Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Closing date: 12 Dec 2016
About Plan International UK
Plan International UK strives to advance children’s rights and equality for girls all over the world. We recognise the power and potential of every single child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And its girls who are most affected. As an independent and rights-based development and humanitarian organisation, we work alongside children, young people, our supporters and partners to tackle the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.
Background and rationale
The UK Prime Minster, Theresa May, has established the issue of ‘modern slavery’ as core to the work of her new government,[1] and is seeking a ‘whole of government approach’ to addressing it in the UK and globally. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) are exploring the areas where they feel they can most add value as a department, aligning to target 8.7 of SDG framework.
DFID have preliminarily outlined the following priority areas:
Embedding the modern slavery agenda into conflict and humanitarian programming - with a focus on child exploitation and strengthening protection mechanisms – ensuring a link to long-term development
Increasing transparency and addressing modern slavery in private sector supply chains, engaging local businesses in country and not just those with global presence/UK base
Strengthening the evidence base
Addressing the underlying causes of slavery, especially as they impact on children, building on their existing areas of strength (education, protection, tackling violence and exploitation of children).
DFID are seeking more evidence on what does/doesn’t work in these areas, especially for children, and are exploring how to most effectively bring together their priority areas of modern slavery, protracted crises and the rights of women and girls.
Plan International UK, and the wider Plan International Federation, has considerable experience and expertise in these areas across its development and humanitarian programme portfolio. We are seeking to leverage this expertise in order to support DFID to achieve its objectives around the modern slavery agenda.
Purpose and objectives
The objectives of this study are to:
Define the key terminology and approach of the UK government, and DFID in particular, to the issue of modern day slavery.
Undertaking a scoping of Plan International’s current programmes and research to identify areas of strength and its evidence base.
Provide an overview on what other actors are working in this space, their approach, and where plan international UK may complement and differentiate itself through its policy, advocacy and communications work
Based on the above, provide a range of options and recommendations on how best Plan International UK can work on this issue from a policy, programmes and communications perspective, in order to support to the UK Governments objectives.
Suggested research methods
- Desk based mapping of Plan International’s programmes that seek to address different aspects of modern slavery (child exploitation, child labour, strengthening child protections mechanisms etc)
- Telephone interviews with key contacts within Plan International at all levels, as well as DFID and peer NGOs, academia and the private sector
- Case studies by geographical region (Middle East, Horn of Africa, West Africa)
Audience and how this study will be used
The final output will be an internal document that will be used by Plan International UK policy, advocacy and programmes staff to support the development of our internal thinking on the issue, and support the organisation to position itself effectively within the sector and with DFID – for funding and influence.
Outputs
- Mapping and key informant interviews report
- The final output will be expected to take the form of a 15 page mapping report featuring:
- Policy context analysis (DFID priorities)
- Overview of Plan international’s programmatic strengths and weaknesses
- Peer analysis
- Recommendations for how Plan International could effectively engage in policy, advocacy and programmatic work linked to the modern slavery agenda including geographic priorities.
- Appendix – List of documentation reviewed, people and organisations interviewed. **
Timeframe**
The review should ideally take place December 2016 – January 2017 with a draft report and guidance submitted by mid-January 2017, and the final report and guidance by the end of January.
A budget and timetable will be negotiated with the consultant though we would expect the work to take no more than 10 working days.
Skills and Expertise
Consultants would need to have:
- A commitment to promoting and supporting children and/or girls' rights
- A proven track record of undertaking similar scoping work
- Strong understanding of the issues surrounding child exploitation, child labour and child protection
- Demonstrable analytical skills
- Excellent interpersonal skills & communication skills, both written and verbal
- Ability to deliver on tight time frames and meet deadlines
How to apply:
Plan International UK welcomes a response to these Terms of Reference, with a CV and short written statement including:
- the consultant(s)’ suggested approach
- an outline of costs & timescales
Responses should be sent to: Amelia Whitworth (amelia.whitworth@plan-uk.org) no later than Monday 12th December. We will conduct phone interviews with applicants that week.