Consultant to document project’s story of changes (CARE International in Vietnam)

Title: Consultant to document project’s story of changes
Location: Ho Chi Minh City
Duration: August - September 2023
Reporting to: Program Officer

About the organization

Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organisation fighting global poverty and providing lifesaving assistance in emergencies. In over 100 countries and territories around the world, CARE places special focus on working alongside poor women and girls because equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to help lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty.

CARE International in Vietnam is a creative and dynamic organisation working with Vietnamese and international partner organisations since 1989 in over 300 projects. We recognise that the key to achieving equitable development outcomes lies in addressing deeply rooted, structural underlying causes of poverty and injustices contributing to the exclusion and vulnerability of particular groups in society. Our long-term program goal in Vietnam is that poor and marginalised ethnic minority and urban people of all genders, particularly women, equitably benefit from development.

To learn more, visit www.care.org.vn

Project information

The Worker Wellbeing Project (Lululemon project) in Vietnam aims to improve wellbeing and dignified working conditions for female factory workers in their workplaces and communities. The project's specific outputs were to form Empowerment, Knowledge and Transformation Action (EKATA) groups of women garment workers; train and build the capacity of said groups' leaders and members; support collective action of the EKATA groups; merge and facilitate networking between EKATA groups; engage with men to support women garment workers in accessing their rights; organize factory-based activities, and conduct advocacy and training with duty-bearers to support the sustainability of the project.

Furthermore, the project also provides assistance to strengthen the group’s dynamic and follow up the communication with factory. It is also aimed for the long-term goal of sustainability as the groups themselves are able to maintain the regular dialogue and make it a possible alternative mechanism to facilitate issues between workers and relevant stakeholders in the future.

Rationale and purpose

Up until now, the project has witnessed significant changes in term of workers’ agency, voice & leadership; as well as the shifting power dynamic between workers and the factory’s management board. Such incremental change needs to be fully and creatively documented. With the overarching goal to highlight the potential that women workers hold and empower them to better effect the change they desire, the project will produce a storybook by interviewing and photographing to document female workers’ stories of increased voice and leadership, improved skills, and knowledge, and highlight their contributions to their workplaces and communities from the project.

Following the production of the storybook, an in-factory interactive exhibition event will be organized to showcase the stories of the workers and close out the project. The printed storybook will be gifted to key guests in the event. Digitally, a landing page on CVN's website will be curated, featuring the workers' photos and stories, and a press release will be sent out to reach a wide audience, through promoting the exhibition, amplifying the voices of workers (e.g. human interest pieces, stories of change).

CARE is looking for 01 Professional photojournalist with experience taking photos and exploring personal stories, preferably related to the development field, to conduct interviews, take portraits and document the story of 6-7 female garment workers, reflecting the worker's journey and transformation, displaying how the project has helped strengthen voice and leadership, and well-being of female factory workers through dialogue collective actions.

Please note that this consultancy only involves interviewing, taking photos and writing stories of changes. All generated products will be further used by CVN’s team for storybook, landing page, press release and social media campaign.

Scope of work

Prepare a specific guideline on the interview instruction (following CARE’s Most significant change story template) and photos requirement (following CARE’s Communications Handbook)
Capture high resolution images of 6-7 chosen individuals among the project’s core participants.
Caption each photograph with personal stories of change (maximum 1000 words). Stories will use first-person narrative point, reflecting a positive and hopeful tone of voice, representing the voices of various worker identities (e.g. age, migration status, economic situation, roles at work, etc.), and depicting diverse aspects of project interventions (e.g. voice and leadership – self and others, collective actions, knowledge, skill and mindset change, worker collective milestones, EKATA group creation and development, worker – factory relations, etc.)
Review the photos and stories to select and retouch 20 best ones for each person (in discussion with CARE).
A collection of (at least) 20 photos depicting worker group dynamic and activities during worker training.
Provide inputs and comments for final storybook, landing page and press release.

Please note that consultants are encouraged to promote the content gathering journey on their personal social media accounts with messages and hashtags agreed in advance with CARE staff.

Deliverables

A set of 6-7 stories of change in Vietnamese and English of interviewed female garment workers, illustrate the positive changes experienced by the workers in terms of voice, leadership, skills, and knowledge.
A collection of (at least) 20 photos for each of the workers, of high resolution and quality (properly exposed, framed, focused, and edits well optimized).
A collection of (at least) 20 photos depicting worker group dynamic and activities during worker training.
Each collection must cover portraits and story-related context photos.
Signed consent forms of all interviewed individuals

Please note that photos must be credited with specific details such as the location taken, name of the person (for portraits), activity and any other relevant information. Credits are given to consultant while all copyrights remain with CARE.

Tentative Timeframe

For further information about Tentative Timeframe, please refer to attached TOR

CARE will provide all required logistical support such as accommodation, transportation to/from/within project areas as well as arrangement of meetings and field visits for the data collection.
Number of days can be adjusted based on discussion with the consultant.

Selection criteria

Proven experience as photographer/ human story documenter.
Experience working in Vietnam, preferably in development field and with vulnerable populations.
Experience with female (garment) workers is an advantage.
High level of motivation and taking direction, with ability to work in a team.
Availability and willingness to travel as required
Consultant must be based in Ho Chi Minh City.
Ownership or possession of a high-resolution state of the art digital camera/equipment is a MUST.
Having a strong social media profile is a plus

Application procedure

Interested candidates should submit the following documents, clearly stating the title of the Terms of Reference to email: Procurement1@care.org.vn before 5pm on July 26th, 2023.

Applications include:

CV of all team leaders and members that plan to take part in this assignment;
Creative profile;
Sample work (as links or file attachment);
Detailed budget (including PIT and VAT); and
At least 2 contacts for reference purposes

CARE is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse workforce. Women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

Thanks for your interest in CARE! We are committed to each other and to the protection of the people we serve. We do not tolerate sexual misconduct within or external to our organisation and imbed child protection in all we do. Protection from sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse and child protection are fundamental to our relationships, including employment, and our recruitment practices are designed to ensure we only recruit people who are suitable to work with other staff and the people we serve. As well as pre-employment checks, we will use the recruitment and reference process to ensure potential new consultant/supplier understand and are aligned with these expectations. To find out more, please contact the Human Resources Team Leader.

Tags: CARE International in Vietnam