MOBILE APPLICATION – DEVELOPMENT OF BEDTIME STORIES FOR BRAVE CHILDREN

THE ORGANISATION

Plan International Jordan (PI), a non-governmental organization established in 2016, has been at the forefront of addressing critical issues related to children’s rights and gender equality across Jordan. With a comprehensive portfolio of programs spanning education, youth empowerment, and protection—including child protection (CP), gender-based violence (GBV), and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)—PI is dedicated to creating safer communities for both Syrian refugees and Jordanian host populations. Operating across various governorates, our initiatives are tailored to meet the specific needs of refugees and vulnerable groups within these communities. Central to PI’s mission is the support of at-risk adolescents and youth, focusing on preventing and responding to child marriage, child labor, and broader CP and GBV issues, while promoting their decision-making, participation, and empowerment. Collaborating closely with parents and communities, PI works to raise awareness about child protection issues and bolster the capacity of families and societies to address the sexual and reproductive health needs of children and adolescents, aiming to safeguard them from violence, abuse, and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. Embedded in our operations is Plan’s Global Gender Equality and Inclusion Policy, which guides our commitment to achieving gender equality, promoting gender justice, realizing girls’ rights, and fostering an inclusive society. This policy underpins PI’s five-year country strategy, our Values and Behaviors Framework, and our Theory of Change.

Our goals include:

• Confronting and challenging discrimination and human rights violations based on gender, including gender-based violence and exclusion.
• Challenging stereotypes and unequal power relations between genders to promote gender equality, girls’ rights, and inclusion.
• Fostering an organizational culture that exemplifies our commitment to gender equality, girls’ rights, and inclusion, supporting staff to embody good practices, positive attitudes, and the principles of gender equality and inclusion.

BACKGROUND ABOUT THE PROJECT

Bedtime Stories for Brave Children seeks to provide children with bedtime stories and songs – a collection of narratives crafted by Palestinian children themselves and curated by respected Palestinian storytellers from various locations, including Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem, in addition to Palestinian refugeesin the wide diaspora. The project is tailored for children aged 0-10 residing in regions affected by conflict. It encompasses the development of a mobile application for convenient story telling, which will play a crucial role in effectively reaching and engaging with the target audience .

Objectives

Accountabilities

1. Content Repository:

• Develop a user-friendly mobile application that functions as a centralized repository for children’s stories, songs and lullabies.

• Organize the stories into categories based on age, themes, and cultural relevance.

  2. Offline Access:

• Provide users with the capability to download stories for offline access, ensuring accessibility in regions with limited or unreliable internet connectivity.

• Implement an efficient download manager for convenient access to saved content.

3. Feedback and Interaction:

• Incorporate a user-friendly feedback mechanism within the application for children, parents, and caregivers to report issues, offer comments, or request specific features.

Deliverables

The final product of this project is a mobile app for iOS and Android, offering a fun and interactive way for children to engage with up to 30 Stories, songs, and lullabies (which will be provided to the designer ready for uploading) in arabic.

Key features include:

1. Age Range Selection: This feature allows children parentsto select the age range (e.g.,0-2, 3-5 years, 6-8 years). The app then presents content based on the selected age-range.
2. Category-Based Playlists: There will be multiple categories of songs and stories (like Adventure, Learning, Bedtime) linked with each age group. So when the children select their age-group, they will easily find the content they are most interested in.
3. Playlist Page: This where the children can see all available songs and stories in their chosen category. They can directly play any audio from this list.
4. Admin Dashboard for Content Management:

• Managing Age Groups: The admin can add new age groups or edit and delete existing ones, ensuring the app stays relevant as the audience grows.
• Playlists Categorizations: The admin will be able create new categories, edit existing ones, or remove them. This feature will help the admin to categorize the playlists based on age group and link the audios related.
• Playlist Management: This includes uploading new songs or stories, editing details (like descriptions and name), and deleting outdated or irrelevant content.

Approach

The approach for Bedtime Stories for Brave Children Mobile Application Consultancy would involve a systematic and participatory methodology to ensure the successful achievement of the objectives. Here’s a suggested approach for each objective:

• Engage key stakeholders, including representatives from Plan International and partners, to gather their insights and perspectives.
• Leverage best practices in storytelling application design methodologies
• Conduct pilot sessions to test the application, gather feedback, and make necessary adjustments.
• Seek feedback from the project key stakeholders and conduct validation sessions to ensure the adapted Application aligns with the cultural sensitivities and learning preferences of the target audience.

Methodology

No specific methodology is required, please refer to the requirement section for more details.

Timeline

The contract shall start from the date of signing the agreement and the complete result should be provided to PLAN Jordan at the earliest. The work schedule (timeline) can be decided between the two parties before signing the agreement.

Level of contact with children

This procurement process does not involve direct contact with children.

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge

Qualifications and Expertise:

The developers should have the following qualifications and expertise:

• A degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• A minimum of 5 years work-related experience in design, Coding, implementation, and adoption of relevant technology and management tools, Especially ICT4D technology and tools
• Experience with cross-platform frameworks.
• Proficiency in programming languages and web development technologies (e.g., HTML, CSS, JavaScript,).
• Proficiency with mobile app development (iOS and Android) and web development.
• Familiarity with learning management systems (LMS) and e-learning authoring tools.
• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Effective communication and teamwork skills.
• Proven experience in software development for ICT4D projects.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work in resource-constrained settings.
• Assess the project’s technology needs and opportunities.
• Proven experience in e-learning or storytelling software development.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Technical Criteria 65% divided as the following:

• 20 % Previous experience
• 25 % Approach
• 20 % Team qualification

Financial Criteria 30%

Gender response procurement 5%

Plan International defines a gender-responsive business as one that meets criteria for integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment principles in its policies and practices, and which is aligned to international norms and standards.

Consultant must fulfil at least one of the following criteria to get 5 points:

• The business is headed by a woman (e.g. a female CEO)

• A woman-owned business i.e., “a business [which is] owned in whole, or at least more than half, by one or more women”

• Women occupy more than 35% of management positions in the organisation

• At least 55% of the workforce are women

• There are robust gender equality initiatives in place, e.g., a gender equality procurement policy, women empowerment principles are implemented in the organisational policies, etc.

Budget and Payment Procedure

The service provider shall submit a budget sheet with a detailed breakdown including applicable taxes at the time of proposal submission. The budget should cover all fees of designing, implementing, regular technical support, updating and maintenance for a year.

PLAN Jordan shall release the budget of the agreed amount through an account payee cheque in the name of the service provider.

Payment will be in three instalments; these are:

• First instalment: 20% after receiving the first draft design
• Second instalment: 20% after the integration of the design product.
• Third instalment: 60% after the submission of the final version of the app.

Responsibilities of the service provider

The company/consultant will be responsible for carrying out the tasks outlined in this ToR and ensure the delivery of outputs stated above within the agreed budget and timeline.

Responsibilities of PLAN JORDAN

Plan Jordan primary responsibility will be to help the service provider achieve the objectives of this ToR and provide the needed contextual technical support.

Ownership

All documents, project designs, drawings, technical data, filmed and photographed material and other information shall remain the property of the Project and shall be treated as confidential by the consultant(s) at all times. They shall not be made available to any third party whatsoever, in any form, without the prior written approval of a properly authorised employee of Plan International. The utilisation of all proposals, plans and reports and other information provided by the consultant(s) to Plan International is the property of Plan International and the use thereof is solely at the discretion of Plan International. All documents and other papers, whether in soft or hard copy and whether containing data or other information, provided by Plan International shall be returned complete to Plan International upon completion of the assignment. All documentation and reports written during and/or as a result of this study, or otherwise related to it in any way, shall remain the property of Plan International and no part shall be reproduced or quoted, or otherwise used in any way except with the prior, express and specific written permission of authorised employee of Plan International.

Ethical and child protection considerations

The assignment will require the consultant to interface with children and therefore the consultant is required to provide a statement on the respect and protection of child rights, human rights and dignity of participants compliant with Plan’s Child Protection Policy.

The consultant shall read and sign Plan’s child protection policy (CPP) as fully understood and in agreement to in all respects and shall follow this in all and every respect during the term of the consultancy.

The consultant must follow Ethical Principles in research and obtain written/verbal consent from the subjects. Permission from elders should be sought if the children under 18 years are involved as subjects. Signed informed consent of each child and his/her parents need to be taken after explaining the purpose of the study.