Consultancy on Evaluating SBCC impact in iHeard Project and FRI programing

Location: Remote

Application Deadline: January 7, 2026

Job Description

• Duration of task: 2.5 months (January 19 to March 31, 2026)
• Reports to: Radio Craft Managing Specialist
• Start date: January 19, 2026.

Background

Since September 2021, Farm Radio International (FRI) has been implementing a five-year project entitled “Innovations in Health, Rights and Development (iHEARD) in Malawi” with a consortium of health, education and communication partners, led by CODE, a Canadian educational organisation. The project is working to dismantle barriers to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Malawi, who are particularly vulnerable in terms of SRH and human rights violations. The project works in three main sectors: education, health services and communication.

FRI is working with a group of communication organisations, internationally and in Malawi, bringing radio, mobiles and interactive voice response (IVR), social media and interpersonal communication into a coherent social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) program. Central to this work through the communication and the other 2 pillars is youth participation through the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) which operates at district levels (3) with a secretariat carrying representation of the executive members of the 3 district-based committees.

The SBCC program, guided by a strategy document that was developed using a participatory approach in
April 2022, has been running for about 4 years now.

FRI has decided to carry out a summative evaluation of the strategy to reflect on impact of the delivery of the strategy (SBCC interventions), identify results and lessons learned to stakeholders and donors. The evaluation will also inform recommendations for FRI’s future programming in SBCC – including identifying gaps and opportunities for integrating social media, messaging apps and artificial intelligence tools for communication for development.

FRI would like to engage a SBBC consultant or firm for this purpose.

This consultancy is expected to have two distinct phases: 1) Detailed project evaluation of the SBCC strategy, implementation and impact, 2) Recommendations on SBCC approaches to inform FRI’s future SBCC programing including using social media, messaging apps and IA tools.

Main objective of the assignment

As the iHeard project concludes, FRI seeks a consultancy:

– To conduct a summative evaluation of iHeard’s SBCC outcomes, demonstrating results and
lessons learned to external stakeholders and donors.

Specific objectives

A) Evaluate the impact of iHeard’s SBCC interventions, focusing on:

● Behavioral and social outcomes among youth influencers at community level and other audiences (calls and remote interviews, desk review of reports and other documents: delivery approaches, strategies and success stories among other things, etc.).
● The influence of Youth Advisory Committees on the design, delivery, and success (impact) of interventions (radio programming, mobile phone messaging, youth engagement in advocacy, and social media integration).
● Lessons learned and detailed evidence to share with donors, partners, and external stakeholders.

B) Produce a publishable article based on the learning of the evaluation:

● Synthesize evaluation findings into a clear narrative highlighting results, innovations and lessons learned.
● Draft a full-length article for publication in a relevant SBCC or development focused journal.
● Collaborate with FRI staff and partners to ensure shared authorship and alignment with stakeholder priorities.

Summary of activities to be conducted

The consultant will:

1. Review documentation (project reports, monitoring data, FRI SBCC materials in AND out the
iHeard project)).
2. Conduct remote key informant interviews and focus groups with FRI staff, YAC members, partners, and stakeholders (including all influencers that have participated in the project’s design workshops and training). Due to language barriers, the consultant may need to identify a local focal point to collaborate with.
3. Evaluate iHeard SBCC outcomes against the project’s Intermediate Outcomes and Goal.
4. Analyse youth engagement through the YAC in project success in youth-centric programming and influence.
5. Draft a publishable article around FRI SBCC impact with iHeard.

Deliverables (The final deliverables will be agreed upon with the selected consultant)

● Inception report with methodology and timeline.
● Evaluation report (donor-facing): iHeard SBCC results and contributions to outcomes, analysis of youth engagement through the YAC and its influence, and lessons learned.
● Publishable article – between 1000 and 1500 words without pictures – around FRI SBCC impact with iHeard

Timeline

The consultancy is expected to run from January 19, 2026 to March 31, 2026 over a period of 2.5 months. The maximum number of days to be charged during that period is 20 days.

Consultant Profile

● Strong background in SBCC evaluation and program design in different contexts and continents
(not limited to implementation).
● Proven experience with the latest global SBCC trends and innovative communication.
technologies (social media, messaging apps, AI tools, digital engagement).
● Proven experience assessing participatory/youth-led approaches.
● Ability to produce both rigorous donor-facing evaluation outputs and strategic, forward-looking
internal recommendations.
● Excellent analytical, facilitation, and report-writing skills.
● Excellent spoken and written English. Spoken French is an asset.

Reporting & Management

• The consultant will report to Sébastien Nègre, Radio Craft Managing Specialist.

How to Apply

Application Process

To submit your application, send the following to: jobapps@farmradio.org by January 7, 2026

● Technical proposal (understanding of assignment, methods, workplan).
● CV highlighting relevant experiences.
● Financial proposal.
● Two references from recent assignments.

Only those firms selected for the next stage will be contacted. No phone calls please.