Home-based: Child Protection Case Management Principles, Guidance And Tools For Working With LGBTQI+ Children And Adolescents In Humanitarian Settings

Background: 

Despite the disproportionate impact of inequality and discrimination on LGBTQI+ children, adolescents and their families, their protection and mental health and psychosocial support needs are frequently overlooked in humanitarian responses.   LGBTQI+ children and their families face unique challenges such targeted harassment and abuse, criminalisation of their identity and family breakdown.   Whilst some LGBTQI+ children access support through child protection case management programmes, there are currently no interagency or global level guidance, tools or trainings available on how to effectively support and address their specific needs. Without guidance and a focus on reflective practice, child protection case management staff may fail to provide adequate support or inadvertently cause harm to LGBTQI+ children and their families.  The current status quo fails to meet the central, transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its goal to “leave no one behind.”

In 2023, Save the Children received a two-year award from USAID/ PRM aimed at developing approaches to child protection case management for LGBTQI+ children and their families in humanitarian crises.  

1. Specifically, the objectives of the project are to: 
   Engage LGBTQI+ organizations working with LGBTQI+ children and adolescents in humanitarian contexts in scoping lessons learnt and good practice for protecting LGBTQI+ children through case management in humanitarian action.
2. Develop principles, guidance, and tools for protecting LGBTQI+ children through child protection case management in humanitarian action.
3. Pilot and disseminate principles, guidance, and tools for protecting LGBTQI+ children through child protection case management in humanitarian action.
4. Establish process for gathering evidence of the appropriateness of measures to protect LGBTQI+ children through child protection case management on their protection outcomes.

This project is led by Save the Children in partnership with Edge Effect and the University of California, Berkeley Human Rights Centre (HRC). It is an inter-agency initiative, working through an LGBTQI+ Task Team within the Case Management Task Force of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action. The Task Team provides technical inputs to and review of child protection case management products in order to ensure that these are aligned with and linked to good practice in child protection case management.

As a first step in the project, HRC conducted a global scoping study of guidance, best practices, lessons learned, challenges and gaps in protecting LGBTQI+ children and their families in humanitarian crises.  Whilst the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action state that children should not be discriminated against for their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or sexual characteristics (SOGIESC) and that special provision may need to be made in some services for LGBTQI+ children, in reality few example of good practice can be found and no guidance exists to enable this for children across the range of identities included in LGBTQI+ and their intersecting vulnerabilities.  

Aim of Consultancy: 

The consultancy therefore aims to address this gap by developing principles, guidance and tools for child protection case management of LGBTQI+ children and their families in humanitarian action. These resources should align with and supplement existing resources such as the interagency Child Protection Case Management Guidelines and the recently revised interagency Child Protection Case Management Training package for Caseworkers in Humanitarian Action.

Deliverables / Timeline: 

The consultant(s) is/are expected to produce two deliverables: 

1. Develop guidance and tools on child protection case management with LGBTQI+ children and their families in humanitarian settings.  This should include a supplementary chapter for the Interagency Child Protection Case Management Guidance (IA CPCM Guidance - which is currently being revised and finalised) on working with LGBTQI+ children and their families, covering issues such as the following amongst others:

1. The application of case management principles to LGBTQI+ children and their families;
2. Working with case management staff on reflective practice and to examine unconscious bias;
3. Understanding and defining child protection risks for LGBTQI+ children;
4. Analysing the legal and normative framework for LGBTQI+ children;
5. Promoting inclusive approaches in child protection case management;
6. Addressing specific protection risks for LGBTQI+ children;
7. Evaluating inclusiveness of service providers and making safe and ethical referrals;
8. Working with families and communities to promote acceptance of LGBTQI+ children.
9. Additional guidance and tools may include:
   1. Additional fields for case management forms or supplementary forms; 
   2. Language inserts to promote inclusion of LGBTQI+ children for case management SOPs;
   3. Key considerations for LGBTQI+ children and their families to include in Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) and Data Protection and Information Sharing Protocols (DPISP);

As per the revised IA CPCM Guidance, these should be structured around the seven components of a Case Management response.  

2. Develop training materials for child protection case workers and technical supervisors, which supplement the recently revised interagency child protection case management training for case workers in humanitarian settings (2023 ed.), on the foundations of working with LGBTQI+ children/adolescents and their families in humanitarian settings. This should include workshops on unconscious bias and reflective practice.

Methodologies: 

• Desk review of scoping study, identified guidance and best practice examples, and existing child protection case management principles, guidance and tools as well as training materials.
• Develop detailed scope of work for review and agreement by the CMTF LGBTQI+ Task Team. This should include:
  • outline of guidance;
  • identification of supplements to existing interagency child protection case management tools, templates etc.;
  • development of new tools and;
  • outline of training materials. 
• Draft deliverables for review by Save the Children Steering Group and the CMTF LGBTQI+ Task Team.  
• Finalisation of outputs based on feedback from reviews.

Estimated starting date: July 2024
Number of days: 46 days

Find the full list of deliverables in the Terms of Reference. 

Governance of the Consultancy: 

The consultant will be managed by the Project Lead.  The Project Lead will facilitate the work of the consultant by providing documentation, linking to project partners, coordinating with the SC Steering Group to gather inputs and to ensure initial reviews of outputs and organising calls and launches.  The Project Lead is the link to the LGBTQI+ Task Team and will organise and facilitate presentations to and reviews by the Task Team.

Profile of the Consultant(s): 

1. Minimum 7 years of child protection case management experience in humanitarian action, including refugee settings.
2. Minimum 5 years of experience focused on programming to promote LGBTQI+ rights, inclusion, or justice in in humanitarian settings, employing intersectional, feminist, and decolonized approaches.
3. Experience and understanding of MHPSS approaches to child protection case management.
4. Proven track record in developing (inter)agency programming guidance, tools, and training materials.
5. Commitment to fostering diversity, inclusion, and belonging in all aspects of work, actively partnering with LGBTQI+ communities and organizations to challenge inequalities and advocate for systemic change.
6. Strong capacity building skills and familiar with using creative and participatory learning methodologies.
7. Excellent report-writing and analytical capacities. 
8. Professional proficiency in spoken and written English. 
9. Proven Consultancy experience, highly organised and able to work collaboratively with different interagency stakeholders to deliver quality results according to a set timeframe. 

We welcome applications from individuals who share our commitment to intersectionality, feminism, and decolonization in humanitarian action and are dedicated to creating positive change for LGBTQI+ children and families in humanitarian settings. We particularly welcome applications from those with lived expertise in this area of work.

The consultancy is home-based, however the consultant will need to be able to work within the hours of 9-11am EST/ 2-4pm BST to facilitate collaborative approaches.   

How to Apply: 
Applications for this consultancy can be sent to Danielle Bertaux dbertaux@savechildren.org and Leisha Beardmore lbeardmore@savechildren.org and should include a cover letter, CV and references. 

Deadline for application: 5 July 2024. 

Interviews will be held on a rolling basis as eligible applications are received.  Candidates must be available for work during July and August 2024.