RFAs: Digital First Program Implementer Program Cycle 2 (Jordan)

Through personalized mentoring and collaborative content production support and facilitation, the Program aims to bolster the capacity, development, and sustainability of these platforms to empower them to have a positive contribution towards a healthier information ecosystem in Jordan, a necessary driver for active civic participation.

The program entails two phases. During the first phase, which is envisioned to last 6-8 months, the focus is on theoretical and practical training for representatives from 8-10 media platforms. Leveraging Internews resources, the offered trainings should address key areas including content quality improvement, audience engagement strategies, and digital publishing. Moreover, trainings will also be Strengthening Civil Society and Media Systems (Sawt) Activity 3 delivered to enhance institutional capacities related to technology, governance, and media management to increase long-term sustainability.

The Strengthening Civil Society and Media Systems (Sawt) Activity is a five-year (2022-2027) cooperative agreement funded by USAID and implemented by Internews in partnership with Mercy Corps and the International Center for Non-Profit Law (ICNL). Sawt aims to foster sustained civic engagement in Jordan through civil society and digital media innovations seeking two main Objectives: 1) Good, Trusted Knowledge-Building Resources: Citizens and civil society build knowledge through accessing and engaging critically with accurate and fact-based information and 2) Participation & Advocacy: Citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs) in Jordan effectively participate in civic spaces and advocate for policies through knowledge-based collective action.

Program Objectives

• Capacity Enhancement: Strengthen the digital capacities of selected media platforms through theoretical and practical training.
• Content Quality Improvement: Enhance the quality of content produced by media platforms, focusing on journalistic standards, audience engagement, and effective digital dissemination.
• Institutional Empowerment: Improve institutional capacities related to technology, governance, business planning, and media management, fostering long-term sustainability.
• Strategic Focus: Enhance the abilities of trained media platforms to address information needs of local communities, ensuring that media platforms play a positive role in fostering a healthier information ecosystem in Jordan.
• Grant Facilitation: Enhance trained media platforms abilities to benefit from grants offered to advance their organizational and content production capabilities, supporting sustainability and professional content generation.

Award Information 

• Sawt anticipates awarding one subawards to successful applicant whose proposals best fulfil the program objectives and meet the selection criteria, and with performance periods from six (6) to eight (8) months.

Scope of Work 

• The Digital First Cycle 2 program aims to enhance the capacity of trained partner media platforms in Jordan through comprehensive training, mentorship, and collaborative content production. The scope of work encompasses the following key components:
  • Training Plan Development: 
    • Develop a training plan based on a needs assessment and the OCA2 baseline.
    • Ensure the training plan addresses the specific needs identified, providing a roadmap for skill development and capacity building of beneficiaries.
  • Training Sessions: 
    • Deliver well-structured training sessions covering priority topics for media platforms. The following list describes training topics identified by Sawt to be covered in the first phase of the program through a schedule of trainings, speakers, and workshops, leading to content creation reflecting gained knowledge and skills.
    • While the above topics have been identified as priorities, Sawt is open to additional topics that can increase media organizations editorial, organizational, and technological capacities and advance its role in providing a healthy information system.
    • Ensure that beneficiaries are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary for effective content creation, digital dissemination, and audience engagement.
    • Encourage and facilitate individual or group content creation to maintain an active level of content production, deploying skills and capacities acquired through the trainings.
  • Mentorship Support: 
    • Offer personalized mentorship to each media platform, allocating up to 16 hours per media platform to guide partners in prioritizing their organizational goals and needs and address pressing priorities benefiting from provided trainings.
  • Listening Post (LP) Training: 
    • Utilizing Internews available resources and Sawt-led localized resources, train beneficiaries on the Internews LP approach, focusing on identifying underserved community information needs through community listening tools, collaborative content production and dissemination, as well as continuous audience engagement.
    • Encourage and facilitate individual or group content creation based on Internews approach.

Deliverables

• Training Plan: Updated and revised training plan built on the approach explained in the proposal, reflecting training needs, training mode (in person and remote) trainees’ scheduling preference.
• Training Sessions: Detailed Training Topics, Trainers Resumes, and Training Hours Allocation
• Mentorship Sessions: Mentorship Progress Reports (up to 192 hours total)
• Listening Post (LP) Training: Listening Post (LP) Training Completion Report and plan to support collaborative community listening and content production and dissemination
• Reporting: Monthly progress reports, final program impact report, and success stories
• Documentation: All supporting documents for all conducted trainings, events, activities, and meetings

Program Beneficiaries

• The Digital First cycle 2 Program’s beneficiaries will be selected based on a set of criteria:
  • Must be registered, operational and compliant with Jordan’s media registration and operational requirements.
  • Should be financially independent.
  • Must have a digital publishing platform (website, app, or active social media accounts) and demonstrate active content publication over the past year.
  • Show a commitment to public interest journalism.
  • Platform’s produced media coverage should be directed towards audiences in Jordan.
  • Did not enroll in the program’s first cycle.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must meet the following criteria to be considered eligible for a subaward resulting from this RFA:
  • Must be legally registered in Jordan.
  • Not listed with active exclusions on the UN Security Designation List, Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Person List, System for Award Management (SAM), or Internews List of Debarred Grant recipients.

For more information, visit Internews.