SUBMISSION PROCESS
Bids must be submitted no later than April 20, 2025 to talent@speakupafrica.org and copy kenneth.prudencio@speakupafrica.org with the subject line: “AVOS: Amplify the impact and visibility of African scientists”.
Commitment to Gender Equality and Safeguarding
Speak Up Africa has a Zero Tolerance approach to all forms of harm and abuse. Speak Up Africa is committed to taking appropriate action against human rights violations and exploitation in all its forms. The welfare and safety of all stakeholders is prioritized in all actions and decisions of Speak Up Africa. Appropriate policies and procedures are in place to ensure this.
Only those who share our values and are committed to our Safeguarding Policy shall be considered for recruitment.
Speak Up Africa also promotes efforts on gender equality in line with its strategic directions and institutional values, which are themselves organized around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We encourage our institutional and business partners to commit to the achievement of SDG 5 in line with our institutional strategy.
Speak Up Africa seeks to engage a communication agency to support the second phase of the African Voices of Science (AVoS) initiative. This initiative aims to amplify the voices of African scientists and health experts to drive continental policy and financing goals for research and development (R&D) in Africa.
Speak Up Africa is an African-led, Senegal-based organization dedicated to building an Africa where growth and sustainable development are driven by Africa’s own citizens.
We convene, enable and advocate. Focusing on strategic communications, policy, and advocacy, we are dedicated to supporting African leaders and citizens to take an active role in identifying and developing solutions to tackle the challenges facing our continent — including malaria, NTDs, immunization, sanitation, gender equality and global health research and development.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen significant misinformation around the role of research and development in Africa. We know that communities where pre-existing polarization is high are most vulnerable to propaganda and disinformation. This misinformation isn’t just an inconvenience or misleading. It can have real world impacts on a country’s ability to effectively tackle and end pandemics and other diseases. With this in mind, Speak Up Africa initiated the “African Voices of Science” initiative, which aims to work with leading scientists who champion research and development in Africa to generate an open public discourse on key health challenges and solutions.
The African Voices of Science initiative aims to provide a platform for trusted African science leaders and health experts to share reliable information with African populations.
In 2020, Speak Up Africa piloted the first edition of the African Voices of Science, which united 18 scientists across Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya to discuss scientific and health issues that they are passionate about in the media, building relationships with journalists and inserting accurate information into the local media conversation. This pilot phase countered misinformation about COVID and provided discussion platforms for scientists.
Building on the lessons from phase 1 and recognizing the opportunity to shift from a more reactive to proactive approach to R&D communications, the primary objective of phase 2 of the African Voices of Science initiative is to create an enabling environment that drives continental policy and financing goals for research and development (R&D) in Africa. By amplifying the voices of African scientists and health experts, the initiative aims to increase visibility, credibility, and influence of African-led research, ultimately leading to greater investment in and uptake of local innovations. This platform will facilitate dialogue between researchers, policymakers, and funders advocating for increased domestic resource mobilization and international support for African R&D.
Through strategic media engagement and targeted advocacy, the initiative will seek to shape public opinion, influence policy decisions, and attract funding to priority areas in African health research and development. This will be a two-year project, which will give SUA more time to cultivate relationships with the researchers and identify more opportunities than they had in phase 1. The long-term goal of this work is to position Africa as a key player in global health innovation while ensuring that research priorities align with the continent’s most pressing health challenges.
Importantly, Speak up Africa is working closely with other members of the Africa Coalition on Health Research, Development and Innovation , led by AMREF with the support of CHReAD and SAHTAC, with the mission to promote social and economic development, and equitable access to health products and technologies for the African people by driving domestic resource mobilization; local capacity enhancement; elevation of local innovations and expertise through uptake and utilization; and multisectoral collaboration.
The current AVOS phase 2 will support the following priorities of the coalition:
Speak Up Africa requests a proposal from the Communication Agency which includes the following details:
Proposals will be evaluated based on:
NB: Before finalizing the selection, a briefing call will be organized with the pre-selected firms. This will provide an opportunity to dive deeper into the methodology and approach, ensuring a clear understanding of the project context, expectations, and any questions that may arise, to help inform the final decision.