Project Report Editor - Media Gender Charter

01. Position Information

• Description of the assignment: Project Report Editor 
• Location: Remotely
• Reports to: The Program Director
• Timeframe: One month
• Number of pages to be edited: 136
• Contract: Special Service Agreement

02. Organization Background

Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF) is a well-established and national level action-based organization committed to promoting human rights, gender equality, inclusivity as well as peace and reconciliation through development communication, with the use of new media tools such as community storytelling, radio drama, cartoons, photography, MoJo and forum theatres. We have nearly ten years of extensive experience in working with media outlets, civil society organizations, youth, women and other marginalized groups in achieving our goals. The Vision of SDJF is to promote vibrant democracy and devoid of voice poverty. In addition, SDJF is championed by its mission to be the lead facilitator to advocate democratic and pluralistic values, strengthen community media, amplify the voice of the excluded, and to ensure their sustainability through research and development based on development communication principles.

03. What is the Media Gender Charter? (MGC)

SDJF has perceived that gender dimensions in the Sri Lankan media is not promising since there is continuous gender-insensitive reporting, objectification, stereotyping, exclusion of the voice of different gender groups, and non-conducive working environments within the industry. In this light, SDJF facilitated a series of stakeholder consultations with different media institutions, gender & media experts, researchers, academics, CSOs & NGOs to come up with the content for Media Gender Charter for Sri Lanka to be utilized as a guiding instrument by media institutions and other relevant parties in the sphere of media. This Charter has been formulated in the light of Sri Lanka’s national commitments to achieve gender equality. It mainly deals with Gender Sensitive Reporting, Inclusivity and Equality, Gender Equality in the Workplace and Working Conditions, and Implementation Mechanisms.

This Charter applies to journalists and media persons reporting in the print, broadcast, electronic and institutional social media platforms. This Charter is not restricted to equality between men and women but also addresses the right to equality of the LGBT+ community.

04. The process of developing the Media Gender Charter

Even though it could seem that the drafting of MGC is an overnight outcome, it certainly embodies a strenuous effort of three years.

• In 2018, 3 stakeholders’ consultations: SDJF gathered more than 54 individuals representing media owners, media outlets, senior editors, senior women journalists, media associations, unions, institutions, university and civil society actors from 3 different consultations and drafted the content for the MGC (Outcome: developed Draft 1 of MGC).
• One to one meeting: As part of the 2nd phase, in 2019 we conducted 21 targeted one-to-one interviews with a wide range of editors in print and other media outlets to gain their inputs to further refine the Charter. (Outcome: developed Draft 2 of MGC)
• Virtual consultations: In 2020, 10 virtual consultations were held with media institution owners & senior journalists to fine-tune the Charter with the management-level points of view. In addition, SDJF organized around 25 regional consultations to further penetrate into the sub-layers of the media industry. This involved regional journalists of different districts across the country. (Outcome: Developed the final version of MGC)
• Facebook engagement: SDJF is currently hosting a series of monthly Facebook live discussions titled “Media4Everyone” with experts in the field in order to make the public aware of the MGC and to give them an opportunity to interact with experts about lapses and recommendations in this regard.

05. Responsibilities & Deliverables of the Editor

The overall function of the consultant to edit all the event reports, project deliverables and other documents in accordance to the specification set in this document.

Summary of key functions:

Specific deliverables expected from the Editor:

1. Review, organize, edit, and consolidate material for each event report/project report  while maintaining clarity, consistency of the structure, and core thematic area(s). Readability should be maintained.
2. Structure: Each report should be organized in the format of recommendations from the participants/stakeholders. These reports are to be published on the new MGC website which we will be creating in near future. (A website dedicated to Media Gender Charter & its activities)
3. Proofreading: Once the Report has been copy-edited and laid out, the editor will perform one or more rounds of proofreading, checking spelling, acronyms and other abbreviations style consistency, layout problems, references, etc. The final output should stand as a coherent document reflecting the long MGC process and its efforts to compile a guiding instrument with ideologies of multiple stakeholder consultations.

Expected tasks to accomplish:

• Combine all consultation Reports into one standalone document: This includes 3 separate reports based on 3 stakeholder consultations we had in 2018. It consists of 28 pages in total. These three reports  should be combined into one report simply following the flow of first, second & third consultations and specific outcomes of each consultation. ( Similar to a need assessment report)
• Report 4 - Background document: This is a 4-page document comprising what made SDJF support the need of developing the MGC and its proposed intervention. The doc is in the future tense and majorly it reflects SDJF’s point of view. This should be re-arranged to a stand-alone document. The idea should be facilitated by SDJF and supported by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) & USAID.
• Report 5: This  5-page document which includes the observations & recommendations should be re-edited from an observatory point of view. The content here is accurate but needs to rearrange language as a completed activity along with an observatory standpoint.
• Report 6: This is a 63-page document that comes as a checklist for media institutions in implementing the MGC. We want to split the document into 4 separate documents based on its key topics. (i.e.1. Toolkit to track gender-neutral media coverage during elections, 2. Checklist for media covering violence against women 3. Toolkit to track gender & media in post-conflict Sri Lanka. 4. Toolkit for balanced gender inclusive & equitable media reporting. The language needs to be more refined in this doc since there were certain areas without clarity i.e. “Some Sri Lankan women say/believe…etc.
• Report 7: This is a 36-page doc comprising the review of the 2nd draft of MGC & some possible implementation mechanisms. Here the language should be more refined. At certain places, the coherence is lacking. It should be rearranged in a way the idea can be conveyed with more appeal in terms of MGC.

06. Required Competencies

• Superior editing and writing skills with a minimum of 6 years’ relevant experience. (Proven experience)
• Excellent writing skills in English, and proven analytical skills, and the ability to synthesize findings from diverse materials and sources.
• Familiarity and sensitivity to the subject of gender are desirable.
• Ability to clearly and concisely express ideas and concepts in written form.
• Ability to effectively grasp and incorporate ideas from multiple write-ups to fit a defined report style and format.

Vii. Remuneration: Remuneration is negotiable depending on experience & qualifications.

Please send your updated CV along with a cover letter before 23rd December 2020 to recruitment@Ldjf.org.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.