Consultant to undertake Baseline Assessment for Integrated Conflict, Child Protection, and Emergency Preparedness to protect children and their communities from Violence during emergencies in Thailand’s Southern Border Provinces

ECHO Regional Disaster 2022-24 (ECHO HIPS) Project

1. Background

Over the past 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 in the Southern border Provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla in Southern Thailand. Despite a decrease in attacks in recent years, Yala remains 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.

During the 2020 – 2022 ECHO Thailand/Philippines action; communities in Yala Province have faced multiple hazards, including major flooding in late 2019 and the COVID-19 outbreak. SC has mobilized support to respond to both disasters, building on the ECHO action and support from partners to ensure integration of child protection needs within local disaster response. This 2^nd phase of ECHO HIPS project builds upon experience from previous phase which SC contributed to strengthening preparedness and response capacities of local schools in the three Southernmost Provinces alongside Thailand Safe School Network partners. With support from ECHO, evidence from Yala in the Deep South of Thailand and Mindanao in the Philippines was used to strengthen CPiE preparedness and embed protection risks and vulnerabilities with existing DRR frameworks. Moreover, this work was aligned with the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Programme 2021-2025 (Priority Programmes 2 and 3). Partnerships with UN Women regionally and nationally further refined this alignment, with learnings from the project feeding into ASEAN Disaster Management work and the development of comprehensive gender policies and procedures within ASEAN. Finally, efforts outlined throughout this phase aim at reinforcing SC’s technical capacity building with the DCY which SC assisted in developing its national EPP and CPiE capacity building agenda to DCY staff in 2021 and 2022. Throughout this action, SC will aim to work with DCY to leverage its expertise at the ASEAN level through the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) and will re-activate technical collaboration with the TSSN (co-chaired by OBEC and DDPM) and other school safety partners in the region, including APG members, ASSI partners, and the Asia Pacific Coalition for School Safety.

This 24-month action  from 1 July 2022 – 30 June 2024 targets new and previously reached communities to develop Emergency Preparedness Plans (EPPs) that reflect Yala's multi-hazard context, with a particular focus on conflict hazards through a child-participatory approach. The action will implement through two local partner organizations; the Association of Children and Youth for Peace and Nusantara for Human Rights and Development will be involved to ensure multi-sectoral coordination such as 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.

2. Purpose and scope of this consultancy:

Save the Children would like to conduct a baseline assessment for the ECHO HIPS project to generate evidence, knowledge and information needed for the program planning, implementation and support the reporting. A consultant is therefore being sought to:

1. Conduct context analysis for provincial and/or national guidelines, training materials or technical resources supporting the use of child protection lens in disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness planning and discussion making.
2. Conduct context analysis for regional framework, initiatives or programmes that integrate child protection consideration in disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness planning and decision making at all levels and across sectors.
3. Conduct context analysis on emergency preparedness plan developed through child participation with integrated multi hazard risks.
4. Conduct current attitude and awareness analysis of community leaders and key influencers e.g. religious leaders on child rights and child protection.
5. Review and identify existing services and practice to handle Gender Base Violence (GBV) and serious violation cases in community.

3. Design and methodology:

An independent consultant will be recruited to lead this baseline assessment. The following is the outline of a suggested process; however, it would be expected that this would be further refined by the consultant. The baseline assessment shall be undertaken based on the Save the Children Thailand  requirements and must be in line with Save the Children’s ethical guideline (Annex II).

Literature/ Desk review

• Literature review of relevant documentation;
• Development of survey/interview tools to be used for collection of baseline data (Quantitative and Qualitative);
• Development of sampling methodology for administering surveys (as applicable), ensure the gender balance of respondent;
• Training of data enumerators (as applicable);

Field Work:

• Leading the administering of baseline survey tools;
• Leading other consultations with project beneficiaries, communities, partners and Government as deemed necessary during baseline methodology design;

 Data Processing, Analysis and Reporting:

• Data entry and analysis of completed baseline survey tools with gender disaggregated data;
• Discussion on preliminary findings of baseline;
• Draft Report and Final Reports;
• Presentation on key findings;

4. Target area and respondent

The project targets implementation in the Yala. This baseline assessment expects to collect information to adequately represent of all project locations. The key informants should comprise of children and youth, religious leaders, community led child protection workers, provincial and national government.

5. Timeframe

The consultant will be required to dedicate an estimated 45 working days to this consultancy work during April – June 2023 period, subject to the requirements and agreements with Save the Children.

6. Schedule and deliverables

Deliverables	Timeframe	Remarks
Submission of draft Inception report and work plan Mapping of available data and plan for data collection Draft of assessment framework Draft of assessment tools Consultation meeting with Save the Children project team	7 working days after confirmation of contract.	Desk review process: Save the Children will review and approve the Inception report within 5 working days (5 working days)
Submission of finalized Inception report include: (i) Introduction; (ii) Study context; (iii) Study purpose; (iv) Methodology (data collection and analysis methods, samplings, limitations and mitigation strategies); (v) Work plan; (vi) Assessment matrix (annex); (vii) Data collection instruments (annex).	By 3rd Week of April 2022	(2 working days)
Data collection, validation and analysis	During 4th of April and 2nd  week of May 2023	(15 working days)
Presentations of preliminary findings to Save the Children Presentation file shared with Save the Children at least 3 days prior to the presentation	3rd Week of  May 2023	(1 working days)
First draft of reports in English with recommendation.	By 4th Week of May 2023	Save the Children will provide feedback on the first draft within 5 working days (5 working days)
Final draft of reports 2 pager assessment summary report (in English and Thai) Full report (25 pages maximum excluding appendices) in English and Thai including (i) Executive summary; (ii) Context and purpose of the evaluation (evaluation scope, evaluation criteria); (iii) Evaluation framework and methodologies; (iv) Findings; (v) Conclusions and recommendations for future actions.	By 2nd week of June 2023	(2 working days)

All materials and raw data collected during the consultancy process should be submitted to the MEAL team focal point prior to the termination of the contract.

7. Management of the consultancy:

The consultant(s) will report to ECHO HIPS project coordinator, with technical support from Child Protection Programme manager, MEAL Coordinator and Child Protection Technical Expert who will provide inputs throughout the baseline assessment process including on the proposed methodology and data collection tools, analysis and interpretation and recommendations. Furthermore, the ECHO HIPS project team will support logistics and arrangements for data collection and consultation with stakeholders.

The consultant/s will be responsible for

• Coordinating the data collection and consultation
• Developing the baseline framework, processes and tools
• Training the data collection team and interpreters/note takers as appropriate
• Overseeing the data collection
• Data entry and analyzing data
• Compiling and submitting the assessment report including documentation of findings, learnings and recommendations for programming

Save the Children should approve all plans and documents developed by the consultant. The final report will be assessed against Save the Children’s Evaluation Checklist (Annex III).

8. Consultancy Fee

The consultant(s) is asked to propose the budget. The financial competitiveness of the fee will be considered in the selection process. Costs involved in the assessment, such as materials, interpreter, travel, accommodation and applicable taxes, should be included in the proposed budget.

9. Qualifications

• At least master’s degree in social sciences or other related field.
• Expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods.
• Strong qualitative and qualitative data analysis skills.
• Expertise in issues related to child empowerment, capacity building or advocacy is an asset.
• Thai/English language proficiency
• Ability to work within strict deadlines
• Ability to travel to the deep south provinces of Thailand

10. Submissions for the consultancy

The submission must address the terms of reference and include:

• The resume of the candidate
• A cover letter explaining the candidate’s interest and suitability
• Experience in conducing evaluation in multicultural, multilingual and sensitive context will be an asset
• A technical proposal including research scope, design, methods, field implementation approach and work plan (7 pages maximum)
• A detailed budget outlining all expense and consultancy fee in USD and THB (including travel and other costs)

11. Close date for submissions:

Applicant should submit their interest by 28 March 2023

For additional information, please email to THA_Procurement_BKK@savethechildren.org

Contact : THA_Procurement_BKK@savethechildren.org

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ที่ปรึกษา / Consultant