Terms of Reference for Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK) Website Development Consultancy – RCK

1. Background:

The Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK) is a national non-governmental organization founded in 1998 in Kenya with a mission to protect and promote the wellbeing, voice and dignity of the displaced and host populations. The organization operates under five strategic pillars including the legal aid and governance; peace and social justice; women and girls’ empowerment; mental health and psychosocial support; and organizational development. RCK has invested in delivery pathways with wide-range strategic approaches including advocacy and thought leadership; innovation and learning; capacity building and support; partnerships and localization; and strategic communication to attain its overall goal.

RCK desires to enhance its online presence, learning and work visibility through a functional and interactive website that will serve its clients, staff, partners, donors, other stakeholders and the public at large. This, therefore, is to invite proposals from qualified consultants with a track record of success in developing and designing advanced and user friendly websites, to apply for this opportunity.

2. Purpose and objective(s) of the consultancy:

2.1 Purpose

To develop and design a new interactive website which prioritizes user experience by creating visuals that are appealing and easy for visitors to navigate and engage with.

2.2 Specific Objectives

The TOR highlights some of the key aspects to be addressed by the selected consultant as captured below. However, the selected consultant is at liberty to provide further guidance on additional features that might be required for an ideal functionalities and user friendly website.

i. New look and feel: –

• Design a new look-and-feel for the site capturing the different functionalities outlined in this TOR. The consultant will develop a graphic concept and the visual language of the new templates.
• Ensure a consistent visual language on the new site by introducing fixed styles in templates ensuring consistency in fonts, formatting, icons, images, layout techniques.
• The new look and feel should be adapted to homepage, sections, subsections and the following components of the site: article template, resource webpage template, publication/guidance webpage template, country story webpage template, event webpage template.
• Standard page elements including header, footer, tabs, persistent navigation, contact us, email and page print options should be included in the new templates.
• The new templates should guarantee that most recent content on the site is captured in automatically in the homepage in an organized way following specific categories, tags or other custom taxonomies.
• All section and subsection webpages should incorporate functionalities to guarantee the latest information on that section and sub-section is displayed (news, resources, publication/guidance, country stories, and events).
• The current sections and sub-sections of the site should be adapted using the new templates.

ii. Functionalities to include in the new templates: –
The following features will be guaranteed through the new templates outlined in section 1:

• Add feed links.
• Responsive design.
• Social sharing features – including twitter share by text selection and twitter feed by handle and hashtag.
• Multiple page styles and custom post types.
• Language options feature in resources and guidance templates.
• Search function by news, type of publication/guidance, type of resource, events, country story and issue.
• Search resources by free text.
• Interactive map.
• Signup for latest news.
• Link the site with other platforms such as RCK’s Client Management System.
• Online Forms: design feedback, contact and request forms. This includes implementing a captcha system to reduce spam and unwanted email messages and for use in the collection of information, feedback and inquiries.
• Payment features for fundraising. i.e. payment gateway such as banks.

iii. Mobile Optimization: –

• Ensure that the website is fully responsive and optimized for devices especially considering the growing use of smartphones for browsing.

iv. Knowledge transfer: –

• Develop a user manual and deliver a training for the support staff and system administrators to perform content upload, system maintenance and administration.

v. Support and maintenance: –

• Provide a prototype for user testing and acceptance before going live. Provide administrative and technical support for a period of 2 months.

vi. Source code handover: –

• Full source code including all developed libraries shall be handed over to the Research and Knowledge Management department.

vii. Security: –

• Ensure that all security aspects are embedded in the website.

3 Expected Outputs:

• The website presents a new visual look and its functionalities are enhanced to provide a better user experience.
• Develop a user manual and deliver a training to the support staff and system administrators to perform content upload, system maintenance and administration.
• Support and maintenance: Administrative and technical support, quality control for a period of 2 months.
• Source code handover: Full source code including all developed libraries shall be handed over to RCK’s Research and Knowledge Management department.

4 Methodology:

The consultant will be expected to propose a methodology to be applied in conducting the assignment.

5. Ethics:

If primary data collection with human subjects is proposed, please outline the process you will put in place to ensure this is collected in an ethical manner.

6. Key deliverables of consultant(s) and timeframe:

The timeframe provided for the key deliverables allows for quality assurance by the RCK. It is important to note that the timeframe is more of a guideline and, therefore, reasonable flexibility of the consultant will be allowed. Visit RCK website here to download the TOR