RFP/Consultant, Communications - India Programs

 YOU are …passionate, intelligent, communicative and hard-working. You like to travel and meet new and different people. ...are comfortable switching between research deep dives, presenting to colleagues, online chats with volunteers, implementing a project to time plans and rolling up your sleeves. ...intellectually curious, creative and can apply your mind to solving problems. You are collaborative but also action-oriented; mission-driven and pragmatic; honest and open. ...preferably an existing Wikipedian, want to make the world a better place and are aware and excited by the incredible potential of Wikimedia's projects. ...not afraid to ask, “I don't know this; can you help me out?”, are a fast learner and learn from your mistakes. You work well in teams, and are a clear communicator – using both spoken and written words. You can convince and motivate.

Statement of Purpose
Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a Consultant, Communications for the India Programs unit of the [//office.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Development Global Development] department. As Consultant, Communications, your job is to manage all aspects of communications for India Programs. This includes development & execution of a Communications Plan for India, digital outreach (including social media) to increase participation (both reading and editing), all aspects of PR as well as preparation of collateral to support various outreach efforts in the country.

Background Information
The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge. The Foundation operates some of the largest collaboratively edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, a top-ten internet property.

The Foundation undertook a strategic planning process to understand and address the critical challenges and opportunities facing the Wikimedia movement through 2015. The  Strategic Plan defined a series of priorities and goals, as well as specific operational initiatives for the Wikimedia Foundation, that will define the movement’s continued success. An important outcome was a push for participation in the Global South – and the identification of India as a critical geography for this. As part of this, the India Programs unit has been established to drive the push in India. India Programs is tasked with designing and implementing pilot programs that encourage many more Indians to become contributors to projects in Indic languages as well as English.

Scope of Work
Duties include, but are not limited to the following:
 * Development of a comprehensive multi-language Communications Plan for Wikimedia in India to support the Foundation's strategic objectives. This plan must include social media, digital outreach, Public Relations (PR) and supporting community outreach.
 * Implementation of the Communications Plan - including measuring of results focused on growth in participation and readership within India and continuous improvement as required.
 * Identification, selection and onboarding of specialised agencies as required.
 * Social media includes managing and driving social media vehicles to drive participation (i.e., building awareness and driving traffic to Indic language editions, raising awareness of how content is created on various projects and motivating and enabling participation.)
 * Digital outreach comprises how to drive awareness and education and movitation to participate in various projects from within the existing readership base.
 * Public Relations (PR) refers to how to build and manage relationships with media and drive messaging that promotes participation.
 * Creating of collateral to support editing (e.g., tutorial videos and other material.)
 * Build a close partnership with the Community to support communications and various outreach (and other program) activities.
 * Working in cross-functional teams within India Programs, and with others in the Foundation to drive the Movement's priorities.
 * Providing ad hoc support to the Community on all aspects of communications as may be deemed necessary.

Team Structure
You will report to the Consultant, India Programs. You will be part of a team that is currently envisaged to be 5 strong, and there may also be Fellows who may report into you.

Location
The consultant will be based in the National Capital Region and work in an office with the consultancy team. Significant travel will be required.

Compensation & Other Benefits
Compensation will be determined by level of expertise, experience and current remuneration.

Term of Contract
Your initial contract will be for a duration of 12 months, and will commence as soon as possible, and latest by October 15th 2011. The contract will be renewed every year, based on mutually agreed terms.

Desired Qualifications & Experience
Ideally, you should have at least 3 years of experience in social media, marketing, communications and PR. You must be familiar with online community building & dynamics as well as outreach. You should have real-life experience in the basics of insight generation and messaging. You should understand the elements of program design and management, as well as event management. You should be comfortable with data. You should be proficient in English and at least one major Indic language. Please note that relevant hands-on experience, a high level of motivation and an eagerness to learn and try new concepts is more important than having certificates or years of experience. It's particularly critical to have high personal standards of quality for one's work.

Process
Please prepare a 1-page personal statement and a 1-page resume. The personal statement should answer the question, “How & why I think I can contribute to Wikimedia in India?” and the second part should be outlining the “Basic Elements of a Comprehensive Communications Plan for Wikimedia in India.” Please send these to indiateam@undefinedwikimedia.org. Please put “APPLICATION FOR CONSULTANT, COMMUNICATIONS (INDIA PROGRAMS)” in the subject-line. Please send your application by 10th September 2011. The selection process will include short-listing of resumes, video/phone interviews and face-to-face interviews. We regret that we will not be able to personally communicate with all applicants, but we will acknowledge receipt of all applications.