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Social Media Consultant

CSSF Libya Supporting Sub-National Governance and Decentralisation

A UK project to support Libya, delivered by Crown Agents

Terms of Reference:                                   Social Media Consultant

Crown Agents Project:                                108501D CSSF PQQ597 Libya – Supporting Sub-National Governance and Decentralisation

Location:                                                      Tripoli/Libya

Languages Required:                                   Fluent Arabic and English

Starting Date:                                                 August 2020

Expected Duration of Assignment:             August 2020 – September 2020

The Position:

The Social Media Consultant will research and develop a social media strategy for three target municipalities and the Supreme Council for Local Administration. The aim is to enhance their connection with citizens and expand public participation in local governance.

The assignment will be conducted under the guidance of the Tazeez Team Leader and Governance Advisor.

1. Context of the assignment for municipalities:

Public participation is crucial for improving governance and vital for ensuring that government entities discharge their functions effectively. The development of a social media communication strategy will be informed by the legally mandated public participation mechanisms established under local government law as well as all the functions that in practice would require public participation.

Local Government Law No 59 2012 establishes the framework for decentralisation in Libya. It states that councils shall assume 18 functions, authorities and powers within the boundaries of the municipality. However, in reality, only seven of the 18 functions fall under the span of control of the municipalities. The other 11 can only be executed in collaboration or coordination with the deconcentrated sector Ministries or other national entities. These services are either the responsibility of national Ministries (decentralized or deconcentrated sector departments) or other entities operating at national level (e.g. wastewater management, utilities). Some functions still require further amendments to the law to make them operational as decentralized or deconcentrated departments.

In reality, the execution of public services is still largely the responsibility of the central government. The various line ministries prepare sector plans and budgets and contract service providers. Implementation is carried out not by the ministries, but by service providers, mainly publicly owned companies.

The role of municipalities in service delivery is limited. They are mainly responsible for monitoring service delivery. When municipal councils receive complaints and requests from citizens, they can only forward these to the service providers and/or relevant ministries and advocate for resolutions where applicable. However, municipal councils have no authority over the service providers. Their ability to actually influence the quality of services is greatly limited and dependent on the individuals involved and the personal relationships between the members of the municipal council (mostly mayor and deputy) and the service provider.

At the same time, their proximity to the citizens, as well as the fact that they are elected bodies creates expectations among citizens regarding the responsibility and ability of municipal councils to deliver services and/or solve their problems.  This puts the municipal councils in the unenviable position of accountability without authority.

The social media communication strategy for municipalities must take this framework into consideration by enabling municipalities to communicate the reality on the ground to their citizenry.

A particular area of concern and a potential high leverage for change is the low participation of women in local government.

Health issues are also important. Citizens have to be better informed about the health responsibilities of municipalities and sector ministries if they are to enter into meaningful dialogue about the services to which they are entitled.

The social media strategy must address these issues and provide strategies for the municipalities addressing them.

2. Context of the assignment for the Supreme Council of Higher Administration:

Resolution 247 (2018) established the Supreme Council for Local Administration. The Supreme Council for Local Administration (SCLA ) is headed by Dr. Mohamed Ammary Zaid, Member of the Presidential Council. Other members are the Ministers of Local Government, Finance, Labour and Vocational Training and the Under-Secretary of State for Restructuring of State Institutions.

The SCLA is supported by a General Secretariat. The strategic goal of the SCLA is to empower municipalities enabling them to perform their own specialized tasks in a proper manner as required by law.

The SCLA has an approved work plan which concentrates on six main themes. These are interconnected and support each other.

• Spreading the culture of Local Administration
• Building of Systems
• Human Resources / Capacity Building
• Building of Institutional Capacities
• Local Development; and
• Transfer of Jurisdiction.

The SCLA has already proposed some media activities such as awareness raising workshops, TV and media outreach interviews, circulars/regular publications, educational websites, studies and public opinion surveys.

The social media strategy should be complementary to these activities.

3. Tasks

The consultant will be expected to achieve the objective below by undertaking the listed activities.

Objective:

Production of a social media strategy and workplan to support the Tazeez programme’s work with municipalities and the SCLA.

Activities:

• Research the local government communication structures currently existing in Tazeez’ target municipalities –Souk Al Jouma, Tajoura and Al Brega – and whether these include social media.
• Research the communication structures currently existing within SCLA and identify whether social media is already being used and whether there is any expertise within the SCLA to use it.
• Research social media work already being done by donor partners and establish whether there are possible areas for collaboration.
• Assess social media use in each municipality. Identify which social media channels e.g. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp are used in each municipality. The assessment must include information about who is using them; which channels are used to disseminate and information and connect with community members; whether any sectors of society are not using social media at all and may need to be contacted in other ways e.g. radio; and why social media is not being used by these sectors e.g. lack of Internet access, electricity, etc.
• Explore possible areas of support and whether there are any capacity needs such as training.
• Review critical background documents such as Law 59 (2012) or the SCLA road map to Local Administration.  Clarify expectations and anticipated results with Tazeez programme and Libyan stakeholders.
• Identify how social media could be used within the municipalities and the SCLA to improve the general level of civic engagement and information. This must include how to capture feedback from citizens to complete the information loop.
• Assess whether citizens in municipalities could benefit from social media training.

4. Deliverables:

1. Inception report:

• Outline findings from research
• Show how the findings will be incorporated into the Social Media Strategy and Workplan.

Due: Eight days after commencement of the assignment

1. Social media strategy:

Include sections on:

• Overall aims and objectives
• Themes and key messages for municipalities and SCLA (what we stand for and are a part of)
• Audiences
• Channels and tools
• Recommendation on the delivery mechanism

Due: 14 working days after commencement of the assignment

• Social media workplans for municipalities and SCLA 2020 – 2021:

Include:

• Social media channels and tools to be used for target audiences
• Timeline with deliverables and estimated budgets
• Identification of responsibilities
• Technical assistance and training which could be provided to partners to assist implementation and develop long-term capacity
• Contact list of key contacts such as journalists, Municipality Information Officers, Community Information Centres with phone numbers, email addresses and physical location.

Due: 30 days working days after commencement of the assignment

1. Municipality factsheets and SCLA facts sheets

• Produce in collaboration with stakeholders a series of factsheets suitable for distribution to the wider public and other people requesting general information about the Tazeez municipalities and SCLA.

Due: 30 working days after commencement of the assignment.

Required skills and experience

• University degree in Communications or Journalism
• Minimum of eight years’ experience in communications or related field
• Previous experience in social media strategy and workplan development in a similar context
• Excellent written and spoken English and Arabic language skills
• Prior professional experience in Libya

Timeframe:

30 working days after commencement of the assignment.

Total consulting days for local expert: 30