Country: Burundi
Closing date: 15 Jun 2017
CONTEXT OF THE MISSION : Regional Ubuntu Care project
Since 2013, Handicap International and its partners have been implementing a regional project called “Ubuntu Care: confronting sexual violence against children with disabilities in Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya». A second phase started in 2016. The project is implemented in 3 countries: Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya.
Ubuntu is from the Bantu languages of East Africa. It can be translated to mean: "I am what I am because of who we all are.” It refers to the social link between the individual and the community and is
strongly associated with positive concepts of humanity, generosity and community in each of the Rwandan, Burundi and Kenyan societies. Care, which is arguably a more occidental concept, is linked to raising the voice of the most vulnerable, such as children, including children with disabilities and empowering them. The project is called Ubuntu Care for exactly these reasons, because its ultimate goal is to end violence against children through social cohesion and intervention of all.
This Ubuntu Care project builds on a process, which began in 2009 with feedback from Handicap International field team, working on HIV/AIDS and mental health projects. They observed that HIV/AIDS or mental health problems may be linked to sexual violence.
Based on these observations and due to the lack of evidence and research on this issue in developing countries, in 2010, Handicap International and Save the Children-UK decided to carry out a qualitative study to address the vulnerability of children with disabilities against sexual violence in four African countries (Burundi, Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania). After 1.5 years of work, the findings revealed that despite different contexts, the factors that render children with disabilities particularly vulnerable to this type of violence are similar in all four countries: social exclusion and discrimination towards disability. Moreover, child survivors with disabilities also face common barriers when it comes to accessing medical, psychosocial and legal care and support. As a result, survivors with disabilities are likely to bear the full consequences of the violence (STDs, including HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancies, marginalization, psychological trauma, new impairments) and the large majority of perpetrators are able to escape justice.
The Ubuntu Care project is revolves around 4 axes which contributes to building an inclusive child protection safety net:
1. Empowering children as actors in their own protection through education, skills development, social recreation, and participation in decision-making.
2. Empowering communities and families to better protect children through capacity building, support, and changing negative attitudes within communities/families that underpin violence.
3. Strengthening access to and quality of services: education, medical, legal and psychosocial.
4. Advocating for more effective protection systems for child survivors at the national, regional and international level, backed by evidence based data generated by the monitoring system on sexual violence against children with and without disabilities.
OBJECTIVES OF THE MISSION :
As part of the fourth axis of the Ubuntu Care project, Handicap International and its partners aim to raise the voices of children with and without disabilities and advocate for the prevention and mitigation of sexual violence against children, especially those with disabilities. Some advocacy initiatives have been implemented already. For instance, a recent short movie has been completed with the children and by the children to raise their voices and view about sexual violence in the communities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OixWoiTwooI.
In order to continue the fight for the rights of protection for children and the adoption of appropriate changes at national and international level, Handicap International Burundi Country Programme needs to improve its understanding of key stakeholders, country dynamics and contextual factors around child protection in order to plan and conduct effective advocacy activities at country-level. This actor/factor analysis will then enable Handicap International in Burundi to contribute to the different advocacy strategies planned for by the Ubuntu Care project. Indeed, the next step will be the development of a regional/international advocacy strategy to promote the inclusive child protection safety net approach across countries.
Therefore, the outcome of the mission will be to write an advocacy guidance focused on key findings, programming implications and recommendations for Handicap International staff and partners.
EXPECTED OUTPUTS :
An advocacy-oriented analysis of child protection stakeholders, dynamics and factors as well as the current situation of vulnerable children including those with disabilities exposed to sexual violence based on the existing documents (For HI: Baselines documents, programmatic evaluation of the Ubuntu Care project. In addition of available papers documenting the situation of children from other actors) in Burundi
Country-specific recommendations as well as a detailed roadmap for developing an advocacy strategy
Specific expectations of the content of the expected outputs will be discussed with HI teams, both at HQ and country levels, before the assignment.
MAIN ACTIVITIES PLANNED :
Review main project and evaluation documents, baselines and reports
Review of existing documents of others local and international actors describing the situation of vulnerable children exposed to sexual violence
Briefings and interview with key actors of the projects
2 Workshops - one with children and another one with the main actors that will support the content of the advocacy reports
Finalise the two reports
EXPECTED QUALIFICATIONS :
Masters in human rights, social sciences or any equivalent and relevant experience
Extensive experience (minimum 4 years) in writing advocacy reports – at least 5 reports already written
Experience in working with children with and without disabilities
Fluent in French is a must, English and Kirundi is desirable
Adhering and respecting the organisation’s child safeguarding measures
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF THE MISSION :
A total of 30 consultancy days between June and August 2017 (detailed planning and allocation between field and home-based work to be suggested by applicant with a minimum of 10 days in Burundi)
A debriefing session will be organised at the end of the mission in Burundi with Burundi’s team and the Regional Technical Coordinator
Final reports delivered within a month after the end of field mission
BUDGET : 10,000 EUR (inclusive of taxes and all costs related to the mission). The Burundi country programme will provide support for the organisation/logistics of the mission.
APPLICATIONS : The applicants should submit their application including:
CV, including 3 references or previous publications/reports.
A technical proposal with detailed response to the TOR, with specific focus addressing the scope of work and methodology to be used
Initial work plan based on methodology outlined, and indication of availability
Financial proposal
The full application has to be sent by e-mail to Laurence Gros, Operations Coordinator for Handicap International Burundi – coordop@hif-burundi.org– by June 15th 2017 at the latest.
How to apply:
The full application has to be sent by e-mail to Laurence Gros, Operations Coordinator for Handicap International Burundi – coordop@hif-burundi.org– by June 15th 2017 at the latest.