Consultants: Lead Media and Communications Coordinator & Regional media and capacity building Specialists _@Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center for Communication Programs, Ethiopia

Background and Project Context

The Community Service as a Pathway to Work (CSPW) initiative is a flagship youth economic empowerment initiative supported by the Mastercard Foundation and implemented in partnership by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) and the Youth Network for Sustainable Development (YNSD). CSPW equips unemployed and underemployed young people, specifically young women and disadvantaged youth, with transferable 21st century soft skills, civic leadership experience, and sustainable pathways to wage and self-employment.

A central pillar of the CSPW Social and Behavior Change (SBC) strategy is to create an enabling sociocultural environment that challenges negative stereotypes about youth, shifts community and family attitudes toward youth work and volunteerism, and promoted the transition into dignified and fulfilling work. Local community media outlets such as community radios, regional tv and radio stations serve as the primary conducts for grassroots storytelling, normative mindset shifts, and civic mobilization.

To strengthen the capacity of local media professionals, ensure consistent message placement, and generate high-impact visibility assets for project stakeholders, CSPW seeks to engage a team of four specialized media consultants for a 6-month period.

Positions:

Lead media and communications coordinator (1 person)

Regional media and capacity building specialists (1 person for each region)

• • Oromia cluster (1 person)
  • Amhara cluster (1 Person)
  • Central and Southwest clusters (1 Person)

Objectives of the consultancy

The overarching goal of this consultancy is to build sustainable capacity within community media outlets across four program clusters, foster the production and broadcast of youth-centered SBC content, and produce professional video documentary assets that highlight project impact.

Specific objectives:

Strengthen community media capacity: Review, localize and deliver practical training to journalists, producers and editors from identified community media outlets across Central Ethiopia, Southwest Ethiopia, Amhara and Oromia.

Mentorship and field shadowing: Provide hands-on mentoring and technical shadowing to trained media personnel during field reporting, story gathering, interviewing and post production editing.

Drive content production and dissemination: Guide the creation, quality control and broadcast placement of project-aligned Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and radio/TV feature programs.

Elevate visibility through video storytelling: Produce ten high-quality, broadcast-standard video success stories highlighting youth transformation, enterprise creation, and systemic community impact for donors, government counterparts and national stakeholders.

 Scope of work and structural division of responsibilities

The team of consultants will consist of one lead media coordinator providing oversight, and three regional media specialists embedded in the target operational clusters.

Roles and responsibilities of the lead media and communications coordinator

Curriculum refinement and quality assurance: Review and enhance the draft CSPW media training guide developed by project staff, standardizing modules on youth-centered SBC reporting, non-stigmatizing framing, the four markers of dignified and fulfilling wok (reliable income, sense of purpose, reputation and respect) and Mastercard Foundation’s safeguarding standards.

Team leadership and regional coordination: Lead the end-to-end conceptualization, scripting, creative direction, professional filming, editing and postproduction for the ten video success stories, distributing coverage across the four clusters.

Compliance and tone verification: Ensure all media assets and videos strictly comply with the CSPW branding guide including proper logo order, and signed consent policies.

Consolidated reporting: Synthesize regional training reports, broadcast tracking data, and milestone documentation into comprehensive project deliverables.

Roles and responsibilities of regional media and capacity building specialists

Training guide localization and delivery: Adapt the master training guide to local cultural linguistic realities; lead the in-person delivery of training workshops to journalists and producers from community media outlets in assigned clusters

Field mentorship and producer shadowing: Conduct hands-on field accompaniment and shadowing with trained producers as they conduct interviews with CSPW youth participants, business owners, Kebele Implementation Teams and other community members.

Production oversight for PSAs and programs: Guide producers in audiovisual editing, ensuring messages emphasize gender equality, disability inclusion and dignified work.

Broadcast tracking and reach verification: Facilitate and monitor on-air placement schedules with local community media outlets; collect official broadcasting log sheets, airchecks and station verification letters to prove content dissemination.

Field support for video storytelling: Identify compelling youth and enterprise case studies within assigned clusters, coordinate local logistics, and assist the lead consultant during video production shoots.

Key expected deliverables and milestones

Deliverable 1: Inception report and refined training manual that include detailed work plan, training syllabus, localized modules, and pre/post training evaluation tools incorporating safeguarding, gender equality and social inclusion, and dignifying and fulfilling work.

Deliverable 2: Media capacity building training delivery, completing in-person workshops for community media personnel in Central, Southwest, Amhara and Oromia clusters.

Deliverable 3: PSAs and feature program production package that include final reviewed scripts and master broadcast files of produced community radio PSAs and recurring youth-centered programs across the four clusters.

Deliverable 4: Broadcast placement and transmission log reports with official letters from station managers, and monitoring reports showing successful on-air dissemination.

Deliverable 5: Ten professional video human-interest and success stories each 3 to 5 minutes that are color graded, audio mastered, subtitles in English, with fully executed consent forms and raw footage archives.

Deliverable 6: Final consultancy synthesis report summarizing media impact, capacity outcomes, lessons learned, and recommendations for post-project media sustainability.

Required safeguarding, gender and social inclusion (GESI), and branding standards

All consultants must ensure strict operational adherence to project guidelines:

Safeguarding and informed consent: All youth, disadvantaged individuals, and community members appearing in broadcasts, photos or videos must provide explicit, documented informed consent (with parents/guardians co-signatures for any minors) using standardized consent forms. Consultants must maintain a zero-tolerance stance toward exploitation, harassment and abuse.

Brand and identity compliance: In accordance with the CSPW branding guide, the sequence and relative scale of partner logos must be maintained. Tone must be authentic, empowering and respectful, avoiding sensationalism or depicting youth as helpless.

GESI: Content development and field shadowing must actively empower young female journalists and ensure at least 70% of featured video and audio profiles highlight young women and 10% disadvantaged groups.

Required qualifications

A.     Lead media and communication coordinator

• Advanced degree (Master’s preferred) in journalism, mass communication, media production, social and behavior change or related discipline
• Minimum 7 years of experience in broadcast media production, documentary filmmaking, and media capacity building in Ethiopia.
• Proven track record in directing, filming and editing high-quality development video documentaries for non-profit causes.
• Strong leadership, project coordination and reporting capabilities
• Fluency in English and Amharic; knowledge of Afaan Oromoo is an asset

B.     Regional media specialists

• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, public relations or a related field
• Minimum of 3 years of practical experience in radio and video production, broadcast reporting and media training delivery.
• Direct knowledge of the media ecosystem within the assigned operational cluster
• Demonstrated mentoring and coaching skills with grassroots journalists and producers
• Full professional proficiency in the primary operational language of the assigned cluster (Afaan Oromoo and/or Amharic)

Institutional arrangement and supervision

The lead consultant will report directly to the CSPW Program Communications Specialist. The Regional Media Specialists will coordinate daily activities with the respective CSPW Cluster Managers while maintaining technical reporting to the lead consultant. Cluster offices will provide logistical orientation, kebele site access approvals and partner introductions.

Place of work: Addis Ababa, with frequent travel to CSPW regions (Oromia, Amhara, Central Ethiopia and Southwest Ethiopia)