Web Development Specialist

Background
CHF, a Canadian NGO with 50 years of experience in international development, has entered into a funded through grant assistance from Irish Aid’s Civil Society Facility, is aimed at increasing the partnership agreement with the Civil Society Inclusion in Food Security and Poverty Elimination Network (CIFPEN) for the purpose of working together on a Capacity Building Project. The project, capacity of a number of Vietnamese organizations to effectively mobilize grassroots participation and deliver development programs and services targeting vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities. By strengthening the organizational, programmatic and networking capacity of VNGOs, CHF and CIFPEN will enhance the role of civil society organizations in participatory democracy while improving the resilience and livelihoods of vulnerable communities. The project will take a ‘learning-by-doing’ approach to capacity development by administering a sub-project fund aimed at providing opportunities to local organizations to apply their newly acquired skills for effective delivery of responsive sub-projects.

Rationales for the need of a consultant
The Institutional Assessment on CIFPEN and its members conducted by the above-mentioned Capacity Building Project has identified a number of areas for improvement has been integrated into the Project’s capacity building plans. One of the factors, which obstructs CIFPEN to achieve its planned objectives on knowledge sharing and management - a key benefit that CIFPEN can bring to the VNGOs within its network, is the absence of documentation, communication and networking.

Results of the Institutional Assessment have shown the strengths and challenges in communication and networking within CIFPEN as follows:

Strengths
- CIFPEN Network includes a broad range of VNGOs operating in different areas throughout the country.
- CIFPEN Board provides timely updates of information to its member VNGOs.
- A formal process has been applied to become CIFPEN member; the process includes clear regulations and membership guidelines.
- CIFPEN organizes conferences and forums to share practices and disseminate information.
- Expertise and knowledge exist within CIFPEN member organizations.

Challenges
- Several VNGOs lack of stable internet access, which restricts their ability to communicate effectively with the network.
- Lack of written legislation on communication or guidelines on information sharing amongst members has caused misunderstanding, which affects CIFPEN’s reputation.
- Some members do not provide timely feedback or response to CIFPEN’s information or do not respond in a proper way.
- Lack of forum or ability for members to share information with others or directly post information to the website.
- Limited and poor website contents and updates, especially in English for interested donors.
- Members lack skills and sometimes incentives to share information within the network. information on funding or training opportunities is sometimes ignored due to high competition.
- Limited documentation on CIFPEN’s work may impact on its business development strategies.
- Diverse location and distances between members create difficulties in networking.

An important tool for communication strategy is a website, which can provide visitors with a wide range of information and it functions as both information sharing and learning resource. The website of CIFPEN is expected to provide:

background information on CIFPEN and its members
news and events related to CIFPEN and its members
legal and administrative documents
project documents, guidelines, materials and publications
training and capacity-building materials and self-learning options for remote users
advice and commentary from specialists in and outside CIFPEN network
ability for VNGOs to report on their progress and achievements
highlight of success stories and champions from projects
forums for visitor to give comments and feedback and opportunity for information requests
for other needs and interests of CIFPEN stakeholders.

The CIFPEN website namely “cifpen.org” has been developed since 2005 and revised partly in 2010. The website has been maintained to share information and knowledge within CIFPEN Network. Organizations’ activities, reports and publications have been updated regularly. At present, the website contains about 2,000 news and information about CIFPEN and related members. Statistic figure shows that numbers of users have been increased recently from 317 users in January 2011 to 418 users in July 2011. However, numbers of pages reviewed have been reduced from 3.47 to 2.61 pages per access during the period from January to July. This also means that the quality of website has not met the demand of users. This may be caused by the following reasons:

Website’s interface is not really convenient for information access.
Incorrect or outdated information.
Poor contents of website, which do not meet expectations of users.
Undiversified information sources and pictures.
One way information and lack or no room for feedback from users.
Lack of information from network’s members.
Irregular update of English pages.

1. Overall responsibility of the consultant
1. Meet with CIFPEN and its members to understand the scopes and TORs of the constancy.
2. Review all relevant documents and existing websites to ensure that new website interface will be developed according to TORs.
3. Meet and report on the progress of website development, at least one a month.
4. Design CIFPEN website interface, which is better looking, picturesque and friendly with users, with harmonious colors and picture setting assistance to users to access information easily. The design of website interface will be reviewed and approved by CIFPEN and the project. Develop database, program modules, set up and run demo, update basic data, test and adjust, and prepare user guide.
5. The website interface will be designed with following setting: introduction, news – event, information, member (registration and sign in), search, share to social websites, link and database store.
6. Develop website user manual and provide it to CIFPEN and its members.
7. Provide guidance and training to CIFPEN and its members on website use.
8. Provide 45 usernames to CIFPEN and its members.
9. Provide administrative right to members of CIFPEN executive board, who are considered as web administrators. (4 – 7 administrators)
10. Link the existing website interface into the new website.
11. Move all existing news and stories to new website interface. (62 news and stories)
12. Update and post CIFPEN activities on monthly basis. At least four news/stories in Vietnamese and two news/stories in English per month should be posted to the website, continuously to the end of the project in 2012.
13. Write final report for this the web development work.

2.Essential skills and experience:
Strong technical competence with university degree in IT or related discipline   
Possess an extensive portfolio of web development work
Experience in visual design and web site layout
Demonstrated experience in a wide range of graphics and web development software
At least 5 years practical hands-on experience
Good communications skills and able to provide results rapidly.

3. Time, duration and place
The consultant will work for 20 days from September to October 2011 based in Hanoi.

Fee is to be negotiated during interview. Please send your application dossier by 5th October 2011 to the following address or email:

The Civil Society Inclusion in Food Security and Poverty Elimination Network (CIFPEN)
28 Pham Tuan Tai Street,
Cau Giay District,
Hanoi, Vietnam
[email protected]; cc [email protected]

They thank everyone who applies for the position. Only those shortlisted will be contacted for an interview.