TERMS OF REFERENCE

BACKGROUND

Three decades after ASEAN was established, ASEAN leaders recognised that: there remained inadequate shared prosperity, ASEAN awareness and contact among people of ASEAN. It was of this concern that ASEAN leaders established ASEAN Foundation during ASEAN’s 30^th Anniversary Summit in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on 15 December 1997, ASEAN Foundation is an organisation from and for the people of ASEAN. The Foundation exists because of one vision: to build a cohesive and prosperous ASEAN Community. As an ASEAN’s body, the Foundation is tasked to support ASEAN mainly in promoting awareness, identity, interaction, and development of the people of ASEAN.

The ASEAN Foundation's annual report serves a pivotal role, presenting its achievements to stakeholders and evaluating results against the annual work plan. It emphasises efforts to enhance ASEAN awareness through people-to-people interaction and support for the Secretary-General of ASEAN in community building.

The 2023 Annual Report will intricately detail the organisation's accomplishments in thematic areas like Arts and Culture, Business Community Engagement, Community Building, Education, Environment, and Media. Collaborating with partners, the report will assess the impact of these achievements on the lives of people in ASEAN.

The production of the annual report helps the ASEAN Foundation to attain effective and efficient use of resources and be more accountable to donors and other stakeholders, to build credibility for the organisation, and to inspire confidence that the organisation is worthy to receive the contribution and investment.

To create a comprehensive and impactful annual report, we seek the support of a capable consultant with extensive experience in developing reports for international organisations and multinational companies.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

A Consultant will be hired to develop the content of the ASEAN Foundation’s 2023 Annual Report. The Consultant is expected to arrive at a strong understanding of ASEAN Foundation’s objectives, ways of working, capacities, and challenges, to create the best possible product. Similarly, the Consultant will need to apply creative thinking and strong writing skills to produce succinct texts that effectively introduce ASEAN priorities and language to ordinary readers, i.e., laypersons.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS

• A content structure draft for the annual report, encapsulating the Foundation's essence within a maximum of 25 pages.
• At least 3 success stories from ASEAN Foundation’s selected programmes
• Two messages from the Executive Director and Chair of Board of Trustees of ASEAN Foundation (max. 300 words each)
• A proofread service for the entire development of the annual report
• Highlight of important impact data of the Foundation’s programmes

TASK OF THE CONSULTANT

In the development of the 2023 Annual Report, the Consultant will be closely working with the Head of Communications under the guidance of the Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation. The scope of work of the Consultant is as follows:

• Draft an annual report’s content structure to be reviewed.
• Collate programme data and develop impact-focused programme reports.
• Develop at least five success stories from selected programmes by interviewing programme beneficiaries.
• Develop ideas for graphics and charts that creatively convey key messages/data in the report, as well as write captions for the photos in the publication.
• Develop two message drafts for the ASEAN Foundation’s Executive Director and Chair of Board of Trustees.
• Incorporate comments (related to content, design and/or language) from internal reviewers.
• Proofread the texts once the design draft is ready to confirm whether the final product is print-ready from an editorial standpoint.
• Finalise the annual report for publication.
• Provide any other support, as needed.

TIME FRAME

The duration of the consultancy is from 29 February to 31 May 2024. The estimated timeframe does not reflect the actual number of days worked but the recommended time needed to complete those tasks. Moreover, it is noted that due to the nature of the assignment, there will be periods of time when no actual writing or research will occur because the Consultant will be waiting for either text clearance from the ASEAN Foundation and/layouts from the designer. Below is the detailed time frame:

REMUNERATION

A lump sum quotation is required including fees for writing the annual report. Payment will be linked to deliverables, duly approved by the consultant’s supervisor, which shall serve as the basis for the payment of fees as per the scheduled deliverables identified in the expected outputs for this Assignment above.

QUALIFICATION, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• University degree in communications, social sciences, or other related fields
• Minimum requirement is three years of demonstrated experience in writing content related to development.
• Preference is for candidates with demonstrated experience in producing marketing material for inter-governmental organisations and international organisations, including annual reports.
• Previous results-based Annual Report writing experience.
• Previous experience in copy-editing and fact-checking.
• Demonstrated strong writing and editing skills and attention to detail.
• Superior English-language skills, of publication standard.
• High level proficiency in standard computer software, in particular, Microsoft Word, and Excel.
• Diplomacy, willingness to respond to suggestions within the review and feedback process.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to engage and interact with diverse people.
• Ability to listen and commitment to produce the agreed deliverables, as articulated by the client.

APPLICATION PROCESS

All interested applicants are required to send application comprising a) application letter, b) curriculum vitae, c) samples of previous annual report work and d) financial proposal specifying a total lump sum amount highlighting deliverables, stating the position with the following documents to:

1. [email protected]
2. [email protected] (Cc)

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION: Monday, 19 February 2024