Home-based: Study “Implementing a Child Rights-Based Approach in Crisis Contexts: Benefits and Challenges”

In the world, children are the first victims of crises and conflicts:

• 1 child out of 9 grows up in areas and countries affected by conflicts (United Nations, 2020);
• 36,5 million children displaced at the end of 2021, 13,7 million child refugees and asylum seekers, nearly 22,8 million children displaced within their countries because of conflicts and violence (UNICEF, June 2022);
• Between 2005 and 2020, more than 266 000 serious violations were committed against children by parties of conflicts in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. (“25 years of work in favor of children in armed conflicts: undertaking measures to protect children in wartime”, UNICEF).

Due to their vulnerability stemming from their age and their dependence on adults, boys and girls suffer from the effects of multisectoral, economic, political, ecological, sanitary and security conflicts crises which aggravate their situations, notably in countries where they are already extremely precarious.

Recent crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the brutal increase of costs of energy and food products and more broadly the context of global food insecurity have aggravated the situation of children’s rights. In some regions in the world, this reality is exacerbated by the multiplication of violence of all kinds, attacks (notably against schools), increasing school drop-out rates, the number of children associated with armed groups, sexual exploitation, cases of marriage and teenage/early pregnancies or even child mortality, in particular in children under 5, linked to severe acute malnutrition.

The Groupe Enfance uses the following definition of “crises”: they are of different natures, natural or human origins, they are characterized by abrupt or progressive changes of environment which fragilize and threaten the health, security and well-being of individuals and communities.

b. Child Rights-Based Approach: 

A child rights-based approach is a conceptual framework to elaborate public policies and programs which incorporate the protection and promotion of human rights. The programs and policies stemming from this approach are based on international norms of human rights and they incite the action regarding inequalities and discriminations by targeting those who are “left behind” and the most vulnerable.

Within the framework of a child rights-based approach, the programs put in place by actors of international solidarity must focus on the realization of children’s rights and apply not only human rights principles such as universality and indivisibility but also the four guiding principle of the Convention on children’s rights (also named the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - CRC): non- Groupe discrimination, the child’s right to life, survival and development, the best interest of the child and the right to participation.

Thus, children are rights holders, actors of their own development and must be supported in order to claim those rights and contribute to their realization. The duty-bearers (States) and the responsible actors (family, community, civil society including childhood professionals, the private sector, etc.) are guarantors of the respect, the promotion and the protection of children’s rights notably by favoring the creation of environments and mechanisms allowing victims of violations to enforce the respect of their rights.

Adopting a holistic approach to children’s rights is essential to ensure the effectiveness of children’s rights.

The implementation of a child rights-based approach is an important factor of the efficiency of development policies and programs and humanitarian action which opens new perspectives that allow to ensure the relevance of the actions taken. That is why this approach must be transversal and systematic regardless of the sector and/or type of project being put in place.

c. Implementing Children’s Rights in a Crisis Context: 

In crisis contexts, the members of Groupe Enfance intervening on the field face several difficulties:

• The lack of stability of political and institutional frameworks may limit the possibilities of relying on duty-bearers to guarantee respect of children's rights;
• The changing nature of these contexts affects the responsible actors like the family, community or civil society who do not necessarily have the means anymore to assume their responsibilities with regards to the children whose fundamental needs are not guaranteed (anymore);
• The necessity of a quick and efficient action induces a prioritization regarding the responses to the immediate causes rather than the root causes behind the violation of children’s rights which does not allow for real progress or change over time;
• Intervention, in emergency situations sometimes, implies that a limited time is accorded to diagnosis. However, these situation analyses, including sectorial ones, must be in-depth analyses in order to build a project that meets, as much as possible, the expectations and needs of populations, particularly children;
• The implementation of the principle of a sure and inclusive participation of children at a high level in accordance with the relevant standards is complex;
• The separation of families impacts the protecting framework of children, increasing their vulnerability and further exposing them to violence and exploitation;
• The experience of crises is traumatic, and it creates psychosocial distress and in certain cases, psychological traumas.

These elements reveal the reality of the field and directly infringe upon the access and the protection of children’s rights.

Thus, these instabilities have immediate repercussions on the children that are not supported or accompanied anymore (or insufficiently so) to be able to claim their rights; their physical, mental, social and emotional development is also impacted, making them even more vulnerable and less able to face those crises.

2. The Groupe Enfance: 

The Groupe Enfance (Childhood Group) of the Coordination Humanitaire et Développement (Humanitarian and Development Coordination) gathers 18 NGOs committed to defending children’s rights internationally.1 Together since 2014, these organizations share the conviction that a constant and sustained attention to children and their rights is a powerful lever to start a virtuous circle towards equality, sustainable development goals and peace.

The Groupe Enfance, whilst mobilizing the resources and expertise of its members, carries out advocacy activities for the effective realization of children’s rights and their better inclusion/consideration by France’s international policy (meetings with decision-makers, preparation of positioning documents, dissemination of recommendations…) and participates in the reinforcement of its members’ and other actors of international solidarity’s skills and knowledge with regards to a child rights-based approach (CRBA). Each year, at the occasion of the international day for children’s rights (November 20), the Group also organizes a collective event entitled “Objectif Enfance”.

The project “Childhood Group: for a better contribution to the effectiveness of children’s rights internationally” is supported by the French Agency for Development since January 1, 2019.
On the occasion of its project’s new phase (initiated on January 1, 2022 for a duration of 3 years), the Groupe Enfance wishes to refine its thinking and activities on the implementation of a child rights-based approach in crisis situations, and to raise the profile of this issue among international solidarity actors.

Thus, between January 2022 and June 2023, the Groupe Enfance has:

• Produced many documents dedicated to children’s rights in crisis contexts (joint positioning note, practical information sheets, "crisis focus" sheets on Madagascar and the Sahel region);
• Organized the 2022 edition of its “Objectif Enfance” event on this subject;
• Deployed an advocacy strategy for the revision of the French Republic's humanitarian strategy.

Therefore, at the crossing of the challenges linked to the disseminations and operationalization of the CRBA and the will to create a specific focus on crisis situations, the Groupe Enfance wishes to create a study on the implementation of this approach in crisis contexts.

II. THE STUDY: 

1. Global Objective: 

The main goal of the study is to highlight the feasibility, the relevance and the added value of the implementation of a CRBA in a crisis context as well as the challenges it poses.
The study, which will be used as a reference document by the Groupe Enfance, will highlight good practices (internal and external to Groupe Enfance) relating to the operationalization of the CRBA, help him refine and support its advocacy with public authorities, and support the promotion of the child rights-based approach among humanitarian actors.

First and foremost, the study will have to include a contextualization section, recalling the theoretical dimension of the CRBA, defining crisis contexts, and recalling the French political/strategic framework in terms of international solidarity. The study will be supported by concrete examples of projects implementing a CRBA in crisis contexts, both by GE members and other organizations in order to analyze the strengths and challenges of this approach. In addition to that, the study will aim to analyze the added value of the CRBA and how it needs to evolve/adjust to operationalize the nexus approach. Lastly, the study will propose in its annex an adaption of GE’s checklist2 to crisis contexts.

2. Specific Objectives: 

• a. Presentation of the CRBA and definition of crisis contexts
  • This work of contextualization should make it possible to clarify the subjects dealt with, i.e. the child rights-based approach and crises. French policies/strategies in terms of international solidarity should also be recalled as they represent the framework within which Groupe Enfance and French NGOs operate.
• b. Analysis of the benefits and challenges of the implementation of a CRBA based on concrete examples
  • More specifically, the study will have to clarify which adaptations, challenges and stakes specific to the implementation of a CRBA in crisis contexts may turn out to be necessary in addition to the added values brought to this approach.
  • To do so, the study will rely on concrete examples from projects led by members of the Group but also by external organizations. In this perspective, the group has already carried out an internal survey to identify the organizations involved in this type of projects and the countries in which they intervene.
  • This work has made it possible to define that the Group wants the study to be based on projects currently underway in different types of crises (climatic, political, economic, etc.) and in different regions of the world (Africa, South America, Asia, Middle East) in order to support its arguments by explaining how the CRBA is implemented and by demonstrating its added value.
  • Indeed, crises, often being multifaceted, the Group wishes for the study not to concentrate itself on one type of crisis only but to start from an enlarged specter so that the argumentation it builds is transversal and valid/applicable for all types of crises.
  • In the analysis of projects, specific attention will have to be paid to the highlighting of a child rights-based approach’s central elements (analysis of root causes, accountability of duty bearers, reinforcement of responsible actors’ skills and capacities, children’s participation…) as well as its gender issues/stakes. All of these elements will highlight the specificities of the implementation of a CRBA and produce an adaptation of Groupe Enfance’s checklist to crisis contexts.
• c. Analysis of the CRBA’s added value and its evolutions in order to operationalize the nexus approach
  • After a presentation of the issues/stakes/challenges associated to the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, the study will need to analyze the way in which the implementation of a CRBA is in line with this approach linking emergency, development and peace.
  • In order to allow for a better reproducibility of the CRBA, the study will analyze the evolutions and the changes required to allow its adaptations regardless of the crisis contexts at hand.
  • To reach this goal, humanitarian actors external to the Groupe Enfance will have to be associated and implicated as much as possible in the realization of the study.
• d. Adaptation of the Groupe Enfance’s checklist to crisis contexts
  • According to the collected elements and analyzes produced, the study will propose in its annex an adaptation of the GE’s checklist to crisis contexts. This document will highlight in a clear and synthetic manner the main challenges of the adaptation of a CRBA in contexts of crises (criteria and corresponding sub-questions). This will be done depending on the different steps in the project’s cycle (organizational context, situation analysis beforehand/pre-project initiation, conception and implementation of the project, monitoring-evaluation-capitalization) and the angle of approach (rights holders, duty bearers, responsible actors, participation, root causes) according to the phase of the crisis.

3. Priority end Recipients: 

• The actors of the French civil society: members and partners of the Groupe Enfance (in particular the Humanitarian and Development Coordination and Coordination SUD), other organizations of civil society external to the Group (particularly humanitarian ones) and collectives (Coalition Education, UNICEF France), academics.
• French institutional actors including: Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (particularly the Crisis and Support Center) and the French Agency for Development (notably the Fragility, Crises and Conflicts Unit)

III. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH: 

1. Study Process: 

The consultant will carry out the study whilst being steered by the Groupe Enfance. They will be in direct contact with Groupe Enfance’s coordinator who will be the link with the monitoring committee which is made up of several members of the Group.

After the contextualizing work, the consulting team will have to select, from a list provided by the Groupe Enfance, the projects on which the study will focus particularly whilst bringing special attention to the representativity of the members, the crises and the continents. The consultancy will benefit from the support of the collective to carry out this framing.
In a second step, and depending on the previously identified projects, the consultant will be in charge of identifying and proposing projects led by humanitarian actors external to the GE to include in the study.

The consultant will be expected to plan interviews with all relevant actors within the framework of the study, notably the Groupe Enfance organizations that implement a CRBA in a crisis context, their technical and financial partners on the field, and other actors intervening in the geographic area of projects, as well as humanitarian actors external to the Group. The exchanges with actors on the field (civil society and institutional actors) will be carried out remotely.

At least six meeting will be organized between the consultant and the Groupe Enfance:

• At the beginning of the study for a framing meeting;
• After the contextualizing work (CRBA theory and nation of crisis) for the preselection of the members’ projects;
• After the selection of projects (internal and external to the Group);
• At the time of presentation of the detailed outline/plan of the study;
• After submission of the provisional report (presentation to the monitoring committee);
• After submission of the final report (two-phase restitution: from the study's stakeholders - in particular members of the Groupe Enfance - and wider restitution from the Group's partners)

3. Delivrables: 

• A report of 30 to 40 pages maximum;
• A synthesis document of 5 to 10 pages presenting the main conclusions of the study;
• An annex proposing an adaptation of the Groupe Enfance’s checklist to crisis contexts;
• An annex containing all sources and any eventual additional information;

Important: The entirety of the aforementioned deliverables must be written and submitted in French.

*Groupe Enfance – Terms of reference study CRBA in crisis contexts – October 2023 7/7

4. Budget: 

The contract value is capped at 12,000 euros including tax.

5. Required Profile:

• Proven expertise in the child rights-based approach and in the development and emergency sectors;
• Proven experience of multi-stakeholder work and interviewing in connection with field projects;
• Experience in international solidarity (both at headquarters and in the field);
• Knowledge of international solidarity networks and institutions; 

How to Apply: 

The study operator is the Groupe Enfance, a collective of NGOs committed to a better consideration of children’s rights in France’s foreign/international policy.

The consultancy contract will be done between the consultant and the Humanitarian and Development Coordination, front leader of the Groupe Enfance.

The consultant will propose a technical offer that must include:

• A self-introduction, references linked to this type of mission, his/her resume;
• A methodological note presenting his/her approach, the means used, a referential bibiliography (non-exhaustive list accepted), the means necessary to the realization of the study and a detailed timeline including the envisaged activities to carry out the study;
• A financial offer. 

Proposals will be analyzed by an evaluation committee according to the following criteria:

• Exclusion criteria: non-compliant, incomplete or late offer;
• Consultant qualification criteria: according to experience and references;
• Attribution criteria: the contract will be given to the best proposal, with technical quality taking precedence over price.

Offers should be sent no later than November 5, 2023, to Mélanie Luchtens, Groupe Enfance’s coordinator: mluchtens@sosve.org.