Terms of Reference (TOR)
Consultancy support for a Chatbot Content Writer
India
March 2023
Who We Are
Girl Effect is an international non-profit that builds media that girls want, trust and need. From chatbots to chat shows, TV dramas to tech, our content helps adolescent girls in Africa and Asia make choices and changes in their lives. We create safe spaces for girls, sharing facts and answering questions about health, nutrition, education, and relationships, empowering girls with the skills to negotiate and redefine what they are told is possible “for a girl”.
Our reach is 50 million and counting. And we’re using technology to reach girls at scale so every girl can choose to be in control of her body, her health, her learning and her livelihood.
Because when a girl unlocks her power to make different choices that change her life, it inspires others to do so too. She starts a ripple effect that impacts her family, community, and country.
That’s the Girl Effect.
Background
Over the last 15 years, Girl Effect has pivoted several times to serve the needs of adolescent girls. From advocacy groups to donors, we’ve played different roles in fighting for gender equality at different times. Girl Effect is evolving to become an expert in digital media and the leading driver of demand for services, products and opportunities amongst adolescent girls in Africa and Asia. Through our portfolio of brands and digital products, we aspire to tackle issues that girls and young women face by equipping them to adopt and maintain new behaviours that will improve their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and economic empowerment.
Working with girls in India, Girl Effect has created a powerful digital youth brand, “Chhaa Jaa” (Go Forth and Shine), that girls can access via social media. Launched in 2019, Chhaa Jaa focuses on inspiring, entertaining and empowering girls aged between 16-22 with the right skills and confidence to navigate adolescence – from accessing information about SRH to preparing them to enter the workforce. Our ecosystem of products includes -
- Digital media content that girls can access on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, that is both entertaining and informative. Characters and storylines have been developed with girls, and are designed to reflect their lives and the challenges they might face;
- An online, moderated peer-to-peer community Bak Bak Gang which acts as a safe space for girls 16 and above years of age, to discuss sexual and reproductive health concerns, interact closely with Chhaa Jaa’s content.
- A chatbot Bol Behen that offers a private way for girls to ask questions about the themes raised by Chhaa Jaa content & safely get information on whatsapp&facebook messenger
This ecosystem has been designed for demand generation - encouraging girls to access relevant services (for example, health services include clinics, telemedicine, pharmacies, etc.) and, when they are ready, linking them to youth-friendly services.
The Objective
Built on Rapidpro, Bol Behen is an automated, menu-based chatbot that lives on Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp. It has been adapted from another Girl Effect chatbot developed for South Africa called Big Sis.
Over the last two years, we have successfully piloted and launched Bol Behen and have received 2.7 million messages, with over 240k users having initiated conversations on the platform. We have also conducted impact evaluations demonstrating that Bol Behen can successfully shift girls’ knowledge and attitudes on health-related issues (specifically on SRH, and COVID-19 vaccine confidence). In addition to 13 core conversational modules under three themes - Love and Relationships, Sex Basics and Protecting Yourself, the chatbot also has a quiz section for girls to test their knowledge, Ask Bol Behen feature for them to ask their personal questions and an Experts Ki Salah segment for them to access services.
With the proof of concept available, we are building a roadmap for the next 2-4 years to evolve the product and make it much more relevant and meaningful for girls. Hence, for our next leg of campaign, we have identified two key priorities - service linkage and improving conversational experience. In this regard, we are looking for a chatbot writer to help us produce new content and refine the existing content for our growing audience in India.
The Scope
- Develop new message sets and conversational flows on but not limited to the uptake of telemedicine services, oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) and introduction to contraceptive pill providers.
- Create conversational chat flows, encouraging and easy to grasp, that not only cater to intention of service uptake, but also take the action to access these from within the bot.
- Undertake research to deliver fact-first messaging to land the benefits of OCPs and digital medical consultations.
- Edit and tweak the 13 core conversational flows to shorter, crisper ones
- Update the content according to a newly formed formatting guide for writing in a conversational style.
The Girl Effect team will support the consultant through a creative brief to help land the key messages correctly and orient them on the messaging template along with the behaviour change strategy.
Deliverables
- Create 40 new chat flows (<300 words) on themes such as; contraception, OCPs, telemedicine, abortion, consent and sex basics, legal knowledge etc.
- Refine and tweak 40 chat flows (<300 words) from existing longer message sets on love, relationships, STI, basics of sex, pregnancy and periods etc.
Who You Are
You are ideally someone who has
- A minimum 3 years of proven experience as a chatbot copywriter or related role
- Excellent writing, editing and proof-reading skills and - with experience creating compelling and engaging content that delivers clear messages.
- Strong research skills and a proven ability to work with subject matter experts and ‘translate’ their expertise into appropriate content for the target audience.
- Experience in health-related content/behaviour change content production; ideally in the field of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
- Excellent time-management and organizational skills
- Effective communicator and writer in Hinglish with the ability to synthesize, communicate and simplify complex language concepts per the needs of girls and young women from low-middle income backgrounds
- Ability to be flexible within a fast-paced, changing environment
- Passionate about making a positive difference in the life of young women and girls.
- Commitment to realizing the potential of girls and to the vision and values of Girl Effect
Expected Commitment
- The assignment is expected to take approximately 2 months to complete.
- The consultant will be expected to work ideally full-time on content creation and liaison with the Create team and other stakeholders. However, we are open to part-time working arrangements as well.
- The consultant's assignment period is from 20th March 2023, to 20th May 2023. *Can be extended if required.
Intended Timelines
● Terms of reference published: 6th March 2023
● Deadline for responses: 13th March2023
● Project commencement: 20th March 2023
Reporting
The consultant will report to Girl Effect’s Production Specialist based in India.
Proposal Submission
Your proposal (Max 5 Pages), should you be interested, should cover:
Technical Proposal
- Yourunderstanding of the brief and why you feel you are well-placed to advise us on this
- Credentials - Please showcase any previous work that you consider relevant to what we are trying to achieve, how we approach our work, and the audience we cater to. Describe the qualifications, experience, and capabilities of the consultant in providing the requested services with links to previous works.
- Reference - Provide at least three references for similar work indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments
- Highlight work (if) done in other geographies.
Financial Proposal
- Breakdown of costs in INR indicating the daily or hourly billing rate. Alternatively, you can provide a fixed fee for the requested deliverables.
- All applicable taxes should be quoted separately.
In their proposal, the bidder must demonstrate an understanding of the requirements described in the TOR and demonstrate how the bidder will meet the requirements of the evaluation criteria.
GE (and its associated entities) is not liable for any cost incurred during the award/contract preparation, submission, or negotiation of the award/contract. All submitted documentation and/or materials shall become and remain the property of GE.
VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for 90 days from the date of bid closure.
Evaluation Criteria
The criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are listed below:
Technical Evaluation
- Yourunderstanding of the brief - 30%
- Work samples - 20%
- Credentials - 10%
- Reference - 10%
Financial Evaluation - 30%
How to Apply
Please submit proposals, as described above, to suppliers@girleffect.org by 13th March 2023, 5:00 pm IST latest. Please clearly mark your email with the subject ‘Chatbot Content Writer Services’‘.
Tax
Applicants are advised to ensure that they clearly understand their tax position regarding local jurisdiction tax legislation provisions when developing their proposals.
Disclaimer
Girl Effect reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, the number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party. Girl Effect shall inform ONLY successful applicant(s). The process of negotiation and signing of the contract with the successful applicant(s) will follow.
Safeguarding
You may be required to undertake safeguarding checks. Shortlisted consultants will be assessed on our organisational values at the interview stage, and the successful consultant will be expected to adhere to our safeguarding policy. We encourage you to read and understand our safeguarding policy, the executive summary of which can be found here. We have zero-tolerance for all forms of violence against children, beneficiaries and staff.
Equal Opportunities
Girl Effect Services is committed to an equal opportunity workplace regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression.
We are committed to building an organization that is increasingly representative of and works extensively with the communities that we serve. To this end, due regard will be paid to procuring consultancy service organizations and individuals with diverse professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.
How to apply
How to Apply
Please submit proposals, as described above, to suppliers@girleffect.org by 13th March 2023, 5:00 pm IST latest. Please clearly mark your email with the subject ‘Chatbot Content Writer Services’‘.