Request for Proposal (RFP)
Indonesian New Media Training Program on Energy Transition (extended)
(A fellowship program for Content Creators/Digital or social media Agency in Indonesia)
Institute for Essential Services Reform
Tebet Barat Dalam VIII No. 20A-B Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia
25 September 17 October 2022
1. Background and Objective
Southeast Asia (SEA) is a fast-developing region with an energy demand projected to grow around 70% by 2040. With approximately 130 GW of coal-fired power plants planned or under construction, it is also one of the last regions in the world still looking into deploying coal projects at a large scale.
Despite sustained deflationary global trends and the potential of renewable energy in the region, fossil fuels remain SEA’s dominant source of energy, subjecting the region’s economies to deep long-term economic and environmental risks. Several barriers hinder the scaling up of renewables including inconsistent energy planning, inappropriate consideration of their and energy efficiency potential, grid capacity and stability concerns, lack of cross border integration of power systems as well as political economy dynamics that favour incumbent fossil technologies.
Indonesia, a country with the fifth-largest population in the world and the largest in SEA, also relies heavily on fossil fuel to generate its electricity. Despite the target to increase its renewables capacity to 45 GW by 2025 as stipulated in the National Energy Plan (RUEN), the renewables development is sluggish with renewables installed capacity in 2020 only reached slightly around 10.5 GW. The government still favours coal-fired power plant to provide affordable electricity, despite many critics that highlighted cheaper price of coal in Indonesia compared to renewables is due to the subsidy that this coal sector received. Whereas, to meet Indonesian future energy demand while minimizing its greenhouse gas emissions, Indonesia must accelerate its renewable energy utilization and reduce fossil-fuels consumption.
This energy transition adaptation can be propelled by media empowerment. The hype of energy transition is happening not only because the impact of climate change is already here, but also the size of the audience and available media channels are simply enormous1. Media play huge role in our daily life, from informing us about how the government policies affect us until functioning to provide feedback to the government on their policies and programs. Media also is an active participant in the policy making process due to its ability to stimulate change or maintain the status quo depends on their choice of subject or policy issue and how they frame it2.
Looking at news landscape in Indonesia, a media analysis report on Indonesia commissioned by the Stanley Center for Peace and Security and produced by Climate Tracker3 in 2020 indicated that news articles in Indonesia framed coal in positive tone and there were no articles that discussed coal phase out. Additionally, this report also pointed out that renewable energy news has limited sources for the journalists to cite/interview, and even if there are sources, they are too technical. As a result, not only the readers, but the journalists are sometimes confused. Therefore, it was difficult for journalists to dive deeper into specific renewable energy reporting in Indonesia.
The role of new media in supporting Indonesia’s energy transition
Indonesia’s internet economy is expected to continue to grow rapidly, and the pace could potentially be further accelerated by changing consumer and communication behaviour patterns amid the
1 https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2021/04/15/propelling-energy-transition-by-empowering- media.html
2 http://www.aalep.eu/media%E2%80%99s-role-policymaking-process
3 https://stanleycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Indonesia-National-Report-English.pdf
COVID-19 pandemic.4 Smartphone adoption has tripled in the last five years, thanks to cheaper and faster broadband infrastructure and the widespread affordability of 4G phones. There are 156 million smartphone owners, comprising 60% of the total population. This has led to a boom in mobile commerce as well as increased activity, interest in, and funding for digital start-ups.5 The Press Council recorded that, based on 2017 data, there are 47,000 media outlets all over Indonesia, consisting of 2,000 print media, and 1,166 television stations. Business groups are highly influential and capable of affecting the media landscape. There are currently 13 major media groups in the country that are under the control of wealthy and/or influential individuals with the ability to, if they so choose, influence public opinion.
Due to the rapid digitalization, the media landscape is quickly shifting, especially for print media. The pandemic has catalyzed the challenges for print media operation and has resulted in a significant increase in the number of print media outlets that are either struggling or have closed down. One of the impacted print media is the English-speaking newspaper publisher, The Jakarta Post, which laid off 75% of its journalists, in an effort to survive during the pandemic. Print media are not the only media experiencing adversity: Indonesia’s Legal Aid Institute for the Press received 61 reports by journalists, from 14 Jakarta-based media organizations, who experienced lay-offs, furloughs, and/or pay cuts due to financial difficulties caused by drops in advertising (40 to 80% below normal), and a freefall in circulation revenue.6
In addition to its impact on the print media, the pandemic has affected Indonesian consumers in a way that has strengthened the positions of both digital media and television. TV viewership increased by 25% during the second week of March 2020 after the announcement of Indonesia’s first COVID-19 case, with the upper class as the biggest contributor. The daily duration of TV viewing also surged more than 40 minutes, while the share of children (5-9 years old) increased by 3.8%.7 The share of people listening to radios has also surged, especially in remote Indonesian areas, especially areas lacking internet connectivity, during the stay-at-home period of the pandemic. Government-owned TV (TVRI) and radio (RRI) stations have broadcast educational content every morning, with the aim to supplement school lessons during the pandemic, making it easier for children in the remote areas to effectively be home-schooled.
Meanwhile, online media in Indonesia has experienced a significant surge, supported by growing rates of internet penetration. The Press Council estimated that until 2017, the number of online media operations was 43,300, of which only 234 (5 percent) could be verified by the council8. A significant number of digital media outlets in Indonesia lack an address for their editorial office, a legal entity, and proper quality standards for their writing. Besides the effect on production quality, the lack of budget and human resources creates a murkier reflection on Indonesia’s digital media landscape.
Although there are some notable selections to this rule, the most trusted digital outlets are typically those that grew out of an existing newspaper outlet.
Most big publications are located in Jakarta and focus on national issues. The majority of journalists are based in Jakarta, and most of the coverage is centralized in Jakarta. Coverage of any events, or issues, taking place in Jakarta will easily be considered a national issue. However, non-Jakarta issues
4 https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesias-resilient-digital-economy-up-11-to-44b-in-2020-google/
5 https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-apac/country/indonesia/
6 2020. Andreyka Natalegawa & Kyra Jasper. Newsrooms in Crisis: Covid-19 and Journalism in Indonesia. CSIS.
7 2020. Nielsen. COVID-19 and Its Impact on Media Consumptions Trends.
8 2019. Country: Indonesia. Media Landscape.org.
and topics have limited opportunity to receive exposure in the national media, unless the issues can be associated with national interests or policy (politics).
In this context, IESR is looking for a contractor to design an offline training program for the new media group in Indonesia with sound and measurable action plans under budget optimization management in order to raise awareness across different target groups around the question of energy transition through media journalistic products.
2. Training Description and Objectives
IESR is currently implementing a project, funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), called “Clean, Affordable, and Secure Energy (CASE) for Southeast Asia”. This project aims to shift the narrative of the energy sector in SEA, particularly in Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Thailand towards an evidence-based energy transition, aiming to increase political ambition to comply with the Paris Agreement. One of the outputs of this project is to increase public discourse, and in Indonesia, we see that the role of new media is important to achieve this output.
With reference to the background above, the objectives of this training will be:
1. Providing the new media content creators a tailored designed program to enrich and broadening their technical knowledge as well as the social/economy impact in the renewable energy and energy transition field.
2. Support new media content creators to play a role in Indonesian energy transition planning and acceleration through its role as journalist through social media.
3. Improve the visibility, awareness, and open dialogue or engagement of the energy transition topic in the Indonesian (social) media landscape.
3. Task to be performed by contractor
The contractor is responsible for conducting the training, achieving the outputs, complying with the associated indicators, and implementing the activities described below.
List of tasks:
3.1. Capacity needs assessment on energy transition content creation for new media
3.1.1. Mapping the social media-based news/media agency in Indonesia development and theircontent mainstream issues/topic; including but not limited to their networks of channels, audiences, demographics, and interactions/engagement quality
3.1.2.Conduct capacity needs assessment on content creation for energy transition narrative, especially for the content producers and/or journalists of the media.
3.1.3. Produce report of this capacity need assessment.
3.2. Training promotion and content creators/journalists’ selection
3.2.1.Design promotion concept to attract both national and regional content creator/journalist in Indonesia to participate in the training.
3.2.2. Promote the training event.
3.2.3. In close cooperation with IESR and CASE Indonesia team (if needed) to develop journalist’s selection criteria.
3.2.4.Select content creator/journalists to participate in the journalist training.
3.2.5.Select trainers and facilitators to conduct the training.
3.3. Training Concept and Implementation
3.3.1. Design the fellowship/training program specifically for the content creators/journalist of digital or online media Indonesia with a purpose of advancing the participants/fellows skills and qualification in developing news content as well as their knowledge on energy transition narratives; renewable energy, coal-phaseout, financing, inclusivity, etc., in domestic and global context. The developed concept needs to be approved by IESR and CASE Indonesia team (if needed).
3.3.2.Design training schedule from beginning to end.
3.3.3.Conduct the training for maximum 20 participants/fellows from at least 15 new media agencies in Indonesia.
3.3.4. Organize venue (with the minimum of 3 or 4 stars MICE venue standards) and required logistics to conduct the training, for both participants and trainers/facilitators, I.e.
transportation, accommodation, F&B.
3.3.5. Take documentation (photos and videos) of the training activities with consent from the participants (fellows and trainers/facilitators). All images and videos shall remain the property of IESR and CASE Indonesia. IESR and CASE Indonesia are herewith granted exclusive rights to use, modify, and disseminate the photos and videos in any format and in any media, without further authorisation and cost implementation.
3.3.6.Design, and disbursement a fellowship grants programme for all the fellows.
3.3.7.Provide suggestions and liaise with pool of experts/trainers or facilitators of the program for the entire sessions.
3.3.8. Create event surveys, feedback and evaluation reports.
3.4. Social Media Content Journalistic Products
3.4.1.In close cooperation with IESR and CASE Indonesia team (if needed) to design concept for creating social media based journalistic product as a post-training activity for selected content creators/journalists. All fellows should be endorsed by their media agency and required to post at least 1 (one) content in their media related to the energy transition, as the mandatory task to pass on and received the fellowship grant.
3.4.2.Monitor and provide support to the content creators/journalists during their post-training assignment.
3.4.3.Curating the produce social media based journalistic products to be handed over to IESR.
3.5. Sustainability Strategy or Post Training Concept
3.5.1. Design journalist post training concept as a recommendation to CASE Indonesia to maintain and develop the community skills post training.
4. Proposal Guidelines and Project Timeline
Proposal Guidelines
Proposals will be accepted until 10:00 p.m. Indonesian Western Standard Time (WIB, GMT+0700), Sunday, 14 23 October 2022. Kindly address Project Manager CASE IESR at [email protected] for inquiries. Any proposals received after this date and time will be regarded inadmissible. All proposals
must be signed by an official agent or representative of the company submitting the proposal.
Evaluation of proposals will be conducted from 15 – 21 24-28 October 2022. Follow up with the top three candidates will be conducted within this window to obtain any necessary clarification on items described within proposals.
The selection decision for the winning bidder will be made by 24 31 October 2022.
Upon notification, the contract negotiation with the winning bidder will begin immediately and must proceed extremely quickly to meet the project timeline.
Proposals should not be more than 10 pages in length.
If the organization submitting a proposal must outsource or contract any work to meet the requirements, this must be clearly stated in the proposal. Additionally, costs included in proposals must include any outsourced or contracted work. Any outsourcing or contracting organization must be named and described in the proposal.
Please itemize all costs and include a description of associated services. Contract terms and conditions will be negotiated upon selection of the winning bidder for this RFP.
Project Timeline:
A draft timeline is presented below. Internal changes may be made if mutually agreed.
Indonesian Journalist Training Program on Energy Transition
Description Date
Capacity needs assessment 25 31 October – 18 November 2022
Training Concept and Design 15-22 November 2022
Journalist selection 23 November – 08 December 2022
Journalist Training 12-16 December 2022
Journalistic Production 19 December 2022 – 13 January 2023
Training Report Submission 31 January 2022
Unless otherwise noted, work will be completed by the end of month identified above.
5. Budget
All proposals must include proposed costs (in Indonesian Rupiah/IDR) to complete the tasks described in the project scope. Costs should be stated as one-time or non-recurring costs (NRC).
Pricing should be listed at least these items:
• Journalist selection process
• Journalist training
• Journalistic production/Fellowship grants
• Resource person/facilitators
• Branding, marketing, promotion
• Venue or platform for the training session (if necessary and if needed must comply with Indonesian government policy/direction on Covid-19 protocol)
• Other relevant proposed cost with justification of the necessity to support the event NOTE: All costs and fees must be clearly described in each proposal.
6. Bidder Qualifications
Bidders should provide a comprehensive and detailed proposal comprising all these following items and should write their proposal following this structure.
1. Profiling
a. Company/organization profile description of experience in conducting journalist training or similar.
b. Example of similar trainings/events conducted by your organization.
c. Anticipated resources you will assign to this project (total number of manpower, role, title, experience) including the steering structure.
2. Concept
a. Concept for capacity needs assessment
b. Promotion concept to attract journalist to join the training.
c. Concept for journalist selection.
d. Concept to make sure selected journalist follow the whole training process.
e. Anticipated trainers or facilitators.
f. Training concept, including detail timeline, training duration, methods, overview of training material, etc.
3. Product
a. Concept for journalistic product (what will the final product be).
4. Budget
Bidders must submit a digital copy of their proposal via email to Project Manager CASE IESR at [email protected] and cc to [email protected] (Project Officer CASE IESR) and [email protected] (Senior Communication Adviser CASE GIZ Indonesia) the latest by 10:00 p.m. Indonesian Western Standard Time (WIB, GMT +0700) on 14 23 October 2022. Please include “[CASE Indonesia] Indonesian New Media Training” in the subject line.
