Request for Proposal - Just Transition Hub

Just Transition Hub

Scope and Specifications

Introduction

IISD and several partners are developing a knowledge hub to share news, reports, a calendar of events, and more information on the just transition in coal regions. This knowledge hub will be a separate website and will have branding from IISD and the project partners. It is to be designed by a contractor.

Core Functions

Act as a knowledge platform that will be updated weekly, with new additions featured on the homepage and older posts archived and searchable by category.

The Hub will host the following types of posts:

• News (short written News posts (example) and Briefs (summaries and links sending to external websites example, + option to embed tweets))
• Insights
  • Commentary (long form written posts example 1, example 2)
  • Stories (long form written posts with multiple formatting options including large images, text highlights etc. example)
  • Multimedia (videos and podcasts; short summaries and uploaded multimedia files) (example)
• Knowledge
  • Case Studies (short written summary to accompany a downloadable PDF file example)
  • Tools (short written summary to accompany a downloadable PDF file or a link to external tool)
  • Reports (short written summary to accompany a downloadable PDF file example)
  • Guides (short written summary to accompany a downloadable PDF file example)
  • Trainings (short written summary, images and links)
• Event Calendar (a page with calendar with ability to connect events with related news stories and other posts that summarize the event example)

All post types will be categorized with one or more of approximately 50 categories. Users will be able to review all posts related to a single category. Categories will also be used to help identify “related” posts on each page. Categories will also be used to identify specific donors/partners involved with the production of each page/piece of content.

Search function will allow users to filter and find posts based on an open text box, selection of categories, and publication month.

Provide monitoring and evaluation data, including unique site visit counts, download and video view count, content upload count, unique contributors (authors) count.

Core Requirements

Under the Grant Agreement and the Project Proposal/PMF document, as well as other IISD design principles, the landing page is bound by the following core requirements.

Multilingual. The website and all its contents should have automatic translation function with all languages available in Google Translate.

Accessible. The website should be WCAG 2.0 compliant, and to the extent possible, be WCAG 2.1 compliant. The colour contrast for all elements on the website should at least be WCAG 2.0 level AA compliant, meaning a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. In-line with IISD standards, the website should also be Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) compliant and redirects to IISD’s AODA page in case of user feedbacks.

Inclusive. The initiative will also target civil society stakeholders from various developing countries, including least developed countries. Internet connectivity issues were identified as a potential barrier for accessing this initiative equitably. Thus, ensuring load time optimization and website functionality in low-data environments are crucial for ensuring inclusivity and accessibility of the initiative. In addition, ensuring all knowledge products’ size is as small as possible for optimal user experience in low-bandwidth situations.

Intuitive. The website should be user-friendly and easy to navigate and use by the initiative’s target audiences. The backend management space should also be accessible for the team members to update and maintain regularly.

Unity. The website should adhere to the common visual identity guidelines of IISD and has the look-and-feel of other IISD websites.

Branding

The initiative will have branding to be defined by IISD and partners, to be featured on the header of the website and throughout the landing space.

Page Specifications

Required page and elements

Common Element – header

• Header should contain name of the Hub.
• Below the name of the hub and across the top there should be a menu of options, including
  • About
  • News
  • Insights
  • Knowledge
  • Events
  • Newsletter
• On the top right corner, there should be a translation trigger button (for google translate).
• The header should be fixed on top of the page when users are scrolling down the page (fixed header effect).
• Examples and inspiration:  IISD-SSI website - Link

Index/home page

• Hero section (cover ¾ of screen space) should allow for selected content to be featured
• Below the hero section there could be three boxes that feature the most recently posted item under the following categories and a link to all of the posts for the category:
  • News
  • Insights
  • Knowledge
• Below this block, there could be a block indicating upcoming events and a link to the full calendar.

About page

• Include a brief ‘About Us’ paragraph of the project’s objectives and partners.

• Include an ‘Our Team’ block.

• Bottom of the page should include funder information with logos.

• One landing page for each of the following post types:

  • News
  • Insights
  • Knowledge

• Each landing page includes previews/links to the posts of that type, organized in reverse chronological order based on publication date, possibly displayed with a photo that has been attached to that post.

• Previews/links for approximately 20 posts should be visible on each page with a user-friendly option to navigate to view older/newer posts of that type.

• Search filter allowing to select content through content type and category.

• Examples and Inspiration:  SDG Knowledge Hub news page: http://sdg.iisd.org/news/

Events page

Events displayed in a calendar feature with option to select individual events to visit individual page for the event, which will include space for:

• • Meeting title
  • Meeting description
  • Meeting dates and location
  • URL for further information about the meeting
  • Examples and Inspiration:  See SDG Knowledge Hub for concept – visual presentation of information could be different (http://sdg.iisd.org/events/calendar/)

Individual post page

• Each post type has its own template, and each post will have its own webpage.
• One main photo is attached to each post from a media library
• Other content blocks might be added depending on the post structure according to different content types defined above.
• The categories are visible and clickable to access other posts for that category and to identify the specific donors/partners involved with the content on that page.
• “Related posts” are available at the bottom, selected automatically based on the categories associated with that post.

Subscribe page

• A page with newsletter subscription form
• Examples and Inspiration:  IISD-SSI website Subscribe’ page - Link

Contact page

• A page with contact information

Imprint

• A page with copyright information

Common element – footer

• Footer should contain IISD and partners’ logos, social media icons, and links to each of the pages again.
• The footer should also have a copyright disclaimer (© IISD) a smaller list/line of redirect links to: Terms and Conditions (link to IISD’s T&C), Privacy Policy (link to IISD’s Privacy Policy page), and AODA Feedback (link to IISD’s AODA Feedback page).
• Example and Inspiration:  IISD-SSI website - Link

Backend Requirements

The website should build in Google Analytics to track unique site and page visits, visitor location and demographic information (if applicable), and download count. The tracking should support the overall monitoring and evaluation of the initiative and in line with IISD Communications team’s practices and relevant and applicable policies.

The Developer will need to set up Google Analytics for the website to track relevant data and share the permission with relevant project personnel. IISD Communications will set up SEMRUSH and Moz to conduct comparative analysis and provide any improvement information at a later date.

Timetable for Procurement Procedure

Launch date - 31 March 2023

Deadline for clarifications, answers to questions - 14 April 2023

Receipt of tenders - 19 April 2023

Tenders review session - 20 April 2023

Notification of the evaluation results - 24 April 2023

Contract signature - 26 April 2023

For more information please contact: Lynn Wagner     lwagner@iisd.org