Request for Proposal Chat Flow Writer (Devanagari and English)

Top Line Objective:

Girl Effect India is currently seeking a skilled writer to create chat flows in Devanagari and English for a chatbot on WhatsApp directed towards parents of 9-14 year old girls, focusing on health and immunization topics.

Who We Are 

Girl Effect is an international non-profit that builds media that girls want, trust, and need. From chatbots to chat shows and 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, her health, her learning and her 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.

Our Approach

Girl Effect uses a branded media approach towards delivering behavioral change programmes.

We reach girls across the world, where they are - online and offline, to support them at the critical moments in life when choices around their health, education and economic future need to be made. 

We use our expertise in behavior change science to motivate and equip girls with information and support to help them see a different future for themselves, act on those choices, and drive greater demand for the opportunities and services available to them. 

Chhaa Jaa in India, Tujibebe in Tanzania, Yegna  in Ethiopia - are some of our youth brands. They exist across multiple channels - digital ( Meta, Google and other SM platforms), TV, radio, print, and on-ground. 

Project Context

India has 254 mn adolescents (120 mn adolescent girls) who require nutrition, education, and guidance to develop into healthy adults. Ensuring adolescents are healthy, safe, educated, and empowered, fuels multi-generational impact and can propel poverty alleviation and growth for the nation. This, in turn, will directly impact SDGs 3, 4, 5, 8, and 17. Investments in adolescent health will help India realize its demographic dividends, as healthy adolescents are an important resource for the economy. Although adolescents have the potential to transform India, they lack the basic resources and agency to do so. They are restricted by poor access to facilities such as sanitation, education and healthcare, as well as deep rooted socio-cultural norms. They are susceptible to several preventable and treatable health problems - early & unintended pregnancy, unsafe sex leading to STI/HIV/AIDS, nutritional disorders (malnutrition, anaemia & overweight), substance abuse, mental health concerns, injuries & violence. Multiple indicators repeatedly show that adolescents (particularly girls) in India remain vulnerable and marginalized.

An integrated health approach for adolescent girls and young women is essential to address their comprehensive well-being. This approach encompasses sexual and reproductive health, ensuring access to education and services that empower them to make informed decisions. Proper nutrition is critical to support their growth and development, while effective menstrual hygiene management is vital for maintaining dignity and preventing infections. Preventive healthcare measures, such as HPV vaccination, are crucial to protect against cervical cancer and other related diseases. Addressing anaemia and other health factors is necessary to reduce the risk of long-term health complications, promoting a healthier transition into adulthood. This holistic strategy is key to fostering overall health, education, and future opportunities for young women.

Girl Effect is embarking on an integrated adolescent health programme to build awareness amongst girls aged 9-14 years-old towards menstrual health and hygiene management (MHM), nutrition, and HPV Vaccine for cervical cancer prevention. The programme will be delivered both online and offline and will target both girls and their parents to generate awareness, social support and positive attitude towards the above health issues.

Target Audience for the online campaign:

• Primary Audience: Mothers aged 30-45 years. [SEC C} of girls aged 9 to 14 years old in urban and peri-urban areas.
• Secondary Audience: Fathers  aged 30-50 years [SEC C} of girls aged 9 to 14 years old in urban and peri-urban areas.

Geographies:

Hindi Speaking Belt: 

Himachal Pradesh | Uttarakhand | Uttar Pradesh |  Haryana |  Rajasthan | Madhya Pradesh | Chhattisgarh | Bihar | Jharkhand |  Chandigarh

Metros:

Delhi NCR | Mumbai | Bangalore | Kolkata | Chennai | Hyderabad | Pune | Ahmedabad | Surat

Campaign  Objectives:

1. Knowledge: Build mass awareness about cervical cancer and the importance of the HPV vaccine for adolescent girls.
2. Educate and Inform: Provide credible information to counteract misinformation and highlight the benefits of the vaccine.
3. Change Attitudes: Caregivers/parents of girls  express positive attitudes with regards to girls getting the cervical cancer  prevention vaccine. Currently parents have very little information on HPV, therefore fostering a positive shift in parents' attitudes towards the HPV vaccine as a preventative measure is a key, where parents and girls increasingly perceive the benefits associated with the vaccine to outweigh the perceived risks.
4. Encourage Uptake: Drive parents to make informed decisions about vaccinating their daughters that drive conversations to our chatbot/microsite.

The campaign aims to reassure our audience and build trust at every stage, and address concerns  so that parents perceive the vaccines as a beneficial preventative measure.

Project Objectives

Refine & Build Tone and Voice 

We are in the process of refining and arriving at the exact tone and voice for our chatbot. It is an iterative process and the chatbot writer would work closely with the internal team to finalize the guidelines around the tone and voice of the chatbot, identifying the media requirements, etc. to develop the chatflows.  They will  work very closely with the Girl Effect team, particularly the  technical expert on HPV  to understand the broad content themes and use the factsheets provided by them as a basis for content development.

Develop Cohesive and Consistent Content for 2 Personas (Mother & Father) as per the brief

The chatbot would need to have two separate tones and voice as per the two personas defined by the internal team (for Mothers & Fathers).The information dispensed would have overlaps, however it is absolutely imperative to ensure the correct tone and voice guidelines are followed throughout, and the product sounds cohesive in these two different persona journeys.

Inclusive of SBCC Framework 

Our work centers around SBCC (Social Behaviour Change Communication). The key messaging provided by the GE internal team would need to be included in the chat flows being developed. The writer needs to understand the SBCC framework to include key messaging in places deemed necessary. The content would be reviewed from an SBCC lens and any finalization of the content will take place only when different internal stakeholders have approved it. 

Tone and Style:

As underlined above, this chatbot would have two separate personas - one for mothers and one for fathers.

Based on this brief, two different tones and styles would need to be built, refined and finalized in tandem with the GE internal team. For now, we can foresee that the Mother Persona should be:

• A friendly, peer figure that is aspirational, relatable and informed
• Mature, Approachable, Empathetic, Encouraging, 1st Person Voice
• Talks to the user, rather at them
• Validates the mother’s anxieties, then supplements with information

Similarly, from our research, we know that fathers would be more inclined to listen to more fact based and expert led information dispensation. We propose that the Father Persona should be:

• Matter-of-fact information dispensal
• More formal, Ask-Me-Anything information desk tone of voice

Our audience may have a low literacy rate and hence prefer audio over text and video over audio. Audio-visual cues are a preferred way of communication.

Guardrails:

1. Do not refer to the vaccine as HPV vaccine or allude to STIs/STDs in any manner. The terminology to be used is Cervical Cancer Vaccine.(Additional guardrails may be provided based on guidelines from WHO (World Health Organisation), Government of India guidelines. Regressive norms reinforcement is a big no no. All campaigns need to reinforce gender transformative messaging. .
2. We are not looking for traditional PSA/ health communication.

Scope of work

Girl Effect India is currently seeking a skilled writer to create chat flows in Devanagari and English for parents of 9-14 year old girls, focusing on health and immunization topics. The writer will be expected to work closely with the Girl Effect team  along with a technical expert on HPV to come up with compelling narratives for the chat flows for the Parent Chatbot and edit and finalize them as required, on the basis of fact sheets provided as a basis for content development.

If you work in the creative industry and are passionate about unlocking the power of girls,  then we would like to work with you. 

Responsibilities Include:

• Ideate and Develop new message sets and conversational flows - including buckets under which various chat flows will sit within the chatbot, focussed on the importance and methods of health and immunization for children.
• Come up with compelling narratives and write flows for mothers and fathers separately,  under each bucket with an aim to educate, inform and build trust amongst the target audience on HPV vaccination and other health related topics using factual information provided by the technical expert on HPV.
• Develop the most suitable tonality and nuance, for both father and mother to drive across GE's message.
• Undertake research to deliver fact first messaging to land the benefits of HPV/cervical cancer vaccine for girls aged 9-14 in particular.
• Work with the internal GE team and finalize the menu item + chatflow names that are suitable based on Ux needs.
• Work closely with the content, design and product team to visualize how these narratives will interplay with each other to present a comprehensive dialogue under different buckets
• Coordinate with the product team to incorporate feedback from a total of 3 teams - content, social behaviour change and safeguarding as well as account for at least 4 rounds of editing, with content being the most intensive one. 

Expected Deliverables:

• Working with the UI/UX writer to develop up to 15 chat flows and message sets in Devanagari and English with required nuance.
• Developing the tone and voice of two different personas in Devanagari and English along with the GE product and content teams and using that to further write cohesive chat flows as per the tone and voice agreed upon

Who you are:

We are looking for individuals who have fulfilled the following criterias:

• A minimum 5 years of proven experience as a content writer, specializing in Devanagari and English
• Excellent writing, editing and proof-reading skills and - with experience creating compelling and engaging content that delivers clear messages.
• Experience in health-related content/behaviour changes content production.
• Excellent time-management and organizational skills.
• Effective communicator and writer in conversational Devanagari and English with the ability to synthesize, communicate and simplify complex language concepts as per the needs of girls and young women from low-middle income backgrounds.
• Ability to be flexible within a fast-paced, changing environment.
• Passionate about making a positive difference in the life of young women and girls.
• Worked with brands targeting SEC C category; Mothers of girls aged 9-14 y.o. would be nice to have.
• A portfolio of similar content writing projects in the health space.

Skills and expertise:

• You are based in India, and primarily work with a target audience based in different regions with specialization in Hindi speaking belt.
• Fluency in Hindi, Hinglish, and English, both written and spoken, is required for this partnership.
• Experience in creating health-related content/Behavior change content production in the field of Health and Immunization, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Economic Empowerment would be a massive bonus.
• Project Management: Ability to effectively manage projects, coordinate teams with diverse skill sets, develop project strategies, and ensure successful execution from start to finish with timelines. 
• Local Market Knowledge: Strong understanding of local trends, media landscape, and cultural nuances to tailor creative solutions that resonate with the target audience in the Indian market. 
• Creative Ideation: Skill to generate innovative and unique ideas aligned with our objectives and target audience, fostering creativity and pushing boundaries to deliver outstanding creative work.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to analyse client goals, target audience preferences, and market trends to develop a strategic approach that drives results and provides effective creative solutions.
• Multi-platform Expertise: Proficiency in creating content for diverse platforms such as digital, social media, and emerging media channels (chatbots), leveraging each platform's unique features to engage the target audiences.
• Storytelling: Capability to craft compelling narratives and storytelling techniques that effectively communicate the Girl Effect message, create emotional connections, and build brand loyalty.
• Collaboration and Teamwork: Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with clients, creative teams, designers, and stakeholders to bring ideas to life, fostering a collaborative and productive work environment.
• Basic safeguarding and digital safeguarding knowledge are a plus.

Expected Commitment

• The project is expected to take approximately 3 months.
• The  assignment period is from September 2024 to November 2024..

Tentative Timelines:  

• Terms of reference published - 13th August 2024
• Deadline for responses - 26th August 2024
• Project commencement - September 2024

Proposal submission

Your proposal should cover:

• Your understanding of the brief: A brief document showcasing your understanding of the brief and why you feel you are well-placed to advise us on this Credentials:

i) Please showcase a minimum of 3 examples of previous work relevant to what we are trying to achieve and the audience that we cater to (it need not be a direct example but perhaps the closest one)

ii) Link to your CV and portfolio of work

• Breakdown of Costs: 

i) Detailed budget sheet with the project fee with applicable taxes and other charges clearly identified in INR. Vendors should provide their daily or hourly billing rate or their proposed fixed fee for the requested deliverables. All applicable taxes should be quoted separately;

Evaluation Criteria

The criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are listed below:

Technical Evaluation

• Understanding of Brief- 15%
• Examples of previous relevant work - 30% 
• Links to CV and Portfolio of work-25%

Financial Evaluation

• Value for money/proposed budget breakdown - 30%

Technical and Financial proposals will need to be submitted as separate documents. Financial bids will not be opened until the technical evaluation and then only for those proposals deemed qualified and responsive.

In their Technical 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.

Please note that Girl Effect 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 Girl Effect.

VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for 90 days from the date of bid closure.

How To Apply

To apply for this opportunity, please submit a proposal by email with the subject line “ Proposal for Parent Chat Flow Writer ” to suppliers@girleffect.org and copy to devanshi.yadav@girleffect.org  by 26th August 2024

Tax

Applicants are advised to ensure that they clearly understand their tax position regarding India's Jurisdiction tax legislation provisions when developing their proposals.

Disclaimer

GE  reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, 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 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.

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Last updated on Aug 14, 2024