ThaiNGO

POSITION TITLE:     No-Burn Campaign Organizer

LOCATION:               Bangkok, Thailand

PROJECT:                USDA Thailand Regional Agriculture Innovation Network (RAIN)

REPORTS TO:         Outreach and Communications Manager

Background:

Winrock International (Winrock) is a non-profit organization that works around the world to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment. The USDA-funded Thailand Regional Agriculture Innovation Network (RAIN) project is a five-year, $16 million project implemented by Winrock. Winrock implements RAIN in 11 provinces in Thailand and supports smallholder farmers and many other agricultural actors in Thailand’s public and private sectors. RAIN identifies emerging climate-smart innovations (CSi), promotes CSi to farmers, and ensures sustainability by facilitating market access to CSi in 6 agriculture value chains. To facilitate market access to CSi, RAIN is developing business models for 30 CSi to scale to a total of 30,000 farmers.

Rice straw burning is a common practice in many agricultural regions, resulting in the combustion of the carbon in the straw and loss into the atmosphere, associated with the production of greenhouse gases such as NOx, CO, and CO2, as well as fine dust particles such as PM2.5 and PM10. Soil carbon sequestration has been suggested as a strategy for climate change mitigation. Returning crop residues to the soil is a recommended practice that increases organic carbon accumulation in the soil. It is estimated that 15% of crop residue can be stored in soil and using compost can increase microbial activity and reduce the methane (CH₄) intensity.

One CSI under consideration is Soil Digest: Novel microbial consortium rich in lignocellulolytic microbes boost up the decomposition process within 10 - 25 days. Lignocellulolytic microbes produce enzymes to degrade celluloses and hemicelluloses contained in the rice straw. Consortium lignocellulolytic microbes also degrade other agricultural biomass. Incorporating rice straw with microorganisms can convert crop straw into organic fertilizer, an effective way to utilize straw resources. It has the advantages of a long fertilizer effect and good stability. Ultimately, environmentally friendly products, humus, are generated.

RAIN has piloted Soil Digest with rice farmers in Chaiyaphum and Khon Kaen with satisfying results. Farmers are happy with the alternative (Note: other microbial products are available.) The use of microbial products with non-chemical usage as a requisite has visible results – stubbles decompose well in only 15 days and the presence of small animals in rice fields including fish, frogs, and earthworms. Local authorities have stated that farmers who burn agricultural waste will not be eligible for relevant government support, and Soil Digest therefore benefits beyond how they manage their farms.

The campaign will have the strong support of US Consul-General in Chiang Mai, and US Ambassador to Thailand.

Position Summary:

RAIN seeks a consulting firm to organize a social and behavioral change communication campaign to stimulate farmers’ reduction of burning, specifically through the adoption of microbial products to accelerate the decomposition of agricultural waste.  

The campaign should work on four target audiences as follows.

The geographic coverage for the No Burn campaign is aimed at nine provinces, including

Northeast: Roiet, Khon Kaen, Mahasarakam and Kalasin (specifically along the Chi river), Chaiyaphum, and Korat
North: Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai
Bangkok: Bangkok (stakeholder groups)

The campaign timeline should be active from August 2024 – February 2025.
 

This position is open for Thai Nationals only, legal entity preferred.
 

Scope of Work:

1. Conduct communication strategy for the campaign
   1. Literature review.
   2. Interviews with RAIN staff, farmers and relevant stakeholders.
   3. Propose campaign strategy, including

• Stakeholder analysis and targeted key messages
• Communications channels for these stakeholders including events, traditional and online media
• Materials for communications, including a dedicated website for the no-burn campaign, audio-visual products, print and soft copy for IEC materials, visibility items (for example stickers, calendar, etc)
• Practical workplan, in consideration of agricultural seasonal transition periods during campaign period.
• Expected results (i.e. reach, pledges collected, etc)

2. Execute campaign strategy.
   1. Implement all activities in the approved campaign strategy.
3. Reporting (in English)
   1. Campaign activity and expenditure report (mid-term and final)
   2. Qualitative report on committed pledges, with disaggregated data for locations, age, disability, and gender.
   3. Compilation of media coverage and media value.
   4. Compilation of public reactions to the campaign.
   5. Provide a presentation to RAIN and partners about the campaign results (mid-term and final).

Note: The consultant should try to integrate RAIN’s existing social media channels into the campaign strategy where possible.

Deliverables & Timeline:

Qualifications:

• Proven experience in conducting successful public campaigns in Thailand in the past three years.
• Excellent skill in crafting communication strategies for various stakeholder groups.
• Have an existing support team and relevant assets to produce results including human resources, equipment, registered software, contacts with media, etc.
• Demonstrate sufficient understanding of relevant agriculture value chain actors, particularly for rice and cassava.

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all people and value diversity and inclusiveness. Winrock recruits, employs, trains, promotes, and compensates regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. Our project is at Kasetsart University, Bangkok. We are working in a hybrid between office and home.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates should submit:

1. Company profile
2. A cover letter that explains why you are a suitable candidate.
3. A brief proposal with ideas and suggested Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) approaches and methodologies for the campaign. The proposal should include estimated cost breakdown of staff LOE (for example Project Team Lead, Coordinator, Assistant), and production/event organization costs, materials, etc.
4. A presentation of previous work with three references.

Interested candidates are invited to submit their documents to rain.consultant@winrock.org by 19 July 2024. Please include “No-Burn Campaign organizer” in the email's subject line. Winrock would like to thank all applicants for their interest, but only short-listed candidates will be contacted.