PLATFORMS FOR DIALOGUE (P4D)
Strengthening Inclusion and Participation in Decision Making and Accountability Mechanism in Bangladesh
Terms of Reference (TOR) to hire services Individual Consultant/s for Report Writing, Editing and Proofreading (English)
Background:
The Platforms for Dialogue (P4D) Project is a multiyear and multi-donor funded project implemented by the British Council in partnership with the Cabinet Division, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The overall objective of the programme is to strengthen democratic ownership and accountability mechanisms in Bangladesh. The specific objective is to promote a more enabling environment for the effective engagement and participation of the citizens and civil society in decision-making and oversight. The programme is organised around three Result Areas:
- Result Area 1: "CSOs' ability to influence government policy and practice raised through better accountability to and more effective representation of citizens' interests".
- Result Area 2: “Accountability and responsiveness of government officials raised through enhanced capacity building of decision-makers and engagement with CSOs".
- Result Area 3: ''New tools and policy platforms for more effective dialogue between citizens and government are developed and utilised''.
The project is supporting this overarching goal by, (a) enhancing civil servant’s capacity on engagement and inclusive decision making, (b) providing knowledge and resources for civil society organizations to enable them to engage meaningfully in decision-making processes with the government and other stakeholders and (c) creating local and national level forums/opportunities where these two groups (Civil Servants and CSOs) come together and facilitate decisions making. In this process the project is giving explicit emphasis on implementing Citizen Charter, Grievance Redress System, National Integrity Strategy and Right to Information.
In relation to implement various activities and enhance people’s knowledge and capacity, the project develops several reports and documents including event end reports, training manuals and handouts for both the civil servants and CSOs, assignment completion report, to name a few. The project, in line with European Union Communication and Visibility Guideline and the government messages around those four policy instruments (Citizen Charter, Grievance Redress System, National Integrity Strategy and Right to Information), produces numerous communications materials including contents development for print, electronica and social media.
Ensuring accuracy of all materials produced and its consistency with the government priorities and policy instruments, is a priority for this project. At this contextual condition, the project is looking for services of an individual professional or couple of Individuals (depending on the qualifications) for Report Writing, Editing and Proofreading in English having strong experience in producing, editing, and proofreading high quality reports in English.
Objectives of this assignment:
The overall objective of this assignment is to support the project and its stakeholders including government training institutions to produce high quality reports at the end of events or at the end of assignment. Attend different events, take notes, and produce end of event reports for the project.
Objective also includes assisting different result areas in editing, proofreading, formatting, and finalizing necessary documents produced in English.
Scope of work:
The Consultant will review and edit all documents/reports and ensure accuracy in terms of grammar, style, spelling, formatting, and punctuation, with a view to strengthening overall clarity and quality of writing. In rare cases, the editor may need to be involved in substantively revising documents. Following are some specific scopes of this assignment mentioned –
- Event reports - Attend different events, take notes, and produce high quality end of event report, (or using a recording of an event to design the report).
- Support to Project Staff - Support P4D staff in producing high quality reports. Edit, proofread, and finalise documents where necessary. It may also include editing existing reports (from training institutions or our staff) to improve the overall quality, mistakes, errors, language quality, and ensure comprehensive coverage of all aspects of an event or activity
The consult must:
- Finalise all documents after editing, proofreading,
- Keep track of all comments from different people and ensure incorporation as applicable,
- Edit and finalise all documents produced in English to confirm grammatical and factual accuracy, consistency, and logical format.
- Ensure that all content is free of spelling mistakes, and professionally and logically presented removing redundant content.
- Ensure use of gender and culturally sensitive language in the document.
- Ensure the messages in the documents are in line with the government messaging priority on policy instruments.
- Use easy understandable sentences for CSOs, community people and other stakeholders to grasp the effectiveness of such documents.
- In collaboration with responsible staff, guide the drafts through fact-checking and copy-editing processes and track responses to queries; edit and review final copy of report or document.
Estimated duration of contract and work schedule:
This is a requirement-based assignment, not a full-time job, however, based on priority and emergency sometimes this may become a fulltime responsibility. The work needs to be done against an approved Work Plan and the duration of the contract is till 31 May 2023. Specific deliverables and time frame are determined based on the requirements of result areas or activities or the purpose of the development of the document.
Reporting:
The consultant/s will closely coordinate with the members of the Senior Management Team and will work in collaboration with other relevant P4D staff.
Person specifications:
I. Academic Qualifications:
- Minimum graduation in English, Journalism, Communication, Public Administration, or any Social Science related field.
II. Experience:
- Minimum 7 years relevant experience of writing, editing and proofreading reports, communication materials, training materials among others.
- Experience working directly with the government on policy issues.
- Experience working with development partners, CSOs, NGOs and other stakeholders.
- Excellent writing capacity in English, knowledge of Bangla is not a mandatory.
III. Competencies:
- Fluency in speaking and writing in English is a must. Knowledge of Bangla is not mandatory.
- Sound understanding of grammar, sentence structure and spelling and technical wording.
- Solid editorial skills with demonstrated ability for logical and analytical writing and editing.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and produce quality work in a short time, within deadlines and under pressure.
- Ability to work independently and remotely (online).
- Computer proficiency including Internet and Microsoft Office.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
- Good understanding of the transparency and governance issues is preferred.
10. Contractual arrangements:
This position is to be contracted by the British Council under consultancy modality. The TOR is subject to update and modifications as per project requirement.
Application process:
Interested candidates are requested to submit their detailed CV along with a one-page cover letter to shariful.haque@bd.britishcouncil.org by 30 June 2022.
In the cover letter, please mention your expected consultancy fees/daily rate/per word/page rate.
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