Business Development Consultant at Farm Radio International March 2024

Business Development Consultant at Farm Radio International March 2024, Jobs FRI is committed to gender equality and inclusion as a crosscutting priority as well as an end in itself. NOTE: The Consultant should be based in Tanzania, with the ability to travel within the country and fluent in Swahili Terms of Reference for a Radio Programming Business Development Consultant under the IRESAP II Project in Tanzania

A. About Farm Radio International

Farm Radio International (FRI) is a Canadian non-profit organization using radio, mobile telephony and other ICTs to meet the information and communication rights – at scale – of rural and marginalized communities in sub-Saharan Africa. For rural families in Africa, access to information and communication, e.g. about agriculture, climate change, livelihoods, health and nutrition, are critical needs.Our communication solutions are designed to respond to and transform gender relations and the participation of women, youth and marginalized groups at each stage of program design and delivery processes. Obtain more details from the Farm Radio website.

B. Background

With funding from the Biovision Foundation, Farm Radio International (FRI) is implementing the Interactive Radio for Ecologically Sustainable Agricultural Practices (IRESAP) Phase II project from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026. The aim of the project is to further increase, deepen and sustain the uptake and implementation of agroecology (AE) in the context of transformative food systems in Tanzania at national level using a collaborative approach spurred by innovative interactive radio. The anticipated outcomes of the project are as follows:

1. Increased application and adoption of ecologically sustainable agriculture (ESA) practices by at least 1,200,000 women and men, small-scale farmers using quality gender-responsive interactive radio (IR) programming on agroecology and food systems by 15 radio stations (5 regional stations through Participatory Radio Series (PRS) and 10 stations across the nation through the Script plus approach). The 15 stations are anticipated to offer close to 10 million listeners key messages on agroecology
2. Enabling and conducive policy environment established to promote agroecology as part of the transformative food systems agenda in Tanzania and;
3. Established sustainable food systems-oriented radio programming with a potential business model that sustains content provision beyond the project period.

Under the third outcome, FRI will work with 5 radio stations that were involved in the first phase of the project (from 2021 to 2023), to create sustainable food systems-oriented radio programming with a potential business model that can sustain the radio programs beyond project life. Specifically, FRI intends to implement a rapid market research to understand the feasibility of sustainable food systems-oriented radio programming, potential investor interests and capacity of the radio stations to sustainably air radio programs covering agroecology themes. Other activities include training of stations on business and marketing, development of sustainability plans and business engagements which will result in enabling radio partners to sustain broadcasts beyond project life. In particular, it is anticipated that the radio programs will be structured to include partners’ and marketing segments which are informative and advertorial in nature so that stations can raise revenue from various potential investors in agroecology.

Through this Request for Proposals, FRI is seeking to engage a Business Development Consultant to work with the 5 radio stations in Central and Northern Tanzania to implement outcome 3 of the IRESAP Phase II project from 2024 to 2026.

C. Objectives of the Assignment

The goal of the assignment is to work with 5 radio stations in Central and Northern Tanzania to establish sustainable food systems-oriented radio programming with a potential business viability that will sustain content provision beyond the project period. Business Development Consultant at Farm Radio International March 2024

The specific activities related to this assignment are as follows:

1. Conduct a capacity assessment of the 5 radio stations in view of their ability to sustain agricultural programs covering agroecology themes through locally generated revenue sources
2. Conduct a rapid market research to understand the feasibility of sustainable food systems-oriented radio programming and potential investor interests.
3. Conduct tailored training of stations on business and marketing using results from the capacity assessment.
4. Development of individual sustainability plans in collaboration with each radio station
5. Work with the radio stations to develop customer value propositions and conduct business engagements with partners within Tanzania.

D. Key deliverables

1. Market research and radio station capacity assessment report

– To be conducted in Year 1- 2024

2. Business Training sessions conducted with 5 radio stations (2 per radio station)

– To be conducted in year 1 and 2

3. Sustainability Plans developed for each radio station

4. Five Customer value propositions that the radio stations can use

5. 10 business engagement sessions conducted

E. Elements of application

Interested applicants should submit a technical and financial proposal that includes the following:

• Qualifications and relevant experience of the firm/specific consultant that will be leading the assignment
• Clearly demonstrate experience in business development and growth (testing or improving business models)
• The general approach that the consultant(s) will take to accomplish the assignment
• Specific tasks/actions that the consultant will undertake to complete the deliverables
• The timeline and work plan
• Proposed budget (Budget ceiling- USD 5,700)

How to apply

Application procedure

FRI values ​​diversity and inclusion, and welcomes applications from all candidates that meet the qualifications. Women, people with disabilities and members of other equity-seeking or marginalized communities are strongly encouraged to apply.

Please submit proposals by email to jobapps@farmradio.org by March 12, 2024. Indicate in the subject line: IRESAP2 Business Development Consultant.