ToR of the Assignment, Alternative Development Campaign for Farah and Badghis

ToR of the Assignment

Country: Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Name of Project: Community - Based Agriculture and Rural Development (CBARD) - W

Assignment Title: Alternative Development Campaign

Duration of Assignment: July to end of September

Implementing Agency: Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL)

Duty Station:

Districts: Khak-e Safid, Poshte Rod

Districts: Bala Morghab, Qadis, Jawand, Ghormach

Province: Farah and Badghis

Reference No: MAIL/UNDP/CBARD /RFP-001

Deadline for the REOI is from: (01/06/2019) To (17/06/2019)

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1. Background

CBARD is a community-based project which introduces and strengthens local production and marketing of traditional high-value crops in 30 communities in the high opium producing provinces of Farah and Badghis. With a stated purpose to prove the viability of high-value agricultural-based interventions in improving local economies in Farah and Badghis as a sustainable alternative to illicit crop cultivation, CBARD aims to reduce opium cultivation and directly benefit an estimated 7,500 households (52,500 beneficiaries). In addition to supporting local farmers with Farmers’ Field Schools, CBARD will build, develop, and/or strengthen existing public and private agro-business infrastructures in the strategic areas of irrigation, transportation, and agricultural facilities. The latter includes the introduction or strengthening of value-adding steps through community-owned cooperatives or established SMEs by building or repairing key infrastructure such as greenhouses, dry and cold storage warehouses, and packaging and processing plants.

CBARD is being implemented by UNDP through a partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) and in collaboration with Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN). It will also be supported locally by District Development Assemblies, Community Development Councils, Non-Government Organizations and the agro-based private sector. Furthermore, UNDP partners with UNODC as the Opium Production Monitoring Agent, and to conduct socio-economic evaluations in the targeted communities.

2. Objectives and output

1. Objectives

CBARD has set the following objectives as per of this Counter Narcotics Media Campaign Plan during the project implementation:

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Alternative Development Awareness

• Increase public awareness of the benefits of alternative high-value crops
• Increase public awareness of alternative livelihoods and Build a positive image of implemented projects by providing information and facts on accomplishments creating trust between public and authorities
• Developments and their benefits in comparison with the social, legal, and health consequences of poppy cultivation

SECONDARY OBECJTIVE: Anti-Drug Awareness

Enhance public awareness of the harms of drug cultivation, production, trafficking and use;

2. Campaign Output

Target farmers’ level of awareness about high value crops as alternative to illicit crops raised

The campaign output is envisaged to contribute to achievement of the overall project objective, and the UNDP development outcome to which the project as a whole contributes.

This counter narcotics campaign plan is prepared based on the CBARD project document and the Annual Work Plan. The media plan is also concerned with the National Alternative Livelihood Policy prepared by the Agriculture and Rural Development Cluster, led by the Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN). The sources of authority for this policy is the “Economic and Social Development Pillar” of Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework (ANPDF) and the “Alternative Livelihood Pillar” of the revised National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS). The ANDS has defined Counter Narcotics (CN) as a cross-cutting issue. Thus, all Ministries and all levels of the government are held accountable for incorporating Counter Narcotics objectives into the legislation, strategies, policies, as well as in planning, design, and delivery of the National Priority Programs (NPP). An analysis of the NPPs was undertaken by Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN) in order to retroactively incorporate Counter Narcotics into each one of the NPPs. Guidelines were developed under this Policy to assist each Line Ministry in the mainstreaming of Counter Narcotics in their respective NPPs. MCN reviewed the four NPPs developed by Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) under the National Agriculture Development Framework (NADF) for alternative livelihood (AL) content, as part of this Policy. The CN mainstreaming activities will continue during the field monitoring and post-impact assessment of the NPPs over the next 5 years.

3. Scope of work

The campaign focuses on general public and primarily farmers of Farah and Badghis provinces to raise their awareness of licit agriculture. The core audience[1] for this campaign includes field farmers, input suppliers, small and medium enterprises, farmer associations, exporter unions, elders and members of the community development councils. Secondary audience include school teachers and students, women farmers and agricultural producers.

The campaign’s consultancy and implementation work will be done by the agency, the scope of work will be implemented in two stages. During the first stage the agency will be required to develop an outreach plan conforming to the objectives above. Subsequently, in the second stage, once the plan is approved by CBARD in consultation with its stakeholders the agency will be required to develop project deliverables and implement the project in provinces mentioned in project location (sec 5.)

Stage 1 – Planning: The agency will provide a plan including the following:

• Goals and desired outcomes of deliverables (measurable)
• Definition of audience
• Assessment of current beliefs/attitudes/motivators
• Definition of specific messages for each component of the project
• Definition of mediums to deliver messages and products designed for the campaign

4. Deliverables

The Counter Narcotics Public Information Campaign Plan, under the CBARD, will focus on key communication activities described in the table below. All the activities will be carried out in close coordination with concerned parties at provincial and local levels.

1. Public Forums

The agency will conduct three public forum gatherings at the centres of each target province with the participation of government authorities, local community leaders and elders, development councils, farmers, businessmen and farmer associations. The idea is to create panel discussions and enable communities reach authorities creating opportunity to discuss problems and solutions.

The agency will prepare plan, briefings, participant invitations, media invitations and moderate the events in all target provinces. The agency will provide reports from each of the events with recommendations on use of the reports.

2. Murals

Hand painted street murals are more impactful than digitally printed billboards that are temporary installed on intersections and can be good initiatives in the provinces of Badghis and Farah. The agency will be responsible to design and paint 12 of murals in project districts, locations for the murals will be selected jointly with the project focal point and the agency.

The murals should depict the campaign hero, a lush farm, benefits of alternative development and create a sense of community and responsibility in the farmers.

3. School empowerment

Teaching agriculture to young, primary school students opens them to understanding how things grow, live and die. From flowers to potatoes, from cows and sheeps to tractors and soil, teaching students about farming and livestock introduces knowledge about how, for example, food gets onto their tables, clothes get onto store shelves, and seeds germinate. Teaching agriculture in primary school classrooms introduces young students to basic scientific procedures and shows them how to apply these lessons to daily life. For example, an agriculture instructor can teach students about how bees make honey, how trees grow and make fruit or nuts, and how corn can be made into oil, role and importance of halal agriculture in society and economy etc…

The agency will produce 1 comic book in Dari and Pashto for school children aged between 5 to 10 focusing on local agricultural practices. The comic should evolve around a farmer family and their lifestyle from the beginning of planting season to yields and selling produce in local/national markets.

The agency will design and print 1,000 comic books that will be distributed in schools of target districts (sec 5).

4. Mobile theatre

Mobile theatres are a good and effective medium of entertainment in the rural areas. The agency will perform 6 of mobile theatres at the town centers of each district. The mobile theatre should be designed to create sense of responsibility in farmers before each crop season and illustrate implications of licit and illicit crops. The mobile theatre should use its effects to dramatize and testify to a keen awareness of pressing problems and their solutions in local communities. Performances should be complemented with local music, background effects and use of exaggerated gestures.

Mobile theatres do not have time limits hence can be an effective medium to convey the key message of growing licit crops to targeted communities.

The agency should conduct interviews based on questionnaires at the end of each mobile theatre performance to evaluate the effectiveness of each visit/performance.

5. TV/Radio PSA

Since TV is replacing radio in many urban centres it is considered a strong medium of public awareness and both mediums have audience share during different times of the day. Radio has most listenership among men and TV among women and those who listen to the radio is due to their nature of jobs and location. Having consistent key messages for radio and TV PSAs will have higher impact on the target audience hence the agency should design similar concepts for TV and radio PSAs with one or two key messages and have a placement plan to reach remote and urban areas/population of target provinces.

Broadcasting of 2 – 30 to 60 second radio and 2 - 30 to 60 second TV PSAs with placement plan for two months on local/regional radio stations in the provinces of Badghis and Farah.

The agency will provide broadcasting certificate with media monitoring of both radio and TV PSAs.

6. Social Media

The agency will develop a social media schedule that will enable the project to have regular posts on its facebook and twitter pages during the implementation phase of the media campaign. The agency will use the key messages from the media campaign and produce new content tailored to target the project’s stakeholders. The agency will produce at least 45 social media posts in Dari, English and Pashto with schedule for twitter and facebook.

7. Campaign Report

The agency will provide hard copy documentation for the implementation of the media campaign including media monitoring reports for TV and Radio PSAs, signed and stamped evidence for the public gatherings and dissemination of printed materials. The agency will also analyze the results of the media campaign in targeted provinces and provide comprehensive recommendations to project on its activities and future media campaigns.

5. Project location

Farah
Districts: Khak-e Safid, Poshte Rod

Badghis
Districts: Bala Morghab, Qadis, Jawand, Ghormach

6. Project Duration

CBARD intends to launch the campaign jointly with the agency during the months of July to end of September. This duration includes planning and implementation stages.

[1] CBARD will provide demographic profile of its stakeholders and target audience.