Terms of Reference

SERVICES OF MEDIA OUTREACH AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION ADVISORS

About CPDI:

Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) is an independent, non-partisan and a not-for-profit civil society organization, which has been working on the issues of peace and development since 2005. It is registered under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance, 1984 (XLVII of 1984), which was later substituted by the Companies Act 2017. CPDI seeks to inform and influence public policies and civil society initiatives through research-based advocacy and capacity building to promote active citizenship, build peace and achieve inclusive and sustainable development. Areas of special sectoral focus include promotion of peace and tolerance; rule of law; local governance; transparency and access to information; budget watch; media development; electoral reforms; legislative strengthening, democratic development, climate change mitigation and adaptation; and public health.

Background:

The assignment is under a project with focus on strengthening media persons’ capacity for free, independent, and responsible reporting, which is being jointly implemented by CPDI and Individualland. Both CPDI and IL are leading civil society organizations with distinguished track record of working for good governance and democratic development with special focus on local governance, right to information, media development, elections, and legislative development. Our project aims to contribute to democratic consolidation and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms through capacity building and engagement of media persons (i.e., journalists, bloggers, vloggers, podcasters) and civil society with relevant state institutions and corporate entities and through media literacy among youth to counter fake news.

Purpose and Scope of Work:

The media outreach and external communication advisors engaged under this project will be expected to provide quality professional services for the smooth implementation of the project aimed at building capacity of media persons and facilitating their engagement with civil society, social media platforms and policy makers/ regulators. More concisely, their responsibilities will include:

1. To provide technical and professional advice to the project team and partners, especially in designing capacity building program and engagement strategies.
2. To contribute to training of media persons, civil society activists and faculty members on media related issues.
3. To provide mentoring and backstopping support to media persons and other stakeholders trained or engaged under the project.
4. To conduct research and produce briefing papers and awareness materials, as needed to support implementation of the project.
5. To contribute to developing advocacy agenda with focus on key issues that need attention of policy makers, legislators, regulators, and other relevant players in the sector.
6. To facilitate meetings and engagement of media persons and civil society stakeholders with policy makers, legislators, regulators, social media platforms and other relevant organizations/ associations.
7. To extend support in drawing effective media attention to issues of transparency, inclusion, human rights and accountability in the context of media related stakeholders.
8. To review project approach, methodologies, interventions, materials and activities to ensure their effectiveness.
9. Any other relevant task that may be agreed with the project’s management.

Deliverables and Payments: 

The Advisors will be paid against the actual days of performance based on the agreed daily rate. For this purpose, the tasks to be performed will be agreed on in advance with the Project Manager, who will also review quality and then approve the deliverable before payment.

Required Qualification/Specifications: 

• Master’s degree (at least 16 years) in Media Studies, Journalism, Communications, Digital Media, Development Studies, or any related social science field.
• At least 08 years of professional working experience with focus on gender and social inclusion.
• Excellent understanding of media and related issues and challenges in Pakistan. Any media-related work/ professional experience will be an advantage.
• Good understanding of digital media, new technologies and related regulatory issues will be an advantage.
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and deliver quality outputs.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English are required.