Home-based: Request for Proposal - Developing a Methodology and a set of tools for Participatory Assessments with Children of their lived realities and the Complex Environments Exposing them to Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

January - July 2024 (approximately 20-25 working days)

ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT: 

ECPAT International is a global network of organisations working together for the elimination of the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in all its manifestations i.e., exploitation of children in prostitution, online child sexual exploitation, sale and trafficking of children for sexual purposes, sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism and some forms of child, early and forced marriage. The ECPAT Network currently consists of 126 members working at national and local levels in 105 countries.

The ECPAT International Secretariat coordinates the global work of the organisation and is based in Bangkok, Thailand. The Secretariat designs and implements global and regional level programmes, and undertakes programming, advocacy and research and facilitates a range of network initiatives.

Context of the Consultancy: 

ECPAT International is working with its members to end the sexual exploitation of children, and our experience and recent research show that an in-depth understanding of the environments in which children live, informed by their own realities, is critical to developing effective strategies. A current, localized and in depth understanding of their environments assessed through their own lenses is currently missing. Children don’t grow, evolve and make choices in a vacuum. They are influenced and constrained by the normative frameworks in their societies, the economic and political contexts in which they grow, as well as by the gender and social norms they are expected to follow, the power imbalances that regulate their lives and the myths, perceptions and beliefs they are subjected to, by the society, their community, their caregivers, their peers. Children also actively contribute to the production and reproduction of gender and social norms. This not only provides an opportunity to engage with them in questioning the (re)production of harmful gender and social norms but can also encourage the promotion of healthier ones. Their understanding, norms and expected behaviors are also largely influenced and increasingly shaped online and reflect in their offline as well as in their digital lives.

An in-depth, real-time and dynamic, contextual and nuanced understanding of all these structures and ‘meta-norms’ that impact children’s lives, identified through their own lens, is lacking but is critical to develop strategies and interventions to prevent and address the sexual exploitation of children. It is not possible to address the sexual exploitation of children without tackling these structural barriers and drivers that allow and perpetuate the sexual exploitation of children around the world. This includes understanding and challenging the power dynamics, gender and social norms that impact on children’s lives and impede their abilities to more meaningfully be engaged in and have a say in decisions that concern and affect them. Without this, interventions and solutions to protect children from various forms of violence, including sexual, cannot be well aligned and adequately respond to their lived and complex realities.

Objective: 

The objective of this consultancy is to work with ECPAT International to develop a methodology and the related set of tools to conduct dynamic and participatory assessments with children of their environments and the structural drivers and external constraints they are facing in their lives, including online, which impact their exposure to sexual exploitation and abuse.

As addressing the sexual exploitation of children requires a ‘whole-system’ approach, challenging these structural drivers, including the gender and social norms and power imbalances that perpetuate child sexual exploitation and abuse across various levels of society, as well as supporting children’s collective agency, empowerment and activism is critical.

It is expected that the methodology and set of tools would allow ECPAT International and civil society organizations to engage with children in participatory processes that will help children identify, document and analyse the structural environments in which they develop, in order to inform interventions to challenge these ‘meta-norms’ and confront them to allow for transformative changes to be initiated towards improved environments for the protection of children from various forms of violence, including and in particular child sexual exploitation and abuse.

To do this, the consultant would be expected to: 

• Conduct an extensive review of existing approaches, tools and practices existing in these areas, from diverse sectors such as child protection, participation, gender-based violence, LGBTQI+, inclusion, etc and looking particularly at participatory assessments, measuring gender and social norms on child sexual exploitation and abuse, identifying power imbalances;
• Develop a methodology with a suite of tools and activities for participatory assessments to be used by facilitators to explore their environments with children from diverse gender, backgrounds, origins and experiences. Age and gender should be critical elements of consideration in the development and use of the various tools. The activities should be developed to allow for exploration of the various environments in which children evolve, including online, and to map out and analyze the diverse constraints and influences across the socio-ecological model, that expose them to risks of child sexual exploitation and abuse, or on the contrary offer opportunities for protective mechanisms to be enacted. This should include activities to:
  1. Identify the various normative frameworks and social, economic and political structures that impact children’s lives at a given moment and in a given space;
  2. Explore the common perceptions, beliefs and connections between power structures, power imbalances, expected roles of children within society and sexual exploitation and abuse of children;
  3. Understand how gender, ideas of masculinity, heteronormative frameworks, social expectations or peer pressure impact on children’s perceptions of risks, abilities to make decisions and exercise their agency to influence changes;
  4. Engage with children on developing advocacy activities to challenge these norms, barriers, and broader structural barriers that drive and sustain the sexual exploitation and abuse of children at community and individual levels
• Develop guidance and a training programme for facilitators to use the methodology with children, in various contexts and with a gender-sensitive approach, including online.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES: 

• A list of resources and critical analysis of existing approaches, tools and evidence-based practices
• The methodology for participatory assessment with a flexible suite of tools thatcan be adapted to contexts, time and resources, to conduct these assessments with children
• A training programme and guidance notes for facilitators to conduct the activities with children, in different contexts and delivered through different means (through online engagement or face to face activities)
• A proposed framework for participatory analysis of the children’s lived realities and assessments to inform strategies and programming

It is expected that these assignments will take between 20-25 working days.

CONSULTANT PROFILE: 

The consultant or (groups of consultants) need to have:

• Demonstrated experience in participatory approaches with children and young people
• Theoretical knowledge and practical experiences in gender and social norms, power analysis, social justice
• In-depth understanding of child rights, child protection and in particular sexual exploitation and abuse of children
• Experience in developing toolkits and methodologies
• Capacities to deliver training, online and face-to-face
• High ethical standards

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

• This is a home-based position using its own equipment. The consultants should be available for online calls including with different time zones in particular with Thailand where ECPAT International Secretariat is based.
• The Consultant is expected to act at all times in a manner consistent with the values of ECPAT International and in compliance with the organisation’s policies and procedures including Child Safeguarding Policy and the Code of Conduct.

How to Apply: 

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: please send to vacancy@ecpat.org. 

• CV detailing relevant experiences
• Daily fee in USD/ financial proposal in USD

Mention in the subject header: Your name and “Children’s assessment”

Deadline: 14 January 2024

ECPAT International is committed to keeping children safe. The selection process reflects our commitment to the safeguarding of children.