Consultancy for conduct Participatory Action Research on online safety and resilience (PAR Research)
(Focused in Chaing Mai and Chaing Rai Provinces)
Introduction
Save the Children (SC) has been working in Thailand since 1984, with offices in Bangkok, Mae Sot and Pattani. For over thirty-nine years, we have been supporting the most vulnerable children with a specific focus on migrant children, refugees, conflict-affected minorities, children with disabilities and vulnerable children in urban areas.
Background
Respect Ourselves, Accentuate Resilience Phase II (ROAR II Project) aims to by 2024, stateless, migrant, and Thai youth (disaggregated by gender and disability) in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai will be empowered as decision makers and leaders to protect all girls and boys from online sexual abuse and exploitation. This initiative will also raise their voices on solutions to inclusive policy implementation at the national and ASEAN level.
Objectives: Purpose and Key Research Questions
Save the Children Thailand is conducting the Participatory Action Research (PAR) together with ECPAT and young leaders living in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai Provinces to understand online safety and resilience among children in the project target area. The research will be conducted between May to November 2023. The desk research will start in May alongside the preparation for the child participatory action research with data collection aiming to be commence at the beginning of July.
The ROAR II project intends to hire an external consultant to conduct the PAR research which must build on existing study include Child Online Protection Action Thailand (COPAT) on the online behaviour of the Thai children in 2012 and Save the Children Youth Consultation Report Participatory Action Research on Online Safety and Resilience in 2022 (ROAR I - PAR). The consultant will conduct desk research which will seek to summarise the evidence available on online protection concerns, and internet and social media usage in target locations. Findings will inform the participatory action research (PAR), which will be conducted with young people using both quantitative and qualitative data collection methodologies. The gender-sensitive PAR research aims to qualitatively identify and quantify the specific risks and opportunities that girls and boys of all gender and abilities living in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai Provinces.
This research will contribute to the evidence-based and directly inform phases two (develop contextually relevant digital and offline solutions and campaigns) and three (design local, regional, and national advocacy strategies) of the ROAR II program, in which young people will design and advocate for solutions, campaigns and policies to prevent abuse and improve their protection. The findings from this research will also provide recommendations for Save the Children, protection leads, CSO partners, targeted schools, communities and the Thai government to build a strategy to prevent online violence against children.
The research shall propose actions that would help inform the design of co-creation workshops in which children participate as change agents to define and develop solutions to tackle online abuse. Recommendations within the research report should include suggestions for modalities could be used to prevent Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC), as well as make recommendations for behavioural change models VS child-led tools and solutions and resilience building which place a priority on the essence of child participation: children are promoted to be engaged, test and refine their solutions and campaigns along the life of the project.
The overall objectives of this research include:
- To understand the distribution of online safety risks according to age, gender, socioeconomic groups, geographical locations and other relevant factors
- To understand existing means of risk mitigation and protection, in order to inform actionable recommendations for Save the Children’s programming, and that of its partners
- To establish a baseline of digital literacy and knowledge about online safety amongst young people as following indicators:
- % children and youth who experience or witness online abuse ability to seek further support
- % children and youth who can identify safety risks
- % children and youth who know what to do to reduce online safety risks or practice safe behaviors on the internet
- To compare research result from ROAR I and ROAR II and identify and quantify general threats (problems and risks) online to determine issues that targeted groups of children and young people are facing;
- To generate recommendations/gather lessons to inform phase two, i.e. how young people would like to be supported online and create their own solutions for peer awareness raising on online safety for children
- To empower young people leaders to build their skills to co-conduct Participatory Action Research (PAR) and to produce an increased Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) sensitive evidence base on the types of safety issues children are facing.
- To influence broader policy and practice around child protection in online settings, and encourage uptake of actionable findings into government and SC,
Scope
The research is expected to be carried out in the ROARII project areas. There will be in 7 Districts of Chiang Mai Province (Mueang Chiang Mai, Doi Saket, Mae Rim, Samoeng, San Kamphaeng, San Sai and Hang Dong) and 4 Districts of Chiang Rai Province (Mueang Chiang Rai, Mae Chan, Mae Sai and Mae Lao). The specific area location will be determined at later stage with consultation from children and youth.
Key tasks
The consultant will conduct a PAR research using a mixed methods approach based on Save the Children Youth Consultation Report on Online Safety and Resilience in 2022. First, the consultant will do desk research and review secondary data to establish the initial scope and propose an approach. Then, the key interviews and focus group discussions are expected to be conducted with young people leaders to inform structured questionnaires for primary data collection. The consultant will use existing data collection tools and adapt them to the local context. Findings will be validated in further interviews and discussions with relevant groups, including representation among children and young people of diverse gender, socioeconomic grouping, location, disability, and other factors.
Expected Outputs / Deliverables
- Inception report detailing sample and full methodology
- A presentation of the research findings and research validation meeting with relevant stakeholders
- Standalone case studies
- Copies of any data collection instruments formulated (employ existing tools with minor change)
- Cleaned data set (field notes, data set in & Excel, qualitative analysis and other relevant documents should be filed).
- A final report (of no more than 30 pages) that answers the evaluation questions, presents an accurate and rigorous analysis, and should be learning oriented and take a strong gender sensitive approach in the analysis. (Full report in Thai and an executive summary in English)
- Recommendations for the adoption of online safety solutions
- Child friendly version of the results of study
Qualification and expertise
The research has to be completed in December 2023. A field data collection would be mandatory and ideally would took place in July to August 2023.
To be considered, the research team members together must have demonstrated skills, expertise and experience in:
- Masters’ degree in Social sciences, psychology, gender studies or relevant area to the project.
- Proven experience designing and conducting high quality research. Proven ability and track record conducting ethical and inclusive research with vulnerable populations while ensuring rigorous ethics, integrity, and safeguarding
- Experience working directly with children and young people, mentoring and training them to achieve results
- Demonstrated experience in using a rights-based approach to research and evaluation using instruments such Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UN CRPD).
- Demonstrate knowledge in online safety and resilience, preferably with experience in conducting online child protection -related research
- Strong analytical skills and ability to clearly synthesise and present findings, draw practical conclusions, make recommendations and to prepare well-written reports in a timely manner;
- Demonstrated experience of disaggregating and analysing data by gender, disability and other aspects of identity such as diverse SOGIE, Indigeneity, Ethnicity, language etc
- Thai or international consultant who has experience working in Thailand with work permit
- Ability to work independently and meet tight deadlines
- Language proficiencies required include: English and Thai; kindly include a clear plan for language proficiencies in the team and/or translators included in the team
- Flexibility to travel (if needed)
How to apply
We invite interested candidates to submit an application for the consultancy should include:
- Expression of interest: stating candidate skill and experience suitable for the consultancy (max 2 page)
- Technical and financial proposal: Outline of research framework and methods, proposed timeframe, work plan and budget (max 4 pages; applications over limit will be automatically excluded).
- CV of proposed individual/s
- Provide at least 2 research samples in Thai or English led by the leading consultant on the assignment
Applications should be sent by email to the following email address: Request full TOR or more information and Submission through: kwang.tangmanakit@savethechildren.org
Period of submission: Until 14 May 2023
Submission through: THA_Procurement_BKK@savethechildren.org
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