Family Strengthening Consultancy

Background of the Project:

The IRC is co-lead of the Child Protection Case Management Task Force (CMTF) under the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (Alliance). In recent years, various improvements have been made in the field of child protection case management in humanitarian settings, including the inter-agency guidelines, training package, supervision and coaching package, and other key materials.

The original Child Protection Case Management (CPCM) training package was published in 2014 and has been rolled-out and is used in a wide number of humanitarian settings. 8-10 years later, the CMTF is now updating and expanding that training into a phased learning package with three levels.

As part of the advanced level of the training, the IRC drafted a 3-4 day family strengthening training to help caseworkers learn how to support siblings, caregivers, and others in the child’s family environment. The IRC is seeking a consultant to strengthen and finalise that family strengthening training, particularly to revise the structure and to add technical content related to child labour and child marriage etc.

Scope of Work:

The Family Strengthening Consultant (the Consultant) will have overall responsibility for revising and finalizing the 3-4 day Family Strengthening training for child protection caseworkers in humanitarian settings. This training will build upon a foundational training in case management to expand caseworker knowledge and awareness of the role of family-strengthening in child protection case management. This is in line with the socio-ecological model reflected in the updated Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action.

The Consultant is expected to review the draft of the training and produce a short summary of findings and recommended revisions. This will be reviewed, discussed, and agreed with IRC colleagues and external stakeholders within the CMTF, Family Strengthening Working Group, and Child Labour Working Group. The Consultant will then action the changes to add technical content, strengthen the overall content, and produce a final version of the training.

Ways of Working:

The Consultant will work closely with the IRC’s Child Protection Case Management focal point and Child Protection Technical Advisor (CPTA). They will also coordinate with abovementioned external stakeholders with the support of the CPTA.

The Consultant will be expected to work flexibly with busy periods and quieter periods during reviews. It is essential that the Consultant feels confident to work independently and that they are confident in their ability to design child protection case management interventions that target not only the individual child but their wider family, as well as engaging training exercises about those interventions. 

Deliverables

The Consultant is expected to produce the following final outputs:

• 1-2 page summary of findings and recommended revisions.
• Call notes from internal and external meetings.
• Revised 3-4 day training (facilitator guide and participant workbook).

Qualifications Requirements

• Demonstrable experience of implementing child protection case management programs in humanitarian settings.
• Clear understanding of family strengthening approaches and perspectives in the field of case management, including technical knowledge of drivers of child labour, child marriage etc.
• Experience of developing child protection case management capacity building resources and a focus on accessible, experiential learning methodologies.
• Excellent English language and writing skills, including produce simple, clear training materials.
• Good interpersonal skills: the ability to successfully interact with a diverse group of people.
• Flexible approach to work: self-motivated with the ability to effectively learn and work in an inter-agency environment.

All consultants are required to adhere to THE IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct, including the child safeguarding policy and uphold Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion standards.