RFP for hiring a production agency to produce a web drama on urban sanitation on YouTube

Request for Proposal (RFP) for hiring a production house for producing a web drama on urban sanitation 

 

About BBC Media Action (India)

Established in 1998, BBC Media Action is the international charity of the BBC. Working with media and communication to help reduce poverty and support people in understanding their rights, our aim is to inform, connect and inspire people around the world. BBC Media Action reaches some 100 million people across Asia, Africa and the Middle East and Europe, through both legacy and new media platforms - television, radio, print, outdoor, outreach, and of course, digital – both online and mobile.

Our projects and programmes save lives, protect livelihoods, counter misinformation, challenge prejudice and build democracy. Using a human centred design approach, BBC Media Action’s work is rooted in evidence, powered by insights, and leverages impact-tested, scalable, big ideas to create social and behaviour change. In India, over the past two decades, BBC Media Action has delivered impact in health (HIV prevention, tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment, reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health), sanitation, gender equity, climate change and the prevention of bonded labour

 

Context

While India has made huge leaps forward in tackling sanitation in the country since 2014, only a

third of urban Indian homes are connected to sewer systems and almost 38% rely on on-site sanitation structures such as septic tanks

There is hence an urgent need to start tackling the safe containment, disposal and treatment of faecal waste which constitute the Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) value chain. The environment is more enabling as the FSM policy environment is now very conducive with more and more Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants (FSTPs) being constructed and becoming operational. There is also greater appreciation and understanding for the role of Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) in a sector that has so far been dominated by issues of technicalities, service provisioning and infrastructure.

To improve knowledge, affect attitudes, build efficacy, and influence sanitation behaviours related to FSM, a 26-episode television drama series Navrangi Re! (Nine to a Shade), was created by BBC Media Action (India) in 2019. The objective was also to take the discussion on FSM to mainstream audiences, beyond the domain of infrastructure and technology. It was the result of an unprecedented partnership between a donor (the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), a commercial media network (Viacom18), an academic institution (Centre for Social & Behaviour Change, Ashoka University), an evaluation partner (Oxford Policy Management), and a global media brand with proven social and behaviour change communication expertise (BBC Media Action). Navrangi Re! was aired in Hindi on Viacom18’s Free To Air (FTA) channel Rishtey and was dubbed in Odiya and Gujrati which was aired on Colors. The television series was supported by a social media strategy to expand and amplify discourse on the issues raised by the show.

Impact: Navrangi Re! the reached 59.6 million unique viewers, with this, the cost per person reached in the Hindi speaking market coming to $0.03 or 2 rupees. Viewers said they learnt something new across the FSM value chain with 35% of the viewers mentioning that they learnt new facts about septic tank construction, 31% learning new facts about desludging and 27% learning something new about disposal. To learn more about Navrangi Re! see the executive summary. 

 

Life Navrangi

BBC Media Action is now developing season 2 of the Navrangi franchise as a web drama titled ‘Life Navrangi’ to be disseminated through YouTube (YT), targeting men and women in the age group of 25- 45 years in the Hindi speaking states in urban India belonging to socio-economic classed B,C, D in sub-million cities of Hindi speaking states. We have chosen YT to launch Life Navrangi! given its wide reach and growing popularity among urban poor, across age, gender and occupation. Multiple sources confirm that YT is the number one video viewing platform in India and has grown exponentially in 2020. In Oct 2020, YT reported they have 325 million monthly viewers on the platform. It offers a variety of content in different genres, languages, geographies and age groups, with Hindi language content categories growing the fastest.

Alongside the web series, snackable/hub and hygiene content (short duration, easy-to-consume content pieces for supporting engagement throughout the duration of the intervention) will also be created for promotion and interactivity. The objective of the web drama is to mainstream the issue of FSM and reach a wider audience, as there is a larger opportunity on YT to expand the conversation. Through this web drama we would like the target audience (TA) to initiate conversations regarding the issue to increase awareness about the risks associated with FSM.

We want people to care about ‘poo in the open’ as much as people care about ‘particulate matter in the air’. We want to make FSM as visible as ‘air pollution’ has become in conversations, in media etc.

Life Navrangi is expected to be a series of seven standalone episodes with a broad story arc, each episode will be in the duration of 18-22 minutes. We plan to launch the web drama on a new YT channel, which will be created and maintained by BBC Media Action. We are also planning for a third-party impact evaluation of the web-series. Following are the programme objectives of the web series:

• Increased awareness that indiscriminate dumping of faecal sludge contaminates water
• and spreads disease
• Increased motivation to desludge once in 3 years, before septic tank overflows
• Increased knowledge about correct construction of septic tank
• Increased awareness about hazardous cleaning

Purpose of the RFP

BBC Media Action is inviting interests from qualified agencies/ production house who may be interested in providing services such as to produce a seven-part web drama on urban sanitation which will be launched on YT targeting men and women in the age group of 25- 45 years in the

Hindi speaking states in urban India.

The web drama is to be produced in strict compliance with the current Covid 19 safety regulations. 

 

Qualifications or specialised knowledge/experience required

To deliver this project, we are looking for an established production house with substantial experience in creating commercially successful content on television and/or digital/OTT platform, experience of producing social impact (entertainment education) content will be an added advantage. The production house should have:

• Demonstrated experience in developing, executing and delivering high quality fiction and factual programmes.
• A proven track record for delivering highly rated, commercially successful content on television and/or digital/OTT platform in Hindi and/or regional languages.
• Demonstrated experience of working with a range of talent
• Well networked within the industry to assemble a competent and talented cast and crew team within the available budgets
• Demonstrated experience in conducting shoot in outdoor/ exterior locations with specific reference to Covid-compliant production capability
• Experience in managing a large and skilled production team with relevant and appropriate experience;
•  Understanding of strong messaging through content

Last date for submission of proposals 12 June 2021

 

• BBC Media Action India Limited must receive proposals along with related documents (as mentioned in the attached RFP document), by 10th June, 5 pm (IST) on the email address ebid357@in.bbcmediaaction.org 
• Any queries that applicants wish to raise prior to submitting their proposals, should be sent by email to admin@in.bbcmediaaction.org . The last date for receiving questions and queries is 7th June, 5 pm (IST).
• “If interested, please reach out to us on admin@in.bbcmediaaction.org  by 7th June 2021 for more details on characters, episodic synopses and context and treatment note for this web drama”.
• We are looking at filming the series on location and in smaller towns or a bigger village
• We would like to know the preferred place of filming and why?
• Please make sure that the current Covid19 rules are followed while filming and post producing the web drama
• Since in a way we will be dealing with a new topic every episode we would like to film it episodic Aamir Ali as the lead protagonist (Vishwas) is locked and his cost will be a part of the budget mentioned
• Production house to suggest a cast if they want
• Before filming, a locked script would be handed over to the production house
• We are tentatively looking at filming in September 2021
• Please refer to the annexures in the RFP
• The draft contract template will be shared by next week

To download the full RFP, click here

To download the Budget Template, click here

To download the guidelines and checklist, click here

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