1. Context:

Search for Common Ground 

Search for Common Ground is an international conflict transformation NGO that aims to transform the way individuals, groups, governments and companies deal with conflict, away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative solutions. With headquarters in Washington, DC and Brussels, Search implements projects from 55 offices in 34 countries, including in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.

Search in Tunisia

Search’s mission in Tunisia is to promote the culture of dialogue and diversity through the involvement of all parts of society while building their capacities. Search works in Tunisia to help members of Tunisian society to address conflicts and differences constructively through cooperation and dialogue. Search-Tunisia works across multiple channels, mainly with youth, CSOs, media actors, and local authorities to build the capacity of individuals and institutions to address challenges including differences and acting on common points. Through this approach and partnerships, Search-Tunisia has four main strategic objectives: (i) promoting peace education; (ii) fostering non-violent social dialogue; (iii) enhancing participatory and inclusive governance; and (iv) transforming violent extremism. More information about our Tunisia program can be found here.  

The Project 

Political polarization in Tunisia has been anticipated to grow online as some groups on social media continue to disseminate fake content and misinformation. Several campaigns involving trolling and fake news were launched on different social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook. These campaigns contributed to deeper distrust between youth and their government. At the same time, compounding this issue is a general lack of knowledge and capacities among youth on constructive civic engagement on political issues in virtual spaces. Amid this context of growing youth frustration, youth disillusionment and disengagement with Tunisian politics must be addressed to avoid a repeat of the 2019 presidential election, in which two-thirds of youth boycotted the election.

Through the “Be Feya9-Wake-up, Connect, Engage” project financed by Porticus Foundation (from December 2021 until June 2022), Search Tunisia aims at empowering youth influencers to contribute to more positive online engagement within their communities to counter and provide alternatives to polarizing online narratives. In service to this goal, the project is shaped around the following two specific objectives:

• Strengthen target youth influencers’ capacities and skills around positive online engagement addressing online misinformation; and 

• Pilot alternative narratives to address the impact of misinformation and create positive online engagement among target youth and their communities 

The project will be working with a total of 20 to 30 selected youth from the following regions: Gafsa, Sousse, Sidi Bouzid, Greater Tunis, Bizerte, Medenine, Zaghouan, El Kef, and Siliana, and who have some digital skills and are able to engage with influential networks online. 

The project will produce mapping information on social media messages and narratives and strategies for youth influencers to address risks and the impact of misinformation. As a result, youth influencers will be equipped to provide alternatives to polarized narratives and will contribute to the creation of an online environment that promotes peaceful voices and positive participation. 

The project includes the following activities:

• Selection of youth influencers to participate in capacity-building and content-creating activities. 

• Mapping (identification) of the existing trends, messages, and narratives online, and who is disseminating them
• Training and coaching of youth influencers in the Search Common Ground Approach (CGA) and digital peacebuilding aimed at improving youth’s capacities to effectively identify and address misinformation, and fake content online. 
• Design of pilot activities focused on disseminating locally resonant online content that can positively influence narratives and transform polarizing attitudes.
• Organization of online learning sessions targeting youth from the local communities of the youth influencers to share their experiences in addressing polarized narratives and fake content online. 

2. About the Consultancy

Search Tunisia is seeking an experienced trainer to conduct a training on combating mis/disinformation in Tunisia for 30 youth content creators.

The external consultant will develop the content of the training with the support and input of both the project coordinator, the expert hired by Search to conduct a mapping on the online narratives that include mis/disinformation in Tunisia, and Search’s global support teams. The content of the training has to include real examples/case studies from the Tunisian context. 

The two-days training will be delivered in Tunis with the presence of the 30 content creators and Search project team.

The consultant will also be responsible for a 1-day content creation session and a  few online one-on-one coaching sessions to support the youth during the phase of content creation. 

The main objective of this training and coaching is to improve the content creators’ capacities to identify and address mis/disinformation and fake content online. The role of the consultant during the workshop and coaching will be to increase the participants’ capacity to understand and identify dis/misinformation and support them in finding the best methods to address the mis/disinformation through their content. The consultant will also be supporting the young content creators during the phase of online content dissemination through coaching and mentoring.

Scope of Work

1. Develop agenda and module content for a two-day training and 1-day of content creation workshop for the content creators on the identification of mis/disinformation online and the best methods to address it. 
2. Design and facilitate a content creation workshop in Arabic for 30 content creators, leading to the development of positive narratives and content to be disseminated by the young influencers online to address mis/disinformation in Tunisia.
3. Develop and implement a coaching plan to provide the youth content creators with the needed support to create the online content. 
4. Design and administer pre-post tests for the training/content creation sessions, collect and analyze the collected data, and incorporate it in the final report.
5. Produce a final report on the training and the workshop capturing key insights, challenges, effectiveness/impact of training on youth capacities, and recommendations.

Deliverable and Payment Schedule:

Search expects the following deliverables from the external consultant:

Logistical Support:

Search will be responsible for organizing all the logistics for the training and the content creation workshop. Search will also be in charge of the transportation and lodging fees for the training and the workshop.

Timeline:

The training and coaching session is expected to start by mid-March 2022.

Budget:

The budget will be determined according to candidates’ profiles and financial offers.

Qualifications and Competencies:

The following skills and experience are expected by Search for the expert in this project:

Education

• Advanced university degree in communication, sociology, Media Monitoring, or a related field.

Professional Experience

• Solid experience in providing training and coaching to youth.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in Media and communication.
• Prior experience working on online mis/disinformation in Tunisia.
• Solid prior experience in social media marketing/campaigning.
• Solid prior experience in online content creation and audiovisual.

 Job Knowledge and Skills

• Proficiency in French and Arabic (written and spoken); English proficiency will be considered an asset.
• Extensive experience with all major social media networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube; 
• Adaptable, quick learner, with ability to keep up to date with social media sector trends and advancements in social media narratives and technology;
• Experience working with international organizations;
• Familiarity and experience with the Tunisian contextual challenges.
• Good coordination, communication (verbal and written).

_Digital Peacebuilding TermsofReference_Trainer