RECRUITMENT OF A CONSULTANT/COMPANY TO DEVELOP A CHILD PROTECTION AND SAFEGUARDING TRAINING MANUAL IN SCHOOLS

1. CONTEXT AND JUSTIFICATION

Rwanda has achieved significant progress in its education sector, most notably reaching near-universal access to primary education with one of the highest net enrolment rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. Increasing access to and the quality of education for children in Rwanda continues to be the focus of the education sector however, some challenges remain including occurrence of cases of abuse and adolescent pregnancies in schools which continue to be among other key factors of school drop out for teens, especially girls.  According to the Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS 2015-2016), half of children in Rwanda experience a form of violence in their life course while 10% of cases of sexual violence occur within the school settings. The survey also indicated that most children who experience violence do not know where to report and those who report rarely get help. School dropout and absenteeism (missing a day of school) due to violence were other consequences of violence unveiled by the VACYS 2016.

The need to strengthen the safety of children in homes and learning environments is one of the key priorities for the Government of Rwanda captured under the ICRP strategic plan 2019-2024, Girls education policy and the draft National Child safeguarding Framework, National Children Summit and other children advocacy platforms. To provide learners with a safe and protective environment, schools therefore have responsibility to take all reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate and child friendly protection and supportive mechanisms are in place and accessible to children who may need them.  

The evidence shows that the effective and strong child protection system in schools  needs to be informed by a review of the existing structure within a school, builds on strong protection committees  with the necessary  capacity  and adaptable tools to address cultural sensitive protection and safeguarding needs of every child. Schools and their surrounding communities  need to be protective places for children where they feel safe, nurtured, secure and are encouraged to learn.

With that background, Save the Children in partnership with UNICEF, National Child Development Agency (NCDA) and Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) are partnering to develop a training manual to guide the school community and its surrounding to strengthen child protection and safeguarding mechanisms within schools and surrounding communities.

GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this consultancy is to provide expertise in developing a package of innovative training modules and toolkits on school-based child protection and safeguarding. The innovative modules will include and not be limited to:

• Sensitizing and developing the capacity of school personnel (including head teachers and teachers) and parents on safeguarding and protection issues and violence, including an understanding of referral systems.
• Guidance for the school community on establishment and operationalisation of child protection and safeguarding committees.
• Setting up and strengthen child friendly and accessible reporting channels in schools
• Child protection support and referral services  
• Managing child protection incidents.

SCOPE OF WORK AND SPECIFIC TASKS

Under the overall supervision of the Head of Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning with the technical support from the Child Protection team, the Consultant is expected to perform the following tasks:

Training modules and toolkit documents review

• Conduct a desk review ofavailable training courses and learning material on child protection, safeguarding with focus on systems, structures and awareness in schools.
• Mapping of training manuals and tools
• Mapping of local trainings institutions/organizations to consider a further institutionalization of the training materials and their integration into school curriculum
• Develop an inception report based on the above desk review to plan for and conduct the trainings

Develop the training modules and toolkits

• Develop a standardized and training package (maximum 30 pages user-friendly manual, toolkit, checklists, etc.) on child protection and safeguarding that will be used across the country. This will also include mainly:
• Guidance on establishing and operationalisation of child protection committees
• Child protection and safeguarding reporting, support mechanisms and referral pathways
• ToRs for child protection focal points and provide step by step guide to them in their daily support to children and the whole school.
• Coordinate the consultations with key education and child protection services providers, teachers and the school personnel at large.
• Holding the consultations with children and adolescents.
• Lead the testing process of the draft manual in schools.
• Lead the initial validation session of the manual

DELIVERABLES AND TIMELINE

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity regarding child protection and safeguarding
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies:

• In-depth knowledge of Child rights and protection, safeguarding, Gender and inclusion.
• Demonstrated ability to produce trainings plans and training materials on Child rights and protection, safeguarding.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively carry out trainings
• Demonstrated ability to produce clear reports and guidance with in-depth analysis and strategic recommendations in English in the relevant field
• Good communication and interpersonal skills, ability to foster networks and partnerships
• Ability to complete complex assignments in a timely manner and delivery quality results

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, or any other area relevant to the requirements of the Terms of Reference.
• A Bachelor’s Degree with extensive knowledge in developing training manuals with well recognised organisations may be accepted in lieu of the Master’s Degree.

Experience:

• Demonstrable experience in developing high quality training manuals in Child protection, safeguarding
• Experience in programming on initiatives that address the issues affecting children
• Experience of research on child protection or safeguarding and producing high quality research documents and reports

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in spoken and written English is required

HOW TO APPLY

• The prospective consultant(s) shall present a detailed CV along with a technical proposal that will include the understanding of the assignment.
• Financial proposal should be prepared in Rwandan francs inclusive of all required taxes.
• The applicant shall present together with the above, copies of related accomplished consultancy work in the past.

Interested consultant (s) should submit their applications to rwanda.bid@savethechildren.org  with the mention child protection and safeguarding training manual in schools not later than 7th March 2025 at 17:00 PM. No hard copies will be accepted.