Terms of Reference (ToR) Recruitment of a communications agency to lead Green Forward’s awareness raising campaign and digital eco-innovation platform

About SPARK

At SPARK we create pathways. Pathways that give youth the tools they need to succeed in regions affected by conflict, climate crisis, and displacement. New ways to empower students and entrepreneurs to study, work and grow their own businesses. We do so through our four pillars. We are a dynamic and growing, international not-for-profit development organization with 120+ staff members, in more than 14 offices around the world. Our five values are the heart of everything we do. They inspire us to be the best we can be for ourselves and everyone we work with:

• Trust us to be reliable, fair and have integrity
• A can do attitude is how we achieve our best results
• We care for what we do and who we work with
• We are courageous in who we are, what we do and who we support
• Ignite innovative responses to the ever-changing needs of the countries we work in

1. Background

The Green Forward programme, funded by the European Union, aims to foster a green and circular economy (GCE) in the Southern Neighbourhood region, which includes countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The programme operates at three levels: macro, meso, and micro, implemented respectively by a consortium comprising Expertise France, SPARK, and UNIDO. SPARK leads the meso-level component in collaboration with partners across seven countries: GESR – Misr El Kheir Foundation (Egypt), the Jordan Chamber of Industry – JCI / The Center of Energy and Environmental Sustainability in the Industry – CEESI (Jordan), and Tunis International Center for Environmental Technologies – CITET (Tunisia) as co-applicants; and Business Incubation Association in Tripoli – BIAT (Lebanon), and TEAM for Training & Development (Libya), Enactus (Morocco), and Flow Accelerator (Palestine) as implementing partners. SPARK’s intervention aims to enhance the capacity of business support organisations (BSOs) to serve as ecosystem enablers, bridging the gap between policy and practice. This initiative is committed to fostering job creation, economic opportunity, and alignment with the principles of the European Green Deal in all seven target countries.

Within this framework, Activity A2.2 focuses on awareness raising and international outreach, showcasing the opportunities of the circular economy and green business models to entrepreneurs and key stakeholders. An international campaign will target both the MENA region and the EU level, leveraging success stories, case studies, and innovative solutions identified under the programme.

In addition to external campaigns, the Green Forward programme will leverage the Digital Eco-Innovation Platform (Activity 2.3), to connect business support organisations (BSOs), green entrepreneurs, MSMEs , and other Green Forward stakeholders through knowledge on green and circular economy and the creation of digital hubs that enables networking and matchmaking, aiming to  enhance the networking and collaborations between programme stakeholders. While the platform is operational, it requires enhanced content development and animation to stimulate interaction and attract new users, focusing on programmes’ stakeholders. The assignment therefore combines awareness raising with digital community engagement to maximise programme impact.

2. Objectives of the Assignment

The agency will design and implement a high-impact campaign that:

• Raises awareness on the opportunities of the green and circular economy.
• Reaches approx. 500,000 entrepreneurs across seven countries.
• Produce high quality stories of impact from programme beneficiaries in each of the seven countries of implementation
• Support the dissemination of success stories, case studies, and best practices from the programme, through content creation and adaptation
• Engages media, key stakeholders, and EU audiences.
• Ensures consistent branding and aligns with the programme visibility guidelines across channels.
• Support the animation and growth of the Eco-Innovation Platform called “SPARK Innovation Hub” through content development and outreach to the programme implementing partners, business support organisations, and green MSMEs
• Strengthen digital engagement by expanding the platform’s user base to 1,500 users.

3. Scope of work & deliverables for awareness raising campaign 

Inception report that includes the communication plan and the monitoring framework for all the following deliverables (for the awareness raising campaign + Digital Innovation Platform).

3.1 Campaign planing 

• Design the campaign aligning with programme milestones and international dates (e.g., the International Day of Zero Waste, World Environment Day, International e-waste day, etc), in accordance with the programme communications strategy. This includes dissemination of visual content. 
• Prepare a campaign calendar (e.g., a monthly content calendar outlining the content to be produced, such as social media posts, visual materials, articles, etc.) in consultation with the SPARK programme team.

3.2 Content development and design 

The agency should design content based on SPARK direction which involves creating success stories in the Meso Level around BSOs (Business Support Organisations) over the 7 countries of implementation. 

This could include, based on the agency technical capacity and the available budget: 

• Produce country-level photoshoots to highlight the programme impact on its key beneficiaries, in coordination with SPARK and its local partners, ensuring high-resolution photos, suitable for both digital and print use, and reflecting gender balance and diversity among beneficiaries. The photoshoot will be storytelling-based and will feature one business support organisation per country. 
• Produce 7 country-level videos (1 video per country) to highlight the programme impact on its key beneficiaries, in coordination with SPARK and its local partners. Each video should be max 2-minutes long, delivered in horizontal and vertical formats, with English subtitles and aligned with SPARK’s visual brand guidelines and the European Union visibility guidelines including but not limited to (logos, image and video consent, disclaimer, etc).
• Produce infographic videos (for example: animated videos) covering the theme of green and circular economy and highlighting SPARK’s intervention in the Green Forward initiative. Videos must be animated or motion-based, with English voiceover, subtitled in Arabic, and follow SPARK’s visual identity and the European Union visibility guidelines including but not limited to (logos, image and video consent, disclaimer, etc).
• Develop outreach online campaigns for online webinars, in coordination with SPARK. 
• Lead dissemination campaigns that include posts to disseminate Green Forward’s activities and the green and circular economy (GCE) across the region (for example: visuals and carousels to disseminate the activities implemented by SPARK and its partners such as workshops, events, toolkits, etc). Each campaign will disseminate GCE learnings from partners’ activities, share GCE-related insights and opportunities, and translate content provided by SPARK and its green expert agency into engaging formats (visuals, carousels, infographics, designed reports, etc.). 

*All visual content should be in English language, and be delivered in editable source files where applicable.

* The agency is also required to use paid Ads to ensure higher visibility. 

*Ads budget should be included in your financial offer. 

3.3 Media features and paid media

• Produce and distribute press releases on regional and at EU level, aligning with the programme milestones.
• Implement targeted paid advertising (Meta, LinkedIn) for key campaigns such as SPARK events, Webinars, video produced, some posts, etc.

3.4 Monitoring & Reporting

• Once every two months visibility reports that contain: reach, content produced, engagement, media coverage, screenshots, visuals, and annexes of the produced and developed materials.
• Final Campaign Report that includes an overview of the campaign, performance evaluation, impact assessment, and actionable recommendations. The report must also include a professionally designed visual version (PDF and PPT) suitable for submission to the EU, featuring clear data visualisations, charts, insights, and a summary of results based on all channels used.

4. Scope of work and deliverables for digital eco-innovation platform 

4.1 online advertising campaign planning

The agency will design, implement, and optimise a targeted online advertising campaign to drive registrations on the digital eco-innovation platform that include:

• Development of a digital ads strategy (channels, targeting, budget allocation, messaging).
• Creation of ad creatives (visuals + short copy).
• Running paid campaigns primarily on: Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Google Display or Search Ads (depending on the budget)

*Ads budget should be included in your financial offer. 

4.2 User Acquisition Target

The campaign must generate at least 1,500 verified platform registrations by the end of the programme.

4.3 Monitoring & Optimisation

• Monthly performance reviews.
• Continuous optimisation of audiences, visuals, and messaging to ensure best cost-per-result.

4.4 Final Campaign Report

Deliver a final visual report on platform development, user engagement statistics, success stories/case studies, and recommendations for sustainability beyond the project life cycle.

* Please see in the following link the previous Q&A submitted as part of the first call for proposals.

5. Duration & Timeline

The assignment will run from January/February 2026 to November 2026, the latest.

Note: The above mentioned timeline is subject to change due to internal administrative processes. 

5.1 Awareness raising campaign activity 

• Campaign planning: January/February 2026
• Awareness and dissemination campaign: February 2026 – October 2026
• Once two-month reports: March 2026 – May 2026 – July 2026 – Septembre 2026
• Final visibility Report: November 2026

5.2 Eco-innovation platform

• Online advertising campaign plan: Januar/February 2026
• Monitoring & Optimisation: February to October 2026
• Final report: November 2026

6. Required Qualifications

• Proven expertise in international communications, campaigning, and digital community management.
• Experience in the MENA region, preferably in development and sustainability.
• Proven technical and logistical capacity to produce local materials—such as videos and photoshoots—in the 7 countries of implementation. * Travel expenses are not included.
• Demonstrated track record in storytelling, media relations, and digital advertising.
• Familiarity with online platforms for innovation, entrepreneurship, or sustainability.
• Multilingual production capacity (English, Arabic – French in an option).
• Ability to deliver results under tight deadlines.
• Logistical capacity to produce the cited deliverables across the seven countries of intervention 

7. Coordination

• The agency will report to SPARK’s Regional Communications Officer and work closely with country focal points. 
• Deliverables must be reviewed and approved by SPARK prior to dissemination. 
• The agency should be willing to take into consideration feedback and guidance shared by SPARK representatives.

8. Submission of proposals

Submission Instructions:

Please submit your proposal in PDF format no later than [10 January 2026] to the following email address: Grants@spark-online.org 

Email subject: “Proposal Submission: Green Forward Awareness & Digital Platform Campaign”

Note: Late submissions will not be considered. 

Technical and financial documents to submit:

• Agency portfolio, highlighting relevant experience in communications, campaigning, and digital community management.
• Technical proposal, outlining:

– Approach and methodology for the awareness-raising campaign, including your coordination approach in the different countries (e.g., use of local photographers or videographers).

– Approach and methodology for content development and animation of the Eco-Innovation Platform.

– Proposed work plan and timeline.

• Well-detailed Financial proposal (in EUR) + Detailed description in front of each budget line. 

Additional documents that must be submitted:

• Legal Business Registration
• Latest Tax Registration/Clearness Certificate
• Experience working with international organizations
• CVs of the project management team, experts, and/or trainers
• 3 references from previous work projects including contact information (organizational contact information)
•  Signed contracts for similar work within the last three years; indicating a description of contract scope, contract duration, and contract value
• Recommendation letters and/or delivery notes or any other form of documentation proving completion of previously undertaken work within the last three years.
• Chamber of commerce registration, if applicable

Important notes: 

If you have any questions; please send us an email with your questions before January 10, 2026 on the following Google Form link. 

For more information about the Green Forward programme, please view the programme presentation and visit the programme website.

9. Evaluation and selection

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Based on the scoring of written proposals, the top three (3) service providers will be shortlisted and invited for an interview.

Following the interviews, the final selection will be made solely on the outcome of the interview process, as this allows the evaluation committee to directly assess the provider’s capacity, responsiveness, and alignment with SPARK’s needs. The written evaluation scores will only be used for shortlisting purposes.

9.1 Scoring Methodology

Each proposal will be scored on a scale of 1 to 10 for each criterion. The score will then be multiplied by the assigned weight to calculate the weighted score. The sum of all weighted scores will determine the ranking of proposals.

Scoring Scale (1–10):

The three highest-ranking proposals will be shortlisted for interviews. The interview results will determine the final award decision, regardless of the initial written proposal scores.

9.2 Interview Stage

Shortlisted firms will be invited to present their approach and respond to questions from the evaluation committee.

The committee will score interviews using the following grid:

The bidder with the highest total weighted interview score will be selected for the award.