Capacity building support to Trócaire Partners on Safeguarding and associated policies and processes (including Code of Conduct, Safe Recruitment and Complaints Mechanisms)

1. Information and Context

Trócaire’s Vision, Mission and Values state that we believe in the intrinsic dignity of every person, celebrate difference and aim to create relationships of mutual respect wherein the rights and dignity of every person are respected.
Trócaire’s work is inspired and informed by Catholic Social Teaching, one of the fundamental principles of which is the dignity of each individual. The right to freedom from all forms of exploitation and abuse is implicit in this principle. Underpinned by Trócaire’s organisational value of accountability, it is our policy to safeguard all individuals involved in Trócaire’s work against risks of exploitation and abuse. Trócaire is committed to ensuring our policies and procedures are fit for purpose and that the actions of members of our governance structure, staff, contracted parties and other third parties including visitors and volunteers are always appropriate. We also require that our partner organisations demonstrate a similar commitment.

Country Programme
Trócaire operates in through a network of local partners implementing humanitarian and development programmes. These programmes respond to complex and protracted crises, including displacement, economic instability, and protection risks, which increase vulnerability to exploitation and abuse and create barriers to safe reporting. In relation to the above, Trocaire has identified as part of the institutional strengthening process to support its partners in the development/strengthening of mechanisms and practices that promote a culture where abuse and exploitation is not tolerated, with strong preventative measures in place and complaints mechanisms that are accessible and safe for sensitive complaints.

This consultancy builds on Trocaire’s long-term engagement and ongoing work with partners on safe programming and safeguarding approaches. The consultant will build upon the progress achieved to date, including reviewing previous assessments, capacity strengthening efforts, and existing partner action plans, in order to assess current progress, identify remaining gaps, and tailor the next phase of support accordingly. The assignment is therefore intended as a continuation and consolidation of an existing process, ensuring continuity, contextual understanding, and sustained improvement in partners’ safe programming practices.
Therefore, this consultancy is aimed at facilitating review of partner’s existing assessments and systems, identifying gaps in practice, developing action plans, facilitating of initial support, guidelines for ensuring safeguarding is embedded within programme work. This will involve not just policy review but also activities for raising awareness and implementation (or developing plans for same). The process will be different for each partner depending on where they are on their safeguarding journey.

2. Objectives of Consultancy
•Conduct, verify and analyse non-financial safeguarding minimum requirement assessment data to 10 Trócaire local partners including policies, procedures and implementation practices
•Assess the effectiveness, accessibility, and safety of complaint mechanisms (FCRM) within partner organisations, including their capacity to handle both sensitive (e.g., safeguarding/SEA) and non-sensitive complaints, with particular attention to barriers to reporting in Lebanon and Syria contexts. Assess partner capacity and organisational culture related to safeguarding (e.g., awareness, reporting confidence, leadership commitment, and
accountability practices).
•Identify gaps and jointly with 10 partners develop tailored action plans to strengthen their safeguarding and complaints mechanism.
•Provide strategic and operational recommendations to each partner, and Trócaire, on safeguarding improvement mechanisms.

3. Expected Results of the Consultancy at the Partners -level Outcomes
a.Improved understanding among partners of safeguarding standards, safeguarding risks, and good practices, including the importance of safe, accessible, and confidential complaint mechanisms. Increased leadership commitment among partner Board members and senior management on safeguarding mechanisms, responsibilities, prevention measures and oversight of complaint handling system.
b.Enhanced partner awareness of contextual safeguarding risk, barriers to reporting and legal considerations relevant to Lebanon and Syria, including safeguarding, sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), and whistleblowing-related considerations.
c.Comprehensive identification of gaps and risks in safeguarding systems, complaint mechanisms (FCRM), and implementation practices, including examples of good practices that can be shared across partners.
d.Partner-specific, realistic, and prioritized action plans developed, with clear roles, responsibilities, and timelines, including identification of areas requiring further technical support.
e.Strengthened capacity of partners to plan and implement safeguarding awareness-raising activities for staff, representatives, programme participants, and communities.
f.Increased partner understanding of how safeguarding principles can be integrated into organisational systems and programme implementation, including recruitment, onboarding, procurement, community engagement, and complaint handling practices for sensitive cases.

4. Required products of the Consultancy submitted to Trocaire
a. Validated safeguarding assessments for 10 partner organisations, including analysis of existing policies, procedures, and practice. (Trócaire to provide the assessment)
b. Assessment report on FCRM systems, including evaluation of accessibility, safety, and effectiveness for handling sensitive and non-sensitive complaints.
c. Context and legal overview note covering key safeguarding-related considerations in Syria, including safeguarding and child protection considerations, SEA/PSEA-related considerations, whistleblowing and reporting considerations, contextual barriers and risks affecting reporting and implementation
d. Partner-specific safeguarding action plans, including prioritized recommendations, timelines, responsibilities, and capacity-building needs.
e. Training outline and tailored capacity strengthening plan for partners, including recommended priority topics, context-specific considerations for Lebanon and Syria, and a partner-specific scoring/recommendation matrix identifying safeguarding capacity gaps.
f. Recommendations on strengthening complaint handling systems for sensitive cases including clear process maps, roles and responsibilities, reporting pathways and confidentiality measures.
g. Recommendations for community awareness and communication approaches, including strengthening dissemination of safeguarding and complaint mechanisms (FCRM) including child protection, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse and other messaging with communities or guidance on same provided
h. Final report of the consultancy to Trocaire including:

• Key findings across partners
• Analysis of common trends and systemic gaps
• Good practices identified
• Strategic and operational recommendations to Trócaire
• Suggested follow-up actions

❖Trócaire will provide a range of documents and tools to support this process
 

5. Workplan (sample – there may be minor adaptions agreed with the consultant and partners throughout the project)
The consultancy is expected to be completed between June and September. The applicants are required to submit a proposed workplan outlining how the expected outcomes will be achieved. The applicant should plan and managepartner visits and coordination in both countries, while Trocaire will facilitate introductions and initial contact with partners. The below table is indicative of how much each task approximately needs to be completed; Applicants may propose adjusments to the sequencing, methodology, and allocation of days, as deemed appropriate to acheive the consultancy objectives effectively. The consultant should adhere to the agreed submission timelines, which will be reviewed and jointly agreed during the inception meeting:

The consultancy will begin with an inception phase over one day. This includes a half-day inception meeting between Trócaire and the consultant to review the contract, deliverables, safeguarding self-assessment tool and guidelines, and agree on timelines and implementation arrangements. This will be followed by submission of an inception report (0.5 day) detailing the methodology, timeline, and approach to each deliverable.

The assessment phase will begin with a desk review and validation process over six days. During this stage, the consultant will review existing safeguarding assessments, policies, and feedback and complaints handling and response mechanism (FCHRM) tools for partner organizations, following introductions facilitated by Trócaire. Initial gaps and existing good practices will be identified. In parallel, over three days, the consultant will prepare a contextual and legal overview note covering safeguarding-related considerations in Lebanon and Syria, including child safeguarding and protection, SEA/PSEA, whistleblowing and reporting considerations, and contextual barriers affecting implementation.

The consultant will then carry out safeguarding assessments and validation with ten partner organizations over fourteen days, including approximately four days in Lebanon and five days in Syria. This will include reviewing and analyzing safeguarding minimum requirement assessment data provided by Trócaire, conducting bilateral consultations with partner management to assess how safeguarding is implemented in practice, and engaging staff through interviews, focus groups, or surveys to assess awareness of safeguarding policies, understanding of reporting mechanisms, and safeguarding practices related to prevention, community engagement, and complaint handling. Activities will be conducted remotely and in person where feasible.

Following the assessment phase, a one-day interim review meeting will be held with Trócaire to present progress, preliminary findings, emerging themes, key strengths, implementation challenges, and any significant safeguarding concerns requiring immediate attention.

During the action-planning phase, the consultant will spend up to eight days working directly with the ten partner organizations to jointly develop tailored safeguarding capacity strengthening plans based on assessment findings. These discussions will focus on strengthening implementation at field level, clarifying the roles of senior management safeguarding focal persons and field-level focal persons, and identifying practical priority actions.

The consultant will also dedicate six days to developing guidance and tools for all partner organizations. This will include training and communication materials to support integration of safeguarding principles into organizational systems and programme implementation, including recruitment, procurement, community engagement, complaint handling, basic case management and investigation considerations. The consultant will also deliver training sessions and prepare key safeguarding and complaints mechanism messages for staff and programme/community meetings.

The finalization phase will take four days. During this stage, the consultant will submit a final report summarizing the assignment process, findings, and recommendations for each partner organization and for Trócaire’s management team. The report will include annexes, partner action plans, and tools developed during the consultancy. The assignment will conclude with presentation of findings, integration of feedback, and an end-of-assignment meeting with Trócaire.

6. Workplace for consulting
The project will include a combined remote and in-person meetings, with travel to visit partners in Syria. Remote guidance will be provided by Trócaire's Head of Safeguarding (based in Ireland) and managed by the Country Director, and Protection Manager based in Beirut. Ideally, the consultant will be based in Lebanon with a willingness to travel to Syria as per the needed aspects of this project.

7. Profile of the Consultant
a. Strong with knowledge on safeguarding (Child Protection, Prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, work with vulnerable populations)
b. Capacity to prepare technical and institutional policy documents
c. Experience of transferring policy to practice
d. Experience of working with senior management – making recommendations and providing guidance for change
e. Experience in the organization and development of inter-institutional participatory workshops
f. Experience of working with a range of stakeholders (management, staff team, communities, local partners)
g. Understanding of culture, contexts and local communities in Lebanon and Syria.
h. Availability within the required period and for the required time.
i. Proficient in Arabic and excellent English skills.

8. Proposals.
•The proposal must include all costs, including hours of meetings with Trócaire and identified partners, production of materials and capacity building and training sessions.
•The consultant must send their technical and financial offer to the mail infolebanon@trocaire.org
•In the same way, you can make prior inquiries to this same email.
•The latest date and time to receive proposals is Thursday June 4, 2026.
•An evaluation of proposals will be carried out. Shortlisted consultants will be invited to interview. The interviews are may to be conducted via Teams or Zoom.

9. Training and guidance
The successful candidate will be supported through remote training and guidance sessions with Trócaire's Head of Safeguarding (based in Ireland). It is important that the successful candidate is flexible and open to shared learning and adhering to Trócaire safeguarding approach.

10. Additional Conditions of Contract
The consultant will be required to sign and adhere to Trócaire safeguarding policy, code of conduct and confidentiality agreement. Breaches of these policies will result in termination of contract without payment. In addition, the consultant will be required to demonstrate how data protection and confidentiality will be managed during this project. All documents shared by Trócaire remain the property of Trócaire. Should the consultant use or adapt these materials for working with others then Trócaire should be accredited.