Tender Description

TENDER NO.: WVSOM/12/FY26

DESCRIPTION: Youth and Community led Social Plastic Campaign

1. Background and Rationale

The Social Plastics for Economic Development Project is a circular economy and green livelihoods initiative funded by Innovation Norway and implemented through a strategic partnership between the Somali Response Innovation Lab (SomRIL) and Engineers Without Borders Norway (EWB Norway).

SomRIL is Somalia’s humanitarian innovation lab, hosted under the Somali Resilience Program (SomReP) Consortium and World Vision, which works to identify local challenges, convene ecosystem actors, and support the co-creation, piloting, and scaling of locally led solutions that strengthen resilience, livelihoods, and inclusive market systems. Within the Social Plastics project, SomRIL plays a central role in ecosystem building, innovation facilitation, private sector engagement, and knowledge generation around sustainable plastic waste solutions.

The project aims to transform plastic waste into economic opportunity, environmental stewardship, and dignified green jobs, particularly for vulnerable youth and women in urban areas such as Hargeisa. Through support to local enterprises, recyclers, and ecosystem actors, the initiative promotes practical solutions that improve plastic recovery, strengthen circular value chains, and stimulate local markets for recycled products.

A key implementation pillar of the project is community activation to improve public participation in plastic reduction, reuse, segregation, collection, and recycling pathways. This includes increasing awareness of the market value of plastic waste, improving understanding of circular economy principles, and promoting the dignity and recognition of informal waste pickers who are essential to the recycling chain.

To support this objective, SomRIL seeks to partner with community-based actors to deliver community-facing campaign activities that translate the project’s innovation and market systems goals into visible behavior change and stronger public ownership of plastic recovery, especially amongst women and youth. The campaign approach should be informed by the project’s behavioral insights and community learning processes where relevant, while remaining firmly anchored in the broader Social Plastics vision of locally led innovation, green enterprise development, and scalable circular economy solutions.

2. Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to engage qualified local civil society organizations as community implementation partners of the Social Plastics for Economic Development Project to drive public participation, behavior adoption, and market engagement around plastic waste recycling, reusing and recovery in Hargeisa. This campaign support is intended to advance the project’s core objective of co-creating locally led innovative solutions that transform plastic waste into dignified livelihood opportunities, green enterprise pathways, and locally produced recycled products, particularly for vulnerable youth and women. The project conducted a qualitative study on behavioral insights for plastic recycling in Hargesia. The organization must use the findings and proposed intervention pathways to inform the delivery of the proposed activities. 

The selected organization will serve as catalysts that connects communities with the wider Social Plastics ecosystem, including local recyclers, aggregators, innovators, academic institutions, TVET institutions, and municipal actors, ensuring that plastic recovery becomes both a social norm and an economic opportunity.

3. Campaign Objectives

In line with the previously conducted qualitative study on behavioral insights for plastic recycling in Hargesia, the selected organization must use the findings and proposed intervention pathways to inform the delivery of the proposed activities.  The selected organization will contribute directly to the Social Plastics project outcomes through the following objectives:

1. Increase adoption of community-level reduce, reuse, and recycle practices in target neighborhoods.
2. Strengthen public understanding of plastic waste as a livelihood asset, enterprise input, and local market opportunity.
3. Increase household, youth-group, school, and small business participation in sorting, collection, and channeling plastics into local recycling enterprises.
4. Promote stronger visibility, dignity, and social recognition of informal waste pickers and sanitation workers as essential green workforce actors.
5. Build youth leadership in circular economy awareness, green innovation, and local enterprise promotion.
6. Increase community awareness of locally manufactured recycled products and support their social acceptance and uptake.
7. Create stronger referral pathways between communities and Social Plastics-supported innovators, recyclers, and aggregators.

4. Scope of Work

The selected partner will deliver an integrated package of community campaign implementation, ecosystem engagement, market activation, and project learning dissemination in line with the previously conducted qualitative study on behavioral insights for plastic recycling in Hargesia . The scope of work includes:

• Design and implement community-facing campaign activities that promote reduce, reuse, recycle, sorting, safe storage, and recovery behaviors in Hargeisa.

• Increase public understanding of the market and livelihood value of plastic waste, positioning plastic as an economic resource that can generate jobs, enterprise growth, and locally manufactured recycled products.

  Job application assistance

• Support practical community activation activities working with and through  neighborhood outreach, academic institutions, TVET engagement, market activations, plastic collection drives, exhibitions, storytelling, arts, and youth/community mobilization events.

• Promote stronger dignity, visibility, and recognition of informal waste pickers, sanitation workers, and other frontline recovery actors as essential contributors to the circular economy.

• Strengthen awareness and public demand for products generated by Social Plastics-supported pilots, recyclers, aggregators, and local enterprises.

• Create referral and linkage pathways between communities, waste recovery actors, local recyclers, aggregators, and innovators supported by the project.

• Co-organize one (1) 1/2-day learning event and 1.5-day (2 day in total) recycling exhibition in Hargeisa to showcase Recycle, restore, and reuse initiatives (art, private sector, etc.) that help minimize waste and conserve resources across Hargeisa and Somaliland. This includes showcasing the results, products, behavioral shifts, lessons, and green job outcomes emerging from the Social Plastics Project and its two corresponding Social Plastics pilots.

  City & Local Guides

• Capture lessons learned, community feedback, ecosystem recommendations, photos, stories of change, and stakeholder insights to support SomRIL’s knowledge products and future scale-up pathways.

• Produce two pilot showcase videos (English and Somali) for each of the two Social Plastics pilot enterprises, with technical guidance from SomRIL staff. Produce concise documentation of campaign reach, event outcomes, stakeholder engagement, and recommendations for replication in other urban centers.

5. Deliverables

The selected youth spaces will deliver:

1. Inception and Campaign Workplan
   • target locations
   • audience segmentation
   • activity calendar
   • outreach methodology
   • safeguarding and inclusion measures
2. Localized Campaign Package
   • adapted key messages in Somali
   • youth-friendly awareness materials
   • circularity learning tools
   • dignity messaging assets
3. Campaign Implementation Report
   • activities conducted
   • estimated reach
   • participation disaggregation (gender, age)
   • behaviour commitments collected
   • waste picker engagement metrics
4. Stories of Change and Learning Brief
   • case studies
   • testimonies
   • lessons learned
   • recommendations for city-wide scale-up
5. Learning and Ecosystem Engagement Event Package

•  A 2-day learning event & exhibition event in Hargeisa. Includes submission of a workplan, run of show, attendance list, and event report.

1. Campaign Monitoring, Learning, and Verification Plan

The selected partner(s) should establish a practical campaign monitoring and learning plan that tracks campaign reach, engagement quality, and early signs of behavior and perception change across the 4-week implementation period.

At minimum, the plan should track:

• number of people reached (disaggregated by gender and age) 
• number and type of campaign activities delivered 
• number of academic, TVETs, markets, and community groups engaged 
• number of waste pickers and sanitation actors recognized through public activities 
• number of ecosystem actors participating in pilot learning events 
• evidence of increased awareness on plastic value, recycling, and circular economy pathways 
• selected stories of change demonstrating shifts in attitudes, community participation, or market linkages

7. Geographic Scope and Target Area

The assignment will be implemented in Hargeisa, Somaliland, with a focus on communities, institutions, markets, and ecosystem spaces relevant to plastic waste generation, recovery, circular market activation, and learning dissemination.

Priority targeting should include:

• high plastic-use neighborhoods
• academic institutions and TVET institutions
• market areas and business clusters
• youth and community spaces

8. Funding Modality and Contract Size

This assignment will be issued as a fixed-price service contract / grant partnership under the Social Plastics for Economic Development Project.

• Indicative contract size: USD 12,500
• Modality may include milestone-based disbursement linked to approved deliverables
• Payments will be tied to satisfactory completion of agreed campaign outputs, learning events, and reporting requirements

9. Duration

The assignment duration will be 1 month (4 weeks) from the date of contract signing.Applicants should propose a realistic workplan within this period that covers campaign rollout, ecosystem learning event(s), documentation, and final reporting.

10. Guiding Principles

All proposed campaign and learning activities must align with the following principles throughout design and implementation:

• Humanitarian Principles and Do No Harm
  Activities must uphold humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence, while being sensitive to local social dynamics, exclusion risks, dignity concerns affecting informal waste pickers, and vulnerabilities of marginalized urban groups.
• Innovation and Ethical Practice
  Proposed approaches should use creative and locally relevant engagement methods including community activation, product showcases, social norm activation, storytelling, arts, and ecosystem convening while ensuring accountability, safeguarding, and responsible use of resources.
• Localization and Local Ownership
  Approaches must be deeply grounded in the Hargeisa context, leveraging local partnerships, Somali-language communication, local talent, and community trust structures.
• Design with Communities
  Campaign approaches must reflect the realities of households, youth, women, waste pickers, schools, and small businesses, with clear mechanisms for community feedback and inclusive participation.
• Sustainability and Scale Pathways
  Proposals should show how campaign momentum, ecosystem linkages, and learning products can continue influencing plastic recovery and circular market systems beyond the contract period.
• Environmental Stewardship
  All activities should model environmentally responsible practices, including low-waste events, responsible material use, and positive messaging on circular economy and climate resilience.
• Knowledge Sharing and Ecosystem Learning
  Partners must be willing to document lessons, pilot stories, community feedback, and ecosystem recommendations to strengthen SomRIL’s wider innovation learning agenda.

11. Performance Specifications

Applicants should demonstrate:

• strong relevance to the Hargeisa, Somaliland social context
• practical understanding of plastic waste, circular economy, youth mobilization, or green livelihoods
• innovative and feasible community engagement methods
• strong ability to convene diverse ecosystem actors
• culturally relevant Somali-language communication capacity
• realistic delivery plan within the USD 12,500 envelope
• strong documentation and event facilitation capability

12. Required Qualifications

Applicants must meet the following minimum eligibility requirements to be considered for this assignment:

• Legal registration in Somaliland
  The applicant must provide valid registration documents demonstrating legal authorization to operate and enter into service contracts or grant partnerships.
• Operational presence in Hargeisa
  The organization must have an active presence in Hargeisa, including staff, networks, or an office that enables timely delivery, stakeholder coordination, and local accountability.
• Relevant implementation experience
  Applicants should demonstrate at least 2–3 years of experience in community campaigns, social behavioral change, environmental awareness, youth engagement, public events, or related urban community programming.
• Somali-language delivery capacity
  The team must be able to design and facilitate activities in Somali and communicate effectively with local communities, waste actors, schools, and ecosystem stakeholders.
• Financial and grant management capacity
  Applicants must show the ability to manage funds responsibly, track expenditure against milestones, and submit timely narrative and financial reports.
• Safeguarding and do-no-harm systems
  The applicant must have basic safeguarding, inclusion, and risk mitigation procedures to ensure safe and conflict-sensitive implementation.

13. Evaluation Criteria

Eligible applications will be competitively assessed against the following quality-based criteria:

• Mandatory Documents Submission
  The applicant MUST provide the following documents:
  1. Valid certificate of business registration in Somaliland
  2. Valid certificate of tax compliance
• Context relevance and problem understanding
  The proposal should demonstrate a strong understanding of Hargeisa’s plastic waste realities, community norms, waste picker dynamics, and circular market opportunities.
• Quality of methodology and workplan
  The proposed implementation approach should be practical, clearly sequenced, and aligned to campaign delivery, ecosystem learning events, and documentation outputs.
• Innovation and creativity of engagement approach
  Strong applications should propose creative ways to mobilize communities and ecosystem actors through exhibitions, storytelling, schools, product showcases, arts, or public activation events.
• Ecosystem engagement and partnership strength
  Preference will be given to applicants that show credible pathways to mobilize municipalities, TVETs, private sector actors, CSOs, recyclers, and community groups.
• Documentation, learning, and knowledge sharing
  The proposal should clearly explain how stories of change, pilot lessons, community feedback, and event outcomes will be captured and shared with SomRIL.
• Value for money
  The proposed budget and activities should demonstrate efficient use of the USD 12500 envelope while maximizing community reach, learning value, and ecosystem visibility.
• Team composition and delivery readiness
  Applications should show that the proposed team has the right mix of community mobilization, event facilitation, communications, and reporting skills to deliver on time.

14. Reporting and Coordination

The selected youth spaces will report to the SomRIL Team, with regular coordination meetings

More Details to be provided in full ToR upon Expression of Interest.

Skills Required

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