South Africa
February 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, health, learning and 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 mental well-being, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and economic empowerment.
Young people are increasingly moving to use messaging apps, and in 2018 Girl Effect began testing and building a chatbot as an innovative means to reach girls. Towards this end, leveraging Artificial Intelligence, we created a “digital big sister” to give girls a safe, private, non-judgemental and accurate source for information on topics they don’t feel comfortable discussing elsewhere.
The chatbot launched in South Africa in May 2020, focusing on SRH and relationships and received an overwhelmingly positive response. Now in its fourth year of iteration, and to ensure that we are responding to girls’ growing needs in the country, the thematic focus for us this year, in addition to SRH, is the inclusion of mental health literacy and wellbeing.
Scope Summary
Girl Effect is looking for a graphic designer who will work together with our Create team to produce audio-visual content for our Big Sis brand. S/he will be responsible for designing visuals for the Big Sis channels in static, GIF, motion and illustrative formats.
Responsibilities include:
- Develop an intimate understanding of our brand message and tone.
- Transform and piece together photos, texts and illustrations. Copies, vectors and images will be provided.
- Design posts in different formats; static, GIF, illustrations and motion graphics where appropriate.
- Work closely with the Create team in effectively communicating each post. This will include revising copies to fit imagery and selecting the best format in relation to the messaging.
- Learn and consistently apply Girl Effect’s editorial policies and values, production standards, and safeguarding policies.
- Immediately report any editorial or safeguarding concerns to the Girl Effect Regional Content Director of South Africa.
- Creating work that is fun, engaging, youthful and bold. The work should show an understanding of youth trends globally and the resonant youth cultures within the market we operate in.
- Mobile and user-friendly for the technical context of our user. All our content should be viewable on low-end devices. An understanding of the challenges of designing for low-bandwidth environments and low-end phones would be favourable.
- Upon acceptance of each design or concept, the graphic designer will provide GE with a packaged Adobe Illustrator/InDesign/Project file, and GE will retain all intellectual property rights.
Expected Deliverables
The consultant will provide deliverables per the scope of work. This will include the following:
- Work within brand guidelines to create layouts that reinforce Big Sis’ style and voice through our visual touch points.
- Designs will be grouped by topic areas and cater to various regions and cultural contexts in South Africa.
- Illustrates concepts by designing rough layouts of art and copy regarding arrangement, size, type size and style, and related aesthetic concepts.
- Use rough sketches/layouts for discussion and coordination with the Content Team. – Use Adobe Creative Suite to prepare aesthetic designs for clients.
- Develop an understanding of different design collaterals like social media posts, landing pages, ads, microsites, emailers, etc.
- Creating and delivering graphic designs for various platforms and media.
- Coming up with Unique ideas and Design Concepts according to the content.
Reporting
The consultant will report to the Regional Content Director of South Africa and the Social Media Manager.
Expected Commitment
- The assignment is expected to take approximately 6 months to complete.
- The consultant will be expected to spend up to 20 hours each week on the work and liaison with the create team and other stakeholders.
- The consultant’s assignment period is from 1st March 2023 to 1st August 2023.
Tentative Timelines:
● Terms of reference published: 10th February 2023
● Deadline for responses: 23rd February 2023
● Project commencement: 1st March 2023
Who You Are:
Skills and expertise:
- Fluency in written and spoken English, as well as strong communication skills to work collaboratively with a global team
- A deep understanding of Graphic Design principles and Visual Communications skills.
- 3+ years of professional visual design experience
- Strong sense of photographic and illustrated poster design, creative storytelling, art direction, user experience, motion, and marketing and possess ideation skills that stretch across various communication media
- You have experience in creating assets for youth brands, especially girls. Any experience in health-related content is a plus.
- Strong proven experience conducting similar work for the Development Sector.
- Ability to thrive as a collaborator/co-creator – willing to shape ideas as well as build on the ideas of others.
- Good sense of typography and layout aesthetics
- Excellent working knowledge of design tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and Figma
- Advanced Graphic design, illustrations, basic knowledge of UI/UX
- Good understanding of Adobe Creative Suite.
- Experience working on behavior change communication projects is desirable
- Basic motion graphic knowledge is an added advantage.
- Experience in creating digital content across various formats such as static, GIF, motion and illustrative formats.
Attitudes we are looking for:
- Comfortable with complex organizational structures and multiple stakeholders
- Comfortable with shared decision making
- Ability to be flexible within a fast-paced, changing environment.
- Passionate about making a positive difference in the life of young women and girls.
- A ‘do-er thinker’
- Highly empathetic and context-sensitive – able to balance conflicting needs and priorities decisively
- Mission-driven and cares about making a difference in the lives of young people and vulnerable sections of society
Evaluation Criteria
The criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are listed below.
Technical Evaluation
- Interpretation and understanding of this TOR – 10%
- Portfolio – 25%
- Showcases relevant experience in having done previous similar work with relevant agencies or organizations – 15 %
- Demonstrates an understanding and knowledge of the geography that Big Sis operates in 10%
- Experience and Qualification, share your CV/Credential- 15 %
Financial Evaluation
- Value for money/proposed budget breakdown – 25%
Tax
Applicants are advised to ensure that they clearly understand their tax position regarding local jurisdiction tax legislation provisions.
Disclaimer
GE 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. GE 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 organizational values at the interview stage. 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 equal opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.
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
Proposal Submission
Your proposal, should you be interested, should cover
- Your understanding of the brief and why you feel you are well-placed to advise us on this
- Portfolio
- As part of your application, please include a link or PDF of your portfolio of recent work, highlighting your abilities and experience relevant to the role, with specific examples of how you work, think, collaborate, and contribute to great design outcomes.
- Please note that we are unable to accept any applications without a portfolio.
- Credentials/CV
- Highlight work (if) done in other geographies.
- **Reference-**Provide at least three references for similar contracts with a description of the service provided and the contract periods of performance.
- Breakdown of Costs with applicable taxes and other charges clearly identified in USD. Consultants should provide their daily or hourly billing rate or their proposed fixed fee for the requested deliverables.
- All applicable taxes should be quoted separately;
In the proposal, the bidder must demonstrate an understanding of the requirements described in the RFP and demonstrate how the bidder will meet the requirements of the evaluation criteria.
GE 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.
How to Apply
Please submit proposals, as described above, to [email protected] by 23rd February 2023, 5:00 pm EAT latest. Please clearly mark your email with the subject ‘Big Sis Graphic Designer ’‘.’