Consultancy for Production of Technical Videos on Seed Production of HMong Mustard and French Bean

PRODUCTION OF TECHNICAL VIDEOS ON SEED PRODUCTION OF HMONG MUSTARD AND FRENCH BEAN

1. The Organization

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

With novel partnerships, the Alliance generates evidence and mainstreams innovations to transform food systems and landscapes so that they sustain the planet, drive prosperity, and nourish people in a climate crisis. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.

2. Background

Vegetables are a main source of nutrition and income for ethnic minority farmers in Vietnam’s Northern highlands. While value chains for fresh retail produce and seed markets offer huge opportunities for development, particularly for women and youth inclusion, current smallholder systems suffer from multiple problems (production and institutional).

The project “Integrated vegetable seed systems development among ethnic minority communities in Northern Vietnam for enhanced nutrition and income security” will address these issues by elucidating how, and under what conditions, increased access and use of high-quality vegetable seed/planting material translates into enhanced smallholder nutrition and income security, specifically targeting ethnic minority people in a context of fast economic development and food system transitions in Vietnam.

Three specific objectives of the project are:

Objective 1: Conduct multi-level seed system characterization to understand current practices and identify key leverage points for upgrading systems for contrasting vegetable species, ethnic groups and market systems. Goal: obtain insights into seed availability, access, quality, storage, varietal suitability, and stability for a range of contrasting seed systems using semi-standard methods.

Objective 2: Test innovations for improved smallholder seed access through on-farm management practices and (seed) value chain development for selected vegetable species. Goal: unravel key tradeoffs between technical, economic, organisational and social components of seed systems through action research aimed at enhancing smallholder seed production and inclusive value chains.

Objective 3: Construct a solid evidence base for the specific pathways enabling (or not) seed access for nutrition and food security. Goal: critically analyse plausible pathways for impact based on past and ongoing seed systems initiatives.

Funded by NWO-WOTRO within the framework of the Netherlands-CGIAR research partnership, the project is implemented by a consortium led by the Alliance, in collaboration with Wageningen University & Research (WUR), the Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute (FAVRI), and Tan Loc Phat Seeds Company Ltd. (TLP).

3. Objectives

The Alliance is looking for a video production agency to help produce 02 instructional videos on the production of Hmong mustard and French bean seeds.

These 02 videos are envisaged to serve the following purposes:

• Providing science-based step-by-step guides on seed production of Hmong mustard and French bean in an visually appealing and easy-to-understand manner;
• Enhancing knowledge about seed production and the linkage between seed and nutrition among target farmers and extension / agricultural officials;

4. Deliverables / Expected outputs

The video production service provider is expected to produce 02 instructional videos on the production of Hmong mustard and French bean seeds. The 02 videos should meet the following requirements:

• Providing detailed instruction of the cultivation of Hmong mustard and French bean seeds, from seed sowing to seed harvesting and storage;
• Communicate technical information (seed production techniques) in a engaging easy-to- understand way through use of video footage, images and, where necessary, graphic illustrations;
• Video tone and mood: a conversational and enthusiastic tone to keep the audience engaged;
• Be of the highest quality. The optimal standards are: 1080 25p/1080 29.97p or 30p. All material should be shot in 16:9, HD 1080;
• Being voiced in 4 langugagues: Vietnamese, Hmong, Dao and Thai with English subtitle;
• Estimated length: maximum 10 minutes for each video;
• Make sure that there is no copyright issues regarding the usage of footage, photos and music in the videos so that they can be published on Youtube;
• Possess multiple platform capability: YouTube, social media, webpage, broadcast on television.

5. Expected tasks, timeline and location

Timing: August 2021 – February 2022

Location: For each video, it is expected that the service provider will need to conduct 3-4 tripsto the project sites in Mai Son (Son La province) and/or Sapa (Lao Cai province). Each trip is estimated to last for 3 days, including travel time from Hanoi to the project location and vice versa.

The two videos will be shot in one project site only. However, their content and messages should not be tied to a particular location.

The video should capture all key steps of French bean / Hmong mustard seed production, as follows:

1. preparing the land and sowing seeds;
2. transplanting and caring for young seedlings;
3. taking care of the vegeltables during flowering stage; and
4. seed harvesting, processing and storage.

If the development stages of the two plants coincide in time, the actual number of field trips required may be reduced.

The service provider will need to carry out the following tasks:

(*) In case Covid-19 situation aggrevates in the project sites which may cause travel restrictions, part or the whole the filming process could be conducted in Hanoi.

6. Required Qualifications and Experience of the Service Provider

The service provider will be require to meet the following requirements:

• Must have more than 5 years of experience in video production;
• Excellent technical capacities to ensure high quality production;
• Willing to travel to the fields upon short notices; and
• Experience in working with non-governmental organizations in the field of agriculture is an advantage.

7. Application procedure

To apply for the contract, service providers are requested to submit a proposal including the following information to the Alliance:

• Brief presentation of the provider’s background, resources and relevant experience;
• Porfolio of videos to demonstrate the provide’s capacities;
• Broad concepts on what the videos might look like (or how to present technical information in an engaging manner for farmers and extension offcials); and
• Proposed total budget, including video production, travel and other expenses.

Interested service prodivers are invited to send their prosposal via email to [email protected] [1] and [email protected] [2] with the subject line “Application – Technical video production – Company’s name” no later than August 01, 2021.