Consultancy: Development of radio content and supplementary materials for Parent-Child Communication (PCC) on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) in Malawi

Terms of Reference

Summary

UNESCO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE) seeks the services of an organization to develop radio content and supplementary materials based on ‘Our Talks’, Parent-Child Communication module (PCC). Developed radio content and materials will be used for radio listening clubs which aim to provide parents and guardians with relevant skills to engage their adolescents on sexual, reproductive health and rights issues.

Background

In 2019, UNESCO, in collaboration with Eastern and Southern African governments and civil society organisations developed a Parent-Child Communication (PCC) module called ‘Our Talks’ to be used in the training of parents and relevant community members on strengthening open and empowering conversations with young people on issues related to adolescent sexual and reproductive health. The final document went through a rigorous process of validation and approval with civil society organizations in East and Southern African countries. The ‘Our Talks’ module seeks to provide parents and guardians with relevant skills to engage their adolescents on sexual, reproductive health and rights. The aim of the trainings is to provide parents and guardians with relevant skills to engage adolescents in their circles on healthy and respectful relationships, life skills such as decision-making and health seeking behavior within the family environment.

Since 2020, UNESCO has been supporting MoE to implement this module through a face-to- face approach in nine districts namely, Zomba, Mangochi, Machinga, Balaka, Mchinji, Kasungu, Nkhata Bay and Rumphi. A total of 1,130 parents and 221 young people have to date been reached using a face-to-face approach. The training activities conducted revealed that parents were in need of the capacity to communicate with their children on matters related to adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

UNESCO proposes to expand the activity and maximize parent and community reach through the use of media working with existing school structures. In particular, the activity will introduce radio listening clubs through which parents will be able to access sessions on parent- child communication.

This will be done through engagement of parent-teacher associations (PTAs) to create radio listening clubs and provide a structured environment to engage parents. PTAs will work with Mother and Father Groups to encourage other parents in the community to attend the listening clubs on a regular basis.

Radio listening clubs will provide parents with the opportunity to share experiences with their peers and share ideas on how to communicate with their children while enhancing their knowledge on ASRH and addressing attitudes and values at the same time.

To prepare schools for the development of the radio listening clubs, awareness jingles will be developed. They will be aired on the national radio, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation and private radios such as Zodiak FM and Times FM.

Community radios in different parts of the country will also air the awareness jingles. In addition to the radio listening clubs, UNESCO proposes to reach parents through social media, in particular, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter where radio listeners can exchange views and share ideas. This will be done by creating group accounts specifically on parent engagement where parents with access to social media can engage.

Scope of work

The aim of the consultancy is to develop radio content and supplementary materials based on ‘Our Talk’ module to be used for radio listening clubs. Specifically, the consultancy will conduct the following activities:

1. Development of radio content based on the Parent-Child Communication (PCC) module ‘Our Talks’ to be aired on community radios. The consultant team will ensure that the content is relevant for the local context through engaging stakeholders such as young people, parents, and parent teacher associations (PTAs) in the forms of field visits and / or interviews. Episodes should also be available in an audio file format such as MP3 that enables schools to listen to them at any time.
2. Development of discussion guides based on the ‘Our Talks’ module to complement the radio content, which will be used by facilitators of radio listening clubs.
3. Establishment of closed groups on social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter for parents who are registered in radio listening clubs to engage further with each other and share ideas.
4. Development of awareness jingles, which will be aired on the national radio, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation and private radios such as Zodiak FM and Times FM. Community radios in different parts of the country will also air the awareness jingles.

Topics of Sessions to be developed from the Our Talks module (43 sessions in total).

Qualifications

The successful organization will have the following:

• • A team leader with a postgraduate degree in a relevant field of study such as behavioural change communication, health education, or public health.
  • Ten years or more experience in social and behavioural change communication using mass media with some of it being in Malawi.
  • Strong technical background in social and behavioural change communication in comprehensive sexuality education (CSE); adolescent sexual reproductive health and HIV education.
  • Excellent communication skills, in both written and spoken English.

Interested organizations should submit their CV and a sample of radio content by 26th May 2022 to vacancies.harare@unesco.org

Download full ToRs on the link below.