RFP FY21-145 Child Marriage in Humanitarian Settings Consultancy

1. Background

Worldwide, more than one in three girls enter into union before the age of 15 and an estimated 10 million girls are married before the age of 18 each year. For adolescent girls, Child, Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM) marks the end of childhood and adolescence, forcing them to take on adult roles and responsibilities, regardless of whether they are physically and emotionally ready to do so. CEFM often has life threatening effects on the health of girls and increasing adolescent pregnancy. It limits their access to education, protection, sexual and reproductive health and economic opportunities. It disrupts the social and psychological development of girls and increases their isolation. Despite several attempts to review and assess the effectiveness of CEFM interventions, there is little agreement as to what works and what doesn’t work to prevent and respond to CEFM in humanitarian crises. Therefore, practitioners often feel they are unable to effectively prevent child and early marriage or know how to support already-married, widowed adolescent girls, or young mothers living in humanitarian settings.

In response to a knowledge gap among how to best support adolescent girls at-risk of child/early marriage and girls who are already married, Plan International and the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) launched a global research initiative in 2019 to better understand the decision-making pathways that result in child marriage in humanitarian settings. This initiative uses a girl-led, community-grounded research approach to listen to how girls and communities are affected by this practice and how best to prevent and respond to it within humanitarian crises. Research is being conducted in two study sites located in the Philippines and Zimbabwe.

Based on the research findings, Plan International and the WRC will develop a programme model that can be adapted for use in with other crisis-affected communities.

2. Expected Deliverables

1. Establish and implement appropriate consultation process with multidisciplinary internal and external experts to validate and participate in the child marriage programme model development.

2. Review country research reports from the Philippines and Zimbabwe

3. Finalize program model on child marriage in humanitarian settings

4. Host two capacity building sessions

5. Contribute to virtual learning workshop

6. Develop outline for dissemination of the programme model

1. Create a folder compiling all final documents, as well as all data collected and analysis, the programme model and all associated draft documents, manuscript for publication, country specific research documentation.

3. Expected Outcomes

The consultant, in close collaboration with the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), is expected to:

Outcome 1: Oversee the development and finalization of country research reports from the Philippines and Zimbabwe

· Oversee that the established roles and responsibilities of all partners are maintained and functioning in both study sites and at global level;

· Support to local research partners, the WRC and Plan International country offices in both study sites to analyse the data;

· Support to local research partners, the WRC and Plan International country offices to prepare and conduct community and stakeholder validation workshops in both locations;

· Review and provide technical input to the development of country focused research reports.

Outcome 2: Develop child marriage in humanitarian settings program model

· Provide thought leadership together with WRC on how best to integrate the findings from the two study sites into the final programme model;

· Develop and finalise programme model;

· Establish an internal multi-disciplinary advisory group to consult, validate and review the programme model development to ensure quality;

· Oversee the design and editing of the programme model;

· Support programme model launches.

4. Scope

The contracted party shall be delivered through remote, desk-based work in collaboration with members of the Child Protection in Emergencies and Disaster Risk Management teams through remote workshops and meetings.

5. Duration and Time

The contracted party will be contracted up to a maximum of 160 days, between the period of June 2021 and January 2022.

6. Management Arrangements

The contracted party will be identified and contracted by Plan International. Plan International will be responsible for overall management of the contract. The Child Protection in Emergencies Team at Plan International will provide technical oversight and support to the contracted party and support progress on deliverables.

7. Qualifications

Essential

· Advanced university degree (Masters or above) in relevant fields, including social work, international development, public health etc;

· A minimum of 5-years’ experience working in child protection in emergencies and gender-based violence in emergencies at country and international level;

· In-country programme experience implementing gender-based violence in emergencies and/or child protection in emergencies projects;

· Previous research experience focussed on humanitarian crises, including expertise in translating research to actions, as well as in the formation of theory of change and programmatic frameworks;

· Experience working with inter-agency coordination groups;

· Knowledge of the current global and national level research initiatives on child marriage in humanitarian settings as well as familiar with existing and pipeline guides and tools focussed on child marriage programming for humanitarian and development settings;

· Excellent research, analytical and writing skills, with the ability to draft an evidence informed report/document;

· Previous experience working on projects that require a highly iterative and consultative process, with the capacity to incorporate multiple levels of feedback and perspectives in final products;

· Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to successfully interact with a diverse group of people;

· Collaborative work style, with strong team-player attitude and ability to identify gaps and to take initiative to fill them;

· Flexible work attitude, with the ability to follow direction and work independently across a virtual work environment;

· Excellent organizational skills, with the ability to independently track and follow-up on various tasks;

· Fluent verbal and written English.

Desirable

· Working knowledge of French, Spanish, and/or Arabic is an asset.