1. Background

Oxfam is an international confederation, counting 21 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries.

Oxfam has been working in Iraq since the 1990s with both an expanding and contracting presence. In 2014, Oxfam established its first office in Kalar when the conflict with ISIS began, and the country was thrown into a new humanitarian crisis in an already fragile context. Oxfam in Iraq is amongst the largest NGOs operating in the country.

Oxfam in Iraq's strategy is shaped around 3 key pillars: 1) Humanitarian response, 2) Governance, and 3) Equality. Within each of these pillars, intervention covers the following sectors: Emergency Food Security and Vulnerable Livelihoods, Water and Sanitation and Hygiene, justice between men and women and Protection, Emergency lifesaving support, and Local Humanitarian Leadership.

Project Background

Access to finance and financial literacy is cited as a major constraint faced by Iraqi entrepreneurs and individuals who lack the basic financial knowledge to understand financial services. A Strategic Plan for the period 2016-2020 was launched by CBI which reflected the National Development Plan. It included a strategic objective on promotion of financial inclusion, with major pillars of focus including financial education/literacy and support to the microfinance sector, in addition to digitization of financial services and development of related infrastructure. In line with this strategy, the CBI has set up a unit for microfinance within the payment department. In addition, the CBI has established a Financial Inclusion Committee, of which the President of the Iraqi Private Banks’ Association and a representative of IMFI are members, which aims to address bottlenecks in the inclusive finance industry. More recently, in the past few years useful financial services have been implemented in Iraq including E-wallets services (such as Zain Cash, Switch card and Neo among others), which offer their users a relatively low-cost/low-risk money transfer mechanism, as well as online purchasing service

In Iraq, the level of formal financial inclusion is low. The population displays a strong preference for using cash, due in part to a general distrust of the banking sector following decades of financial sector instability, combined with a complex banking system and outdated banking procedures and services. According to Findex, the percentage of Iraqis with bank accounts grew from 11% in 2014 to 23% in 2017 overall, but only 19.5% for women.

Under this umbrella Oxfam in Iraq is Enhancing Financial Literacy, Inclusive Finance, and Sustainable Energy Awareness in Salah al Din and Nineveh Governorates with a main objective of Improving financial literacy and awareness of the vulnerable target groups on inclusive financial services and green energy products and their financing options, with the following project activities:

-Tailored financial literacy sessions are delivered in in Salah al Din and Nineveh Governorates.

-Trainings on basic financial literacy, adopting solar energy systems for HH and agricultural use.

- Piloting solar energy systems  in the targeted areas to study the feasibility of adopting the green energy systems.

-Events: market linkage events and consultations.

2. Purpose and objectives

Within the project scope, Oxfam in Iraq plans to produce a wide range of products including B-roll videos, video interviews,  and photography, capturing the activities and their impact done under the mentioned project in Ninewa and Salaheddine Governorates.

As part of this assignment, Oxfam in Iraq is looking for a production/media agency or film director/producer to produce videos and photos to cover from the pre-production to the post-production work that covers the whole project timeline (2 months that might be extended for additional 2).

The overall objective of this assignment is to produce audio-visual products to document success stories capturing the impact of the project activities (trainings, research, conferences, field activities etc.).

3. Scope and methodology

To achieve the desired product, the service provider is expected to implement the following:

Videography:

• Produce 4 written success stories and 4 videos (up to 3 minutes)..
• Develop 20 interactive social media posts including relevant photos . The posts will dissiminated through diffent social media channels, mainly Facbook and Instagram.   This will be according to provided schedule on the ongoing activies to ensure captureing the project impact on a timely manner.
• Develop the videos’ overall concept and scenario in collaboration with the Oxfam team, including the script to be used in the shooting and production of the documentation videos, which will cover the project’s outcomes.
• Conduct interviews and shoot/record in the project locations with beneficiaries, partners, governmental actors, and stakeholders. The exact location and identification of actors will be agreed on with the Oxfam team.
• The videos are expected to be recorded with High-Definition quality and creativity, display emotions, tell a story, and be rich with details.
• Children must be excluded from videos for protection and privacy purposes.
• Present draft videos to Oxfam for review and comments, and conduct several rounds of editing and coloring.
• Incorporate the comments and feedback from Oxfam.
• Embed English subtitles in the videos as needed, and identify interviewees' names, positions or occupations, locations, and any relevant details.
• Materials and all recorded contents of videos and photos must be delivered to the Oxfam in Iraq team on a hard disk/or uploaded to Oxfam Box at the end of the assignment.
• Hard copies of the consent form must be signed by everyone appearing in the videos or photos and delivered to the Oxfam team.

Photography and RAW Videos:

• Capturerofessional pictures  for the project  activities as per the provided information by Oxfam
• Products must include project participants and the project different stakeholders, while capturing the envioremnt in which the activites are implemented.
• Products are expected to be captured with creativity, have the right timing and show unique moments, display emotions, tell a story, rich with details, and preferably not show faces unless there is consent from the person pictured/filmed.

4. Deliverables

As per the information above the expected final deliverables are as follows:

• Produce 4 videos (each up to 3 minutes).
• Write 4 success stories. The consultant needs to share the success story template for Oxfam’s input before starting the process. All cases studies need to be submitted in Arabic and Engligh.
• Produce 20 social media posts about the activities and eye-catching photos. All posts should be submitted in English and Arabic.
• Capture professional photos of the aforementioned activities per location. Submitted photos need to be shares with captions on names, titles, locations, and description of the activity.
• All photographed and raw materials taken during the duration of the assignment.
• Hard copies of signed concent forms of the people participating in the vidop and photography prodctuin. Oxfam team will provide a copy of the consent form that needs to be used.

5. Timeframe

The consultancy shall start on the contract signing day and continue until the end of October, in agreement with Oxfam activities timeline for video shooting/recording and photography.

Oxfam will provide a project/activities plan after the contract is signed, where activity types, exact locations, timelines, and focal points are designated.

6. Supervision and Management

The Area Manager, Project Manager, and the Policy, Advocacy, and Communication team will provide technical supervision of the assignment.

7. Logistics and Constraints

Oxfam will be responsible for:

• Actively engage with the consultant during the storyboard, scenario development, and work plan.
• Oxfam will provide the consultant with the draft questions, activities plan, and any relevant materials for their input and consideration.
• Work with the consultant to identify individual information, location, names, and positions.
• Reviewing the products and providing feedback regularly during the project period.
• An assigned Oxfam staff member is expected to escort/support the service provider to ensure a smooth implementation of the tasks and work.
• Exact locations, contact details, and other information will be shared with the service provider by the delegated team member or Communications team.

TOR LINK: https://oxfam.box.com/s/chig6gk58idkpajlh7y49ybv9fduoisa 

The following key technical requirements will be taken into consideration when assessing consultants’ technical competencies:

• Must have over 5 years of proven experience in film/video production and similar products.
• Extensive experience in producing similar work-related documentaries, videos, and photography for organizations to reach local and international audiences.
• Excellent technical capacities and abilities to produce full High-Definition video and photos to ensure high-quality production.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to communicate detailed concepts clearly and concisely.
• Knowledge of the local context.
• High awareness about context and community potential sensitivity as well as gender perspective, privacy, and dignity.

Interested individuals or consultancy firms, with relevant experience and skills based on the ToR, can submit their Expression of Interest (EOI), including the following:

1. Cover letter of no more than 1 page introducing the consultant/company and intention to deliver the assignment. The cover letter should also indicate the consultants’ availability for the proposed period.

2. The technical proposal should provide details on the proposed methodology responding to the ToR and the deliverables; capacity in line with the competencies required for the assignment, including references to experience with similar assignments and providing relevant work samples; CVs of the consulting team directly involved in the assignment, including their specific roles; and three professional referees. A technical proposal should not be longer than 5 pages, excluding annexes, and should include examples/samples of previous similar work.
3. Detailed work plan.
4. The financial proposal includes a one-page budget of the offer, covering all major anticipated costs. An accompanying work plan must be submitted too.
5. Statement on the willingness to follow Oxfam’s Code of Conduct and guidance regarding safe programming.

Please submit as soon as possible the EOI and other documents to procurementiraq@oxfam.org.uk

with the title Production of Videos and Photography for the Financial Literacy project in

Ninewa - Salah al Din

in the subject line no later than September 15th EOIs will be evaluated on a rolling basis until the consultant is selected

All technical questions or clarifications should be sent to procurementiraq@oxfam.org.uk  Interested applicants can collect the Terms of Reference (TOR) at Oxfam in Iraq Country Office starting from  August 27th (during working hours). Alternatively, the Oxfam Logistics team can send the ToR via email upon request.

This invitation to tender has been issued for the sole purpose of obtaining offers for the provision of the services requested against the TOR. Oxfam reserves the right not to enter into or award a contract as a result of this invitation to tender. Oxfam also reserves the right to terminate any contract issued as a result of this invitation to tender as set out in the contract terms and conditions.