Video Production for the Expertise France Projects in Northeast Syria

1. INTRODUCTION

Expertise France

Expertise France is a public agency part of the AFD Group, merging six agencies under the supervision of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter-ministerial vocation. EF offers programme engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. EF operates in various development and institutional cooperation fields, including safety and security reform, post-crisis/stability, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs, and governance.

Expertise France designs and implements projects which aim to contribute to the balanced development of partner countries, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda and the priorities of France’s external action.

2. CONTEXT

Syrian conflict

The Syrian conflict is having a devastating and lasting impact on Syria and across the region. With the conflict almost entering its eleven-year, the needs of the affected populations for assistance, including 13.1 million people inside the country and more than 5.6 million refugees plus their overstretched host communities in neighboring countries, are of an unprecedented scale. In 2013, the Syria crisis transformed itself from a humanitarian emergency to a multidimensional and protracted crisis directly affecting several countries in the region – mainly Lebanon and Jordan, but also Iraq, Turkey, and Egypt – whose social and economic capacity to deal with the ever-growing influx of refugees is all but exhausted. All actors involved in the crisis response agree that this massive challenge requires a comprehensive regional response, not only humanitarian aid but also longer-term structural support to host countries and communities, especially as no political solution to the crisis is in sight in the short term.

Many communities inside Syria face disrupted humanitarian support and quickly deteriorating public services and infrastructure, including the communities of northeast Syria.

3. PROGRAMME BACKGROUND

Expertise France has been engaged in northeast Syria since the defeat of ISIS with an aim to support the transition to stability. EF stabilization efforts pursue backing the third pillar of France’s stabilization approach that involves improving access to essential services and stimulating economic recovery and livelihoods. Expertise France implements three projects in Northeast and Northwest Syria. The projects aim at contributing to stabilization efforts toward sustainable development through Health, Rehabilitation of public infrastructure, food security and livelihoods, strengthening local capacity interventions and capacitating non-state actors in Syria.

Project 1: Health Recovery in Northeast Syria (HERNES)

In February 2024, Expertise France launched the fourth phase of the HERNES project. Spanning over two years, HERNES IV is endowed with a budget of 5 million euros. In addition to sustaining the activities provided under HERNES III, this new phase will also reestablish services at Abu Hamam PHC. Beyond this, HERNES IV will continue its commitment to harmonizing the health sector, empowering healthcare providers through capacity building, conducting operational research, and extending support to other maternity hospitals in the NES.

Project 2: Syrian Area-Based Integrated Recovery (SABIR)

Expertise France has launchedthe fourth phase of the SABIR project in March 2024. SABIR IV will be implemented over two years with a total budget of 5 million euros. In addition to Al Shaddadi and Al Mansurah, SABIR IV will expand its operations to Rweished district in the Deir ez Zor governorate and to Raqqa city. SABIR IV will involve carrying out social cohesion-related activities in the target locations.

Project 3: Empowered Non-Satet Actors As Agents of Change (ENSAAC)

In February 2024, Expertise France started a 22-month project co-funded by the CDCS and EU. The objective is to support Non-state actors in north-east and north-west Syria by strengthening their capacity and their actions, and enabling them to become actors of change, able – in the longer term – to engage in local governance and policy dialogue. The targeted actors include professional associations, unions, networks of associations or activists, etc.

4. PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The purpose of the assignment is to create awareness and ensure visibility of EF’s projects through the production of videoclips. The targeted audiences are external stakeholders and a larger public to which the main achievements of the projects need to be disseminated. In order to reach that objective, EF would like to commission the production of videos demonstrating the three projects’ activities and their impacts on the targeted communities.

5. SCOPE OF THE MISSION AND DELIVERABLES

The contractor should be able to produce short videos on a regular basis. This is to boost communication activities and dissemination of the projects main achievement in target areas. Thus, the contractor must have physical access to northeast Syria locations (Al Hassakah, Ar Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and east Aleppo). The contractor should be able to work independently without logistic support from Expertise France and will be in charge of its own safety. However, EF and its partners help the consultant in facilitating the interviews and accessing to project sites and projects stakeholders and beneficiaries.

• Expected Deliverables:
• Deliverable #1: Three short videos (less than two minutes); showing the outcome of the project activities under health project. Videos should be subtitled, storytelling and message delivery.
• Deliverable #2: Four short videos (less than two minutes); showing the outcome of the project activities under the Food Security and Livelihood project. Videos should be subtitled, storytelling and message delivery.
• Deliverable #3: Two short videos (less than two minutes); showing the project results in related to the empowering none-state actors in northeast and northeast Syria.
• Deliverable #4: Three videos (two-five minutes) showing the project’s main achievements, components, and locations, supported by storytelling, maps and icons. These videos could include motion graphics to show the project results in a more visual way.
• Deliverable #5: Photos: the consultant should provide 250-300 quality photos of the field activities.

All videoclips will need to go through montage and editing by the production team. If required by Expertise France, the videos could include explanatory diagrams and animations. Montage and editing will include Arabic and/or English subtitles and will need to follow Expertise France’s visibility template. Back and forth between first submission and validation of the videos are to be expected so that it means expected quality.

The above deliverables might be reduced as deemed necessary and according to the needs of the communication. As such any change in the deliverables will subject to financial means.

• Timeline

All the deliverables should be completed within two years of the project implementation. The detailed planning will be agreed with the consultant in the initial phase of the mission.

• Budget

The maximum budget allocated for this assignment is 30,000 EUR. The consultant is responsible for submitting financial proposals corresponding to short videos (less than 2 minutes) and longer videos (2-5 minutes). The financial proposition should cover all the costs including management fees, equipment, transportation costs, travels, perdiems, venues for workshops… etc).