Framework Agreement for Multimedia Storytelling Services

**Terms of Reference**

**Framework Agreement for Multimedia Storytelling Services**

*Multi-Company Framework · Three-Year Agreement · Ethical Storytelling · Results-Based per Product*

**Contracting organisation:** BRCiS (Building Resilient Communities in Somalia)

**Contract type:** Framework Agreement — Multiple Companies, Results-Based per Product

**Duration:** Three (3) years from date of signature, with annual performance review

**Geographic scope:** Somalia

**Languages:** English and Somali (standard); local Somali dialects as specified per assignment

**Currency:** United States Dollar (USD)

**Reference:** BRCiS-MEDIA-2026-001

**Issue date:** 2026

**1. Background**

The Building Resilient Communities in Somalia (BRCiS) Consortium has operated across Somalia's most shock-exposed communities for more than twelve years, implementing resilience programming with over 500 communities. BRCiS works at the intersection of climate adaptation, agroecological transformation, financial inclusion, housing and land rights, and community systems strengthening.

The stories generated through this work — communities restoring degraded land, women leading self-help groups through drought, families rebuilding livelihoods after displacement — are powerful but rarely told with the depth, creativity, and craft they deserve. BRCiS is establishing a three-year Framework Agreement with pre-qualified specialist multimedia storytelling companies to serve as its creative partners for the complete storytelling lifecycle: from story identification and pitch development, through field production, to active distribution and dissemination.

Inclusion in the framework does not guarantee a minimum volume of work. Commissions are issued on an assignment-by-assignment basis, triggered by an approved story pitch.

**2. Ethical Storytelling and Team Diversity**

Ethical storytelling is the creative and professional standard from which all work flows. BRCiS works with communities experiencing displacement, climate stress, food insecurity, and conflict. The stories of these communities carry weight: they can dignify or diminish; they can amplify community voice or extract it.

All companies working under this framework must demonstrate a deep, practical understanding of the following ethical storytelling principles:

- **Do no harm.** Every story choice is assessed for its potential impact on subjects, including exposure to security risks, social stigma, or retaliation. A written risk note is submitted to BRCiS before every field deployment.
- **Dignity over disaster.** Communities are represented as agents of their own lives, not as passive victims. Sensationalism, poverty aesthetics, and trauma-as-spectacle are unacceptable in any product produced under this framework.
- **Genuine informed consent.** Informed consent — explained clearly in the community's own language and dialect — is required for all identifiable subjects. Consent is not a form; it is an ongoing relationship between the production team and the community.
- **Cultural sensitivity and authenticity.** Stories must be told with genuine knowledge of and respect for Somali cultural contexts, social structures, gender dynamics, clan sensitivities, and local values. External narrative frames must not be imposed on Somali realities.
- **Community voice and ownership.** Where possible, individuals and communities have meaningful input into how their stories are told — not merely as subjects of documentation.
- **Accuracy and accountability.** All content is factually accurate and verifiable. BRCiS communities must be able to recognise themselves — truthfully and fairly — in the stories told about them.

Applicants must address their ethical storytelling approach in their application. Evidence of ethical practice must be visible in submitted portfolio samples. In addition the commitment must be visible not only in the teams that produce content. Authentic stories about Somali women, displaced communities, minority groups, and marginalised populations are best told by teams that include people from those communities — not as a token gesture, but as a genuine source of creative and editorial authority.

All companies on the framework must demonstrate the following minimum standards in the composition of their core production team:

- Women in meaningful creative and editorial roles. At minimum, 40% of the team members involved in any given assignment must be women, and at least one woman must hold a substantive creative or editorial role on every assignment. BRCiS strongly encourages women in lead producer, director, photographer, writer, or editorial decision-making positions.
- Representation of minority and marginalised communities. The team must include individuals who have lived experience of, or demonstrated deep professional engagement with, the communities being documented — including displaced communities, minority clans, and other marginalised groups relevant to the