Terms of Reference for hiring a consultancy firm to conduct a comprehensive baseline study for Norwegian People’s Aid IRI project on the:‘’State of digital media professional capacity development in Rwanda’’.(Re-Advertisement)

Introduction

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), in partnership with the Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD) and with funding from the European Union (EU), is seeking to hire the services of a qualified consultancy firm to conduct a baseline study for its three-year project dubbed ‘’Ijwi Riranguruye ry’Itangazamakuru’’ (IRI).

Context

Like anywhere else in the world, rapid evolution of ICT (Information Communication Technology) and expanded penetration of internet in Rwanda have led to an unprecedented proliferation of digital media outlets, radically changing the patterns of how information for public consumption was traditionally produced, disseminated as well as accessed. Some of these outlets are owned by officially accredited professional journalists while others are mostly owned by citizen journalists, a vast majority of whom are not registered with and hence recognised by publicly mandated media regulators. This reality has widened digital space for media practitioners, digital content creators, citizen journalists and citizens at large to express their views and concerns nationwide. At the same time, access to information through digital media has become a new normal for several millions of Rwandans of different walks of life with access to digital devices and internet.

With an estimated total of 4.9 million of internet users in Rwanda and an internet penetration rate, as of beginning 2024, standing at 34.4% of the total Rwandan population, it is expected that citizens’ interest in accessing information from digital media coupled with their interest in using the digital space to express their views and opinions will continue to grow.

However, the proliferation of digital media outlets has not necessarily gone hand in hand with increased quality of digital content that the public is fed with as unethical and irresponsible journalism in the digital space is looming, putting into question the professionalism of these digital media outlets as evidenced by increasing cases of fake news, misinformation and disinformationas well as hate speechespecially in the digital space which have become legion.

There is emerging evidence from recent studies that digital media in Rwanda is confronted to many professionalisation challenges that hinder its development, one of them being ‘’ the chase for engagement, views and click-through rates’’. Such pattern, coupled with substantial skill gaps, is among others believed to be undermining journalistic ethics in the digital space, and on YouTube in particular. Limited professionalism of digital media practitioners is reportedly said to be sustained by the fact that digital media is increasingly practiced by many self-acclaimed (citizen) journalists with no prior journalism academic or professional training background. This reality points to relevant knowledge and skills gaps faced by most citizen journalists. 

To help tackle some of the above-mentioned challenges, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), with funding from the European Union (EU), is partnering with the Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD) to implement a three year project entitled ‘’Protecting and Promoting Responsible Freedom of Expression, Enhancing Access to Information and Improvement of Digital Media Literacy in Rwanda (PPRFR)”. The project is dubbed “Ijwi Riranguruye ry’Itangazamakuru” in Kinyarwanda or ‘’IRI’’ in abbreviation.

About the IRI project

IRI started in November 2023 and is expected to end on in October 2026. The project seeks to help tackle the issues of limited access to information, limited quality of the content that digital media feeds the public with and responsible exercise of freedom of media in Rwanda.

Geographically, IRI is implemented in 10 districts of Rwanda amongst which Nyarugenge in the City of Kigali; Bugesera amongst the satellite city districts as well as Musanze and Huye amongst secondary city districts. Also geographically covered are rural-urban districts of Gisagara and Nyamagabe in the Southern Province, Nyamasheke and Ngororero in the Western Province as well as Kirehe and Gatsibo in the Eastern Province.

IRI is primarily targeted at digital media practitioners, content creators and citizen journalists, who are officially accredited by competent media regulators and those who are not. This target group will be technically empowered by the project to produce more ethical and responsible digital content meant for public consumption, which is critical for their responsible exercise of the freedom of expression in the digital space. The project also primarily targets different duty bearers, including law enforcers, at local and national levels who will be engaged to better know and observe the right to freedom of opinion expression and press and access to public information. Citizens from different walks of life are equally targeted and they will be empowered to critically scrutinise the credibility of the content out there in the digital space which is meant for their consumption. Targeted in the last instance are specialised digital media capacity development organisations who will be availed with financial resources to address capacity barriers to ethical and responsible digital media development.

At the impact level, IR will lead to enhanced freedom of expression and access to information by digital media practitioners, citizens and decision makers in Rwanda. In a mid-term run, it is expected that this action will result into enhanced capacity of digital media practitioner’s, citizen content creators and citizens at large to promote responsible freedom of expression in the digital space (Outcome 1). Still in a mid- term run, a conducive environment created for a responsible digital media to thrive in Rwanda (Outcome 2).

Literature gaps and study justification

The Rwanda Media Barometer, a scientific production which is periodically published by the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), has the merit of being the leading authoritative source of information on the state of media development in Rwanda so far. Most relevant to IRI’s project work areas from this barometer is the knowledge about the practice of media’s compliance with professional standards.

According to the latest media barometer conducted in 2021, this indicator stood at 57.35%, and was one of the least performing indicators of media development in Rwanda. In contrast, the sub-indicator on awareness of the professional code of ethics by media practitioners, journalists and media CSOs scored very high (at 96.6%). However, this high-performance level does not translate into better respect of the media professional code of ethics (established at 55.6%) let alone accountability and responsible journalism which scores lowest (at 19%), of all other media development-related sub-indicators.

Albeit the main source of official data on the state of media development in Rwanda, the national media barometer still does not disaggregate its findings by digital or non-digital nature of media, hence making it impossible to establish the actual state of digital media professional capacity development in Rwanda.

Another body of authoritative knowledge on critical elements of media development in Rwanda comes from non-state actors and the academia. In 2021, Legal Aid Forum (LAF) for instance investigated the status of freedom of expression of media and access to information in Rwanda. The study commended the fact that the country has ‘’…a good legal framework for FoE {Freedom of Expression} and ATI {Access to Information} that has been informed by international treaties and protocols ratified by Rwanda...’’. Nonetheless, it concluded that “...some laws have been found to conflict, which constrains freedom of expression’’. While this points to the need for further reforms that would guarantee policy coherence, the study-qualitative by design- could not establish how many stakeholders find it easy or not for digital media to exercise freedom of expression.

The same study by LAF on the status of freedom of expression of media and access to information in Rwanda found that compliance by duty bearers with the requirements of the 2013 access to public information law is still limited mostly due to inadequate enforcement of sanctions for non-compliant information holders. Technically, and again due to the only qualitative nature of the study at hand and its predominant focus on traditional media, it remains unclear so far how many people find it easy for digital media practitioners, a vast majority of whom is made of unaccredited citizen journalists, to access public information.

In 2021 still, LAF conducted another qualitative study on the status of media-self regulation in Rwanda over the 2013-2021. The study commended relevant media sector policy, legal and institutional reforms undertaken by the Government to promote self-regulation as one of the enablers of a professional, responsible, pluralistic and economically viable media sector. Nonetheless, the study found that the existing code of ethics for the professional practice of journalism in Rwanda is not suited enough to address the emerging challenges of digital media which finds itself more often in conflict with the law over sensationalizing of headlines compared to traditional media. This reaffirms that ethical and responsible content by digital media is a serious challenge for Rwanda, even more so because the practice of this type of media seems to have been taken over in numbers by citizen-journalists with no prior journalistic training.

The National Media Consumption Survey in Rwanda conducted in 2021 by Fojo Media Institute found that digital media in its different forms (internet, online sources) is a third most consumed source of information in Rwanda after radio and print TV, reaffirming the rapidly growing importance and place of digital media in the country. To the surveyed people of all walks of life, media trust was established as a very critical factor that influences (digital) media content consumption choices. Drivers for media content identified by this survey include impartiality and relevance, capturing of different perspectives, being fact-based and explanatory rather than descriptive as well as being understandable. The extent to which citizens are capable of critically and confidently scrutinising the quality and trustworthiness of media content available out there in the digital space and hence deciding which one to consume or not remains unexplored by action research.

The knowledge gaps identified within past studies about different elements of digital media development justify the need felt by NPA to want to conduct a comprehensive study on the ‘’State of digital media professional capacity development in Rwanda” which will also serve as a baseline study for IRI project.

Objectives

The goal of the intended study is to comprehensively determine the current state of digital media development and professional capacity in Rwanda against the relevant indicators of the IRI project logframe and other appropriate indicators related to access to information, quality of local digital content and exercise of freedom of digital media in the country context. The baseline study will provide data in response to project key performance indicators, serving as a critical reference (benchmark) against which the performance and impact of the project will be measured by comparing the baseline data to data to be collected on an annual basis and at the end of the project.

More specifically, the study seeks to:

• Analyse the conduciveness of the existing policy, legal, regulatory and institutional environment for a thriving digital media vis-à-vis but not limited to relevant UPR recommendationsand other relevant benchmarks as well as imperatives.
• Determine the ease of access to public information by different digital content creators and gauge the extent to what it is rendered possible by proactive disclosure of information by relevant duty bearers in accordance with relevant requirements of the access to information law;
• Confirm the status of compliance by different categories of digital media practitioners with established code of ethics for the professional practice of journalism and other benchmarked professional standards and analyse the implications for the practice of accountability and responsible digital journalism.
• Measure the satisfaction level of different categories of digital content creators with the exercise of media freedom in the digital space.
• Establish the level of citizens’ satisfaction with the quality of local digital content produced by digital media practitioners including by citizen journalists and whether and how it is impacted by their ability to critically scrutinise the quality of digital content meant for their consumption.
• Measure outcome and impact indicators and update the Results Framework (log frame) with baseline values.
• Determine the most critical development and professional capacity needs of the digital media in Rwanda and formulate recommendations for tailor-made response pathways.

Relevance of the assignment and potential use of the findings

The findings and recommendations from the intended study will have a four-fold use:

• Serve primarily as a baseline study against which project desired results at impact and outcome levels will be measured over time.
• Inform NPA, GLIHD and other relevant media capacity development stakeholders to address the challenges facing digital media development in Rwanda and professional capacity.
• Feed into the planning and execution of relevant policy advocacy processes geared towards improved conditions and framework processes for digital media development in Rwanda.
• Inform multi-stakeholders’ efforts geared towards evidence-led promotion of Media and Information Literacy (MIL).

Scope of work

The scope of work will include but is not limited to:

• Geographically, the study will cover IRI project intervention districts although relevant stakeholders active working on topics of digital media development will be engaged at the national level.
• Extensively review existing literature pertaining to digital media professional capacity development, access to information, quality of local digital content and exercise of freedom in the country context and beyond with a view to identify other relevant knowledge gaps worth being closed and refine the indicators against which the study will be conducted.
• Review the project documents, including the Results Framework (log frame), to understand the project design and relevant indicators to be measured.
• Define the overriding study questions that will operationalise the different study objectives.
• Clearly define the study design.
• Design relevant data collection instruments against which the desired data will be collected.
• Define the study population and sample size in accordance with the best industry standards.
• Develop a comprehensive matrix for recruiting relevant study participants.
• Prepare a detailed work breakdown plan and timeframe for each key deliverable.
• Identify the key skillsets needed for each key deliverable and accordingly match the team of experts.
• Develop relevant data collection instruments, ensuring that they meet high quality standards.
• Develop an inception report of not more than 10 pages (annexes not included), outlining in full details the methodology to be applied along with the work plan and composition of the team assigned to different tasks together with their different roles.
• Prepare the necessary documentation to support the application for the study pre-authorisation by the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) and the research visa by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) respectively.
• Mobilise and manage the core and support team that will execute the study from field data collection, data cleaning and analysis as well as findings reporting and presentation.
• Produce the draft and final draft study findings report, ensuring they are written in a practical language rather than hard-to-grasp academic language and that they follow best industry standards as they apply to baseline studies.
• Present the study findings to the client (NPA) and other relevant stakeholders.

Preferred methodology

NPA encourages the use of a mixed study method that applies both qualitative and quantitative design approaches. The consulting firm will indicate the appropriate sampling frame and sample size that meet the scientific standards. The consulting firm is expected to develop a well-suited methodology for all elements of this assignment in their technical proposal which will be finally agreed with the inception report. The final design and methodology will be discussed and agreed upon between the selected consulting firm and NPA after the submission of the inception report.

Key deliverables and timelines

The successful firm will deliver the following key deliverables within the stipulated timelines:

Supervision and quality assurance

The successful consultancy firm will have the primary responsibility for ensuring high quality standards of the impact study process implementation and related deliverables). The firm will functionally report to the NPA Programme Manager as the lead quality assurer of the study process and its deliverables, supported by the MEAL team and other relevant colleagues.

Desired profile of the service provider

The ideal local or international consultancy firm will need to prove that they have been into the consultancy business for at least five consecutive years and that they are specialised in baseline studies and other studies on (digital) media development in Africa and preferably in Rwanda. To this end, they shall submit, as part of their offer, at least two most recent certificates of good completion and two samples of produced reports of similar assignments in the past, accompanied with the contact details of references who know the quality of their work and can testify to their technical and ethical competence. The application must be accompanied by the certificate of registration, RRA and RSSB certificates for local companies/organizations. The international firms must submit a proof of valid business registration and other relevant certifications (e.g. Taxes clearances) by competent authorities in Rwanda or in their country of registration.

Notes: Preferably, the international companies must demonstrate that they have previous work experience in Rwanda and prove their understanding of local context. It is mandatory however, that the international firms must identify an experienced local firm or local expert (s) who have good understanding of local context and digital media landscape in Rwanda and submit a joint application.

Procurement method

This tender follows a competitive tendering method and is open to local and international consultancy companies that have the desired profile as described under section 9.

Evaluation criteria and scoring

A quality-based selection method that prioritises the soundness of the technical offer will weigh more weight over the pricing. NPA reserves the right though not to award the tender to the best technical offer in case no middle ground about the pricing negotiations can be reached.

Technical offer: 

How to submit the offers

A technical offer not exceeding 10 pages, annexes excluded, and a separate budget have to be virtually submitted to nparwanda@npaid.org with the mention “IRI baseline study offer’’ under the subject heading before or not later than the9^th August 2024 at 4:00 p.m. Kigali local time.

In addition, the consultancy firm must submit the financial offer with detailed items, units and unit costs as well as budget notes relevant for each budget line. All relevant costs including travel and accommodation must be included in the budget for the consultancy. NPA will NOT cover any separately costs related to this activity.

Please note that the technical offer needs to clearly demonstrate how the different objectives of this assignment will be addressed methodologically (including the sequencing of the qualitative versus quantitative methodology) and how the different elements of the scope of work will be handled.

NPA will hold prior discussions with short listed interested consultants/firms to provide further clarification to the ToR in order to ensure quality final offers. Short listed consultants/firms will be contacted by NPA for a meeting/ interview prior to a final revision of the technical proposal and budget. Applicants will be notified about their bidding outcome before end of July 2024.

Please note that the technical offer should, in addition to demonstrating the understanding of this intended work, include a critique of the actual terms of reference, and make technical suggestions about what needs to be improved and how with a view to ensuring high-end quality products.

General Terms and Conditions

All rights reserved to Norwegian People’s Aid. NPA reserves all rights to reject all applications not fulfilling the requirements associated to this request. NPA will not be responsible or liable for any cost and time allocated by applicants to the preparation and submission of Expressions of Interest. NPA reserves the right to engage other companies or individual consultants if required.

Any conflict of Interest involving an applicant must be fully disclosed to NPA. When failed to discose any conflict of interest, the application will be disqualfied and no award will be made in such case.