RECRUITMENT OF A CONSULTANT TO TRAINING GBV SERVICES’ PROVIDERS ON INCLUSIVE CHILD PROTECTION AND GBV CASE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

REKA PROJECT: Child Protection and Reduction of Gender, Age and Disability-based Violence through Games, Arts and Sports in Rwanda

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Humanity & Inclusion (HI) is an independent international solidarity organization that intervenes in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. Currently, it helps people with disabilities and the most vulnerable people in over 60 countries around the world by responding to their basic needs, improving their living conditions and promoting respect for their dignity and fundamental rights.

Since 2007, HI built expertise in protecting children and fighting against violence, in association with the establishment of a survivor monitoring mechanism as part of prevention activities at individual and community level, promoting an inclusive and survivors centred approach to support the participation of children, persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities.

Gender-based violence has been recognized worldwide as a violation of fundamental human rights. Gender-based violence is defined by the United Nations as any act of violence resulting in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, girls, men and boys, as well as threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.

In Rwanda, the National Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2019-2020 indicates that 37% of women and 30% of men between the ages of 15-49 have experienced physical violence, 33% of women and 6% of men have experienced sexual violence, respectively 10% of women and 2% of men have experienced it before the age of 18..  

Women and men aged 18 to 24 with a history of childhood sexual and emotional abuse are much more likely to have suffered mental distress and to have considered suicide. This shows just how devastating the long-term consequences of gender-based violence and child abuse can be.

One of the major challenges is that few survivors benefit from multi-sectoral care adapted to their needs despite the establishment of Isange One Stop Centers (IOSCs) providing anti- GBV services in all district hospitals and that people with disabilities are very poorly represented. This is demonstrated by the fact that out of 17,337 girl survivors of gender-based violence registered in 2017/2018, only 3001 representing 17% arrived in court. At Murunda IOSC from January 2019 to May 2021, the total number of reported cases of sexual violence for children was 1137 of which 24 were survivors with disabilities, representing 2% of survivors in care. Women with disabilities are twice as likely to experience domestic violence and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence as women without disabilities. It is estimated that 83% of disabled women will experience sexual abuse in their lifetime.

To address the above-mentioned issue, since November 2022, HI has signed a funding agreement with the French Development Agency (AFD) to implement a project entitled “Fighting violence based on gender, age and disability, through play, arts and sport in Rwanda” under the name REKA (the latter means “Stop” in Kinyarwanda).

The project aims to contribute to the reduction of gender, age and disability-based violence against women, children and people with disabilities, while improving the resilience of survivors. HI is implementing this project in consortium with Play International and CARITAS Rwanda as local partner. By adopting play (playdagogy), artistic expression and sport as essential tools for preventing and responding to violence based on gender, age and disability, HI believes that this play-based approach will strengthen survivors' ability to rebuild their emotional state and, consequently, improve their resilience.

In this context, Fédération Handicap International is seeking to recruit a consultant (a firm or individual) to conduct a capacity-building workshop for service providers (Medical, legal and MHPSS professionals) dealing with victims of violence based on gender, age and disability, and violence against children. These terms of reference clarify the nature of the assignment and serve to recruit the consultant (roles, working methods and supervision of the assignment).

SUMMARY OF PROJECT

 MISSION DESCRIPTION

Objectives of the activity

General objectives

The aim of recruiting the consultant is to find a potential candidate who will strengthen the capacity of the stakeholders to provide a holistic, inclusive, coordinated and high-quality response to the needs of children at risk and/or victims of violence for their protection and psychosocial reintegration.

Specific objectives

Specific roles of the consultant are:

• To familiarize professionals of GBV response chain with existing international standards related to GBV case management, Disability inclusion approach in GBV/CP programming, national protocols for child protection case management and reintegration of GBV victims.
• To upgrade the medical andlegal terminology currently being developed to facilitate a collaborative approach between the various stakeholders (medical staff, legal agents, psychologists) in order to ensure holistic care for victims.
• To discuss on strategies for reintegrating victims intotheir daily life by considering the specific challenges they face, which can be an entry point for advocacy.

Consultant’s tasks

• Adapt training content and teaching methods according to specific needs of training participants: A questionnaire will be drawn up and passed online by the consultant to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of the30 professionals targeted by training.
• Develop a comprehensive and structured training program, integrating GBV minimum standards, minimum standards for disability inclusion national protocols on child protection, GBV case management and reintegration approaches: the consultant will propose the training agenda and develop the materials according on trainees’ profile.  
• Facilitate the work of upgrading the medical and legal terminology previously produced by HI: In collaboration with the project team, the consultant will facilitate the presentation of the medico-legal lexicon and lead the participants discussion for adapting and developing a retro planning for its validation.
• Produce a detailed workshop report including recommendations with appendices including the forensic lexicon, trainings materials and advocacy plan.

EXPECTED RESULT

• Participants acquire practical and theoretical skills to identify and manage child protection and sexual violence cases effectively.
• Enhanced ability to assess the specific needs of victims with and without disabilities and propose appropriate solutions for their reintegration.
• An updated medical and legal lexicon and a timetable for its validation processare available.
• An advocacy plan developed based on recommendations and suggestions relating to child protection case management, sexual violence case management and victim reintegration.

METHODOLOGY

The overall approach to be used to conduct the capacity-building workshop for providers should allow them to gain knowledge and information that will help them provide coordinated, high-quality care for victims of violence. It will be participative, active and interactive, to enable practical sharing of everyday experience lived by selected participants. The consultant must work with HI technical resource; training materials should be reviewed and validated by HI Protection Specialist.

Principles and values

Protection and Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy

 Ethical measures*

Within the framework of this workshop, HI is committed to upholding certain ethical measures. It is imperative that these measures are taken into account by the consultant (s) in their technical offer:

• Guarantee the safety of participants, partners and teams:the technical offer must specify the risk mitigation measures.
• Ensure a person/community-centred approach:the technical offer must propose methods adapted to the needs of the target population (e.g. tools adapted for illiterate audiences / sign language / child-friendly materials, etc.).

PROFILE OF THE CONSULTANT/TEAM OF CONSULTANTS (EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED)

The consultant must be a firm or an independent person with the following profile:

• At least a Bachelor’s degree in Health, International Relations, Human Rights studies or Social Sciences and a Master's degree is preferred.
• Recognized professional experience in providing holistic response to the victims of gender-based violence and child abuse
• Knowledge of and skills in advocacy
• Experience working with persons with disabilities an asset
• Experience in implementing GBV response intervention in other countries is an asset
• Proven positive experience in conducting similar workshopsand capacity building activities with respect to competencies such as socio-emotional learning, and critical thinking adapted for adult professionals
• Good understanding of the Rwandan context: key actorsmastery of the child protection fieldgaps and capacities familiarity with key stakeholders, deep understanding and disability
• Excellent knowledge of International GBV/CP standards, survivor centered approach and trauma informed approach
• Good understanding of barriers for survivors with disability and principles of disability inclusion in GBV /CP programming
• Experience in working with international NGOs specializing in disability, GBV, gender or CP is a plus.
• Capacity to develop accessible tools and approach (advocacy plan, training material etc...)
• Excellent command of French or English (spoken and written)
• Willingness to adhere to HI’s institutional policies (anti-fraud and corruption, child protection, protection of beneficiaries against sexual abuse, gender, age and disability policy). Available on the website: https://hi.org/en/institutional-policies

DELIVERABLES

• Inception report providing a comprehensive approach and tools to be used
• Training materials
• Written and soft records with medical and legal vocabulary prepared as well as retro planning of its validation process  
• A draft of advocacy plan
• End-of-mission report following validation, including a detailed soft and physical report

DURATION OF THE CONSULTANCY ASSIGNMENT

The assignment will be for 8 days in total, including 2 days to prepare the training materials & tools and 1 day to write the activity report.

REQUIRED ADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENT TO SUBMIT

• Possess EBM machine and ready to deliver EBM invoices
• RDB registration certificate
• VAT / TIN (Tax Identification Number) Certificate
• Valid RRA clearance certificate
• Valid RSSB clearance certificate
• Signed HI declaration of acknowledgement of HI policies, ethics and adhesion to HI code of conduct
• Bank details (Account name, account number and Bank name)
• Valid Tax clearance certificate
• Clear and precise payment condition
• Three Good completion certificates for similar types of work
• Certificate of non-employability (for individual consultant)

SUBMISSION OF BIDS

• The technical offer (not exceeding 10 pages) should include Letter of motivation, CVs or previous experience in similar consultancy, details of 3 institutions to be contacted for reference checks, understanding of TOR, proposed methodology, workplan, timeline, schedule of deliverables.
• The financial offer should specify the details costs in a logical manner in Rwandan francs.  Incomplete applications will be declared ineligible and will not be included in the selection process.

Electronic applications must be received at the address specified below by November 01^st, 2024 midnight (Rwanda time), titled with the exact same solicitation reference. Applications must be forwarded in electronic only in PDF format to dao@rwanda.hi.org

(Please indicate REF: …  FACILITATING A TRAINING OF INCLUSIVE GBV & CP MANAGEMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS on the subject line in your email application)

The offer must include:

• a cover letter,
• a curriculum vitae specifying similar experience in such consultancy,
• Evidence of the previous similar or related work done (e.g. curriculum, hand-out for participants, manual training, etc.),
• the contact details of three referees,
• Technical offer including training program
• The financial proposal (detailing costs in a logical manner) in Rwandan francs.
• Quotations should not contain any unnecessary promotional material or elaborate presentation formats (black and white is preferred). Companies/individuals must not submit zipped files. Those pages requiring original manual signatures should be scanned and sent in PDF format as an email attachment. Please reference the RFQ Number and RFQ Name in the e-mail subject line.
• Only those candidates in who meet all qualifications and experience will be contacted for further consideration.
• HI is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of boys, girls, men and women with and without disabilities with whom HI engages.
• HI expects all staff and partners to share this commitment through our code of conduct and other Institutional policies such as the PSEAH and Child Protection Policy.
• Women with disabilities are highly encouraged to apply
• A committee will review the submission and oral interview will be organized for shortlisted candidates.

Done at Kigali on 11^th oct 2024