Cambodia: “Safety for Children and their Rights OnLine” Project Baseline evaluation

1. Intervention Details:

Title

“Safety for Children and their Right OnLine” SCROL

Goal

All children (regardless of gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, ethnicity, and abilities) are protected from Online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE) in a safe family and community environment

Outcomes

1. Children are active and able to report cases, parents actively engage with children, communities acknowledge children’s agency and hold duty bearers accountable
2. Social media and tech companies actively engage in preventing OCSE
3. Law enforcement agencies nationally and internationally operate in a coordinated manner, are better equipped with appropriate child-friendly tools and resources to effectively engage with children and address and respond to OCSE
4. Local and national governments address the gaps in the OCSE legislation, are responsive to children and communities’ needs in combating OCSE and victim care and are held accountable by regional and international bodies

Location

Cambodia

Period

01 November 2022 to 31st October 2025

Total Budget

Implementation costs : € 363,526

DPCs : € 74,815

Operational costs : € 89,606

Beneficiaries

Children under the age of 18: girls : 2350

Children under the age of 18: boys : 2000

Children from other genders : 250

Family and community members : 2600

CSOs representatives : 30

Government officials : 1130

Law enforcement agencies : 60

Private sector staff : 145

Implementing partner (s)

APLE and AusCam Freedom Project

2. Background of the project

Online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE) includes “all acts of a sexually exploitative nature carried out against a child that have, at some stage, a connection to the online environment”. OCSE and other forms of child exploitation are interwoven and often occur together. The goal of this project is to contribute to the reduction of online facilitated forms of sexual exploitation of children at national levels in Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal and The Philippines and internationally.

OCSE has surged globally in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of law enforcement officials surveyed in 39 countries, 68% reported an increase in OCSE as a result of school closures and lockdowns (NetClean, 2021, and Economist Impact and WeProtect Global Alliance, 2022). In a global survey, 54% of young people reported having experienced online sexual harms before they were 18 years old. Another multinational survey reported an increase in online grooming, sexual extortion, live-streamed CSAM and self-generated CSAM (Interpol, 2022).

Several research initiatives have been undertaken in the past few years to build data and evidence on the various forms of OCSE in Cambodia. While there are still gaps in research and understanding, the Initial Situation Analysis on OCSE in Cambodia (published by the Royal Government of Cambodia in January 2020, with technical and financial support from(TdH NL) and the Disrupting Harm Cambodia country report (UNICEF, ECPAT, Interpol, to be published in 2022) provide indications about the scope of the issue. They reveal a high and growing prevalence:

According to the Initial Situation Analysis (2020):

• 60% of child respondents shared examples of online child sexual exploitation within their online environment.
• 57% of child respondents have seen pornographic images on the internet. Among these, 32% indicate that they have seen child sexual abuse material (CSAM) featuring children that were their age or younger.

Based on the draft Disrupting Harm Cambodia report (2022):

• 9% of children had created and shared sexualised images of themselves over the past year, and 31% had shared these materials online with someone they didn’t know
• Majority of perpetrators are family members or other children, and this is true for grooming through sexual conversations and requests for materials, being offered money / gifts for materials and blackmail / sextortion
• Data on reports to Hotline numbers suggest a sharp increase in incidents of OCSE. The US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received 91,458 reports of potential CSAM hosted in Cambodia in 2019 and 395,793 reports received in 2021, a 432% increase. According to the Internet Hotline (member of INHOPE), which started in 2015 in Cambodia and managed by the local NGO Action Pour les Enfants (APLE), CSAM is the most prevalent form of OCSE in Cambodia. However, it is interesting that in 2021 an increasing number of incidents of other forms of OCSE are being reported:
• 2020: 64 reports (32 CSAM, 1 sextortion, 1 online grooming)
• 2021: 128 reports (71 CSAM, 10 online grooming, 12 sextortion)
• The Safety for Children and their Rights OnLine programme, or SCROL programme, was co-designed by TdH NL country teams and local partner organisations in 2022. The voices of children in the four countries of implementation also informed the design. SCROL aims to create a safe environment for children by addressing the following elements: poor access to safe reporting mechanisms and adequate referrals, low capacity of law enforcement agencies, lack of delivery by the duty bearers, inadequate knowledge and responses at the community levels and a negligent private sector.

3. Objectives for baseline evaluation

The baseline study will focus on baseline data collection for a set of indicators outlined in the project results framework. The baseline study report will be used as a measurement to monitor the project progress against the set indicators over the course of the project implementation.

Specific objectives:

1. To conduct analysis of the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) in relation to OCSE by different actors (Government, Law enforcement agencies, private sector, CSOs, children, caregivers)
2. To establish the level of response to preventing OCSE among different actors (Government, Law enforcement agencies, private sector, CSOs, children, caregivers)
3. To provide recommendations for the effective implementation or adaptation of planned project activities to achieve targets.

4. Scope of work

The evaluator will be required to undertake the following specific tasks:

• Conduct a desk review of the secondary data available from TdH NL and local implementing partners, on the basis of past projects.
• For indicators for which there is no or insufficient secondary data is available, the evaluator will be expected to design tools and pilot tools for the collection of quantitative and qualitative data
• Analyse available secondary data related to project objectives
• Design methods that allow for valid measure of the programme’s targeted populations and primary data collection, with the support from project teams
• Analyse and interpret data to develop a comprehensive baseline report that gives comprehensive baseline values for the programme’s goal and outcome indicators.
• Share key findings and insights with TdH Country office through consultations
• Conduct a desk review of the secondary data available from TdH NL and local implementing partners, on the basis of past projects.
• For indicators for which there is no or insufficient secondary data is available, the evaluator will be expected to design tools and pilot tools for the collection of quantitative and qualitative data
• Analyse available secondary data related to project objectives
• Design methods that allow for valid measure of the programme’s targeted populations and primary data collection, with the support from project teams
• Analyse and interpret data to develop a comprehensive baseline report that gives comprehensive baseline values for the programme’s goal and outcome indicators.
• Share key findings and insights with TdH Country office through consultations
• Conduct a desk review of the secondary data available from TdH NL and local implementing partners, on the basis of past projects.
• For indicators for which there is no or insufficient secondary data is available, the evaluator will be expected to design tools and pilot tools for the collection of quantitative and qualitative data
• Analyse available secondary data related to project objectives
• Design methods that allow for valid measure of the programme’s targeted populations and primary data collection, with the support from project teams
• Analyse and interpret data to develop a comprehensive baseline report that gives comprehensive baseline values for the programme’s goal and outcome indicators.
• Share key findings and insights with TdH Country office through consultations

Timeline:

This period of time to be considered for this evaluation is December 2022 to January 2023. The estimated duration of the assignment is 20 to 25 days of work maximum.

Geographic scope:

Cambodia: Phnom Penh area and national

8. Requirements and Deliverables

In accordance with the timetable, the evaluator (s) will produce and/or provide to TdH the following:

• Inception report including workplan, final data collection tools in English and local language (template of the report will be provided)

• Training materials for data collectors including data collection and quality assurance mechanisms/ instruction/ guidelines/ protocol (“Child safeguarding and ethical evaluation” presentation template will be provided by TdH)

• Online data collection forms in KOBO or other effective mobile data collection applications if used

• Final completed Baseline Evaluation Report in English addressing all comments/ feedbacks from TdH NL and/partners and including a clear set of actionable recommendations (template of the report will be provided)

• Final comprehensive slide presentation of the baseline evaluation results

• All completed questionnaires if hard copies are used

• Written informed consent with respondents and photos if any

• Raw data:

  • Raw quantitative data
  • Raw qualitative data (transcript, data entry in Excel) if exist
  • Final clean data used for data analysis
  • Final clean dataset used for data analysis in software program data analysis such as SPSS/ STATA… and syntax for data preparation and analysis if used.
  • Final data analysis outputs (in table, graph…) that used for report and slide presentation (including data analysis by indicators)

• In accordance with the timetable, the evaluator (s) will also:

• Lead the inception meeting to discuss project details, the goal of the evaluation and to receive from the project team all important information and documents needed to perform the evaluation work.

• Provide training to data collection team whenever relevant

• Lead a validation workshop with TdH staff and partners to discuss findings

• Provide presentation of the findings in the dissemination workshop.

• TdH will oversee the process and maintain responsibility for accountability and guidance throughout all phases of execution, and approval of all deliverables.

  The deadline for this assignment is 27th February 2023.

  9. Evaluator (s) Competencies, Experience and Skill requirements

  The evaluator engaged to undertake the assignment must fulfil the following requirements:

  Required:

• Minimum 6 years of work experience of conducting projects evaluations, including baselines

• Expertise in Child Protection and child protection mechanisms at all levels

• Outstanding facilitation skills to communicate with project and partner teams in a multicultural environment

• Strong understanding and ability to mainstream TdH NL’s cross-cutting issues i.e. Child

• Participation, Gender and intersectionality, Inclusion of Children with Disabilities and Standards of alternative care

• Excellent analytical and report writing skills

Desirable:

• Previous experience of engagement with law enforcement officials
• Previous experience / Strong knowledge related to Online Child Sexual Exploitation
• Expertise in participatory M&E
• Knowledge of local language

10. Budget

Financial proposal has to be indicated all-inclusive costs for conducting the baseline evaluation.

11. Final report format (LINK)

The Final report shall include an Executive Summary of findings and respond to all the objectives mentioned above and measure all indicators listed in section 3. The report should not exceed 40 pages. CVs of evaluation team members, raw primary data, summary of all primary and secondary data must be added as annexes to the report.

A Baseline report template will be provided when the consultant is on board.

12. Management and supervision

The evaluator (s) will report directly to the Country Manager and work closely with the Programme Officer at the country level. As this project is part of a global Programme, the consultant will also receive support and collaborate with the Programme Manager, Program Development and Quality Manager and the regional Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator.

Applicants may send clarifying questions to the focal persons mentioned below.

Mr. Kong Villa, Cambodian Programme Manager

Terre des Hommes Netherlands, Asia Regional Office

House 55, Street 348, Tuol Svay Prey I, Chamkarmorn,

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Email address: v.kong@tdh.nl

Mr. Leap Chhengla, Project Coordinator

Terre des Hommes Netherlands, Asia Regional Office

House 55, Street 348, Tuol Svay Prey I, Chamkarmorn,

Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Email address: c.leap@tdh.nl

13. Child safeguarding

The consultant shall sign and abide by Terre des Hommes Netherlands (TdH-NL) Child Safeguarding Policy and its related procedures. Terre des Hommes Netherlands is committed to keeping children safe and considers child abuse unacceptable under all circumstances. We therefore implement child safeguarding measures as part of our selection and recruitment process.

How to apply

14. Application process and timeline

TdH Cambodia invites interested individuals and companies to submit the following application documents:

1. Technical proposal (max. 5 pages) outlining their motivation for the application, the methodological approach on how to conduct the assignment, and the resources required (documents, survey questions, FGD and KII checklists, etc).
2. A proposed activities schedule/ Work plan with time frame.
3. Copy of CV of the evaluator (s) who will undertake the study.
4. One recent example of a similar evaluation report written by the applicant.
5. Financial proposal detailing evaluators itemized fees, applicable taxes and all data collection and administrative costs.

The full proposal and supporting documents should be submitted to asia@tdh.nl no later than 2nd January 2023; 17:00 (ICT).

Other information

Our Commitment to Diversity, Integrity and Child Safeguarding

We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation. Therefore, people of all gender identities, sexes, sexual orientations, races, colours, religions, cultures, abilities, etc. are encouraged to apply.

TdH NL aims to attract great talent that not only fits the job but also our high standard of values and principles to prevent and eradicate any type of misconduct including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, any other type of misuse of power or lack of integrity and financial misconduct.

TdH NL in particular is committed to keeping children and vulnerable individuals safe and does not accept any form of (child) abuse. Every TdH NL employee is bound by the Child Safeguarding Policy and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Policy, part of our Code of Conduct. Child safeguarding measures are part of our selection and recruitment process.

All offers of employment/service will be subject to satisfactory references and may be subject to appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks, or integrity screenings/references relating to misconduct and disciplinary actions in prior employment. By submitting your application you accept that TdH NL will conduct such pre-employment screening for successful candidates. TdH NL participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.