Terms of Reference: Creative Brief for Wajir Cash Transfers 2023 – Oxfam GB

Project Background

Oxfam is an international confederation of 19 organizations working in over 60 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice around the world. Oxfam works with communities and local partners before, during, and after crises to build their resilience, save lives, and together address the root causes of conflict and disaster. Oxfam’s works also aims at helping people and communities affected by disasters develop core competencies to strengthen their resilience and continue to reorient the humanitarian system towards local leadership.

The Arid and Semi-Arid (ASAL) counties are known to experience recurrent disasters ranging from drought, conflict, flood, and diseases outbreak. The region in the last five years experienced a prolonged drought that resulted in acute hunger and extreme vulnerability of local communities. Over 6 million people were affected and to date, continue to rely on humanitarian aid to cope. The region however, in the period of March 2023, received substantial rain which has significantly improved the vegetation cover and livestock pasture critical to animals’ health recovery. Some regions though, received inadequate rain and are yet to see their situation improve.

To mitigate the impacts of the drought and sustain livelihoods even as they transition into a much-improved environment, Oxfam in Kenya, with support from donors, is intervening with a three-month cash transfer program targeting vulnerable households in Wajir County beginning July 2023. This is consistent with our commitment to alleviating poverty and inequality.

As a result, we wish to document the experiences of the community, program participants and partners on the ground, on program’s progress. This will be critical to improving our program delivery or escalating advocacy and resources mobilization efforts going forward.

Assignment Objective

Oxfam in Kenya is seeking a talented video/photography team to film, edit and package two (2) high-quality (4 minutes) video documentaries in Wajir County that tell the impact stories of community, program participants and Oxfam’s partnership with local actors on the drought impacts and cash transfer program.

The videographer shall also prepare six (6) short videos (two-two and half minutes) of specific individuals involved in the project such as partner organizations’ leads and those receiving the cash support.

Additionally, the selected consultant will be tasked to write at least four (4) compelling impact stories of project participants to be published on the Oxfam Kenya website and other relevant digital platforms.

The consultant will also be required, alongside, to organize and facilitate a media visit to cover the drought impacts and the recovery status of the affected population and the interventions by Oxfam and partners in Wajir. This is meant to provide the national outlook of Oxfam and partners’ work in the climate emergency responses. We prefer selecting one print (Daily Nation, both newspaper & digital), and one broadcast (Citizen TV and digital possibly, depending on your pitching) to the media.

Scope of Work

Under the supervision of Oxfam, the video team will be required to produce:

• Two (2) high-quality documentaries as described in the assignment objective***.***

• Six short videos as highlighted in the objective.

• Four (4) impact stories as detailed in the objective.

• At least 80 High quality (High resolution) communicating photographs of the project participants in JPEG format.

• One Media visit by at least two mainstream media houses, preferably Nation, KTN and Citizen TV as detailed in the objective.

Methodology

The consultant (film maker) will undertake field visits to Wajir County to:

(i) Interview and film sessions with identified community members, local leaders, and partners.

(ii) Film a wide range of B-rolls, to complement the video documents.

(iii) Photograph projects and participants to show clear programs’ impacts.

(iv) Employ latest technology and equipment in the photography and filming assignments to deliver highest quality products (4k camera most preferred).

(v) Document (pictures and videos) drought effect scenes as may, on need basis, be directed by Oxfam during the assignment.

(vi) Film in HD or 4k where applicable.

Deliverables

The producer shall provide/facilitate:

• Final Cut of eight (8) videos (two main documentaries, 4 minutes each, and six additional shorter versions, of each project participants) stories (with subtitles) as:
• Exported Full HD (1920×1080px), high-bitrate (15-20Mbps) video files encoded using H264 compression in MP4 format with square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan, and stereo AAC audio compression at 128kbps
• At least 80 quality High Resolution photographs for the project, that speak to the story subjects and convey clear message in the context of the project being photographed. The photographs shall be in JPEG format and captioned. (Not captioned inside the photo though but photo file)
• Six (6), shorter videos (two-two and half minutes) of programs’ beneficiaries and partners in the main documentary. These are meant for Oxfam’s twitter platform.
• Four (4) impact story articles to be published on Oxfam digital platforms (2 for each fund, ECHO and SIDA)
• All raw interviews and b-rolls
• Links to all media published work.
• Properly filled and signed consent forms for every person filmed or photographed.
• One media visit by two media houses (Citizen and NTV), possibly with sharable links to broadcast products thereafter.

Photography Guide

Photos have the power to change people’s mind. I encourage you to follow your instinct. You know what to do and the points below are reminders.

We’re grateful for a range of angles in your photos:

• Close on the details that will bring meaning to people on the context of the projects.
• Portraits of people interviewed in at least 2 or 3 different settings if appropriate. Hopefully, your portraits will help us get people’s attention.
• Finally, consider a few photos of the characters with a background of any Oxfam or/and partner branding, e.g., project signage etc.

Assignment Duration & Schedule

The consultant shall submit all deliverables latest two (2) weeks upon completion of the field visit. This duration may however be extended on mutual need basis to adequately complete work.

NB! You will work with two partner organizations for each of the funds.

Products Sharing and Storage

Oxfam doesn’t permit sharing of files via its nonconventional and accredited formats such as google-powered links or YouTube. As such, we shall only share Box links for you to upload products directly.

Please create a folder for each person photographed or filmed with their filled consent forms as demonstrated in the picture below.

Commencement Date

Early August 2023

Tax and VAT Arrangements

Oxfam in Kenya shall deduct withholding tax from the consultancy fees which will be in conformity with the prevailing government rates and submit the same to the Government of Kenya. The consultant will be entitled to a copy of the tax submission certificate on request.

Logistics Costs

You shall bear the full costs of crew lunch and dinner where applicable, transport and accommodation in undertaking the project and shall share a full budget cost in your quotation and invoice. All your costs shall be guided by Oxfam’s official rates of car hire and accommodation for officers in the field. Further clarification can be provided by Oxfam.

Field Production Period

You shall bear the full costs of crew lunch and dinner where applicable, transport and accommodation in undertaking the project and shall share a full budget cost in your quotation and invoice. All your costs shall be guided by Oxfam’s official rates of car hire and accommodation for officers in the field. Further clarification can be provided by Oxfam.

The cost should also be inclusive of the media visit logistics facilitation with a clear justifiable breakdown

Ethical Conducts and Safeguarding

The selected consultant must demonstrate commitment to Oxfam’s ethical conduct and safeguarding policies during the assignment, including, but not limited to respect for diversity, communities’ tradition, and gender. We recommend that every filming crew be gender representative.

Remuneration

Full payment of the sum shall be paid upon submission of the final outputs/ and satisfactory completion of each assignment to the quality set out in the scope of work, incorporating suggestions and recommendations from Oxfam.

Complementary Logistical Information

Note! The distance of project sites ranges from 80-170km from Wajir Town