation of HIV and TB programmes funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GF) in the country. The GF CCM has selected the AIDS Foundation of South Africa (AFSA) to be appointed by the GF as one of the four Principal Recipients (PRs) that will implement programmes funded by the grant, during Apr 2022 – Mar 2025.
Serving as a grant manager, the PR coordinates grants’ execution through sub-recipients (SRs), service providers and consultants as the main implementers of the GF programmes. AFSA’s programmes under the current Global Fund grant are implemented in 20 districts, across all nine South Africa’s provinces. Four core programmes are assigned to AFSA:
- Adolescents and Young People (AYP) programme
- Sex Workers programme
- Human Rights & Advocacy programme
- Community Systems Strengthening programme
It is upon this background that AFSA seeks to appoint one or more consultants to provide communications services to the organisation. The main goal of this consultancy is to provide AFSA’s Global Fund funded programmes with professional communications services to promote health and wellbeing of communities served by the AFSA Global Fund programme.
2. The objectives of communication consultancy
The communications consultant will:
- Provide communications support to all AFSA programmes and stakeholders to articulate key messages and disseminate standardised information in AFSA’s core areas of work.
- Be responsible for maximising AFSA’s ability to communicate its messages and work impactfully.
- Work will all programme teams and AFSA structures to develop and formalise internal communication strategies and train employees on best practices.
3. Scope of the work
Strategic Communication and Content Writing
- Develop a communication, branding and marketing strategy
- Writing web content for campaigns and events, including maintenance of AFSA website
- Consolidating reports and best practice stories, highlighting impact under AFSA supported interventions
- Develop and train AFSA employees on internal communication and public presentations
- Writing media release, blogposts for campaigns and social media messages as needed
- Monitoring media coverage during health calendar events, public advocacy campaigns and strategic stakeholder engagements
Content Editing
- Create and edit content to drive a compelling and effective narratives which not only builds our public profile, but advances the appropriate uses of technology in improving health and health systems
- Support teams in engagements with the media; writing and editing clear and compelling media advisories and press releases that avoid jargon and cliché
- Manage and maintain the organization’s various external facing digital platforms such as the website, LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium etc.
Strengthen Internal Communications
- Develop an appropriate tone for internal communications which motivates, inspires, and informs AFSA teams
Deliverables
Under the technical guidance by AFSA Global Fund teams, the consultant will package communication material as follows:
- Develop communication and branding strategy for AFSA Global Fund Programs
- Develop and induct AFSA stakeholders and employees on writing web- content, presentations, and communications outreach material
- Content editing and presentations for external communication and events
- Develop communication products for advocacy campaigns and public events
Contracting Period
The consultant will be contracted to work on specific assignments, and not on a fulltime basis. The term of the contract will be from February 2023 to March 2025.cope of the
work
4. Requirements: Educational & Experience
Qualifications, experience, skills, and knowledge assessed
- Tertiary Qualification required –minimum of a university degree or 3-year diploma.
- Over 5yrs experience as communications specialist for similar /related programmes (HIV, TB, GBV, SRHR, KVPs).
- Tertiary Qualification required –minimum of a university degree or 3-year diploma.
Other important criteria to be assessed
- Sound communication, content creation and editing skills
- Experience, with evidence of doing similar work, in designing outreach material for public campaigns and events
- Ability to analyse campaign response from diverse media platforms, including radio talk shows and events and synthesise this information into program communication documents and policy briefs
5. Required documents to be submitted
IMPORTANT: Documents listed in the table below must be submitted as one pdf file and, in the order shown. Insert a blank page, with appropriate label & mark it “NOT SUBMITTED” to indicate documents not submitted. AFSA will not be held responsible for documents delayed or misplaced during file transmission.
DOCUMENT NUMBER | DESCRIPTION REFERENCE: |
DOC-01 | Motivation /cover letter, with full contact details: indicate reference number. Attach this page onto the motivation letter. |
*DOC-02 | A declaration confirming the absence of any conflict of interest; or alternatively a declaration stating any existing relationship with AFSA employees or Directors. Document provided on page 12. |
DOC-03 | Two – three-page proposal. |
DOC-04 | CV, including 2-3 contactable references. |
*DOC-05 | Sole Proprietor: Certified copy of identity document (If non-South African: attach work permit). Company: Company or trading entity registration certificate. |
DOC-06 | Qualification documents (Degree certificates etc.). |
*DOC-07 | A valid tax clearance certificate issued by the South African Revenue Service (SARS). |
*DOC-08 | VAT vendor registration |
DOC-09 | Table listing relevant current and completed assignments /projects, in the last 5 years. |
DOC-10 | Two examples of relevant recent written work (last 5 years): report/ proposal /article /etc. |
*DOC-11 | B-BBEE status level verification certificate. Attach affidavit if trading below the prescribed threshold. |
DOC-12 | Costing: Proposed rate (per hour). At contracting and payment stage, payments will be linked to Milestones and not time worked. |
*Documents marked with asterisk* are mandatory. Applications missing these documents will be disqualified. Documents are valid only if certified within 6 months of the closing date. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
6. Evaluation Criteria -stages
Stage 1: Administrative compliance: If some mandatory documents are missing, application may be disqualified.
Stage 2: Minimum qualifications: If minimum qualifications were not met, application will be unsuccessful, and no further evaluation will be conducted.
Stage 3: Technical qualifications /experience: proposal and supporting documents will be assessed and scored accordingly. Minimum score of 50% is required to be eligible for oral presentation and to move to next evaluation stage.
Stage 4: Costing: AFSA is not obligated to prioritise costing over technical integrity of the applicant, and as such will not automatically select the lowest application. Both technical score and costing will be considered in the final selection.
Technical evaluation criteria and score
ELEMENT | Maximum Score |
Submission compliant with documents listed in the table above: Submitted documents as 1 pdf file. Documents clearly labelled. Clearly marked placeholders for documents not submitted. | 15 |
Proposal submitted: Clear, detailed, demonstrate understanding of assignment. An indication of the approach to carrying out the assignment, including any inputs that may be required from AFSA. Indicate how your qualifications and experience make you suitable for the assignment. If assignment/s will be undertaken by more than one person, include your team structure: indicate names and qualifications and attach their CVs. DOC-03 | 10 |
Tertiary qualifications –all persons who will be involved in undertaking any part of this assignment. DOC-06 | 10 |
Experience working on related issues /projects. Specify your role in these assignments. Track record of similar work assessed through table listing of prior assignments or CV or sample work submitted. DOC-04 /09 /10. | 10 |
Highly developed written and communication skills (sample submitted). If no prior work submitted, this assessment will be based on the proposal submitted (DOC-03 /10). | 05 |
Presentation: knowledge on the subject & responding to questions (15), implementation methodology & proposed team structure (10), presentation /slides /communication skills (5). | 30 |
Cost. Provide hourly rate, inclusive of all consultancy /management /coordination fees, etc. Provide breakdown of what constitutes your daily rate, with notes /justification. Exclude VAT & travel logistics /accommodation because AFSA makes these arrangements where applicable. Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act, and 80/20 rule, may be applied when scoring B-BBEE and quoted price. DOC-12 You are not required to provide total cost of this project, because it will depend on assignments issued. | 20 |
Total (80% technical score and 20% price score) | 100 |
*Proposals must achieve at least 60% on the technical evaluation to be considered further.
7. Deliverables, remuneration and institutional arrangements
- The consultant should provide consultancy rates which will be applied for the duration of this consultancy.
- AFSA will pay directly for travel logistics to activities, using standard AFSA procurement policies; so, these are to be excluded from quote.
- Consultant is expected to provide their own work tools (laptop, cell phone, airtime /data, and other basic work tools related to the consultancy).
- Payment will be based on review and acceptance of the completed deliverables presented with required contractor paperwork /supporting documents.
- This consultant will work under the supervision of an AFSA Manager and will also interact with project staff and stakeholders in various districts. The consultant will be home-based but expected to regard Durban AFSA office as main project site, and thus any travel to meetings at the Durban office will be at the consultant costs.
- Important: project /assignment will be considered successfully completed after submission and approval of final product /deliverable /milestone. Some deliverables require final approval /sign-off by multiple stakeholders. If several revisions are required to produce acceptable quality, costs of these revisions are to be borne by the service provider /consultant.
- Before any work can start, AFSA will issue a contract and purchase order. Before each activity /assignment starts, AFSA will request a quotation, and confirm assignment by issuing a written confirmation /acceptance of quotation before the assignment is undertaken. Failure to comply to this requirement invalidates any claims made against the contract.
8. Submission Instructions
- Suitably qualified service providers /consultants are required to apply to [email protected] with this reference: “GLOCOMM2023” on the subject line, by 31 January 2023, 23h00.
- All enquiries are to be submitted in writing only to [email protected]
with subject line clearly marked “GLOCOMM2023-Enquiry”.
- If you are not contacted within 45 days of closing date, please consider your submission unsuccessful.
- Please click here to download the full TOR – RFP Communications – SP