Child Protection Technical Support Consultant

Context and background

The ongoing conflict in Syria has led to unprecedented levels of displaced Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Lebanon is now the country with the highest number of refugees per capita in the world, 79% of whom are women and children and an estimated 55% of whom are children under the age of 18. The situation for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon remains dire, as children continue to face significant barriers to access their basic inalienable rights such as safety, education and birth registration. Refugee children, as well as vulnerable host community children, are facing complex CP issues in Lebanon, these range from e.g. child labor and exploitation, child marriage, neglect, family separation, abuse, including sexual violence, psychosocial and mental health issues. Almost one in four reported cases of SGBV involves a child, and 65 percent of Syrian, 57 percent of Lebanese, 82 percent of Palestinian Refugees from Lebanon and 77 percent of Palestinian Refugees from Syria children aged 1-14 years are subjected to at least one form of violent discipline in their homes.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933, the IRC offers life-saving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in more than 40 countries and in 22 cities in the United States, the IRC restores safety, dignity, and hope to millions of vulnerable individuals who are uprooted by conflict or disaster. The IRC leads the way from harm to home. The IRC Child Protection (CP) team works to improve the protection of children in Lebanon through supporting the capacity development of CP service providers to provide quality case management services and strengthen community-based protection mechanisms for children at risk, as well as working directly with children and youth at risk and their families.

The Inter-agency Child Protection Coaching Program started in the 4th quarter of 2013 and aims to reinforce and strengthen the ability of the Government of Lebanon (GoL), international and local actors to respond to incidents of child abuse, affecting both refugee and host community populations in Lebanon. The broader goal of the Inter-agency Child Protection Coaching Program is to support the CP system building initiatives by promoting best practices and strengthening the processes, networks and tools that have been put in place, and to increasingly focus on engaging with institutional actors in order to strengthen the ability of the GoL to respond to incidents of child abuse. Since its inception in 2013 to present, the program created a strong network of child protection case management actors in Lebanon who were trained and supported on global best practices and National SOPs in order to raise the quality of services received by vulnerable children and their families in Lebanon.

Purpose and objectives of the consultancy    

The Interagency program has contributed significantly to the sector and Lebanese workforce over the past six years. The program has contributed to the empowerment of social workers and volunteers to advocate for children, and has strengthened the core competencies of case workers from numerous agencies. Based on the above, the IRC is seeking a consultant who is technically skilled in Child Protection in order to support the development, adaptation, and thorough technical review of Guidance notes, training materials, as well as advocacy documents on a number of child protection topics primarily related to social services and case management. The materials and tools developed, reviewed or adapted will contribute strategically to the national child protection system case management services and will adhere to national guidelines such as the National Standard operating procedures for juveniles in Lebanon, as well as the Best interest determination guidelines for children. The consultant will need to have a solid understanding of the judicial and non-judicial pathways, as well as the challenges faced by children in urgent need of protection. 

Scope of work

The Child Protection Technical Support Consultant will be responsible to fulfil the following:

• Conduct a thorough desk review of the national, regional and global legal framework in which national case management systems operate. Explore the core elements that contribute to healthy and meaningful social services in any media income context.
• The consultant will need to adhere to core principles such a Best Interests of the child and Do no Harm throughout the tool development process.
• The desk review should include a review of codes of conduct, professional responsibilities, core competencies, core training packages, and internal case management systems in social services from a number of different contexts.
• Develop guidance notes for social workers following a consultation with key stakeholders recommended by the IRC. Guidance notes developed will be based on the needs identified in the existing context, and will combine best practices documented and reviewed from other contexts (following the desk review).
• The consultant will make practical considerations and user friendliness a core competent of the Guidance notes developed on any relevant topic.

• Review existing resources and tools developed by the program and update based on requests made by relevant IRC Child protection management staff.
• Set up monitoring framework to support the roll out and implementation of the relevant Guidance note. This should include a monitoring checklist for the manager overseeing the process.
• Develop accompanying material to support the manager/coach to mentor and train staff on the guidance note and materials.
• Develop Standard Operating Procedures on two different processes identified as priority by child protection management.  
• Develop all tools and trainings materials taking Lebanon’s national legal framework into consideration as well as the National Standard operating procedures for the Protection of Juveniles in Lebanon OPs, in addition to relevant national existing or newly released circulars and guidance notes.

Deliverables

The consultant is expected to accomplish and submit the following deliverables within the agreed timeframe of the consultancy:

• A complete, copy-edited and cleanly formatted English as a Word document advocacy tools, guidance notes and related monitoring checklists, as well as training materials as requested by the CP coordinator and CP coaching manager.
• All deliverables should include thoroughly referenced material used to develop the required tools and materials.
• Each tool should include an annex including the references used for the development of the materials.

IRC roles and responsibilities 

The IRC is committed to provide the following support:

• Clarify consultancy TORs and expectations,
• Make available all appropriate documentation and resources for the consultancy,
• Be available for meetings with the consultant when needed,
• Facilitate organization of meetings when needed,
• Provide additional and immediate advise and information as needed,
• Review draft developed tools and materials and provide input,
• Provide work station with access to internet and printing services,
• Provide list of required tools and materials to be developed.

Key Working Relationships

The consultant will work closely with IRC Child Protection Coordinator and Child Protection Coaching Manager.

Qualification and experience

• Advanced university degree in social work preferable,
• Five years child protection case management  experience in International settings with International NGOS/UN Agencies,
• Good knowledge and understanding of international child protection policy and practice,
• Experience in working in Child Protection programs in emergencies and development contexts,
• Proven experience in development of SOPs, development of trainings materials to different audiences, and development of guidance notes and advocacy tools,
• Experience and understanding of child protection and case management in Lebanon context preferred,
• Ability to develop training, manuals, and tools at high level,
• Fluency in English mandatory, fluency in Arabic preferred,
• Advanced knowledge of Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE) programming and existing interagency guidelines on child protection service provision, and familiarity with broader international standards and humanitarian intervention will be an asset.

Guiding Principles, ethics and Values

Adherence to IRC Code of conduct and Child Safeguarding practices.