RFP-Video Documentary for STEM II

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Video Documentary for STEM II

Ref Number:RFP/MCN/STEM II/PR KTM 2456/2018/018

MERCY CORPS OVERVIEW

Mercy Corps is an international, non-governmental humanitarian relief and development agency that exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people to build secure, productive and just communities. Mercy Corps was established in 1979, and has headquarters in the USA and UK. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has worked in over 100 countries. Mercy Corps currently works in 41 countries around the world and improving the lives of 19 million people. The agency focuses on countries in transition, where countries are in the midst of - or recovering from - conflict, economic collapse, or disaster; Mercy Corps sees these crisis situations as moments of opportunity to go beyond traditional boundaries of relief and catalyze lasting change. Globally, Mercy Corps implements programs in a range of sectors, including: agriculture & food security; market development; emergency response; disaster risk reduction; climate change; health; conflict management; youth engagement; and, community mobilization/governance.

Mercy Corps Nepal works to build the absorptive, adaptive and transformative potential of vulnerable individuals and communities across Nepal. The goal is attained through a systems based approach to market development, financial services, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and youth engagement. Mercy Corps began its operation in Nepal in 2005, with projects focusing on the sectors of economic and food security; climate, natural resource and disaster risk management; youth engagement; with the inclusion of women and disadvantaged groups as important cross-cutting themes throughout each intervention area.

STEM II:

In Kailali District (Far West region), 36% of girls (age 10-14) do not transition from primary to secondary school, resulting in more than 50% of girls aged 15-19 not enrolled in school compared to only 23% of boys.  Dalit girls have far lower transition rates - 34% complete primary and less than 10% complete secondary school.  The Far West hosts extremely high rates of child marriage with almost half (48%) married by the time they are 18, and many by 15.  This region was Nepal’s only region not to lower child marriage rates over the past five years.  Early marriage undermines the importance of educating girls and acts as a barrier for females in accessing opportunity. Dropout rates are linked to traditional norms that devalue girls’ education, which are further multiplied by the economic disparity of households in Kailali District (31% poverty rate compared to the 25% national average).  Gender-based discriminatory practices - early marriage, dowry, seclusion/limited mobility, inequitable access to and control over economic assets and property - are deeply rooted in Nepalese society. According to one 2011 study, only 6% of women are employed in the formal sector and only 11% of land is owned by women.

STEM will focus on marginalized girls from 30 schools across one sub-metropolitan city (Dhangadhi), 3 municipality ( Ghodhaghodhi, Gauriganga, Tikapur) and 2 rural municipality city (Bardagoriya, Kailari) in Kailali District. The project will work with all girls within these schools between grades 8 and 10, as well as out-of-school (OOS) girls who dropped out from grades 6-10 from the year 2066 B.S and school graduate (SG) who have finished their grade 10 from these 30 STEM schools. The largest ethnic/ caste group (around half the population) is Tharu, who originate from the Terai, with Brahmin/ Chhetris, Dalits, other castes and Janajati (including ex-Kamaiyas) comprising the remainder. The environment in and around STEM schools varies from one catchment to another – some are mixed communities and others not; some are cut off from main thoroughfares due to the jungle or monsoon rains and others, in Dhangadhi for example, are more accessible; some have electricity and others not; some have over-crowded classrooms and others less so. The proposed piece of work would need to reflect the range of backgrounds, situations, experiences and environments STEM girls live with, and through a gender lens.

The project is working with around 4,460 marginalized IS girls in Kailali, and 1,804 OOS and SG girls/ women. STEM II is a continuation project after the successful completion of its phase I in March 2017.

STEM II is one of 40 projects being implemented in 18 countries around the world under a DFID funded portfolio of work, collectively known as the GEC, or Girls Education Challenge. STEM is one of two GEC projects being implemented in Nepal and is fund managed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

STEM II’s main goal is to improve the life chances of marginalized girls in Kailali.

STEM II is seeking either a local or international firm or individual media consultant, or a partnership of both, to execute this project. Should an international media consultant be involved however, they would ideally be extremely familiar with Nepal, if possible, speak Nepali, and would need to demonstrate added value to the work.

Consultants are required to have experience of utilizing film at the community level for social activism and mobilization. Expertise in animation and info-graphics are also required for this project.

A pre-requisite for applications is demonstrated experience of filming vulnerable people sensitively and professionally, as well as an art for honest, dignified and creative story-telling. The vignettes should be narrated by the girls themselves (hence ‘Girls Voices’). A minimum of 2 samples of previous work from the last 3 years must be submitted together with the application, either as web links, hard copies or electronic files.

The main audiences for the products are girls, the communities, local and national stakeholders, donors and peer agencies. The process of filming is intended to empower the girls through sharing their stories and being given voice (with participatory video a possibility to be discussed further, pending a review of time and resource constraints), whilst the products (vignettes and animated info-graphic) are intended to raise community awareness about the importance of girls’ education and effect culture and practice change. All products however will be used to promote the work and ambitions of STEM II and the GEC more broadly, both within Nepal and externally.

Key deliverables:

• 6 videos of 4-5 minute film about STEM II and Raw Clips
• 100 Photos with high quality including consent paper from beneficiaries (with Raw images)
• Videos should have subtitle in English and also voice over in Nepali and English

Mercy Corps Nepal invites applications from qualified consultants/consultancy firms for the specified Video Documentary. Please visit nepal.mercycorps.org to download RFQ form and Scope of Work for full information.

Firms/Individuals interested in this consultancy should submit their proposal along with the copies of company registration, tax registration and latest tax clearance certificates to np-procurement@mercycorps.org no later than 22nd October, 2018 COB . The incomplete bid documents or bid documents received after closing date will not be considered.

Only shortlisted organizations and individuals will be contacted for further process. Canvassing at any stage of the process shall lead to automatic disqualification of the application.  Mercy Corps reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals without assigning any reason.