| Overview : INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT PROCUREMENT NOTICE CONSULTANT SERVICES TO DEVELOP A MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION PLAN FOR THE BUY MALAWI STRATEGY (BMS) Duration of initial contract: 30 man days Submission deadline: 29 August 2016
BACKGROUND
Malawi’s economy is dominated by Agriculture, which accounts for over 30% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This reliance on agriculture has been a leading cause of high volatility in Malawi’s GDP growth, as poor harvests coupled with regular droughts have significantly impacted on agricultural output. The Manufacturing Sector is relatively small and contributes just over 10% of Malawi`s GDP. Furthermore, it is concentrated around the cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe and to a lesser extent Mzuzu, leaving most of the country with no industrial development at all. The Manufacturing Sector is critical to an economy’s growth potential and balance of payments. The lack of a thriving manufacturing sector and over-reliance on primary agriculture increases the need to import value-added goods, whether for consumption or as industrial inputs, and decreases the potential to develop a sustained comparative advantage for exporting such goods.
While Malawi has made some important strides in its economic development agenda, it has suffered economic set-backs that are characteristic of a country with a weak productive base. The intermittent weakening of the local currency and a huge trade imbalance speak of an economy that has a big appetite for imported goods and services, even those which are efficiently produced locally. Malawians generally prefer imported over locally produced products and consider goods made in Malawi as second class products. The consequences of ignoring consumption of and patronizing locally produced goods and services have been well documented. The net effects are lost jobs, unstable exchange rate, stagnating industrial development, high inflation and worsening trade balances just to mention a few. It is against this background that the Malawi Government resuscitated the strategy to promote consumption of locally-made goods and services. To that effect the Government of Malawi, through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, developed an ambitious Buy Malawi Strategy (BMS) in 2015 which was officially launched on 18th March 2016 by the Head of State empahsising its significance to Malawi. The Government of Malawi, through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, is hence seeking for consultancy services to develop a Marketing and Communication Plan for the BMS to effectively promote and ultimately increase consumption of goods and services made in Malawi, as part of the efforts to implement the Buy Malawi Strategy and to develop the ‘Brand Malawi’. SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK
The objective of the consultancy is to develop a Marketing and Communication Plan fit to transform local consumption habits as per the Buy Malawi Strategy. The purpose of the Marketing and Communication Plan is to guide the logical implementation of the Buy Malawi Strategy. The scope of this assignment calls for the development of a comprehensive and phased Marketing and Communication Plan with the aim of building an appealing Malawi Brand and developing the local industrial base. The consultant will be required to deliver the following: - An Inception Report
- A comprehensive, detailed and well-orchestrated Marketing and Communication Plan as outlined in the Specific Tasks, which shall include points of action, timelines, task allocation (responsibilities) and estimated budget.
The assignment is expected to take 30 man days inclusive of field work, report writing and validation Workshop. To be noted that the Validation Workshop will be funded separately by UNDP.
REQUIREMENTS FOR QUALIFICATIONS - Hold a minimum of Master’s Degree in Marketing or a related field of expertise;
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications by 5pm on the 29th of August 2016, (1) Technical Proposal (2) Financial Proposal and (3) P11 Form or CV, apply on line www.jobs.undp.org or on email: procurement.mw@undp.org. Proposals must include all three documents. Proposals not meeting this requirement will be rejected. Please note that online submissions require scanning all documentation in one file as the platform allows for one attachment only www.jobs.undp.org | 
