Consultancy - Joint documentation, multimedia content collection, case story development in Borena Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Introduction:

Ayuda en Acción (AeA) is an International Non-Governmental Organization founded in 1981 in Spain, dedicated to addressing the structural causes of poverty, inequality, and exclusion by empowering communities to achieve sustainable, dignified livelihoods. Operating globally across 18 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, including Spain and Portugal, Ayuda en Acción has been active in Ethiopia since 2002 through partnerships supporting development and humanitarian efforts. Following the establishment of its Ethiopia country office in 2018, the organization has expanded its programs to Oromia (Arsi and Borena zones), the South Ethiopia Region (Gamo, Wolaita, Konso and Derashe), and Afar Regional State (Zones 1, 2, 4 and 5). Its country strategy focuses on three pillars: sustainable livelihoods and resilient food systems (emphasizing market development and women/youth employment), quality education and labour market transition, and humanitarian assistance integrated with resilience-building through a nexus approach.

Background of the project:

Over the past 30 months (February 2024 – August 2026), Ayuda en Acción (AeA) as the lead organization, alongside consortium partners CIFA and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), has implemented the project ‘Supporting Borena Pastoralists and Agro-pastoralists to Integrate into Inclusive Market Systems and Build their Resilience to Climate-induced Shocks and Stresses in Dire, Moyale, and Guchi Woredas of Borena Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia’, funded by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). The project has been under implementation from February 2024 to August 2026.  The overall objective of the project is to increase the resilience of climate-affected pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in Borena Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia, with the specific aim of improving inclusive, resilient, and sustainable livelihoods capable of withstanding climate-induced shocks. The project has been implemented in three districts, Dire, Moyale, and Guchi, covering nine kebeles, and directly reached 10,746 households (50,995 household members).

The project interventions are structured around three mutually reinforcing results, each targeting specific groups and institutions within the pastoral system.

• Result 1: Strengthened Market Position of Pastoralists and Agro-pastoralists. Through strengthening eight primary multi-purpose cooperatives and the Oda Roba Cooperative Union, improving governance and financial management, promoting women’s leadership, establishing market linkages, financial inclusion through derisking model, and fostering public-private and multi-stakeholder partnerships, the project enhanced livestock market participation and access to financial services. A regional pastoral area livestock market system multi-stakeholder platform was initiated to foster coordination and collaboration among actors in the region. As a result, 5,026 households (3,151 male and 1,875 female) targeted to improve their bargaining power, household income, and market access, while cooperatives become more resilient and inclusive.
• Result 2: Improved Livestock Production. Through training and deploying Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs), strengthening veterinary pharmacies, supporting fodder production enterprises backed by dry land fodder research (led by ILRI), rehabilitating communal rangelands, and promoting climate-smart livestock management practices, the project improved livestock health, productivity, and ecosystem resilience. Upgraded pastoral extension services (managed by ILRI), and information centers enhanced access to quality livestock services, benefiting 1,931 pastoralists and agro-pastoralists (1,062 male and 868 female) through reduced livestock mortality, increased productivity, and improved access to fodder and animal husbandry support.
• Result 3: Enhanced Adaptive Capacity to Climate-induced Shocks: The project has been enhancing resilience to climate-induced shocks by promoting Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI), strengthening disaster risk management systems, supporting SACCOs, and introducing guarantee funds to improve financial inclusion for vulnerable women, youth, and pastoral dropouts. It has also been upgrading the Haburu digital mobile platform for real-time climate information, diversifying livelihoods, and expanding climate information and early warning systems. These interventions have been boosting financial inclusion, climate risk financing, income diversification, and access to digital services, enabling 3,789 households—including 1,977 women, pastoralist dropouts, and youth—to reduce vulnerability and strengthen adaptive capacity.

The project integrated cross-cutting priorities to ensure equitable and sustainable outcomes, promoting women’s leadership and access to resources, youth inclusion through skills and enterprise development, climate resilience via preparedness and sustainable livestock management, environmental sustainability through ecosystem restoration and responsible resource use, and social inclusion by prioritizing vulnerable and marginalized groups for fair access to benefits.

The project employed a combination of Market Systems Development (MSD), Disaster Risk Management (DRM), livestock production enhancement through improved services and practices, financial inclusion, risk financing, cooperative strengthening, and digital innovations to improve resilience and adaptive capacity among vulnerable households.

Purpose of the Assignment:

The overarching purpose of this consultancy is to systematically capture, synthesize, and package project milestones, lessons learned, and dynamic multimedia content into a comprehensive dissemination-ready knowledge and communication package. Building on a robust foundation of technical knowledge products, such as research reports, guidelines, manuals, innovations, and community-level impacts generated throughout implementation, the assignment focuses on:

• Create a unified narrative demonstrating how the project successfully strengthened pastoral resilience through inclusive markets, climate adaptation, financial inclusion, animal health services, and digital solutions.
• Collect high-quality visual evidence and multimedia communication materials that vividly capture stakeholder experiences and beneficiary voices.
• Develop human-interest feature articles and case stories framed directly around the project's core resilience narrative.
• Systematically organize and package technical outputs and lessons for wider dissemination among government institutions, donors, development partners, research organizations, private sector actors, and pastoral development practitioners.

Communication products will be used for institutional positioning, policy influence, learning, scaling, and future resource mobilization.

Objective of the consultancy:

The consultancy shall:

• General Objective

Document and communicate the key achievements, impact stories, innovations, and lessons from the 30-Month Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Resilience Project through professional multimedia and storytelling products.

• Specific Objectives:
  • Capture compelling beneficiary and stakeholder stories.
  • Document project achievements through high-quality photography and videography.
  • Produce case studies and success stories demonstrating project impact.
  • Develop feature articles highlighting key interventions and results.
  • Document lessons learned and generated evidence to inform future resilience programming and investments.
  • Produce a documentary-style project video.
  • Generate communication materials suitable for dissemination through digital, print, and social media platforms.

Scope of work:

The consultancy firm or individual consultants  shall undertake field missions and documentation activities across selected project locations in Borena Zone and Addis Ababa. The assignment shall focus on the following thematic areas:

• Cooperative Governance, and Livestock Market Systems: Document governance improvements among primary multi-purpose cooperatives and Oda Roba Cooperative Union, their engagement in livestock market systems, business competitiveness, market linkages, guarantee fund mechanisms, and women's participation and leadership.
• Resilient livestock production system: Capture evidence on market-based veterinary service delivery, strengthening of Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs), private veterinary sector engagement, fodder production and commercialization initiatives, rangeland management practices, including revitalization of traditional Kalo systems and establishment of commercial feed enterprises
• Financial Inclusion and enterprise development/strengthening: Document experiences and achievements related to SACCO strengthening at primary and union levels, guarantee fund beneficiaries, women's and youth economic empowerment, pastoral dropout livelihood diversification, and SME establishment and growth.
• Risk Financing (IBLII): Capture experiences of livestock insurance beneficiaries, accessibility and uptake of insurance services, utilization of insurance payouts, contribution to livestock protection and resilience outcomes, and lessons emerging from Index-Based Livestock Insurance
• Digital Innovations (Haburu Super App) and institutional capacity building: showcasing user adoption, access, the contribution of digital solutions to strengthening resilience and informed decision-making /anticipatory action and establishment of pastoral information systems;.

Tasks and outputs deliverables:

i. Tasks and Deliverables:

Consultancy firm or individual consultants shall deliver the following tasks and outputs:

Phase I: Inception and planning

• Conduct an initial consultation meeting with AeAE to clarify objectives, expectations, and deliverables.
• Review relevant desk review and project documents.

• Inception Report includes methodology, detailed work plan, stakeholder mapping, quality assurance approach and Data Collection Toolkit comprising interview guides, consent forms, photography and videography protocols.

Phase II: Field documentation and evidence collection

• Organized repository of interview recordings, transcripts, field notes, and consent records.
• Raw multimedia archive containing high-resolution photographs, video footage, and audio recordings.

Phase III: Content development

• Draft case stories, success stories, and feature articles.
• Documentary concept, storyboard, and scripts.
• Draft video interview packages and social media content.

Phase IV: Editing, post-production and packaging

• Final documentary and video products.
• Final photo library with captions and metadata.
• Publication-ready written communication products.
• Complete multimedia archive. The consultancy shall deliver a fully organized digital repository containing raw and edited videos and photographs, documentary project files, transcripts and interview notes, written stories and articles, metadata and caption sheets, signed consent forms, all editable source files, and an external hard drive/digital archive.

ii. Expected output and deliverables:

To ensure strategic visibility, learning, and communication value, the consultancy shall produce the following outputs:

Tier 1: Strategic Flagship Products

• Project Final Documentary Film (#1): A high-quality 8–12-minute flagship video summarizing the project journey, contextual challenge, key systemic outcomes, partner perspectives, lessons learned, and sustainability pathways.
• Strategic Feature Articles (4–5): 1,500–2,000 word analytical, evidence-backed feature stories focusing on key thematic innovations (e.g., Women's Leadership in Pastoral Cooperatives, cooperative governance and Livestock Market competitiveness in Borena, Digital Innovation, risk financing and financial Inclusion, and Anticipatory Action).

Tier 2: Human-Interest and Evidence-Based Stories

• Detailed Case Stories (5): Structured 2-page impact studies detailing individual, household, or institutional transformation across priority themes.
• Success Stories (4): Concise 800–1,200 word human-interest stories highlighting measurable project results backed by quantitative data and photography.

Tier 3: Multimedia Asset Bank and Digital Content

Video Content Library:

• 10-15 Beneficiary Testimonial Videos (capturing context, support received, results, and future outlook).
• 10 Key Stakeholder Interviews (government representatives, cooperative and Geda leaders, agro-vets, market actors, bank and insurance officials, CIFA, ILRI).
• 4-5 Thematic Impact Story Videos (2–5 minutes each).

Photography Archive (400+ High-Resolution Images)

• Minimum 100 Portrait Photographs.
• Minimum 200 Action Photographs.
• Minimum 75 Infrastructure/Project Asset Images.
• Minimum 50 Landscape/Environmental Photographs.

Digital and  Social Media Package: 7 short social media video reels/clips (30–90 seconds), photo cards, quote graphics, and infographics structured for online dissemination.

iii. Quality, donor’s/AECID’s and AeA’s branding and visibility requirements:

All deliverables shall:

• Adhere to AeA and AECID/donor visibility regulations and branding requirements.
• Funding Acknowledgement: Prominent, explicit visual and textual recognition of funding support from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) on all public-facing products.
• Co-Branding Hierarchy: Proportional logo placement and co-branding arrangements between AeA, AECID, ILRI, and CIFA in accordance with AECID brand guidelines.
• Meet professional communication and broadcast-quality standards.
• Follow ethical storytelling principles.
• Comply with safeguarding and Do No Harm standards.
• Obtain informed consent from all interviewees and photographed individuals.
• Be delivered in both editable and final formats.
• Formal review and written sign-off by AeA’s are required for each deliverable.
• Be suitable for donor communication, public dissemination, media engagement, fundraising, and knowledge-sharing purposes.

Roles and responsibilities of AeA and consultants:

To ensure effective implementation, quality assurance, and timely delivery of all outputs, the roles and responsibilities of Ayuda en Acción (AeA) and the selected Consultant/Consultancy Firm are outlined below.

• Ayuda en Acción (AeA), Contracting and Oversight

• • Contract management and review: Provides administrative and technical oversight; reviews and approves the inception report, work plan, draft outputs, and final deliverables. Provide timely feedback on submitted deliverables. AeA will provide one consolidated set of comments and recommendations to the consultant within the agreed review period. AeA will lead the review process with input from project staff, communication teams, and technical experts to ensure accuracy, strong storytelling, alignment with objectives, compliance with branding and safeguarding standards, and completeness of deliverables, issuing final approval once all requirements are met.

• • Field Coordination and stakeholder engagement: Field coordination and stakeholder engagement will be supported by a dedicated Communication Officer who will accompany the consultant during missions, facilitate access to project sites and communities, arrange meetings and interviews with key stakeholders, including beneficiaries, government officials, cooperatives, SACCOs, private sector actors, and insurance providers and assist in identifying beneficiaries, informants, and strategic stories for documentation.

• • Logistics and information: The project will provide the consultant with all necessary background documents and communication materials, arrange transportation from Addis Ababa to Borena and within the field sites, and facilitate required permissions and local coordination to ensure smooth implementation of the documentation mission.

• • Quality assurance and branding: Ensures output meets donor and AeA;s visibility, safeguarding, and ethical communication standards; provide final approval for all communication products.

• Consultant / Consultancy Firm: execution and delivery

• • Planning and execution: Submits inception reports, tools, and work plans; manages overall assignment timelines and team workflows. The consultant shall submit each deliverable according to the agreed timeline and provide all supporting materials requested under the assignment. The consultant shall revise and resubmit the deliverables addressing all comments and recommendations provided by AeA.

• • Final acceptance and handover: Upon approval, the consultant shall submit final editable files, final production files, source materials, achieved multimedia assets, metadata and caption sheets, and signed consent forms.

• • Field collection and ethics: Conducts interviews, videography, photography, and story gathering; secures and documents informed consent from all participants.

• • Production and assets: Provides high-end equipment; leads writing, scripting, and post-production (editing, sound, graphic work); delivers editable source files and final products.

• • Quality control, and compliance: Catalogs digital assets (with metadata, captions, and transcripts); strictly adheres to AeA and donor  branding and visibility safeguarding,

Ethical Standards and Consent Protocols:

Ethical standards require that all documentation activities obtain written or recorded informed consent before photography, videography, or interviews, with participation remaining voluntary. Sensitive information must be protected and anonymized, and communities represented respectfully and accurately. All materials must comply with Do No Harm, safeguarding, child protection, and data privacy protocols, with parent or guardian consent mandatory for minors. Every media asset must be catalogued and linked to a verified consent record to ensure accountability.

Intellectual Property and Usage Rights:

All outputs and source materials produced under this consultancy shall remain the exclusive property of Ayuda en Acción (AeA). No communication products, photographs, videos, stories, or other output generated under this assignment may be published, shared, or disseminated externally without prior written approval from AeA.

Brand Alignment and Institutional Voice:

Final products should reflect AeA’s institutional voice and visual identity, keeping:

• Prioritize the dignity, agency, voices, and achievements of local communities over bureaucratic processes.
• Ensure all narrative claims are supported by verified project data and technical evidence.
• Maintain an engaging, professional narrative voice that avoids overly technical jargon.

Deliverable, Review, Approval and Timeline:

The consultancy is expected to be completed within an estimated six weeks from the date of contract signing. The consultant/consulting firm will be responsible for delivering the following outputs within the specified timeframe: