1. Overview of our organization
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world's largest humanitarian network that reaches 150 million people in 192 National Societies through the work of over 13,7 million volunteers.
Together, we act before, during and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. We do so without discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions.
Guided by Strategy 2020 – our collective plan of action to tackle the major humanitarian and development challenges of this decade – we continue ‘saving lives and changing minds’ by focusing our work in three key areas: 1) disaster response and recovery, 2) development and
3) promoting social inclusion and peace.
Our strength is in our volunteer network, our community-based expertise and our ability to give a global voice to vulnerable people. By improving humanitarian standards, working as partners in development, responding to disasters, supporting healthier and safer communities, we help reduce vulnerabilities, strengthen resilience and foster a culture of peace around the world.
The European Union and its Member States are the world’s leading donor of humanitarian aid. Through its Civil Protection and Humanitarian aid Operations department (ECHO), the European Union helps millions of victims of conflict and disasters every year. With headquarters in Brussels and a global network of field offices, the EU provides assistance to the most vulnerable people on the basis of humanitarian needs.
2. Introduction to Emergency Social Safety Network (ESSN) in Turkey
Eight years into the conflict in Syria, an estimated 5.6 million Syrians are registered as refugees in neighbouring countries, and more than 6.2 million are internally displaced inside Syria. In Turkey, there are an estimated 4 million refugees, of whom 3.6 million are Syrian.
Through the ESSN (https://ec.europa.eu/echo/essn_en) programme, IFRC and the Turkish Red Crescent will provide families with approximately €18 (120TL) a month through prepaid cards. In addition, families will receive quarterly additional allowances based on family size, along with monthly payments to beneficiaries with disabilities.
For the past three years, the World Food Programme (WFP), in partnership with the Turkish Red Crescent Society, has been implementing the ESSN programme in Turkey. At the moment, ESSN programme helps more than 1.7 million refugees meet their basic needs, such as food, rent or medicine.
The funding for ESSN programme has been provided by the European Union’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations https://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en) (ECHO) department under the EU’s Facility for Refugees in Turkey (https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/news_corner/migration_en) since 2016. The ESSN scheme is the single largest humanitarian project in the history of the EU.
IFRC will be the lead partner for the next phase of the ESSN programme. The Turkish Red Crescent will remain the operational partner of the ESSN programme; the implementation of the programme will be done in close cooperation with the Turkish Government. The first cash transfer by IFRC is scheduled for April 2020.
An estimated 300 Turkish Red Crescent staff will be involved in the programme, ensuring close engagement with communities throughout its duration.
3. Scope of work
We are looking for a communications agency that will help us raise the awareness of citizens in EU member states about the Emergency Social Safety Network (ESSN) programme, which helps the most vulnerable refugees in Turkey meet their basic needs.
More particularly, we are looking for an agency to:
- Develop and deliver a targeted digital awareness-raising campaign;
- Partner up with a digital platform to optimize engagement.
3.1. Objectives
The overarching objective of the campaign is to raise EU (and Turkish) citizens’ awareness that the European Union, in partnership with the IFRC, supports refugees in Turkey.
The specific objectives of the campaign include:
1) Highlight the positive results of the EU’s support to refugees in Turkey;
2) Raise citizens’ awareness that, with the EU’s help, the lives and dignity of refugees in Turkey are improved;
3) Generate greater awareness among citizens of the humanitarian needs of refugees in Turkey, to which the EU, in partnership with the IFRC, is helping respond;
4) Increase empathy among citizens for refugees who fled war and found refuge in Turkey, which is hosting almost 4 million refugees.
3.2. Identification of key audiences
1) Primary audience: EU citizens Based on audience attitudes toward refugee-related issues and the outreach potential and/or mobilization potential of Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies, the awareness-raising campaign will focus on at least four EU member states in particular; geographical balance must be considered. 2) Secondary audience: Turkish citizens.
3.3. Key messages
The main message of the campaign is that the European Union (i.e. European taxpayers), in partnership with IFRC, is supporting refugees from Syria. The key messages of the campaign should be delivered in a creative and appealing way, reaching out to the audience in a simple and emotional way.
1) The EU-funded humanitarian aid programmes are supporting vulnerable refugees in Turkey.
2) The ESSN programme helps refugees rebuild independence and dignity. They have the power of choice to address their families’ essential needs.
3) The partnership between the EU and IFRC brings tangible results and continues to improve the lives of more than 1.7 million vulnerable refugees.
4) ESSN is the largest humanitarian project in the history of the European Union. This is a signal of solidarity with Turkey, which is hosting nearly 4 million refugees.
3.4. Deliverables
1) Digital awareness-raising campaign
The communications agency is to develop and deliver an impactful and compelling digital awareness-raising campaign, which shows how the EU-funded ESSN programme contributes to strengthening the dignity and wellbeing of refugees in Turkey.
More specifically, the agency is to develop and deliver a compelling and creative campaign concept running mostly on digital platforms (and focusing on a selection of at least four EU member states).
The campaign is due to start in early September 2020 and stretch over a two-month period. The campaign concept should include the following components:
1) Recommended primary target audiences, rationale that led to the selection of these audiences, expected reach, engagement, tonality and sentiment change;
2) Key messages;
3) A multimedia content production plan to run over the two-month period of the campaign; it must be noted that the agency is responsible for the production of content in English and Turkish, but also in the official languages of at least four EU member states (see 3.2.); in addition, the content must be tailored to the various audiences that the campaign seeks to target; a one-size-fits-all campaign is unlikely to be successful, insofar as Turkish citizens’ attitude and sentiment toward Syrian refugees is likely to be quite different from EU member states’ attitude. The same is true when it comes to EU member states: a country like Greece is likely to have a very different sentiment toward Syrian refugees compared to Portugal, for instance;
4) An influencer strategy (including at least four European influencers and one Turkish influencer);
5) A media outreach plan;
6) A digital outreach and advertising plan;
7) A monitoring, evaluation and reporting plan (including success indicators). When elaborating the campaign concept, the agency must take ECHO’s visibility guidelines in consideration.
2) At least one partnership with a major online platform
The agency is to set up and implement at least one partnership scheme with a major online platform in order to optimize citizens’ engagement across the European Union. The partnership scheme should include content production and publication.
4. Monitoring, evaluation and reporting
The agency will propose and set up a monitoring system, a reporting timeline and structure. The awareness-raising campaign will include a set of success indicators in order to measure and assess impact.
The success of the digital awareness-raising campaign should be measured by both sentiment analysis and audience engagement. As to the partnership with a major online platform, its success will be measured by the number of articles/reports published/broadcast and the audience reached.
The campaign will have a half-way campaign report and a final report to track performance.
It is the agency’s responsibility to submit those reports to the IFRC in a timely manner, referring to the success indicators that were jointly agreed when the campaign concept was approved by ECHO.
5. Time frame
The awareness-raising campaign will start in the course of September 2020 and stretch over a two-month period. More specifically, the following timeline should be followed:
- Communication agency hired and contract signed: April 2020
**- Workshop involving IFRC, ECHO and the selected communication agency (most probably in Ankara): April 2020
- New ESSN implementation phase starts; content production kicks off: April 2020**
- Awareness-raising campaign starts: September 2020
6. Budget
The budget allocated by the EU for the awareness-raising campaign for ESSN Turkey is as follows:
- Digital awareness-raising campaign*: EUR 500,000
*Approximately 70% of this budget line must be used for content dissemination vs content production.
7. Instructions for responding
When submitting your response to the Request for Proposals, please ensure that you include the following information:
Strategic and creative approaches (including choice of primary target audiences);
Implementation plan (covering timeline, project management, quality management, back-stopping mechanism etc.);
Monitoring, evaluation and reporting methodology; success would include the ability to measure sentiment and actual engagement over time: please include name(s) of the social listening tool(s) you are planning to use;
Team composition and qualifications/experience of relevant professional and technical staff (CVs);
Track record of similar campaigns previously run by the agency and evidencing the agency’s capacity to simultaneously reach out to audiences in several EU member states;
Budgetary breakdown.
How to apply:
Expressions of Interest
Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) - Turkey
DIGITAL AWARENESS-RAISING CAMPAIGN
The Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN), launched in 2016, is the largest‐ever humanitarian aid programme financed by the European Union and its Member States under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey.
The ESSN is designed to deliver cash assistance to 1.7 million vulnerable refugees living under Temporary Protection, International Protection and Humanitarian Residence in Turkey and aims to allow refugees living outside of camps across Turkey to cover their basic needs such as food, shelter and clothes in a dignified manner.
The IFRC is looking for a communications agency that will help us raise the awareness of citizens in EU Member States and Turkey about the Emergency Social Safety Network (ESSN) programme, which helps the most vulnerable refugees in Turkey meet their basic needs.
More particularly, the IFRC is looking for an agency to:
Develop and deliver a targeted digital awareness-raising campaign;
Partner up with a digital platform to optimize engagement.
For further information, please see the attached Terms of Reference.
The IFRC invites suppliers capable of providing the above-mentioned service to submit their proposal.
Service Providers who are interested in participating in the bidding process for the IFRC should express their interest by contacting the focal point below before 10th March 2020 in order to obtain the requisite tender documents by providing their full name and address, country, telephone numbers, e-mail address, website and contact person.
International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies
Logistics, Procurement and Supply Chain Management
Contact person: Mr. Imre Barany (e-mail: imre.barany@ifrc.org)
This Expression of Interest (EOI) does not constitute a solicitation. The IFRC reserves the right to change or cancel the requirements at any time during the EOI and/or solicitation process. The IFRC also reserves the right to require compliance with additional conditions as and when issuing the final solicitation documents. Submitting a reply to a call for EOI does not automatically guarantee receipt of the solicitation documents when issued. Invitations to bids or requests for proposals and any subsequent purchase order or contract will be issued in accordance with the rules and procedures of the IFRC.