Short-term consultancy: ECHO HIP II : Conflict Sensitivity Advisor

 

Save the Children invests in childhood and strives to give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn, and protection from harm. To achieve our mission, we collaborate with actors across the fabric of civil society; including governments, businesses, NGOs, and the communities and children we serve.

SC’s theory of change reveals its mission in action: innovate, rigorously test, and contribute to the global evidence and use that evidence to drive changes in policy and practice. Save the Children has developed a global reputation for best practices in community mobilization and capacity strengthening. It is recognized for its capacity to reach disadvantaged populations and facilitate lasting partnerships among communities, local organizations, and governments. These partnerships are instrumental in implementing our programs.

Save the Children is one of the leading aid organizations in Thailand implementing humanitarian and development programs with a unique focus on the needs and rights of children. Save the Children has been working in Thailand since 1979, and since then has reached more than a million of children and adults through child protection, education, child rights governance, and livelihood programs.

1.              Project Background

The conflict in the Southern border provinces of Thailand, Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla, is a historic one, going back over a century ago when Pattani, then an independent Muslim city-state, was vassalized and then annexed by Siam. Since then, the region has been engaged on-and-off in a battle for self-determination with the Thai state. The insurgency was reignited in 2003 and in the last 16 years, an estimated 7,294 people have been killed, 13,550 injured, and over 8,000 children left under the care of shelters or orphanages due to a conflict between ethno-nationalist insurgents and the Thai army. According to the International Crisis Group, in 2021 casualties associated with the insurgency rose for the first time since 2012. All the three provinces in the Deep South remain under Emergency Decree and the presence of State security forces in public schools is a constant reminder of the conflict hazards that children face in their daily lives. Drivers of the conflict include perceived assimilation of the local Pattani-Malay culture under centralized State government policies and governance.

Children of different gender and age groups in Yala experience conflict in unique ways. Male children and adolescents, particularly those in religious schools, risk being recruited by insurgency groups and harassed or detained by security forces. Female children and adolescents, on the other hand, face risks linked to harmful community practices and economic coping mechanisms leading to SGBV, isolation, and early marriage. Compounding these issues, Yala is prone to seasonal flooding and landslides with recent affected household estimates reaching over 62,000 in late 2020. Amid the ongoing COVID19 pandemic and its strain on public services, the multi-hazard context in the Deep South is now more apparent than ever.

Save the Children Thailand (SCT) is implementing a 24-month project, targeting new and previously reached communities to develop Emergency Preparedness Plans (EPPs) that reflect Yala's multi-hazard context, with a specific focus on conflict hazards and take a child-participatory approach. The action will also engage religious leaders, government authorities, and community members to address drivers of violence affecting children and undertake targeted advocacy with national and regional mechanisms to replicate achievements and learnings from Yala on a wider scale. To ensure that our programming is sustainable, mitigates harm (in accordance with the Do No Harm principle in humanitarian action), and maximizes positive outcomes for the community by capitalizing on opportunities for social cohesion and conflict mitigation, SCT is taking a conflict sensitive approach.

Embedding a conflict-sensitive approach to our programmes and advocacy efforts requires an understanding of the ways in which children experience and cope with conflict, of how conflict impacts differently children’s rights, lives, opportunities, ecosystems, and development pathways, and of how children can contribute to peace within their communities.

Child-centred conflict analyses focus on the specific ways in which conflict affects children of different profiles and ages, and how they experience it, while unveiling the unique role they play as actors and rights-holders. Child-centred conflict sensitivity assessments will consider how a specific project should prevent the exposure of children to harm and work toward contributing to restore or strengthen cohesive and peaceful environments for children, their caretakers, and duty-bearers.

Save the Children and partners must ensure children’s experiences and recommendations are informing these efforts as part of our responsibility to create the conditions for children’s safe participation in our programmes and to create enabling environments for children to be heard and respected as well as supported in gaining the skills and knowledge they need to create positive, lasting change in their communities.

Save the Children’s Conflict Sensitivity Guider can be viewed here.

2.              Key Deliverables

Expected outcome: The consultant conducts a literature review and desk research and designs a plan to fill in the gaps through (qualitative and quantitative) primary data collection in order to deliver a comprehensive conflict analysis. The consultant will use the analysis to draft a robust conflict sensitivity assessment, in accordance with Save the Children’s Conflict Sensitivity Guider and toolkit and the EU’s Guidance notes on Conflict Sensitivity in Development Cooperation, and in collaboration with the cross-functional project team. The assessment will provide key recommendations to all sectors involved, while integrating cross-cutting issues such as gender, inclusion, accountability, and child participation.

Deliverables	Timeframe	Remarks
Draft workplan Mapping of available data and literature review. Draft outline of conflict analysis and conflict sensitivity assessment Gap analysis and proposed plan including assessment tools, methodological approach and tentative list of stakeholders for KIIs Consultation meeting with Save the Children project team	7 days after confirmation of contract   (11th April 2023)	Desk review process: Save the Children will review and provide feedback on the first draft within 5 working days.
Draft Conflict Analysis with completed desk research. Detailed data gathering plan, questionnaires, and full list of stakeholders and KIs for interviews. Planning meeting with ECHO project team	18th April 2023	Save the Children will review the updates (and discuss if needed) for its approval
Test and adjustment of questionnaire. Data collection, including consultation with key stakeholders, partners and children. Draft Conflict Sensitivity Assessment.	19th April – 12th May 2023
Presentations of preliminary findings to Save the Children Consultation with project teams on recommendations.	15th June 2023	Presentation file shared with Save the Children at least 3 days prior to the presentation
First draft of Conflict Sensitivity Assessment with recommendations in English	22nd of June 2023	Save the Children will provide feedback on the first draft within 5 working days
Final draft of reports Assessment summary report (1-2 page in English and Thai) Full report (in any form such as VDO interviewing key stakeholders/children) in English and Thai	5th July 2023

3.              Methodology

The child-centered conflict analysis should be completed through a combination of desk research and primary-data. To conduct a robust primary data gathering, the consultant should:

• Conduct a stakeholder and power analysis, in order to identify key informants and actors
• Formulate interview questions upon completing the desk review and test them with 5-8 carefully selected respondents, in order to adjust for bias and conflict sensitivity.
• Identify stakeholders including:

• governments, local authorities, political figures, civil society leaders, private sector representatives, etc.
• children
• rights activists
• combatants (current and former)
• academic experts from within and outside the context setting. 

The consultant should use a combination of different primary data-gathering methods including:

• Expert interviews
• Community consultations and child-friendly focus groups
• Workshops with staff, partners and other relevant actors.

It is important that participatory methods are used to gather a range of perspective that will inform the analysis. Obtaining reliable information for conflict analysis can be difficult, and perceptions of conflict will be very different according to who is being consulted. The consultant may need to ensure that there is a certain level of triangulation of the information – verifying each piece of information with at least two complementary sources – will help clarify different perspectives. Consultations should be child-friendly and comply with Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding policy.

All materials, including all raw data sets, collected in the undertaking of the consultancy process should be submitted along with the final report.

The consultant(s) will be managed by Save the Children’s ECHO Project Coordinator, with technical support from other staff, who will provide inputs throughout the child protection system and DRR framework study process including on the proposed methodology and data collection tools, analysis and interpretation and recommendations.

4.              Qualifications

The consultant will be required to dedicate an estimated 90 days’ time to this consultancy work during 1st of April to 15th of July 2023 period, subject to the requirements and agreements with Save the Children. The Conflict Sensitivity Advisor is expected to work closely with the Humanitarian Analyst and collaborate across all functions within Save the Children in Thailand. The role requires frequent and complex interactions with government and civil society partners. Requires excellent judgment, analytical and conceptual thinking; and ability to work in high pressure environments, with limited supervision. The Conflict Sensitivity Advisor will operate between Yala and the Country Office in Bangkok.

As the role may involve some interaction with children, the consultant will be required to undergo Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding mandatory training.

Mandatory

• Master’s degree in Conflict Studies, International Relations, Political Science, Peacebuilding or other related fields.
• Knowledge of the conflict dynamics within the Deep South Region of Thailand (specifically Yala Province).
• Tangible experience conducting research and analysis within an active conflict, displacement crisis or other humanitarian context.
• Theoretical and practical knowledge of conflict sensitivity methodologies and tools, particularly qualitative analysis.
• Experience working in multicultural and multilingual contexts.
• Demonstrated capacity to work autonomously under pressure and with tight deadlines.
• The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.
• Fluency in Thai and at least business proficiency in English.

Desirable

• Proficiency in Pattani-Malay.
• Experience working with development organizations or non-profit organizations.
• Knowledge of child-rights governance or child protection.
• Experience working with Save the Children International.

5.              Consultant fee and application

Interested applicants should submit the following and address the terms of reference:

• The resume of the lead candidate and team members (if the applicant believes that a team is required to conduct primary data collection or translation).).
• A cover letter explaining the interest and suitability.
• Assessment plan and budget proposal including research methodology and timeline (5 pages maximum).
• A detailed budget in USD and THB.

The consultant(s) is also required to submit a proposed budget in Thai Baht and USD. Fee competitiveness will be considered in the selection process. Costs involved in the assessment, such as materials, travel, translation, and applicable taxes, should be included in the proposed budget.

Applicants should submit their interest by 22nd March 2023. Submissions should be addressed to: THA_Procurement_BKK@savethechildren.org

For further information please contact Nisfu Siribunlong (+66)83-0647-805

Contact : THA_Procurement_BKK@savethechildren.org, Nisfu Siribunlong (+66)83-0647-805

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ที่ปรึกษา / Consultant