Website SNV
Terms of Reference for a Consultancy:
Creative Agency to Develop Sanitation Marketing/ Demand Creation and Communication Materials
Overview of SNV
SNV is a global development partner, deeply rooted in the countries where we operate. We are driven by a vision of a better world: A world where across every society all people live with dignity and have equitable opportunities to thrive sustainably. To make this vision a reality, we need transformations in vital agri-food, energy, and water systems. SNV contributes by strengthening capacities and catalysing partnerships in these sectors. We help strengthen institutions and effective governance, reduce gender inequalities and barriers to social inclusion, and enable adaptation and mitigation to the climate and biodiversity crises.
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Building on 60 years of experience we support our partners with our technical and process expertise and methodological rigour. We do this in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia with a team of
approximately 1,600 colleagues. By being adaptable and tailoring our approaches to these different
contexts, we can contribute to impact at scale, resulting in more equitable lives for all.
Management of Water Resources and Sanitation for Medium Sized Cities Project
The Management of Water Resources and Sanitation for Medium-Sized Cities Project in Choma, including Innovative Ground and Surface Water Management in Zambia’s Southern Province, is financed by the German Government through KfW. The Employer and Project Execution Agency (PEA) is the Southern Water and Sanitation Company (SWSC).
Choma, the provincial capital of Southern Province, is a fast-growing town with close to 110.000 inhabitants, a third of which live in unplanned settlements. Overspill and Zambia are two of these compounds, both established in a peri-urban, waterlogged area vulnerable to severe seasonal floods and where access to safe and sustainable sanitation is a challenge.
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation in close collaboration with Posch and Partners (P&P), the Prime Consultant and SWSC, the employer through the support of KfW, is Implementing Lot 4 – Container Based Sanitation and Faecal Sludge Management (CBS/FSM) of the above mentioned project in Overspill and Zambia Compounds. Lot 4 interventions aim to set up a business-driven, climate-resilient Container Based Sanitation (CBS) service chain, starting from the user interface/containment to the emptying, transport, and finally treatment and disposal/re-use, with Black Soldier Flies (BSF) as the preferred waste treatment solution.
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To ensure sustainability and local ownership, Lot 4 also supports relevant local actors, including the SWSC, the Choma Municipal Council (CMC), private emptiers, local masons and representatives of women and people with disabilities, with the goal of strengthening their capacities to fulfil their respective roles across the CBS chain, and ultimately to ensure safe, professional and inclusive services for the populations of Zambia and Overspill.
Background Information
Lot 4 seeks to introduce Container-Based Sanitation (CBS) as a technically appropriate and safely managed sanitation solution for Overspill and Zambia Compounds in Choma. This marks the first structured implementation of CBS within Choma, particularly within the targeted project sites. As such, the intervention requires deliberate and strategic demand creation to facilitate community acceptance, uptake, and sustained utilization.
Given that CBS represents a shift from conventional sanitation practices, its successful rollout will depend not only on infrastructure provision but also on structured social and behaviour change interventions. There is a critical need to increase community awareness on the benefits of CBS, promote correct and consistent usage of the toilets, and prevent misuse particularly the disposal of solid waste into toilet containers, which undermines service efficiency, occupational health standards, and overall system sustainability.
To address this, SNV intends to engage a qualified and innovative creative agency to design and develop a comprehensive Behaviour Change and Communication (BCC) framework and supporting materials. The assignment will focus on positioning CBS as a desirable, hygienic, modern, and reliable sanitation solution; driving household-level adoption; reinforcing correct toilet usage behaviours; and strengthening community ownership of the service model. The BCC marketing materials will be technically accurate, culturally appropriate, and tailored to the local context to ensure measurable shifts in knowledge, attitudes, and practices aligned with safely managed sanitation standards.
Specific Objectives
Building from SNV’s Demand Creation Strategy, develop a creative brief that markets CBS as a desirable, safe, and reliable sanitation solution for households in Overspill and Zambia Compounds.
To design and produce culturally appropriate, technically accurate, and audience-tailored BCC materials that promote household adoption, service subscription uptake, and willingness to pay for CBS services.
To develop clear and practical communication tools that reinforce correct and consistent use of CBS toilets, including explicit messaging to prevent the disposal of solid waste into containers and other forms of misuse.
To create a coherent branding and messaging package for CBS that ensures consistent communication across community engagement activities, promotional campaigns, and service rollout phases.
Scope of Work
The Creative Agency shall operationalize the CBS Demand Creation Strategy through the development and production of BCC materials to promote adoption and correct use of CBS services in Overspill and Zambia Compounds.
Review of CBS Demand Creation Strategy and Operationalization
The agency shall review the CBS Demand Creation Strategy, including defined behavioural objectives, target audience segmentation, and key messaging pillars. Based on this framework, the agency will develop and translate the approved messages into a creative brief that designs and actions clear, compelling, culturally appropriate, and action-oriented communication content tailored to the identified audience segments. All content must reinforce household CBS subscription and service uptake, willingness to pay, correct and consistent toilet use, and the explicit prevention of solid waste disposal into CBS containers. The translation of strategy into messaging must retain technical accuracy while ensuring accessibility and behavioural relevance at community level.
Branding Alignment
The Agency shall develop a unifying creative concept that aligns with the established CBS brand identity and value proposition. This includes ensuring consistency in tone, visual identity, message hierarchy, and positioning across all communication materials. The creative concept must position CBS as hygienic, reliable, professionally managed, and socially desirable. Where necessary, materials shall be adapted into appropriate local languages while maintaining message integrity and brand coherence.
Design and Production of BCC Materials
The agency shall design, pre-test, finalize, and produce technically accurate and field-ready BCC materials in accordance with the Demand Creation Strategy. Materials may include, but are not limited to, household promotional flyers and brochures, posters and community display materials, illustrated correct-use guides and visual job aids, radio spots or jingles and community mobilization toolkits. All materials must clearly demonstrate correct toilet usage practices, reinforce subscription compliance, and explicitly discourage misuse and disposal of solid waste into containers. Final products must be delivered in print-ready, broadcast-ready, and editable digital formats.
Pre-Testing and Refinement
The Agency shall conduct rapid pre-testing of selected communication materials with representative members of the target communities to assess clarity, cultural appropriateness, comprehension, and behavioural persuasiveness. Feedback obtained through structured pre-testing shall be analysed and incorporated into revised versions of the materials. A brief report summarizing the methodology, findings, and adjustments made shall be submitted alongside the finalized materials for approval.
Production and Delivery
The agency shall deliver high quality of all approved materials to ensure adherence to agreed technical specifications and brand standards. Final outputs shall be delivered in both hard copy (where applicable) and high-resolution editable soft copy formats to enable future adaptation and reproduction by the project.
Deliverables
Inception Report: A detailed inception report outlining the Agency’s understanding of the assignment, and its approach for operationalizing the Demand Creation Strategy, related workplan, production schedule, pre-testing approach, quality assurance mechanisms
Creative direction Brief: A consolidated brief translating the approved behavioural objectives and messaging framework into audience-specific communication messages, tone guidelines, and creative directions for all proposed materials. This shall demonstrate alignment with adoption, willingness to pay, correct use, and prevention of solid waste containers
Branding Package: A unifying creative concept including visual identity elements, layout samples, key message hierarchy, and application mock-ups across selected materials. This shall ensure consistency across print, audio, and visual communication products.
Draft BCC Materials: Submission of draft versions of all proposed BCC materials for technical review and approval. These may include, but are not limited to:
Promotional flyers and brochures
Posters and community display materials
Illustrated correct CBS use guides and visual job aids
Radio scripts and audio content
Audio-visual scripts
Community mobilization toolkits
Visual nudges
Drafts must be submitted in editable formats for review and feedback
Pre-Testing Report: A brief report documenting the methodology, participant profile, key findings from material pre-testing, identified comprehension gaps, cultural appropriateness and recommended refinements. Evidence of incorporation of feedback into revised materials shall be provided.
Final Approved BCC Materials: Finalized, technically validated, and production-ready BCC materials incorporating all approved revisions. All materials must be delivered in:
High-resolution print-ready formats
Broadcast-ready audio/video formats
Editable source files (e.g., design files, scripts, raw audio/video)
Assignment completion report: A concise assignment completion report summarizing activities undertaken, materials produced, challenges encountered, lessons learned, and recommendations for sustained communication reinforcement.
Duration of Assignment
The assignment is expected to be completed over a period of 60 calendar days. The assignment will start on 1st April and end on 30th June 2026
Location
The assignment will be executed in the Overspill and Zambia Compounds of Choma District, Zambia.
Qualification and Experience
At least five (5) years of proven experience in the design and production of Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) materials, Social and Behaviour Change (SBC), or social marketing campaigns.
Demonstrated experience in public health, sanitation, hygiene, environmental health, or other development-sector communication assignments.
Proven experience translating approved strategies into operational communication materials and creative concepts.
Experience working in low-income peri-urban, or community-based contexts.
Demonstrated capacity to develop culturally appropriate and audience-specific messaging.
Reporting and Supervision
The consultant will be accountable to the SNV Zambia Country Director. For the day-to-day operations the consult will report to WASH Governance and Gender Social Inclusion Expert who will provide overall supervision and guidance. Regular progress reports will be submitted as per the agreed schedule.
Payment Terms
The payment terms will be based on the completion of deliverables as outlined in the contract. Payments will be made upon satisfactory completion and approval of each deliverable.
Application Process
Interested candidates/firms should submit their applications, that must include all the 5 items listed below:
Bidder Profile: Document summarizing the bidder’s background, qualifications and experience. If a team of individuals/consultancy firm, all the CVs of the proposed individuals by the firm to work on the assignment
Technical Proposal: the Technical Proposal should include but not limited to the following (5 pages max, 9 point Verdana font):
Interpretation of the objectives of the assignment from consultant’s perspective
Proposed methodology to approach the assignment and produce the deliverables
Approach to showcase inclusion of vulnerable groups (women, people with disabilities, vulnerable youths)
Tentative timeline for the production of the deliverables and number of days for each
3. Financial Proposal: the financial proposal shall indicate total budget estimated in ZMW and present the detailed breakdown of budget items namely daily fee rate (and include other costs, if arguably required to deliver the assignment)
Past Performance: Include three references related to similar assignments within the past five years (max), attaching contact details and evidence of the work produced
Mandatory Requirements
For Zambian national individual consultants: copies of Tax Registration certificate and the most recent tax clearance certificate.
5.2 For a firm registration document: Business license/Certificate of Registration for all, Tax Registration, Current Tax Clearance Certificate and VAT if applicable
Application Process
The complete application must be submitted by 23.59 (Zambia time) on 19th March 2026 to Zambiaprocurement@snv.org and CC echaamwe@snv.org with the heading “Creative Agency for Lot 4 Choma”.
Evaluation criteria
Criteria
Maximum score
1
Bidder profile – capacity and experience of the proposed individual/team
20%
2
Technical proposal – reflecting the understanding of the ToR, relevance of the proposed methodology in relation to the ToR objectives, level of creativity/innovation, and proposed approach to the inclusion of vulnerable groups
35%
3
Financial proposal – relevance of proposed costs in relation to the technical proposal and level of experience/qualifications of the bidder
20%
4
Past performance with samples of previous works in the mentioned areas completed within the last five years – Three references for similar assignments implemented in the past five years
25%
To apply for this job please visit zambiajobalerts.com.