Terms of reference (TOR) for Developing the ACTS Website and Associated Sites at African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS)

Consultancy to develop ACTS Website

ACTS is looking for a consultant to develop and implement all elements of the front-end user interface for several web-based initiatives tailor-made for the needs of the Centre. The tasks will include but not limited to:

• Design, and develop a dynamic, responsive and world-class website capturing the latest trends for website presentations such as strong SEO/placement guarantee compatible and easily accessible to most common devices browsers (laptops, mobiles and other handheld devices);
• Liaise with relevant ACTS staff to understand users' needs and identify corresponding user interface requirements, workflows, and functionalities.
• Transfer all archived content from the current ACTS website into the new website (images, text, embedded video, PDFs, HTML, photo albums, etc.)
• Develop corresponding user interface components (web templates, style sheets, scripts, images, etc,) as needed.
• Create visually appealing sites that feature user-friendly and clear navigation
• Ensure a consistent visual language on the new site by introducing fixed styles in templates ensuring consistency in fonts, formatting, icons, images, layout techniques.
• Develop a user manual and deliver a training for the support staff and system administrators to perform content upload, system maintenance and administration.
• Provide administrative and technical support for a period of 6 months;
• Hand over full source-code including all developed libraries to ACTS ICT officer.
• Link the site with other platforms and other ACTS microsites.
• Embed social media sharing features – including twitter share by text selection and twitter feed by handle and hashtags.

Qualifications and Experience

The ideal candidate should be a reputable firm with at least 5 years of prior experience designing visually appealing and navigation friendly web sites;

• Bachelor or master’s degree in information technology management or any other relevant filed - Minimum 7 years of experience in Web Development and Application Management.
• The web developer should have expertise and deep understanding in the following areas:
• Deep expertise and hands on experience with Web Application and programming languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and APIs.
• Deep functional knowledge or hands on design experience with web services REST, JSON and SOAP - Strong grasp of security principles and how they apply for external/public hosted applications.
• Familiarity and relevant experience in using different Content Management Systems (CMS), particularly WordPress;
• Have a broad knowledge of current web development technologies and design tools in the field, and new software and other web programming languages and programs including use of HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, Macromedia Flash, Java;
• Have excellent knowledge of recent trends in graphic design, web sites, including online video publishing, and social media networking;
• Demonstrate the ability to create innovative and visually appealing design.

Management of the consultancy

• The web developer will work in close consultation and under the supervision of the ACTS communications team and IT Officer.

Application details

Applications should contain an expression of interest, curriculum vitae, design portfolio stating relevant achievements and capacity to undertake the work.  Specifically, the application should include:

• A proposal describing the previous work done in this area; applicants are requested to submit links to websites developed and designed (particularly in Africa) to demonstrate the experiences required by this Terms of Reference.
• A portfolio of previous work of webs with similar functionalities developed in Word Press;
• A financial proposal to address the work.

Submission deadline: 15th October 2023