[Consultancy] Media and Communication service

Terms of Reference

Provision of Media and Communication Services (EMPLOY)

Work Package: Gender Sensitive Multi-media Package

Opportunity location: Remote; Ghana (Greater Accra, Ahafo, Ashanti, Bono, Central, Eastern and Western Regions)

Reports to: Project Director

Contract Duration: 1 year (renewable annually, contingent on funding)

Expected Start Date: July 2026

1) Introduction

World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a Canadian non-profit organization committed to building a world where young people — especially young women and refugees — thrive and belong. We bring together a diverse network of students, volunteers, educational institutions, governments, and private sector partners to advance inclusive education, economic opportunities, and durable solutions to global forced displacement.

WUSC currently operates in 25 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, with an annual budget of approximately CAD $40 million. Our team includes more than 90 staff in Ottawa and over 200 personnel overseas, delivering 16 development projects in collaboration with global partners such as Global Affairs Canada, DFID, the World Bank, and regional development banks.

At the heart of our work is the belief that addressing systemic barriers, not just their symptoms, is essential to transforming the lives of young people. That’s why our approach focuses on strengthening the systems in which youth live, learn, and work, ensuring they have the tools and opportunities to lead more inclusive and resilient communities.

2) Background

WUSC with funding from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) are the lead implementers of the Enhancing Market Participation and Learning Opportunities for Young women in Ghana (EMPLOY) project in 7 Regions (Greater Accra, Ahafo, Ashanti, Bono, Central, Eastern and Western).

The Enhancing Market Participation and Learning Opportunities for Young Women (EMPLOY) project is an innovative five-year initiative designed to reduce poverty in Ghana by creating sustainable pathways for young women to access decent, dignified, and high-paying work in sectors where they can thrive, advance, and lead. Ghana continues to face complex growth challenges driven by after-effects of the pandemic, climate change, and global economic shocks, which have led to rising poverty, unemployment, and inflation. These challenges disproportionately affect women, who are often confined to low-paying, insecure jobs in the informal sector, burdened with domestic responsibilities, and underrepresented in leadership roles. Despite progress in women’s labor force participation, deep-rooted gender inequalities persist and limit women’s opportunities and aspirations.

EMPLOY builds on the success of the Global Affairs Canada-funded Innovation in Non-Traditional Vocational Education and Skills Training (INVEST) project, which ended in June 2025. INVEST applied an Inclusive Market Systems (IMS) approach to strengthen Ghana’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and employment ecosystems, empowering 5,000 underprivileged young women in Accra, Kumasi, and Sekondi-Takoradi, and indirectly benefiting over 50,000 TVET students annually. The project significantly enhanced women’s economic empowerment by supporting their participation in high-growth, non-traditional sectors such as electrical and solar installations, Welding and fabrications, automotive, and ICT. Recognized by the Ministry of Education and Global Affairs Canada for its strong results, INVEST demonstrated that targeted, gender-responsive interventions can transform women’s access to decent work and sustainable livelihoods.

Building on this foundation, EMPLOY aims to expand, deepen, and sustain these achievements. It will scale up to reach more young women in seven regions—Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western, Ahafo, Bono, Central, and Eastern—focusing on both traditional and non-traditional high-paying sectors, including tourism, extractives, services, beauty, and fashion. The project will go deeper by supporting young women’s advancement and leadership in wage employment and entrepreneurship, while strengthening partnerships among TVET institutions, employers, financial service providers, Women’s Rights Organizations, and community leaders to ensure sustainability and local ownership. A pilot in Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) will also be introduced to help address childcare barriers that prevent women from fully participating in the workforce.

EMPLOY expects to directly benefit over 20,000 young women through gender-transformative changes in Ghana’s training and employment systems. This will be achieved by improving access to gender-responsive training environments, providing scholarships and other direct funding opportunities to 1,200 marginalized women, and working with institutions to embed inclusive practices into their core programs. The project will also facilitate a smooth transition to work by collaborating with employers and industry associations to promote apprenticeships, job placements, entrepreneurship support, and career development services. To ensure women’s sustained participation in high-paying sectors, EMPLOY will work with communities and employers to promote positive attitudes, strengthen business cases for gender inclusion, and build an enabling environment that values diverse talent. Furthermore, the project will engage over 2,000 intermediaries—including trainers, policymakers, and community actors—to drive long-term, gender-equitable change within the TVET and labor market ecosystem.

By continuing to invest in young women’s skills, leadership, and economic opportunities, EMPLOY envisions a future where women in Ghana can thrive in dignified, well-paying jobs, lead in high-growth industries, and contribute fully to the nation’s inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

3) Purpose

The EMPLOY project is currently seeking to contract the services of a Behaviour Change Communication Specialist to provide strategic media, advocacy, social marketing and communications services for the project. The services will cover seven regions in Ghana – Greater Accra, Ahafo, Ashanti, Bono, Central, Eastern and Western. The primary audience for these communication services is the general public, with targeted focus on EMPLOY project participants (young women aged 18–35), TVET sector stakeholders, and EMPLOY project partners.

The project will require that a range of media and communications services are deployed that are adapted to the information needs and channels through which the above audiences consume their information.

• 
  Specific Objectives:
• To improve public and industry attitudes towards women's economic participation in high-growth and non-traditional sectors.

• To raise awareness of pathways to training and opportunities in high-growth and non-traditional sectors and amongst poor young women (18-35) in 7 regions in Ghana.
• To elevate EMPLOY’s visibility and celebrate stakeholder and participant’s achievements through strategic engagement platforms.
• To amplify locally led innovative advocacy and public engagement initiatives focused on women in high-growth and non-traditional sectors.

5) Nature and Scope of Work

Communications, media and advocacy

• Develop a gender-sensitive multimedia communications package for EMPLOY, with a focus on radio programming and strengthened online visibility. The consultant will design practical strategies, tools, and content tailored to diverse audiences and geographical contexts, with clear implementation pathways.
• Provide guidance on advocacy, media, and communications outreach, including radio engagement and digital campaigns to effectively reach target groups.
• Offer technical assistance to strengthen capacity in radio production, digital engagement, and the use of tools to track and measure audience reach and impact.
• Amplify messaging on young women’s participation in non-traditional trades and high-growth sectors through integrated radio and online channels, using data-driven approaches to monitor engagement across diverse audiences.

6) Key Deliverables

1. 
   Strategy Review and Alignment

• Provide technical support to review, strengthen, and finalize the existing EMPLOY Draft Communications Strategy in consultation with the project team.

• Ensure the strategy is inclusive, gender-responsive, and aligned with EMPLOY’s results framework.
  1. 
     Multimedia Campaign Design and Execution
• In collaboration with the EMPLOY Communication team, design and implement 3 targeted campaigns that raise public awareness about women in non-traditional and high growth trades, while also encouraging employers to actively consider and hire women in these sectors.
• Design and implement at least twice a week structured storytelling initiative, including an interactive radio drama series, to amplify young women’s voices and inspire employers to hire and retain women in non-traditional and high-growth sectors.
• Develop a content calendar and produce communication materials (drama scripts, jingles, EMPLOY theme song, visual assets, captions, interviews, infographics, etc.).
• Manage and monitor radio broadcasts, including weekly interactive programs with featured guests (e.g., EMPLOY Team, women in high growth and non-traditional trades, employers, mentors and other relevant sector actors)
• Track and report reach, engagement, and behavior change indicators through analytics and feedback.
  1. 
     Capacity Building and Knowledge Sharing
• In collaboration with the EMPLOY communication team, train selected radio stations in digital content creation and social media management for seamless campaign implementation.
• Prepare templates, toolkits or guides for continuity and sustainability of campaign efforts beyond the consultancy.
  1. 
     Reporting and Documentation
• Submit an inception report with a timeline and work plan.
• Support the finalization of the EMPLOYcommunication strategy document.

• 
  Monitoring and evaluation
• In collaboration with the EMPLOY project Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) team, develop a monitoring and evaluation framework with agreed upon benchmarks for each of the indicator areas proposed in the communications action plan.

• Prepare monthly monitoring reports including progress in reaching benchmarks (benchmark progress presented in the form of a dashboard) and share with the EMPLOY project team.

• Prepare a quarterly, semi- annual and annual report on meeting communications results (e.g benchmarks and other outputs) and in line with WUSC reporting requirements.

• In collaboration with the EMPLOY project develop a framework for capturing and documenting lessons learnt, success stories, and significant changes from project interventions, and a dissemination strategy for the lessons learnt.

• Mapping out clear messages, target audiences and appropriate channels and tools for outreach.

The timeline for the program is as follows:

No.

Proposed Selection Process Activity

Date

1.

Launch of call for application

July 01, 2026

2.

Deadline for submission of concept notes

July 14, 2026

3.

Evaluation of concept notes

July 20, 2026

4.

Shortlisted communication experts invited for final interview

July 29, 2026

5.

Contracting and Inception Meeting

August 20, 2026

6.

Commencement of Initiative

September 01, 2026

1. Application Requirements

Interested consultants are invited to submit the following:

• Technical Proposal (max 5 pages) outlining understanding of the assignment, proposed approach, methodology and timeline.
• Updated CV or company profile (if an agency).
• Portfolio or samples of previous work (including media content or strategy documents).

• Financial Proposal with a breakdown of costs.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Understanding of the assignment 20%

Methodology and creative strategy 25%

Relevant past experience 20%

Financial budget 30%

Flexibility and responsiveness 5%

APPLICATION DETAILS

Interested applicants should submit both technical and financial proposals (including estimated level of effort) to the link below by 20th July 2026

NB: the proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis

Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted. WUSC reserves the right to evaluate and engage applicants prior to the closing date.

WUSC promotes equality, inclusion, and sustainable development worldwide. All staff, consultants, and partners are expected to uphold the organization’s values of responsibility, respect, honesty, and professional excellence. WUSC adheres to strict safeguarding principles and maintains zero tolerance for harassment, coercion, sexual exploitation, or abuse in any form.