CFAs: Media Specific Individual Capacity & Needs Assessment Consultant and Sawt Activity (Jordan)

The ICNA is an assessment tool designed to provide quantifiable data related to the editorial, technological, and collaboration capacities of individual digital content creators. The results of the ICNA will inform the design and implementation of the upcoming third cycle of Sawt’s Digital First program, which will provide 6–8 months of training and capacity-building support for 10-12 digital media content creators (including social media activists, bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, and/or journo-influencers).

Objectives

• Through applying the ICNA tool, the hired consultant will strive to fulfill the following key objectives:
  • Comprehensive Evaluation: Conduct thorough assessments of 10-12 individual digital content creators over an extended period (approximately a year), holding baseline and endline assessments, gauging needs and progress in capacities prioritized by the ICNA.
  • Inform Training & Capacity Building: Provide insights related to the individuals’ capacities, with the goal of guiding and enhancing the Digital First program’s offered training, mentoring, incubation and equipment support, to ensure it directly responds to identified gaps and needs (particularly in areas related media and journalism ethics, editorial skills, subject-matter knowledge, advocacy abilities, audience engagement skills, and/or technological proficiency related to multimedia production, audience analytics, and digital security).
  • Measure Progress & Impact: Guage and quantify participants’ improvement in knowledge, skills, and capacities as a result of the Digital First program using a customized tool for individuals, as well as identifying areas where additional future training and/or capacity-building are still needed.
  • Media Development Insights: Provide Sawt with insights about the trending challenges faced by individual digital content creators within a dynamic media landscape.

Scope of Work

• The selected consultant will apply Internews’ methodologies for conducting the ICNA on individual digital content creators benefiting from the Digital First Cycle 3 program planned to be implemented during the current and coming fiscal years.
• Targeted Trainees:
  • Sawt will select 10-12 individual digital content creators to enhance their capacity and provide them with technical and financial support. The targeted individual digital content creators will include public interest driven social media activists, bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, and/or journo-influencers who are engaged in producing non-commercial content to raise awareness and mobilize citizens towards the following issues: climate and environment, science and health (including mental and reproductive health); technology, markets, economies, and entrepreneurship; human rights, civil liberties, civic space, political participation, freedom of expression, and/or academic freedoms; youth, women, PWDs or other marginalized groups; arts, culture, and social innovation; and/or media and information literacy, and fact-checking.
• Orientation & Preparation
  • In the initiation phase, Sawt will provide the selected consultant with an orientation to ensure thorough understanding of the program design, and envisioned approach. The orientation will cover the ICNA components, and standard expectations for conducting assessments that gauge pre- and post-intervention capacity levels in each of the following areas:
  • Online Presence:
    • Personal Brand Management: Strategy for personal branding, task and content management, and outsourcing effectiveness.
    • Content Management: Organization of content production, record maintenance, communication handling, performance tracking and reporting, and financial management including income, expenses, and budgeting.
    • Strategic Planning: Up-to-date strategies for content creation and personal brand growth.
    • Business Development: Long-term business planning, revenue diversification, skill development, and marketing strategies based on data-driven insights.
• Editorial and Content Production
  • Editorial capacity (editorial accuracy, balance, objectivity, clarity, language, inclusivity … etc.).
  • Content production and audience reach (regularity and timeliness of publication, use of multimedia and production standards, audiences targeting and engagement strategies … etc.)
  • Collaboration and networks (professional, local, sectorial, and national).
• Technology and digital security, including:
  • IT & media equipment (types of software and hardware used).
  • IT proficiency in media delivery.
  • Digital security planning and practices.
• Tool Customization
  • The evaluator will review the identified ICNA modules, components and indicators, with the purpose of introducing any needed enhancement(s), leading to a robust measuring tool, which yields comprehensive, quantifiable, and pertinent findings and ensures accurate data collection and analysis.
• Assessments (Baseline and Endline)
  • Conducting comprehensive assessments at key stages of the project, primarily Baseline and Endline stages. The Baseline assessment sets the initial benchmark, and the Endline assessment evaluates impact of provided training and support.
• Interactions with Trainees
  • In implementing the assessments, the ICNA consultant will conduct regular check-ins and visits (where possible) with assessed individuals, seeking to remain abreast of the support they have been provided with, capture challenges that may be encountered, discuss progress, identify the individuals’ needs and priorities, help ensure that provided support is in line with recommendations resulting from the baseline ICNA assessment, as well as gauge overall support impact.

Duration

• The duration of this program is one year starting from December 15, 2024, to December 14, 2025, subject to extension if needed.

Eligibility Criteria

• Required Qualifications:
  • Experience in media development and capacity assessments.
  • In-depth understanding of the media landscape in Jordan, in particular the operating context and environment of independent media and emerging digital content trends.
  • Strong understanding of research methodologies and data gathering experience.
  • Readiness to visit identified content creators located across Jordan and collect on-site evidence, data and observations, where possible and needed.
  • Fluency in Arabic and English, both written and spoken.
  • University degree or equivalent experience, of relevance to the assignment.
• Preferred Qualifications:
  • Previous experience and knowledge of international media development organizations’ assessment methods is an advantage.
  • Strong facilitation skills and proven ability to lead a group discussion or one-on-one exchanges involving activists, advocates, and/or journalists.

For more information, visit Internews.