Job opening for a Consultant: Assessment of Child Protection Referral pathway and Capacity Needs Assessment for Child Protection Line at Save the Children in Benue State Nigeria

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Save the Children is the leading independent organization for children in need, with programs in over 120 countries. We save children’s lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Save the Children is working in Nigeria because one in five children in Nigeria dies before their fifth birthday. About 40% of children miss out on school and have to work to survive while nearly 2 million children have lost one or both parents to an AIDS-related disease.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant: Assessment of Child Protection Referral pathway and Capacity Needs Assessment for Child Protection Line - Cross- River & Benue State

Job ID: 200001VU
Locations: Benue & Ogoja-Cross River
Employee Status: Fixed Term
Cluster: Child Protection including SGBV
Short Assignment: Capacity needs assessment for Government Line Ministries in Child Protection
Reporting to: Program Manager  with Technical guidance from CP TA
Work with: Child Protection Coordinator
Duration: 20 Working Days

Introduction

• The humanitarian crisis and security situation in Cameroon continues to be a growing concern to international bodies. An estimated 42,610 Cameroonian refugees have been registered in Akwa Ibom, Benue, Cross River and Taraba. Of these, 21,808 of them are registered in the Adagom, Okende settlements in Cross River State and in the Anyake settlement in Benue State. The majority of these people are women and children, including unaccompanied and separated minors. Cameroonians arriving in Nigeria are forced to rely on scarce local resources, and there is insufficient amounts of food and access to public services.
• Through the intervention of UNHCR, many of the refugees have been relocated to refugee resettlements located at least 50km from the Nigerian border with Cameroon. Lifesaving interventions have been provided to the refugees while in the host community and at the new settlements with a concentration of humanitarian assistance at the settlements. Tensions between new arrivals and host communities have risen as Nigeria struggles with its own conflict, internal displacements and widespread poverty. Although there is willingness to respond, the governments of Cross River and Benue states have limited capacity to respond to the needs of the refugees.
• SC with funding from US Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (BPRM) is working to provide quality management of child protection cases through direct case management support from SCI caseworkers and technical team and through referrals to government and other partners. As part of its objectives, the project aims to strengthen existing capacities of line ministries to identify and respond to child protection and GBV cases that affect refugee and other vulnerable children in Cross River and Benue states.
• The capacity assessments will provide information on existing capacities of the ministries and insight on the capacities of governments and relevant partners in both states to prevent and respond to issues of child protection including S/GBV.
• The assessment will also seek to identify pre-existing and available resources and services for use by social workers at state LGA and community level. Government at state and LGA level will be engaged with for the purpose of the assessment.

Consultancy:

• Assessment of Child Protection referral pathway and Capacity Needs Assessment for Child Protection Line Ministries including Ministry of Women Affairs in Benue and Ministry of Women Affairs and Ministry of Social Welfare and Sustainable Development in Cross River State.

Key Objectives

• To map up formal and informal Child Protection service providers particularly government line ministries, International Non-Governmental Organizations -INGOs, Civil Society Organizations – CSO, Community Based Organizations- CBOs protecting children from all forms of abuse, violence, neglect and exploitation and identify gaps in referral for services in Cross River and Benue States.
• To assess and analyze the functional relationship between government line ministries; MWASD, Min. of education, Ministry of Youth etc at state and LGA level in Cross River and Benue States. mandated on children issues and rights, identifying strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and recommend potential areas for improving the robustness of relationship
• To identify existing knowledge and skills levels as well as related gaps of the targeted government partners involved in Child Protection program.
• To analyze line ministries institutional structure and systems in relation to promotion and protection of children rights in programming, mental health and operations

The specific tasks of the consultant will be to:  

• Carry out a desk review of relevant documents agreed upon and made available prior to the implementation of the assessment
• Produce an inception report detailing the methodology including the sample framework that the consultant is planning to use for the assessment
• Suggest and design the capacity assessment tools for data collection and share with SCI for approval
• Undertake field-based consultations and interviews with selected government institutions in Makurdi, Calabar, Ogoja, Obanliku and Kwande LGAs.
• Identify key line ministries /stakeholders in the state; both Government and none state actors and provide detail on services they provide.
• Analyze the data collected during the desk review from the relevant documents as well as from the field consultations and interviews.
• Develop a package of capacity strengthening plan for targeted ministries including MEAL and suggest an implementation work plan to address the gaps
• Debrief SCI on the process and preliminary findings of the assessment
• Share draft mapping and capacity assessment report to SCI for review
• Conduct validation workshop and present assessment finding with SCI and ministries
• Prepare and submit a comprehensive report from mapping and assessment  

Methodology:

• A review of current and up to date secondary data regarding the targeted locations, especially in terms of specifying the targeted group and the local stakeholders
• Design mapping and assessment tools
• Focus group discussions
• Key informant interview

Key Deliverables:

• Report on existing referral pathway for the provision of services to child survivors of Gender Based Violence(GBV) and identified gaps
•  Report on informal and formal Child Protection structures with full SWOT analysis of identified stakeholders
• Based on the findings  propose capacity strengthening/Training action plan that will guide the capacity development intervention of the ministries.
• Recommend new and emerging opportunities or methods of capacity development in the Child protection sector
• Final assessment report

Time Frame and Work Schedule:

• The duration of the consultancy will be 20 days). The start date will be the date indicated in the Contract. See below the survey schedule;

General Conditions of the Consultancy:

• Meals and other incidentals will be the responsibility of the consultant while in the primary location of the consultancy
• The consultant will conduct his/her work using his/her own computer equipment.
• Other miscellaneous costs directly related to the task that can include photocopying of questionnaires etc. shall be covered by SCI. Any cost needs to have prior approval from SCI.
• The movement of the consultant and team to and from the field will be facilitated by the consultant
• The cost related to travel from/ to Field of the survey teams will be covered by the consultant.
• Payments will be paid in three installments: First installment 30% paid upon finalization of inception report; 30% paid upon submission of first full draft of the report; the remaining 40% paid upon validation of the report by SCI.

Technical Competencies:

• The consultant must have a strong background in working with vulnerable children and specifically Child Protection in Emergencies statistics and data analysis.
• Excellent reporting and presentation skills.
• Excellent knowledge of and experience with humanitarian guidelines and principles.
• Willingness to travel extensively and work under pressure & meeting deadlines
• Ability to work in a multicultural and inter-sectoral environment.
• Ability to work collaboratively as a team with the other team members.
• Ability to coordinate, direct and supervise others to achieve a common goal.
• Ability to live and work in an isolated area in conditions of limited comfort
• The candidate must present an approved final report of the most recent SMART/related survey that he or she has conducted.

Specific professional experience:

• Demonstrated experience in programmes related to the following sectors such as Child Protection, SGBV, Childcare, education, health, women empowerment and health, among others.
• Computer literacy (minimum MS Word, Excel, MIS).