• SME Market Access Program
• SME Access to Finance
• Clean Energy Solutions
• Training and Facilitation
• Project Design and Strategy

SGCF - Photogapher

For more detailed descripion of the position and instructions how to apply, please send by email before 11th December 2009 to  eet-sa@whlconsulting.com.

The assignment is expected to take approx 3-4 months in the field, beginning at the end of January 2010. There are two more positions similar to this but for different part of Kwazulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces.

OBJECTIVES

The overall objective is to improve market access for MSME accommodation and activity providers through a cluster marketing strategy.  The WHL will help them to more effectively market to the growing independent traveler (FIT) market. The proprietary tool to assess the SMEs, Sustainable Market Readiness Assessment (SMRA), has the objective to identify accommodation products ready to participate in marketing directly to a global audience via e-commerce channels, as well as those nearly ready or not ready at all.

It is one thing to have a nice guesthouse or local homestay but it is entirely another thing to have the professional and high quality digital content (photos and story) needed to sell the product. One of the biggest needs for SMEs throughout the developing world is this content, without which it will be impossible to reach a global audience. It is the minimum entry requirement for building market access. The content needs to be high quality, in the correct format (e.g. digital images in both high and low resolution formats), and also placed in the hands of the accommodation owners so that they can use the material to leverage the multitude of distribution channels available to them. The WHL Consulting Content Collection Exercise is designed specifically to address this need. The Content Collection Exercise consists of two parts (two separate consultants): A Travel Writer and A Professional Photographer. This RFP is for the Professional Photographer position.

The CCE Professional Photographer portion is essentially a site visit and photography shoot. Each CCE can take approximately 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on size of property and number of photographs required. The Consultant will need to manage the travel and interview schedule, calling ahead to confirm appointment time so that at least 3 (average of 4.5) shoots can be conducted per day.

The Consultant will be assigned to interview approximately 150 MSMEs in total and it is expected this target can be reached in 3 months time. Every two weeks the Consultant will need to report to the project coordinating office with status updates and to coordinate the next two weeks of the travel and interview schedules. If the Consultant is able to interview more than 150 MSMEs and if there are more MSMEs to interview once the 150 target is reached, the consultant and the project coordinating office may agree upon a rate and time frame for the Consultant to conduct the additional SMRAs.

The consultant will be required to undergo 1 day of in-person training with the WHL team at the start of the assignment and to be available for virtual training with 360 Cities for the panoramic photography guidelines (see below) and how to use their delivery system.

SCOPE OF WORK

Working closely with the appointed WHLC task team leader, tasks the consultant will undertake, will include:

• Take digital still photographs of Market Ready and Nearly Market Ready Product (approximately 10-20 final images per SME). Specific requirements to be provided by WHL.
• Create 4 fully-spherical panoramic images for each product.  The panoramic images should be of the same format as on 360cities.net <http://360cities.net> .  The panoramic images will be used to create a virtual tour of each location. 
• 25-35 final (edited) destination images for each destination
• Delivery of images via DVD and to be uploaded to two online databases.  Specific details to be provided by WHL.

The work done by the consultant will be performed at the consultant’s home base and in the field in KwaZulu-Natal & Mpumalanga. 

QUALIFICATIONS

Successful Applicants should:

• Have 2-3 years of international travel and work experience.
• Have 2-3 year of experience photographing MSMEs.
• Have solid production skills including uploading to CMS driven applications.
• Be able to evidence a strong knowledge of and understanding of the South African provinces.
• Be committed to a sustainable tourism industry and sustainable development.
• Able to work flexible hours and manage their own time efficiently.
• Regular access to email and Skype for correspondence, coordination and virtual training with WHLC prior to and during implementation.
• Have their own photographic equipment.