ThaiNGO

Term of Reference (TOR) 

For consultant to develop a digital platform for

data and information produced under the EMERGE Project  (2026-2028)

Background and rationale

Thailand is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, facing escalating threats from floods, storms, drought, marine plastic pollution, and fisheries collapse-crises that directly endanger coastal economies, health and the ecosystems. Despite these challenges, public awareness, environmental journalism and institutional responses remain fragmented and largely reactive , limiting public engagement and policy influence. Vulnerable groups, particularly women, girls, youth, and indigenous communities in turn bear the brunt of these challenges, even though their local knowledge is crucial for building resilience.

The project titled Empowering Media & Environmental Resilience for Governance and Engagement (EMERGE) NDICI CSO/2025/489-078 is designed to address these challenges. Led by Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), in partnership with Climate Watch Thailand (CWT), EMERGE aims to address urgent gaps in journalism capacity, digital innovation, and inclusion of marginalised voices through targeted training and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Currently, environmental and climate data remains largely fragmented. Evidence of environmental issues, disasters, community concerns, lived realities, and voices have not been systemically collated and presented, posing great difficulties for these issues to attain public momentum and for policymakers to address the needs of vulnerable populations. No existing Thai digital platform offers comprehensive environmental data and grassroots knowledge with full accessibility in local languages.

With this, we are looking for an external consultant/service provider to develop a digital platform that will serve as a central hub of timely environmental and climate data with community-led research findings, citizen scientific knowledge and on-the-ground testimonies, offering an alternative to mainstream narratives. The content on the website will be drawn from the project grant recipients i.e. environmental and climate journalists, citizen communicators and storytellers working in Thailand, as well as community champions working on the frontline of climate resilience and solutions. This digital platform will be an integral part to the project’s outcome and impact by the end of the project intervention in December 2028.

Objectives

The specific objectives of the digital platform are:

• To support environmental and climate journalists, communicators and storytellers in providing a platform for their reporting, enabling them to use communication as an advocacy tool, driving drive environmental justice and public  accountability;
• To provide grassroots leaders (especially women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples) who are disproportionately impacted by environmental crises and inadequate political and public participation to become changemakers, providing a platform and empowering them to amplify their voices on climate governance, and providing a space for feedback mechanisms that will disengage misinformation from its unjust impact on the communities;
• To enhance data transparency, accountability, public access to information, and foster inclusive policy outcomes, benefiting climate-vulnerable communities by improving climate and environmental reporting and increasing grassroots influence.

Roles and responsibilities

The development of the digital platform for the EMERGE Project (NDICI CSO/2025/489-078), will be overseen by the EJF and CWT Programme Team, who will facilitate the access between the consultant and relevant stakeholders and beneficiaries, as well as field visits as necessary. Editorial decisions will remain under EJF and CWT, including content moderation and verification. 

Under this assignment, the consultant is expected to:

• Conduct user research with project targets i.e. journalists/communicators, grassroots leaders and CSOs, with access to key actors facilitated by the Programme Team;
• Co-design, together with the EJF, CWT, as well as relevant stakeholders, a digital platform/website that serves as a knowledge hub on environmental and climate data. This may include the website architecture, user experience and interface, visual displays, for instance;
• Manage the full web development process, from planning and design through to build, testing, launch and handover, in line with the agreed timeline, budget and quality standards, and provide regular progress updates;
• Provide suggestions for content moderation workflows, i.e. content submission and review, user roles and permissions, content removal process and audit trail, security guidance on the content moderation;
• Provide security review risks and contingency plans before the launch of the platform;
• Integrate current environmental and climate information, such as hazards, risks, State responses and financial allocations to such risks, open data and others relevant to the Thai contexts, with named data sources;
• Provide back-end access to the existing CMS or website builder with clear and concise instructions for EJF to update independently;
• Co-facilitate workshops for beta-website, user testing and feedback loop on the design and usability of the digital platform, addressing needs and gaps in the development prior to launch;
• After the launch, co-facilitate  workshops with EJF and CWT for target users and local stakeholders to independently update, interpret data and utilise the platform; and
• Oversee website maintenance during the first six months after the launch of the fully developed platform. Afterward, the maintenance services will be conducted by a consultant on an annual basis, or other terms based on mutual agreement between EJF and the consultant, with a separate scope of work not specified in this term of reference.

During the user research stage, the consultant may be required to travel. The consultant acknowledges that the travel expenses, accommodations, subsistence and other related expenses occurred at this stage are included in the total payment of this assignment, and shall be covered by the consultant. The consultant is therefore responsible for managing these costs independently and providing the supporting documents to EJF as requested. The consultant must notify the EJF project staff at least seven days prior to any travel, except in cases of short notice, where at least one day’s notice is required.

Apart from this, the user-testing, feedback workshops, including the sessions involving platform deployment, utilisation and handover for the Programme Team, target users and local stakeholders, will be covered by EJF.

The consultant must provide an estimated cost for the end-to-end development of the platform, with separate costs for additional services, such as the platform maintenance, hosting, domain arrangements, among others.

In case of concerns related to the project, which may include delayed submissions of expected deliverables, working timeline, foreseeable blockades, threats or concerns regarding data privacy and security, among others, the consultant must proactively provide proper responses and contingency plans, where applicable, and report to the EJF as soon as possible.

Deliverables

The platform will, at minimum, include an interactive map and/or a data dashboard illustrating key areas of project interventions and implementations, along with page(s) that contain selections of high-quality written articles, documentary films, photo essays, storytelling, and other forms of media stories produced by the journalists, communicators, and community members funded by the action.

The consultant is expected to develop a web-based platform comparable in scope, functionality, and quality to these referenced websites: IWMI Climate-Smart Governance Dashboard, DeepSouthWatch, World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal

EJF will be responsible for the ownership of the platform, whereas the consultant will be credited as the co-developer.

The platform specifications may include:

• Compatibility with desktop and mobile displays;
• A Thai language display, with scalability such as an English language toggle, an alternative-text on images and charts, performance settings for low bandwidth devices;
• A strong verification system against false or mis- and dis-information, accounts’ access controls and management;
• Privacy protection mechanism by design, such as consent for testimonies and stories, and safe handling of identities for at-risk community members; and
• Full compliance with Personal Data Protection Act 2019 (PDPA), taking into account the data protection principles in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

With regards to the specifications above, the platform development consultant is expected to deliver the following outputs:

Phase 1: User research (Month 1 to 2 from the contract start date)

1. Digital platform development proposal, including platform development plan, expected timeline, proposed project milestones, budget, key features/functions, as well as potential drawbacks, risks and/or limitations foreseen within the development and after the deployment of the digital platform.
2. User research, primarily focusing on existing gaps in the public’s access to environmental and climate data and information, needs and constraints.
3. Based on the user research findings, a preliminary presentation of a fully-fledged digital platform development plan for EJF project staff’s validation.

Phase 2: Platform development, feedback & fine-tuning (Month 3-6)

1. Sitemap, data architecture, wireframe, website navigation
2. Design direction, UX/UI and design prototype ready for user-testing
3. Content management system on which EJF and non-technical staff can operate
4. Content moderation, verification and removal workflow
5. Launch of the website’s beta-version
6. User-testing participatory workshops for feedback including focus group discussions involving end-user representatives, marginalised communities, journalists, civil society organisations, and policy makers. EJF will cover the costs of logistical arrangement of these sessions.

Phase 3: Platform deployment (Month 7-9)

1. Website walk-through sessions with EJF, CWT and relevant stakeholders to independently update, interpret data and utilise the platform
2. In close collaboration with EJF, the consultant will co-design and co-facilitate promotional events, workshops and/or materials to encourage the use of the platform, empowering target users and local stakeholders to monitor environmental issues, documenting evidence, and advocating for timely policy action using the platform’s available features. EJF will cover the costs of promotional events, workshops and/or materials. In close collaboration with EJF and CWT, the consultant will co-facilitate workshops and/or campaigns aimed at enhancing the capacity of end-users to navigate and utilise the platform, expanding reach and participatory climate engagement, especially for marginalised groups who might. EJF will cover the costs of workshops and/or campaigns.

Phase 4: Handover (Month 10-12)

1. User guideline, handbook, or any other form of handover materials that provide guidance on how the EJF project staff can navigate and utilise the digital platform independently after the assignment. This will include a handover session(s) to ensure sustainability.
2. Completed user guide for operating and updating the platform, including the site architecture, build, deployment, hosting, and update instructions.
3. A concise administrator guide covering routine content and data updates.
4. A list of software dependencies, third-party tools, libraries, and licenses used, including any associated costs or restrictions.
5. Progress reports against agreed project milestones to be verified by the Programme Team, including all the narrative updates and financial management under the development of the digital platform, to ensure that the service provider maintains EJF’s standards of financial control and transparency.

Timeline

• Recruitment announcement: 10 November 2026
• Implementation period of  12 months: 1 January 2027 - 31 December 2027
  *Timelines are subject to change.

Remunerations and payment terms

Payments shall be disbursed based on the deliverables as follows:

Required qualifications

The lead consultant should have the following qualification and experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of hands-on experiences in designing, developing and maintaining a publicly accessible digital platform for multi-format content, such as written articles, photo essays, data visualisation and storytelling;
• Extensive knowledge of digital platform design, development, maintenance, particularly for journalistic writings, visual-intensive pieces and public- and human-interest stories;
• Adept at producing websites that are user-friendly and visually appealing production of websites, with a particular emphasis on optimized user experience, system stability, integration, data transparency, and security;
• Good presentation and tracking skills, especially the ability to produce high-quality reports;
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds to deliver quality products within a limited time frame;
• Flexible, responsive to changes and demands and open to feedback.
• Fluent in English and Thai;
• Excellent attention to detail;
• Strong commitment to social justice, gender equality, and human dignity;

Desirable qualifications

• Good understanding the Thai media landscape, CSOs, policy advocacy, state services, and not limited to human rights, environmental issues and climate crises;
• Ability to work independently while coordinating closely with the Programme Team.

How to apply

Candidates are encouraged to apply by 5 December 2026. The applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Please submit a CV with a covering letter to recruitment@ejfoundation.org and cc dhanabara.kohkaew@ejfoundation.org and tashar.s@ejfoundation.org no later than 5 December 2026.