FEMNET | Podcast/Content Editor for the Dada Power Podcast

Podcast/Content Editor for the Dada Power Podcast

Job Reference Number/Emploi de consultance: : FNT/EOI/74/2023

Job Category/Catégorie d'emploi: Call for Proposals

Job Location/Pays: Kenya

Job Expiry Date/Date d'expiration: 29/09/2023

Duration: 6 Weeks

1. About

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) is a pan- African, feminist and membership-based network based in Nairobi, Kenya with over 800 individual and institutional members across 50 African countries and in the diaspora. FEMNET envisions a society where African women and girls thrive in dignity and well- being, free from patriarchal and neoliberal oppression and injustices.

Over the years, FEMNET has strategically positioned herself as a convener, organizer and facilitator of critical dialogues around women’s economic justice and rights; transformative women’s leadership; sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); climate justice and natural resource governance as well as, ending all forms of violence and harmful/ discriminatory practices against women and girls.

FEMNET continues to be intentional in influencing decisions made at national, regional and global levels, constantly ensuring African women voices are amplified and their needs, priorities and aspirations are prioritized in key policy dialogues and outcomes that have direct and indirect impact on their lives. FEMNET mobilizes African women to hold their States accountable to women’s rights and gender equality commitments. For more information about FEMNET’s work, visit our website: www.femnet.org .

2. Background and rationale

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network’s (FEMNET) Economic Justice and Rights programme aims to deepen knowledge, capacity and skills to engage and influence macroeconomic policies from a feminist perspective among a cohort of women leading and driving initiatives aimed at achieving economic justice.

While many women’s rights organisations in Africa have scaled-up prioritising advocacy for women’s economic justice, a gap remains where many of these organisations have limited exposure, skills and tools to analyse and influence fiscal and wider macroeconomic policies and frameworks from either gender or feminist perspective. Evidence shows that there remains an insufficiency of contextualised information and knowledge based on feminist analysis of critical macroeconomic policy issues, such as illicit financial flows, monetary policy, sovereign debt, tax and fiscal policy in the region, to inform strategies for advocacy for women’s economic justice in Africa. As a result, efforts by women’s movements and women’s rights activists in the region largely focus on responding to the impacts that these macroeconomic policies and processes have on women – often seeking to remove the immediate hardships – with limited focus on understanding and challenging the fundamental structural and systemic causes of gender equality.

In light of this background, the Dada Power Podcast is designed to shed light on the nuanced issues, share inspiring stories, and engage in thought-provoking discussions that highlight the importance of fiscal justice in achieving women’s rights, economic justice and gender equality. The aim is to create a dialogic platform for knowledge sharing and deliberations on how macroeconomic policies shape not only lived realities of women and girls, but also how various efforts and strategies at the local, national, regional and global levels can influence and shape fiscal policy.

3. Objectives of the consultancy

The DADA POWER¹ podcast is the first of its kind by FEMNET. It is a podcast dedicated to feminist discourse on economic justice and the rights of women and girls in the African continent. The podcast will explore key themes and current affairs in economics and importantly, advance African feminist alternatives that speak to the lived experiences of women and other marginalised communities in Africa.

The first season of the podcast runs under the broad theme ‘The Feminist Political Economies of Debt in Africa’. The coinage of this theme stemmed from the premise that across the African continent, women have historically faced greater difficulties in accessing financial credit, repaying loans and renegotiating their debts, be it through formal financial institutions or informal credit networks. This deep-rooted and sometimes invisible inequality hinders women’s ability to invest in their futures.

The inaugural season of the multi-part series revolves around the topic of Debt. It will critically assess the political economy of debt, its historical conceptualisations, the role of International Financial Institutions and much more. It will delve into the intricacies of gendered debt and its impact on women, encompassing both public and personal debt, ranging from fundamental necessities to contemporary cultural trends.

Some of the sub-themes to be explored in the first season of the Dada Power Podcast include;

Historical Analysis of Debt in Africa
The role of International Financial Institutions and Debt
Sovereign debt and austerity
Climate debt and reparations
Financialisation, technology and household debt

The format of each episode entails a dialogue with African feminist economists, centring on a distinct issue pertaining to debt.

4. Scope of work

The podcast series developed through this ToR will display all features of a high-quality professional-grade production, including the following features:

The inaugural season of the Dada Power Podcast will include five episodes of 20 to 30 minutes each, entailing engaging conversations between two to three individuals on topics related to economic justice as highlighted in the objectives above. The primary language of conversation will be English.
The five-episode podcast season will additionally include an introductory episode of 2 to 3 minutes that will provide an overview of the Dada Power Podcast and its related project, as well as highlight the objective and content of the podcast series, backed by music suitable for a professional podcast.
Each podcast episode must meet high standards of editing, including clear and coherent voices of all speakers, engaging and adequately paced conversations, musical interludes as and when required, etc.
The podcast series will be hosted on a dedicated landing page on the FEMNET website. The landing page will provide a short-written description of the podcast as well as list all episodes highlighted with a feeder icon, episode names and featured speaker.

5. Key Deliverables and expected results

Key deliverables under this consultancy are as follows;

2-3 minutes introductory episode, in an mp3 file format
5 final edited episodes of 25 to 30 minutes duration, in an mp3 file format including 15-20 seconds opening narration backed by appropriate music
Transcript for 5 episodes under the inaugural season.

Note: All deliverables must be accepted as final by FEMNET’s EJR and communications team, and should be in line with the features and details mentioned in the EOI. Development of these would entail close coordination with FEMNET and a few rounds of iterations.

6. Required Qualification, Skills and Competencies

University degree in communication, journalism, public relations, international relations or related disciplines.
Minimum experience of five years in developing audio-visual content.
The consultant should espouse Pan African Feminist values.
Demonstrated experience of at least three projects undertaken for comparable works (pertaining to development of audio-visual content) undertaken for comparable organizations. The bidder should provide link/s to the samples of listed works.
Demonstrated experience of undertaking content development for development sector projects funded by bilateral or multilateral funding assistance.
Bidder should have all the required equipment and software to ensure high quality audio output for a podcast. The bidder may provide details of editing software that will be used for the purpose of present assignment.
Strong writing, analytical and research skills, ability to apply them in interdisciplinary contexts and innovative problem-solving ability.

Other attributes:

A track record of producing innovative, out–of–the–box thinking communications strategies and products.
Excellent communication skills and fluency in spoken and written
Capability to deliver with quality and within tight
Ability to break down complex information into user-friendly knowledge

7. Duration of Assignment

The work will be done over a 6-week period from October 2023 – November 2023.

8. Liaison, Coordination and Reporting

The consultant will report to the Economic Justice and Rights Lead.

9. Selection of Consultant

FEMNET shall contract the consultant. The contract will include a Withholding Tax (WHT) deduction in line with the laws of contracting where FEMNET is headquartered. A WHT certificate will be issued to the consultant. Payment will be made through bank transfer to the consultant’s bank account. FEMNET will not meet the costs of bank charges. The payment schedule will be agreed upon with the consultant upon successful selection. In the case of team/firm applicants, a designated assignment contract manager will be the contact between the FEMNET team and the responsible candidate for all deliverables.

10. Intellectual Property Rights

The consultant expressly assigns to FEMNET any copyright arising from the outputs produced while executing the service contract. The consultant may not use, reproduce, disseminate, or authorise others to use, reproduce or disseminate any output produced under the service contract without prior consent from FEMNET.

11. Terms of Service

This is a non-staff contract and therefore, the consultant is not entitled to insurance, medical cover or any other status or conditions as FEMNET staff.

12. Application Process

Interested applicants should send the following:

CV of not more than 3 pages, highlighting relevant experience
Cover letter highlighting relevant experience and date per day (the rate should be quoted in USD)
Sample work showcasing experience in handling similar assignment (this can be a research paper, report, )

Applications are by e-mails only, sent to: recruitment@femnet.or.ke. Please indicate the reference on the subject line as ‘FNT/EOI/74/2023– Podcast Editor for the Dada Power Podcast. Deadline for submission of applications is on 29^th September 2023.

Please note: FEMNET is committed to the prevention of any type of unwanted behavior, including sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse, and lack of integrity as well as other ethical breaches. All staff and consultants are expected to share this commitment through our code of conduct and Safeguarding Policy. Offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and fraud.

We welcome people from the widest possible diversity of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. We will make any practical adjustments to enable people with disability to participate fully in an inclusive working environment. By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you have given consent to the collection, use and/or disclosure of your data by us for the purposes set out in this job description.

Only complete applications will be reviewed, and applicants who have been shortlisted will be contacted.