Background
The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA)
is a non-political not for profit organisation of the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS)
of eleven countries: Burundi, D.R Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, South
Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Over the years, ASARECA has invested considerably in
stimulating the transformation of the Agricultural sector to improve livelihoods of communities,
farmers, pastoralists and fisher folks among others in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) Sub –
region.
By pursuance of its mission, of enhancing regional collective action in agricultural research for
development, extension, training, and education so as to promote economic growth, poverty reduction,
hunger eradication , and sustainable use of resources in Eastern and Central Africa, ASARECA aims to
promote the generation and utilization of technologies and innovations in the sub-region. This is
intended at increasing the efficiency of agricultural research in the sub-region to facilitate economic
growth, food security and competitiveness through productive and sustainable agriculture.
To drive the achievement of this purpose, ASARECA identified the following as strategic
interventions:

Strengthening of gender- responsive governance and management systems,

Enhancement of the generation of demand driven agricultural technologies and innovations,

Enhancement of the adoption of policy options by decision makers to improve performance of
the agricultural sector,

Strengthening the capacity for implementing agricultural research for development, and

Enhancement of availability of information and knowledge on agricultural technologies and
innovations
The ASARECA Website
The ASARECA website, www.asareca.org was setup in 2001, re-designed in 2004. It was further
redesigned in 2008 and 2011 to reflect changes that had taken place at ASARECA.
ASARECA has just completed OP1 from 2008 to 2013 and has begun OP2 (2014 to 2018) and as
such the need to re-design the website to respond to OP2.
ASARECA
REDESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASARECA WEBSITE - IFB NUMBER: ASARECA / NCB/SERVICES/14/1/02
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Under OP1, ASARECA implemented several projects and a lot of knowledge and information has
been generated in the context of these projects. The data, information and knowledge generated by
ASARECA projects and activities during the OP1 period were captured, organized and packaged into
targeted communication products. These communication products were designed to be responsive
to the needs of specific stakeholders and include training resources, reports, technical and training
manuals, research data, research papers, journal articles, policy briefs, books, pamphlets,
brochures, position papers, newsletters and video documentaries. An inventory of technologies,
innovations, and management practices (TIMPs), which are available for dissemination to and
uptake by farmers, has also been developed. The TIMPs include technologies and innovations
generated through ASARECA research programmes, as well as those generated by partners in the
ECA, especially NARI and universities.
The ASARECA website is the most important route used for disseminating information to many
stakeholders. It is the go to place for information for ECA.
New tools, approaches, techniques have come up since the last re-design effort and as such there is
need to develop a new website to accommodate them. There has also been growth in the use of
mobile computing band other newer technologies such as Web 2.0/3.0.
In order for ASARECA to reap from the benefits of a highly integrated website while catering for all
its audiences, there is urgent need for the website to be redesigned.
The target audience for the ASARECA website includes policy makers, famers, national, regional and
international organizations working in agricultural research, extension, training and education;
universities and advanced research institutes, private sector, agricultural service providers; NGOs;
development partners and the media and the media amongst others.
Overall objective of the assignment
The overall objective is to redesign, develop and implement and interactive website for ASARECA
Scope of work
The ASARECA website and its sub-sites will be designed within the following scope
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Summary of key tasks
New Wave Technologies will undertake the following tasks:
 Review the needs assessment report from ASARECA and identify key elements to include in the
redesign effort

Review existing websites of similar organizations and pick out key features that could enrich
the redesign effort

Develop a new design and layout for the new ASARECA website and sub sites

Develop a Content Management System (CMS)

Develop a new website on the test environment

Deploy the new Website on the ASARECA hosting servers

Train ASARECA ICT Unit and CPR Unit staff

Prepare detailed documentation to cover all technical aspects of the Website

Provide user and administrators’ manuals.
Our proposed methodology
Prior to the development
Evaluate the requirements
We shall carry out analysis of the project requirements and produce an inception report. This will
form the development strategy. At this stage we shall make an assessment of information
requirements of the different categories of users and functions. We shall take note of the manner in
which information from within and outside the site flows and the nature of information and reports
that need to be stored, managed and produced at all levels.
Document the features and lay ground for the development of the CMS
After approving the development strategy, we shall design website templates, features lists, use
cases, information flow diagrams, wire frames and test plans based on the statement of
requirements, inception report, guidelines and other documents made available by the client.
Development
Our offer is to rebuild www.asareca.org into an interactive User-Generated-Content driven multisite web portal that permits easy content management. We are offering a solution with multiple
user types and access levels. We offer to provide a website template for the mentioned sub-sites
each accessible via a unique sub-domain and an independent content management system.
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Our proposed homepage
Key design considerations
The new website will be a multisite that will allow for inter-operability, aggregate content from the
sub-websites to the main website, allow integration with Web 2.0/3.0 tools.
Site superstructure
New Wave Technologies will redesign the ASARECA website (as in the sample pages in the previous
sections and) to accommodate the following:

The ASARECA brand will have its own unique ‘look’. This should enable the user to recognize it
as belonging to the ASARECA brand. In order to achieve brand consistency, everything will be
interlinked and link back to the core brand look. The ASARECA logo will be used in a consistent
way across the web pages (even programmes). The application of logos, typography, colour
ranges and design styles should be consistent with the organization’s brand proposition/
brand application and publications guidelines. Consistent colour ranges and design styles will
be applied.

The new site will be less visually crowded and more cleanly organized.

The design will anticipate and provide for the different types of content. It is necessary to
organize the site content into taxonomies and hierarchies of information and to ensure the
underlying structure of the site and its content is well constructed.

The website will integrate more varied forms of content including photos, videos, slideshows
and audio files as well as more user support tools such as training guides/packs, toolkits,
manuals, booklets, handbooks, reports and papers produced by projects

Capability to enable feedback with other users through the site.

Functionality to link or feature external content of interest. These include links to the relevant
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sites, which provide interactive features such as discussion forums, user feedback. ASARECA
will consider the use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flicker amongst others

A sitemap that shows a clear navigational path structure

A total of 12 sub-websites will be integrated into the newly redesigned ASARECA website These
are:

High Value Non Staple Crops,

Livestock & Fisheries,

Natural Resource Management & Biodiversity,

Knowledge Management & Up Scaling

Staple crops,

Agro-biodiversity and Technology, and PAAP Programmes

Partnerships and Capacity Development

M&E

Gender Mainstreaming

EAAPP

ESS

EAPGREN Unit
Each of these sub-websites will bear all the sections available on the main ASARECA website. The
ASARECA main website will be able to pool content from related sections of the programmes’ subwebsites. These 12 sub-websites will be accessible through sub-domains created of the ASARECA
website.
Layout
 The ASARECA Website is to be structured with a modern layout that gives a user access to all
the desired information at a glance.

The main website will have the initial sections as given in the table below. However, the
modular CMS shall enable the secretariat to add other sections and content pages on the fly
#
Section
Description
1.0
Home Page
Welcome page for ASARECA. It will contain links to the
various sections and will also have a dynamic section that
features news, etc. This will be responsive, change when the
display changes. Non-linear scrolling.
2.0
Our Work
This section will ‘tell’ a visitor the main information about
ASARECA. The key areas include:
- About ASARECA
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-

ASARECA Board of Directors,
Secretariat (Staff, Programs, & Units, Staff Profiles)
National Focal Persons,
General Assembly,
OP2 Themes,
Featured programs,
Project Portfolio
3.0
Sub-grantee Information
This section will highlight information that is useful for
people engaged on ASARECA projects:
- Research sub-grant management guidelines
- ESS Framework
- M&E reference documents
- Publication guidelines
- Gender Mainstreaming Guidelines
4.0
Calendar of Events
Planned events calendar: both upcoming and past. This will
aggregate events from the sub-websites.
Workshops: This section will list past, current and future
workshops with links to the related documentation
(concept, report, and presentations)
5.0
Announcements
All announcements –
competitions, tenders etc.
6.0
Our Products
This section will include all knowledge products produced
by ASARECA. These include communication products, tools,
publications, newsletters, databases, inventory of TIMPs,
videos, audio resources, and training materials.
7.0
Highlights
This section will have captions/ summaries of news &
events. (Features, media highlights, press releases,
ASARECA in the News.)
8.0
Useful resources
A list of links to online resources, glossary of terms, list of
acronyms, FAQs, contacts database, list of other related
resources and online tools
9.0
Contact Us
A contact us/ feedback section
10.0
Search
The search function will appear in all sections of the
Website
11.0
Emerging Technologies
Web 2.0/3.0, Translators, RSS Feeds
12.0
Our Partners
Organizations that ASARECA works with
Research
calls,
vacancies,
The sub- websites (themes and programmes) will have content similar to the main ASARECA
website. The details of each sub-website will be determined at the inception meeting.
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Content Management System
New Wave Technologies will develop a modular and open source CMS (preferably based on Drupal
7.22) to centrally manage the main ASARECA website and its sub-websites.

The CMS shall be developed to enable aggregation of content from the sub-website to the main
website. For example, if one accesses publications on the ASARECA website, it shall also be able
to pool together all the publications on the respective programme websites and so on.

The possibility to define accessibility rights will be given such that only certain members of the
ASARECA community can access certain sections of the website. For example, a page for Board
members where papers for upcoming meetings can be uploaded. It shall also allow for selfregistration to these sites.

There shall be an inbuilt functionality that allows for easy online filing of forms, e.g.
registration forms, consultant forms, etc

The site shall also enable people to register/ subscribe for publications and services e.g.
newsletters, RSS feed etc.
Beta testing, Deployment and Training
New Wave Technologies will carry out the following:

Beta testing of the Main ASARECA website, sub-websites and CMS in collaboration Information
and Communication Technology Unit (ICTU).

Deploy the new website on the ASARECA hosting servers.

Provide training for ICT Unit and CPR staff.
New Wave Technologies will present mock ups for graphic designs for the different sites to
ASARECA which will form the basis of further improvements and/ changes.
Though the sub-websites’ look and feel may vary, the basic outline will be the same for all websites.
Once the design concepts have been approved, the main website and sub-websites will be
developed and presented to ASARECA for approval.
The prototypes of the websites/pages will be set up online and remote access shall be granted to
this site for all stake holders for feedback.
New Wave Technologies will propose the technologies we will use under its development
environment. See section 5. We have noted that the ASARECA website will be hosted in a Linux
environment, on an Apache web server.
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Responsiveness Requirement
The new websites will:
 Be of variable width and height to ensure compatibility with multiple displays.

Allow for non- linear scrolling.

Be user friendly and cross browser compatible
ASARECA will be able to modify the look of the content on the websites. The navigation structure
will be determined by ASARECA and shall be implemented accordingly. The core features will
include amongst others:






Content Management System,
Unlimited number of menus & categories
Archiving capabilities
Feedback forms
Search Engine Optimization
Text Only version features
The developed portal will be deployed at a designated host based on the following methodology
Feature
Explanation
1.
Search capabilities
An internal Search Engine for the website that searches the Website
with search results disaggregated according to key headers.
2.
User accounts
The accounts will be available for all ASARECA personnel and relevant
partners and will be used to access certain restricted features of the
Websites.
3.
Access Rights and
Control
The websites need to have defined access rights for user registration
systems, subscriptions and permissions as well as the site security
protocols with in the selected content management system.
This is aimed at enabling different user groups to access specific private
areas and share information and data specific to their needs.
4.
User Accounts
The accounts will be available for all ASARECA personnel and relevant
partners and will be used to access certain restricted features of the
websites.
5.
Access Rights and
Control
The websites need to have defined access rights for user registration
systems, subscriptions and permissions as well as the site security
protocols within the selected content management system. This is aimed
at enabling different user groups to access specific private areas and
share information and data specific to their needs.
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The Website will be designed in such a way to ensure that only the
information relevant to a particular user or user group is accessible.
Posting capabilities will also be restricted. New Wave Technologies will
design an ‘access control plan’ that suits the needs of ASARECA and at
the same time ensures the security of the information.
6.
Highlights Section
This will be incorporated into the Website CMSs. The news section will
be provided to facilitate the effective communication of timely and
relevant news concerning Programmes and/ or its partners. This section
will feed information directly into the ASARECA main page News section.
The main CMS will keep a log of news items entered the programme
CMSs.
7.
Website
Navigation and
Site Map
The websites navigation system is to be intuitive and easy to use, and
provide direct access to a variety of content and facilities on the web
8.
Archive section
As appropriate, old news, and other old articles will be moved to the
Archives section of the Website. The New Wave Technologies and
ASARECA shall agree on an archiving policy. All operations like searches
and views will be available for archived information as well.
9.
Emerging media
and Technologies

Video: The Website will have a video library from which the users
can select and search for different video content the website has to
offer. A page dedicated for this purpose should be developed.

Translators: the websites will have language translation features for
translation into other international languages.

Social Media Web Interfaces: The websites will have feeds from the
social websites like Facebook, Twitter etc to allow for maximum
interaction on the websites blogs/ blog pages.

RSS feeds: The websites will be integrated with some of the popular
Analytical Sites like Google Analytics.

Web 2.0 and 3.0 tool: The websites will allow for integration of Web
2.0 and Web 3.0 tools like Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube among
others.
10.
Application
Integration
The Website will be designed in such a way as to ease the integration of
various applications as recommended by ASARECA.
11.
Text Only Version
Text only version features of the websites are to be developed to allow
users to select this option in areas with slow internet speeds.
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12.
Website Security
We shall ensure that the website code is adequately secured from
common security loopholes in order to preserve the integrity of the site.
The website should be proofed against cross-site scripting, SQL injection,
session hijacking, insecure object references, security mis-configuration
and any other exploitable security issues.
Access to the backend will only be granted to SSL connections.
13.
Website Statistics
The websites will be able to provide user statistics on the various
materials available on all websites in the CMS.
14.
Audit trails
In addition to user account based control and security, the Website will
feature audit trails. The administrator will always receive an email
whenever and important event occurs to the content available on the
Website.
15.
Backups
Automated backups of the Website will be integrated into the Website
being developed and made easily manageable by the ASARECA IT
Technical team,
And additional methodology
Item
Approach
Site Superstructure
We shall abide by the clients’ terms of reference. We additionally
propose to use modern web design tools to deliver an appealing and
user-friendly website. The portal will have the following attractive
attributes:
 A futuristic and simple design
 Appealing and professional style
 Consistent overall layout
 Consistent look and feel
 Rational space usage – easy to navigate
 Not too many graphics; therefore easy to load and suitable
for the slow internet speeds in Uganda.
 A well designed site navigation that eases finding of
information on the website for both experts and novices
The interface will be developed using XHTML, CSS, together
with web 2.0/3.0 graphics to give it a desirable aesthetic touch. The
interface will be kept as simple as possible to enable a shorter
learning curve and easy navigation. JavaScript will be used for data
validation and dialog boxes whereas AJAX and XML will be used for
dynamic loading of pages.
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We shall partly develop a logical CMS and use DrupalTM for the
dynamic part of the website because of its flexibility, security, easeof-use once set up and for scalability. We have a rich experience in
Drupal from the more than 50 websites developed with this
technology.
The proposed CMS and proposed hosting solution (in the later parts
of this proposal) will enable the client to generate additional subdomains for the portal based on the content and index content in
major search engines by using clean/search engine friendly links.
ASARECA shall acquire
The client will retain the rights of the source code, software and
ownership of all assignment
database. All credentials will be handed to client at the end of
deliverables, source code,
project delivery phase.
software, databases and user
manuals, in their tangible form
(both hard and soft copies) and
the right to use them as deem fit.
The deliverables may thus not be
published or used without the
express permission of ASARECA.
A dynamic, interactive, multiOur offer includes browser/system enabled translation tools for
lingual web portal with
recognized international languages.
appropriate security
architecture and key
functionalities that include; a
Multi-user Content Management
System (CMS); Search features;
Multi-lingual information;
Ratings and reviews; Blogging,
commentary and discussion
forums; Uploads and downloads;
Web-mail system; Subscriptions
and access rights for various
users; live updates from social
networks; Facebook and Twitter,
among others.
Provide necessary software (if
applicable) to maintain site
internally as decided by the
client
We shall install Adobe Creative Suite software at the client’s
premises and will offer introductory tutorials in image
editing/optimization for instance if required
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Provide syndicated content
capabilities where necessary Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
We propose an easy to use and automated RSS feed module
developed in Extensible Mark Up Language (XML) so as to allow
users and the site visitor s to keep updated automatically without
out even visiting the site.
However the client will be required to specify the source of
syndication.
As a basic deliverable, news and updates from all the ASARECA subwebsites will be aggregated at the main ASARECA website via RSS
Links and search capability
We shall implement functionality to automatically and manually tag
content to key words so that visibility of that content is improved
across the web. Our proposed solution will easily take care of this.
We shall also implement automated title tags to inform the user of
the link destination.
Provide a tool to measure
website activity such as web
traffic analysis, path analysis,
visitor trends, page views, entry
pages, top pages, exit pages,
page-length stay, and Technical
analysis: browsers and
platforms. Include programming
and configuration of Google
Analytics or any other system or
software to monitor the ranking
of the web site.
We suggest the use of Google Analytics TM as a tool of choice
for this and other analytical functions
We shall cub down directory listings or script running by
implementing an index page in every directory to redirect any user
to the necessary destination.
The website will have secure login to private links in which
registered users will be able to post, upload data/information.
A back-end interface will be implemented in Drupal 7TM to allow the
website administrators (at the ASARECA headquarters and Regional
sites) to change content on the live website.
The website will have a CAPTCHA implemented on every registration
and submission form to avoid bots registering on the website.
Storage capability
The portal will be developed using MySQL. It is scalable enough to
handle large amounts of concurrent data. The storage capability of
our website is unlimited and may only be handicapped by server
storage.
A user oriented approach to
develop the site structure and
navigation of the
We shall embed User Generated Content tools such as comment and
feedback tools. We shall involve the client at every stage of designing
the website structure and navigation.
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Website
SECTION VI. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS (INCLUDING
IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE)
Specifications: Redesign, develop, and implement a new
ASARECA Website (www.asareca.org)
INTRODUCTION
The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA)
is a non-political and non-profit making organization of the National Agricultural Research
Institutes (NARIs) of eleven (11) countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Over the years,
ASARECA has invested considerably in stimulating the transformation of the agricultural sector to
improve livelihoods of communities, farmers, pastoralists, and fisher folks among others in the
Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) Sub-region. By pursuance of its Mission, of enhancing regional
collective action in agricultural research for development, extension, training and education so as to
promote economic growth, poverty reduction, hunger eradication, and sustainable use of resources in
Eastern and Central Africa, ASARECA aims to promote the generation and utilization of technologies
and innovations in the sub-region. This is intended at increasing the efficiency of agricultural
research in the sub-region to facilitate economic growth, food security and competitiveness
through productive and sustainable agriculture. To drive the achievement of this purpose,
ASARECA identified the following as strategic interventions:
(a) Strengthening of gender-responsive governance and management systems,
(b) Enhancement of the generation of demand driven agricultural technologies and innovations,
(c) Enhancement of the adoption of policy options by decision makers to improve performance of
the agricultural sector,
(d) Strengthening of capacity for implementing agricultural research for development, and
(e) Enhancement of availability of information and knowledge on agricultural technologies and
innovations
ASARECA WEBSITE
The ASARECA website, www.asareca.org was setup in 2001, re-designed in 2004. It was further
redesigned in 2008 and 2011 to reflect changes that had taken place at ASARECA.
ASARECA has just completed OP1 from 2008 to 2013 and has begun OP2 (2014 to 2018) and as
such the need to re-design the website to respond to OP2.
Under OP1, ASARECA implemented several projects and a lot of knowledge and information has
been generated in the context of these projects. The data, information and knowledge generated by
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ASARECA projects and activities during the OP1 period were captured, organised and packaged into
targeted communication products. These communication products were designed to be responsive
to the needs of specific stakeholders and include training resources, reports, technical and training
manuals, research data, research papers, journal articles, policy briefs, books, pamphlets,
brochures, position papers, newsletters and video documentaries. An invenroty of technologies,
innovations and management practices (TIMPs), which are available for dissemination to and
uptake by farmers, has also been developed. The TIMPs include technologies and innovations
generated through the ASARECA research programmes, as well as those generated by partners in
the ECA, especially NARIs and universities.
The ASARECA website is the most important route used for disseminating information to many
stakeholders. It is the go to place for information for ECA.
New tools, approaches, techniques have come up since the last re-design effort and as such there is
need to develop a new website to accommodate them. There has also been growth in the use of
mobile computing and other newer technologies such as Web 2.0/3.0 technologies.
In order for ASARECA to reap from the benefits of highly integrated website while catering for all
its audiences, there is urgent need for the website to be redesigned.
The target audience for the ASARECA website include policy makers, farmers, national, regional and
international organizations working in agricultural research, extension, training and education;
universities and advanced research institutes, private sector, agricultural service providers; NGOs;
development partners and the media amongst others
OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The overall objective of this assignment is to re-design, develop, and implement an interactive
website for ASARECA.
SCOPE OF WORK
Summary of key tasks
The provider (s) will undertake the following tasks:
(a) Review the needs assessment report from ASARECA and identify key elements to include in the
redesign effort.
(b) Review existing websites of similar organizations and pick out key features that could enrich
the redesign effort.
(c) Develop a new design and layout for the new ASARECA website.
(d) Develop a Content Management Systems(CMS).
(e) Develop the new website on a test environment.
(f) Deploy the new website on the ASARECA hosting servers.
(g) Train ASARECA ICT Unit and CPR Unit staff.
(h) Prepare detailed documentation to cover all the technical aspects of the Website.
(i) Provide user and administrators manuals.
Details of key tasks
1. Key design features
It is expected that the new website will be a multisite that will allow for inter-operability, aggregate
content from the sub-websites to the main website, and allow integration with Web 2.0/3.0 tools
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The consultants will redesign the ASARECA website to accommodate the following: The ASARECA brand should have its own unique “look”. This should enable a web user to
recognise it as belonging to the ASARECA brand. In order to achieve brand consistency,
everything visual will be inter-linked and link back to the core brand look. The ASARECA
logo will be used in a consistent way across the web pages (even programmes). The
application of logos, typography, colour ranges and design styles should be consistent with
the organization’s brand proposition/ brand application and publications guidelines.
Consistent colour ranges and design styles will be applied.

The new site should be less visually crowded and more cleanly organized.

Design should anticipate and provide for the different types of content. It is necessary to
organize the site content into taxonomies and hierarchies of information and to ensure the
underlying structure of the site and its content is well constructed.

There is a need to integrate more varied forms of content including photos, videos, slide
shows and audio files as well as more user support tools such as training guides/packs,
toolkits, manuals, booklets, handbooks, reports and papers produced by projects.

Capability to enable feedback with other users through the site.

Functionality to link or feature external content of interest. These inlcude links to the
relevant sites, which provide interactive features such as discussion forums, user feedback.
ASARECA will consider the use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flikr amongst others

A sitemap that shows a clear navigational path structure

A total of 12 sub-websites will be integrated into the newly redesigned ASARECA website.
These are High Value Non-Staple Crops, Livestock & Fisheries, Natural Resource Management
& Biodiversity, Knowledge Management & Upscaling, Staple Crops, Agrobiodiversity and
Technology, and PAAP Programmes; and the Partnerships & Capacity Development, M&E,
Gender Mainsreaming, EAAPP, ESS, and EAPGREN Unit. Each of these sub-websites will bear
all the sections available on the main ASARECA website. The ASARECA main website will be
able to pool content from the related sections of the programmes’ sub-websites. These 12
sub-websites will be accessible through sub-domains created off the ASARECA website.
2. Layout
 The ASARECA Website is to be structured with a modern layout that gives a user access to
all the desired information at a glance.
 The main website will have the initial sections as given in the table below. However, the
modular CMS shall enable the secretariat to add other sections and content pages on the fly.
#
1.0
Section
Home Page
2.0
Our work
Description
Welcome page for ASARECA. It will contain links to the
various sections and will also have dynamic section that
features news, etc. This should be responsive, change
when display change. Non-linear scrolling.
This section will ‘tell’ a visitor the main information
about ASARECA. The key areas include: About
ASARECA, ASARECA Board of Directors, Secretariat
(Staff, Programs & Units, Staff Profiles), National Focal
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#
Section
Description
Persons, General Assembly, OP2 Themes, Featured
programs, Project Portfolio
3.0
Sub-grantee
Information
4.0
Calendar of
Events
5.0
Announcements
6.0
Our products
7.0
Highlights
8.0
Useful resources
9.0
10.0
Contact Us
Search
11.0
Emerging
Technologies
Our Partners
This section will highlight information that are useful for
people engaged on ASARECA projects: Research subgrant management guidelines, ESS framework, M&E
Reference documents, Publication guidelines, Gender
Mainstreaming Guidelines
Planned events calendar, both upcoming and past. This
will aggregate events from the sub-websites
Workshops: This section will list past, current, and
future workshops with links to the related
documentation (concept, report and presentations)
All announcements - Research calls, vacancies,
competitions, Tenders etc.
This section will include all knowledge products
produced by ASARECA. These include communication
products, tools, publications, newsletters, databases,
inventory of TIMPs, videos, audio resources, training
materials.
This section will have captions/summaries of news &
events. (Features, media highlights, press releases,
ASARECA in the news.)
A list of links to online resources, glossary of terms, list
of acronyms, FAQs, contacts database, list of other
related resources, and online tools
A contact us/feedback section
The search function will appear in all sections of the
website
Web 2.0/3.0, Translators, RSS Feeds
12.0
Organizations that ASARECA works with

The sub-websites (themes and programmes) will have content similar to the main
ASARECA website. The details of each sub-website will be determined the inception
meeting
3. Content Management System (CMS)
The Consultant shall develop a modular and open source CMS (preferably based on Drupal 7.0) to
centrally manage the main ASARECA website and its sub-websites.
 The CMS should be developed to enable aggregation of content from the sub-website to the
main website whenever a similar function is accessed at the main ASARECA website. For
example, if one accesses publications on the ASARECA website, it should also be able to pool
together all the publications on the respective programme websites, and so on.
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
The possibility to define accessibility rights should be given so that only certain members of
the ASARECA community can access certain sections of the website. For example a page for
Board members where papers for upcoming meetings can be uploaded. It should also allow
for self registration to these sites
 There should be an inbuilt functionality that allows for easy online filling of forms, e.g.
registration forms, consultant forms, etc
 The site should also enable people to register/ subscribe for publications and services e.g.
the newsletters, RSS feeds, etc
4. Beta Testing, Deployment, and Training
The consultant will carry out the following:
 Beta testing of the Main ASARECA website, sub-websites, and CMS in collaboration
Information and Communication Technology Unit (ICTU).
 Deploy the new website on the ASARECA hosting servers.
 Provide training for ICT Unit and CPR Unit staff.
METHODOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGIES
The Consultant shall present mock-ups for graphic designs for the different sites to ASARECA which
shall form the basis of further improvements and/or changes.
The idea is that although sub-websites look and feel may vary, the basic outline will be the same for
all the websites. Once the design concepts have been approved, the main website and sub-websites
will be developed and presented to ASARECA for approval.
The prototypes of the websites/pages will be set up online and remote access shall be granted to
this site for all stake holders for feedback.
The consultants will propose the technologies they will use under their development environment.
However, the developer should bear in mind that the ASARECA website will be hosted in a linux
environment, on an Apache webserver.
REQUIREMENTS DETAILS
The new websites will:
 Be of variable width and height to ensure compatibility with multiple displays.
 Allow for non-linear scrolling.
 Be user friendly and cross browser compatible.
ASARECA should be able to modify the look of the content on the websites. The navigation structure
will be determined by ASARECA and shall be implemented accordingly. The core features will
include amongst others: Content Management System, unlimited number of menus & categories,
Archiving capabilities, Feedback forms, Search Engine Optimization, Text only version features
The following features shall be designed by the consultant and developed and integrated into the
Websites and set as standard:
Search Capabilities
An Internal search Engine for the website that, searches the Website with search results
disaggregated according to key headers.
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User Accounts
The accounts will available for all ASARECA personnel, and relevant partners and will be used to
access certain restricted features of the websites
Access Rights and Control
The websites need to have defined access rights for user registration systems, subscriptions, and
permissions as well as the site security protocols within the selected content management system.
This is aimed at enabling different user groups to access specific private areas and share
information and data specific to their needs.
The Website will be designed in such a way to ensure that only the information relevant to a
particular user or user group is accessible. Posting capabilities shall also be restricted. The
consultant will design an “access control plan” that suits the needs of ASARECA and at the same
time ensures security of the information.
Highlights Section
Highlights section shall be incorporated into the Website CMSs. The news section will be provided
to facilitate the effective communication of timely and relevant news concerning Programmes
and/or its partners. This section will feed information directly into the ASARECA main page News
section. The main CMS will keep a log of news items entered via the programme CMSs
Website Navigation and SiteMap
The websites navigation system is to be intuitive and easy to use, and provide direct access to a
variety of content and facilities on the websites, a sitemap is to be available for users on the
ASARECA website.
Archive Section
As appropriate, old news, and other old articles will be moved to the Archives section of the
Website. The developer and the ASARECA shall agree on an archiving policy. All operations like
searches and views will be available for archived information as well.
Emerging Media and Technologies
 Video: The Website should have a video library from which users can select and search for
different video content the website has to offer. A page dedicated for this purpose should be
developed.
 Translators: The websites should have language translation features for translation into
other international languages.
 Social Media Web Interfaces: The websites should have feeds from the social websites like
facebook, twitter to allow for maximum interaction on the websites’ blogs/blog pages
 RSS feeds: The websites should have functioning RSS feeds for users to be able to subscribe
and get updates on new information.
 Analysis Integration: The websites should be integrated with some of the popular Analytical
Sites like Google Analytics.
 Web 2.0 and 3.0 tool: The websites should allow for integration of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0
tools including Blogs, Twitter, Face Book, YuTube, amongst others.
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Application Integration
The Website will be designed in such a way as to ease the integration of various applications like
MS Word, MS Access, MS excel and any other software recommended by ASARECA.
Text Only Version.
Text only version features of the websites is to be developed to allow users to select this option in
areas with slow internet speeds.
Website Security
The developers should ensure that the website code is adequately secured from common security
loopholes in order to preserve the integrity of the site. The website should be proofed against crosssite scripting, SQL injection, session hijacking, insecure object references, security misconfiguration
and any other exploitable security issues.
Access to the backend should only be granted to SSL connections.
Website Statistics
The websites should be able to provide user statistics on the various materials available on all
websites in the CMS.
Audit Trails
In addition to user account based access control, and security, the Website will feature audit trails.
The administrator will always receive an email whenever an important event occurs to the content
available on the Website.
Backups
Automated backups of the Website will be integrated into the website being developed, and made
easily manageable by the ASARECA IT Technical team.
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