About Plan International
We strive to advance children’s rights and equality for girls all over the world. With a bold purpose of ensuring “All Girls Standing Strong Creating Global Change” and as an independent development and humanitarian organisation, we work alongside children, young people, our supporters, and partners to tackle the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national, and global levels using our reach, experience, and knowledge. For over 80 years, we have been building powerful partnerships for children, and we are active in over 75 countries.
Plan International Nigeria was registered as a National Organisation in 2014 in Nigeria, and since then, our intervention has been focused on basic education, Nutrition, Health services, and strengthening youth and citizens’ participation in governance, livelihood, and creating economic opportunities for vulnerable people and building resilient communities through our humanitarian and development response in Nigeria. Plan Nigeria works with communities, civil society organisations, development partners, government at all levels, and the private sector. With its country strategy, “Girls are empowered to take action and drive change,” Plan International Nigeria is committed to reaching 20 million girls during the strategy period of 2023 to 2028, covering all 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Project Background
In Nigeria’s Northeast region, specifically across Yobe and Adamawa States, the intersection of climate change and protracted humanitarian needs has left thousands of households increasingly vulnerable to devastating seasonal flooding. Despite the availability of technical meteorological data, a significant information gap persists. Vulnerable communities often lack access to reliable communication platforms, and where information does exist, it is frequently too technical or linguistically inaccessible to trigger life-saving anticipatory action. This “vagueness” in early warnings often results in community paralysis rather than proactive preparation.
Plan International maintains a robust presence in these states, committed to enhancing community resilience through the ZCRA Project. Recognizing that technical forecasts alone do not save lives, Plan International is bridging the gap between data and action. By partnering with major telecommunications providers, MTN, Airtel, and Glo, the project ensures that localized, trusted risk information reaches at-risk populations directly on their mobile devices.
The transition from a technical forecast to a community-led response requires a deliberate, nuanced approach to communication. A message development will be contracted for;
– Translation and Localization: By engaging a consultant, the project ensures that messages are not merely translated but are culturally adapted into local languages that resonate with the residents’ daily realities.
– Action-Oriented Design: message focuses on converting “vague” warnings into clear, actionable guidance. This ensures residents know exactly what steps to take before, during, and after a flood event.
– Validation: the messages developed will be tested by Plan staff in various communities. Feedback will be shared with the consultant so it can be integrated into the final draft of the messages.
Overview
To identify a consultancy firm or a consultant that will review flood messages on flood early warning, preparedness, adaptation, resilience, and post-flood occurrences, which will be used on different platforms (sms, jingles, posters), for the Climate Resilience ZCRA Project.
Deliverables
In Nigeria’s Northeast region, specifically across Yobe and Adamawa States, the intersection of climate change and protracted humanitarian needs has left thousands of households increasingly vulnerable to devastating seasonal flooding. Despite the availability of technical meteorological data, a significant information gap persists. Vulnerable communities often lack access to reliable communication platforms, and where information does exist, it is frequently too technical or linguistically inaccessible to trigger life-saving anticipatory action. This “vagueness” in early warnings often results in community paralysis rather than proactive preparation.
Plan International maintains a robust presence in these states, committed to enhancing community resilience through the ZCRA Project. Recognizing that technical forecasts alone do not save lives, Plan International is bridging the gap between data and action. By partnering with major telecommunications providers, MTN, Airtel, and Glo, the project ensures that localized, trusted risk information reaches at-risk populations directly on their mobile devices.
The transition from a technical forecast to a community-led response requires a deliberate, nuanced approach to communication. A message development will be contracted for;
– Translation and Localization: By engaging a consultant, the project ensures that messages are not merely translated but are culturally adapted into local languages that resonate with the residents’ daily realities.
– Action-Oriented Design: message focuses on converting “vague” warnings into clear, actionable guidance. This ensures residents know exactly what steps to take before, during, and after a flood event.
– Validation: the messages developed will be tested by Plan staff in various communities. Feedback will be shared with the consultant so it can be integrated into the final draft of the messages.
Objectives:
1. Localized Alert Design: Generic warnings often fail to trigger a sense of personal risk. By aligning NiMET (Nigerian Meteorological Agency) predictions with specific local landmarks and historical flood levels, alerts become tangible. Tailor messaging to local livelihoods, such as providing specific advice for farmers regarding livestock or fishermen regarding vessel safety.
2. Information Integrity & Verification: In the vacuum of official communication, rumors thrive. Establishing a “Single Source of Truth” is critical to preventing panic and ensuring trust. The messages designed will utilize a multi-channel approach, including SMS, verified WhatsApp groups, posters, and jingles, to bridge the gap in accessing reliable information. Additionally, this will create a rapid-response system to debunk misinformation before it scales, ensuring that community members know exactly where to look for reliable information.
3. Linguistic Accessibility: Science is only useful if it is understood. To move from awareness to action, alerts must be stripped of technical jargon and delivered in the heart language of the community. Translate NiMET forecasts into local languages (e.g., Hausa, Fulfulde) to ensure zero ambiguity. Also, text will be supplemented with culturally appropriate icons or color-coded flags (Green/Yellow/Red) for those with varying literacy levels.
4. SOP Integration: messages will move from providing just a warning to prompting actions. General warnings cause indecision, but having a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) drives results. By providing a clear checklist, the community transitions from “knowing” to “doing.” This will help households to clearly define roles so that every household knows its immediate task once an alert is triggered.
6. Feedback mechanism: a top-down communication often ignores cultural nuances that can make or break compliance. A participatory approach ensures the system is built with the community, not just for them. After the message testing exercise, feedback from community members will be integrated into the final draft.
Safeguarding and PSHEA
In Plan International, one of our priorities is to keep the children and programme participants we work with safe and protected (‘Safeguarding’) from all forms of abuse, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, and sexual abuse as described in our Safeguarding Children and Programme Participants and PSHEA Policies.
These policies demonstrate our commitment to holding ourselves accountable for ensuring that no child, young person, programme participant, community member, or staff member is subjected to harm or placed at risk as a result of their association with us. These policies govern the behaviours of Plan International staff, associates, and visitors who are obliged through Plan International’s staff and non-staff Codes of Conduct to behave appropriately with all people.
Safeguarding and PSHEA are quality requirements for all of our Programmes, Influencing and Communication work. The outcome of this message development workshop will therefore be designed and delivered in a manner that is safe for children and programme participants in all their diversities, which will require an in-depth Safeguarding and SHEA risk assessment, with the necessary level of resources and the flexibility to implement mitigation measures safely and adhere to safeguarding standards throughout and after the assessment.
Requirements for an M&E Consultant
Consultant(s) should submit a competitive itemized budget, covering the following aspects:
- Consultant Fees: Including daily rates, number of working days, and expected costs for team members.
- Social and Medical Insurance: Coverage for consultants and enumerators working in remote or high-risk areas.
- Translation and Interpretation Costs: If applicable, for any multilingual data collection or reporting.
- Miscellaneous Operational Costs: Any other costs related to the successful delivery of the assignment.
The payment will be made in instalments and subject to the delivery of the agreed outputs, as detailed in the Deliverables section.
Further information on the advert, including all referenced annexes, can be accessed via the link below: https://tinyurl.com/4dteemxn
How to apply
Interested Consultants are to send all requested documents in Annex A to this email – [email protected] no later than 9th July, 2026 with the email subject title-
CNSLT/O26/011 – Consultancy for Translation Messages
Female Consultants are strongly encouraged to apply.
More Information
- Job City Nigeria
