Background

This document outlines the Scope of Work (SOW) for an expert or firm to support disinformation awareness and media and information literacy activities with the National Democracy Institute (NDI) under USAID’s Strong and Inclusive Maldivian Democracy (SIMD) program.

At present, there is a lack of literature on dis/misinformation, social media, and the information space more broadly in the Maldivian context. To develop this area of research, in early 2021 NDI conducted an assessment of the information landscape in the Maldives to provide greater insight into the types and targets of mis/disinformation, and developed recommendations for government, civil society, and the media. Drawing on the assessment’s findings, in 2021 NDI conducted an introductory media literacy and disinformation awareness raising workshops with journalists, civil society and the civic tech community. As a prominent issue in the Maldives, NDI introduced participants to the ways in which mis/disinformation is developed, used and incentivized, as well as different tools available to tackle the issue.

Building on these workshops, NDI seeks a consultant or firm to contextualize a media literacy and disinformation training manual design and conduct a three-day Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop with approximately 10 local participants with a background in the area of media and civil society to build their capacity to train Malidian citizens on the issue. The workshops will not only build the capacity of the participants on the topic at hand, but also how to effectively present information, lead discussions and activities that reinforce learning and develop their ability to respond to questions that may be directed to them in future. The overall content of this training will include the theoretical foundation of media literacy, current challenges, the infodemic phenomenon, and the ways to counter it. The training will also provide participants with case studies and examples, and ways to deliver the content to different audiences.

In addition to the ToT, the consultant or firm will conduct two half-day workshops with staff from the state public broadcaster, Public Service Media (PSM), including their content developers, journalists and presenters on identifying dis/misinformation and countering it.

Pending the COVID-19 situation in-country, these trainings will be conducted in-person in the Maldives.

Tasks

• Review NDI’s Information Environment Assessment in the Maldives and other relevant resources on mis/disinformation in the Maldives and South Asia;
• In coordination with NDI’s in-house disinformation experts, local and regional partners, identify training manuals that could be updated and contextualized for the Maldives. The manual should include guidance on developing training agendas and conducting activities. It should include the approaches the trainers should be using in each session they conduct and have facilitation guidance as well;
• Facilitate two in-person training sessions. One, three-day ToT workshop and two half-day workshops; the training should include basic introduction into media literacy, emerging challenges from the infodemic, tools and strategies to detect and counter mis/disinformation, practical examples of how to deliver the content, and effective methods to promote learner engagement.  Adult learning principles should be part of the training;
• Develop workshop agenda and materials in consultation with NDI and local partners;
• Develop tools to gauge participants’ areas of interest and evaluation of the workshop, analyze results, and assist NDI in developing its strategy for subsequent trainings that the trainees will conduct;
• Deliver a brief report on the training, and provide recommendations on how participants of the ToT could conduct future trainings; and
• Participate in a session on lessons learned and opportunities for further workshops with NDI.

Timeline

The estimated time for this assignment is 20 consultancy days from February to March 2022.

Application

To apply please send your CV and expected rate to asiarecruitment@ndi.org