Home-based: Request for Proposal - Literature Review to Inform Theory-based Evaluation of The Code to Protect Children in Travel and Tourism

Consultancy: Literature Review to Inform Theory-Based Evaluation of The Code to Protect Children in Travel and Tourism

Timeline: January – 28 February 2024

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.

The Code - Context: 

Codes of conduct have long been embraced to promote corporate social responsibility, the importance of self-regulation, and voluntary rule-setting.[1] Corporate codes of conduct are often considered important by companies and stakeholders, but they are not the only instruments for addressing complex issues of child protection like sexual exploitation. The opportunities they offer to engage in child protection, but also the limitations they face to contribute to societal changes, are not always clear, or not evaluated, and this can influence their effectiveness.

The issue of the sexual exploitation of children by traveling offenders was brought to the attention of the public in the 1990s by the ECPAT movement and the travel and tourism industry has taken the lead within the private sector to prevent child sexual exploitation. The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism (The Code) emerged from the 1996 World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in Stockholm. Following a meeting in the Swedish Parliament, ECPAT Sweden consulted stakeholders to decide on the steps that the private sector needed to take in order to prevent tourism from ’enabling’ the sexual exploitation of children. The Code was implemented for the first time in 1998 by Fritidsresor, a Swedish travel company with a strong interest in sustainable tourism. Over time, The Code was gradually adopted by other companies and suppliers.[2] At its original inception, The Code was not intended as a tool for global implementation. However, it was subsequently adopted by others, specifically the ECPAT network, and later gained the support of The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).[3]

Since this, there have been various developments in the area of private sector engagement – moving from the concept of corporate social responsibility to their responsibility to respect and uphold human and children’s rights. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights were adopted in 2011 and the Children’s Rights and Business Principles developed by UNICEF, the UN Global Compact, and Save the Children define the scope of responsibility towards children. As part of these principles, the development and implementation of child protection codes of conduct for business operations throughout value chains are promoted.

The international travel and tourism industry has contributed to educating business on child sexual exploitation and offering them guidance on how they can contribute to its prevention and eradication. The codes of conduct have been among the key strategies for addressing the issue in this industry. Some umbrella organisations have established standards to control and regulate membership and some governments mostly in Latin America, have included compliance with The Code and/or with national codes of conduct within licensing of accommodation or tourist operators.

The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism is an initiative developed in cooperation with the industry and ECPAT International. The Code has currently 400 members in 56 countries, working closely with civil society organisations on the ground. More about The Code and its criteria: www.thecode.org

Theory-Based Evaluation: 

In 2012, UNICEF reviewed the impact of the Code via a literature review and case studies of implementation and impact in Costa Rica, Thailand, and the Netherlands.[4] There was generally positive feedback from the case studies but the limited definition of outcomes in all three countries made it difficult to assess change and the impact. In 2016, a new publication on child sexual exploitation and travel and tourism from UNICEF in contribution to the Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism urged on the need to generate knowledge through research and documentation of promising experiences and lessons learned, and monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes to assess the impact and generate evidence on effective approaches.[5]

Some of the limitations to such assessments is that The Code does not have a clearly defined theory of change, linking activities to intended results. Without this, it is difficult to establish a more comprehensive set of indicators and measure progress[6] beyond the risk and impact assessments on children and defined 6 criteria (https://demo.thecode.org/about) with which all the member companies are requested to comply and report on annually.

ECPAT International is looking for a consultant to conduct an analysis of the evidence and literature existing on the role of a smart mix of regulatory measures, policies and codes for the private sector to protect children’s rights. This analysis will be used to inform the realist evaluation process, which aims to identify “What works, for whom, in what respects, to what extent, in what contexts, and how?”[7] in order to inform future developments of The Code. The literature review should particularly focus on The Code but will also extend to other mechanisms employed by the private sector to ensure the protection of children’s rights in their businesses.

Objective: 

The consultant is expected to conduct a literature review and draft an analysis to document what does the evidence say about the impact of regulatory mechanisms for private sector companies on the protection of children’s rights, with a particular focus on the impact of The Code on preventing child sexual exploitation in travel and tourism.

The literature review should aim to document and analyse evidence on the diverse areas of The Code implementation including:

• What are the existing normative and regulatory frameworks to promote children’s rights and human rights compliance in businesses and what is the evidence of impact of these?
• What is known of the impact of regulatory frameworks (self-regulated or EU, government-mandated) for businesses on promoting and protecting child rights?
• What is the evidence of impact of the adoption of codes of conduct in the business sector to promote strengthened children’s rights practices?
• What do we know of the impact of training for business sector employees to promote transformative practices in particular in regard to children’s rights? What works best in this regard and what has proven ineffective?
• What are the promising practices emerging from a value chain approach to tackle child rights violations?
• What are the most effective strategies and practices of customers engagement in identifying and reporting child rights abuses, and what have been the documented impacts and consequences of such strategies?
• What works best in transparency reporting by business sector for monitoring children’s rights?

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES: 

A synthesized report presenting an analysis of the findings from the literature review to inform the evaluation of The Code

A set of recommendations based on literature review and evidence of impact, to inform The Code evaluation

Tasks: 

1. Participate in coordination meetings with ECPAT International technical team
2. Propose a methodology for the literature review and a draft outline
3. Draft 1 of the report to be shared for comments
4. Integrate comments and feedback from ECPAT International teamand
5. Deliver 2nd draft of the report and recommendations
6. Consolidation and finalization of the two deliverables – 28 February 2024

CONSULTANT PROFILE: 

The consultant needs to have: 

• Experience in conducting literature review and drafting analysis
• Knowledge and understanding of children’s rights and business principles
• Experience on sexual exploitation of children and The Code is a plus
• Excellent writing and analytical skills

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

• This is a home-based position using its own equipment. The consultants should be available for travels and for online calls including with different time zones from Latin America, Europe and 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.

[1] Kolk A., Van Tulder R. The Effectiveness of Self regulation: Corporate Codes of Conduct and Child Labour. European Management Journal. 2002.

[2] Unicef Innocenti Research Center. Assessing the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism – Discussion Paper. 2012

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

[5] Unicef. Government, civil society and private sector responses to the prevention of sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism. A technical background document to the Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism. 2016

[6] Unicef Innocenti Research Center. Assessing the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism – Discussion Paper. 2012

[7] Van Belle S., Westhopr G, Marchal B. Realist Evaluation.

How to Apply: 

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

• CV outlining experiences in these processes
• Daily fee in USD

This work is estimated to require approximately 15 days.

Mention in the subject header: Your name and “The Code Evaluation Literature Review”

Deadline: 8 January 2024

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