Francophone West Africa Community Building and Engagement Partner

Background
HCDExchange is a community of practice dedicated to advancing learning and generating evidence on the impact of human-centered design (HCD) on adolescent sexual health programming (ASRH). We seek to explore, document and assess the benefits and challenges related to the integration of HCD and ASRH in low-resource settings, particularly countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Our work aims to generate evidence that stakeholders working in the field can use to advance and improve design-led ASRH interventions. HCDExchange seeks to achieve this through an active Community of Practice (CoP), primarily centered on youth and powered by a supportive infrastructure.
Learn more about the HCDExchange »

Purpose
The HCDExchange is expanding to increase awareness and explore the use of HCD for advancing ASRH programming in the Francophone West Africa (FWA) region. To drive this, the HCDExchange Secretariat is seeking an institutional partner to serve as a focal point and catalyst for networking and learning, serving a growing community of practitioners, designers, and funders in this region. This partner will build on and align with the work of governments, technical agencies, ASRH projects, design studios, and coalitions like the Ouagadougou Partnership. This scope of work defines the approach and activities to be carried out by this partner. The partner will work in collaboration with the HCDExchange Secretariat to execute an inclusive and collaborative approach that engages all stakeholders including youth and will have additional support from our Advisory Committee and Technical Working Groups. The partner should be dynamic, strategic, well-networked, and based in Francophone West Africa (FWA). They will lead community building and learning work to increase HCDExhange's visibility and understanding of HCD and ASRH. They will also serve as a bridging partner to address the cultural and language gaps between the HCDExchange project and the needs of the region. The partnership is expected to run from May 2022 until April 2023 (with the possibility of extension).

Intended Outcomes

1. Increased network of practitioners driving HCD+ASRH learning and practice and
   engaging as members of the HCDExchange CoP;
2. Increased documentation of the HCD+ASRH work in this region
3. Increased skills and experience applying HCD+ASRH among practitioners and
   organizations;
4. Increased awareness and adoption of quality, design-led ASRH by field practitioners.

Activities
On initiating the collaboration, the partner is expected to undertake the following:

1. Establish a network of practitioners for HCD+ASRH in FWA. This will include mapping out
   a network of past and current projects, governmental and non-governmental
   organizations and experts integrating HCD in ASRH programming and policy within the
   region (such as YUX, YLabs, to augment the HCDExchange community platform and
   community relationship manager (CRM).
2. Create awareness and collate french language resources on the HCD approach
3. Create global linkages for FWA partners with practitioners and partners in East Africa and
   South Asia and key partners in FWA region to accelerate learning at the intersection of
   HCD+ASRH through technical and learning exchanges
4. Form partnerships to facilitate capacity-building (skills and infrastructure) for HCD+ASRH
   within the local context, including engaging local champions and designers
5. Hold a series of events to enhance learning and networking opportunities.
   The successful implementation of the initiative will be anchored on solid collaboration and
   facilitation between the HCDExchange Secretariat and the partner. The HCDExchange will work
   with the partner to set up tools and mechanisms required to establish and sustain the network,
   and to provide frequent updates and reporting to the project management. The initiative will
   draw lessons from the partner’s past and current work and the learnings from HCDExchange’s
   first project phase. The engagement will adopt an appropriate context for integrating HCD and
   ASRH, increasing its adaptability, momentum, and growth in Francophone West Africa.

Activities
The activities will be executed with the oversight and input from the HCDExhange Director.
Additional support will be received from other HCDExchange team members and the Advisory
Committee.

Key activities and Deliverable

Sub–award management

• A work plan outlining key tasks over the partnership period with the HCDExchange secretariat and the advisory committee designed to align with the HCDExchange overall work plan.
• Periodic reporting to the HCDExchage secretariat per subaward contract

Establishing a network of practitioners for HCD+ASRH in Francophone West Africa.

• Undertake a mapping exercise to establish projects and organizations working at the intersection of HCD+ASRH in the Francophone West Africa region.
• Establish a network of practitioners and experts working or interested in working at the
• the intersection of HCD+ASRH and maintain /update the HCDExchange CRM.
• Log all interactions with practitioner discussions, and sharing with the HCDExchange.
• Increase the number of francophone individual and organizational members/partners and encourage active membership in the HCDExchange CoP.
• Liaise with and call upon the support of the FWA sub-committee within the HCDExchange Advisory Committee.

Create awareness and collate resources on the HCD approach and challenges within the region.

• Solicit content, create and curate it for evidence on the influence and value, success and failure of HCD in the context of ASRH programming in West Africa, with the support of HCDExchange.
• Source and submit French-language resources, learning materials, and other content for HCDX online resource repository for HCD+ASRH learning materials.
• Working with the HCDExchange communications team, disseminate curated materials from HCDExchange’s phase one learnings which will be translated into French.
• Closely collaborates with HCDExchange to ensure that the Francophone contributions and resources are developed and translated for the broader HCDExchange community.

Create regional and global linkages for Francophone West Africa partners with practitioners and partners in East Africa and South Africa to accelerate learning at the intersection of HCD+ASRH.

• Work with HCDExchange to integrate and compare learning from Francophone West Africa related to implementing HCD+ASRH with other learning emerging from East/Southern (Anglophone) sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and translate to learning products (e.g., blogs, papers, etc; ) and events (e.g., webinars, community calls).
• Coordinate, facilitate, and document virtual learning exchanges between FWA partners and partners/experts from the above-mentioned regions.
• Work with the HCDExchange Secretariat to coordinate an in-person study tour. The CoP member organization in East Africa will host key personnel from two to three CoP organizations in Francophone West Africa and South Asia to provide hands-on skills-building and support, as well as share and learn from strategies and lessons of implementing HCD integration into ASRH programming.

Form partnerships to build capacity (skills and infrastructure) for HCD+ASRH

• Identify opportunities and experts to co-design and co-implement contextualized and localized skills development, training, and other capacity-building events with local partners in FWA.
• Work with HCDExchange Sr. Community Manager and Communications team to populate and manage the Francophone pages on the HCDExchange website and lead and facilitate French language discussions and sharing of learning and technical materials on the virtual community discussion forum.
• Develop HCD-specific knowledge and skills to youth ambassadors and champions.
• Work with INGO / global actors working in FWA on HCD+ASRH to localize the approach and plan with them accordingly to transfer skills and resources to promote ownership locally.

Experience and Qualification
The firms or organizations applying should have:

1. An established network in the SRHR space, with links to government, FWA donors, civil
   society and academic institutions.
2. Experience in HCD+ASRH or may apply through a partnership between a design firm
   (HCD) and an ASRH organization to deliver on the same. Organizations applying should
   have staff with technical capacity on HCD+ASRH, communications/knowledge
   management, advocacy, and networking skills.
3. Infrastructure for communication, network, technology capacity
4. Possess event management skills and capacity
5. Subcontractor management (for translation or events)
6. Organization / financial capacity to support the grant
7. Availability for one year contract with the possibility of extension.

How to apply:

Application Process
At HCDExchange, we are committed to an inclusive culture that encourages and supports the diverse voices of our employees. We encourage applications from individuals of all genders, ages, sexual orientations, nationalities, races, religions, beliefs, disability status, and all other diversity characteristics.

To apply, please visit the HCDExchange website and submit your expression of interest (technical- to include CVs of HCD and ASRH experts and the financial proposal) as well as any supporting documents as an appendix. The application deadline is 5 pm EAT on March 14 2022

1. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
   Please note that:
2. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
3. We do not solicit any fee payment at any stage of recruitment.
4. The selected partner will have a meeting with the team to discuss the collaboration and engage in a contractual agreement.