Terms of Reference (TOR)

Production of learning publication for

African Children’s Charter Project (ACCP)

Introduction

A consortium of five child-focused organisations, namely Plan International, Save the Children, Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), Dullah Omar Institute (DOI) and African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) jointly conceptualised and developed the African Children’s Charter Project (ACCP) in 2010. The main goal of the project is to contribute to the improvement of the lives of children in Africa through the realisation of their rights by promoting the implementation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). To achieve the main goal, the project has three key objectives, i) to strengthen the capacity of the ACERWC to implement its mandate; ii) to promote the integration of children’s rights in the decisions and actions of the AU bodies, institutions and mechanisms. iii) to support civil society to engage with the AU mechanisms, especially the ACERWC, to promote and protect children’s rights and welfare. These objectives are closely linked to the AU institutional commitment to promote and protect children’s rights and welfare in Africa, while enabling Consortium member organisations implement relevant and coordinated activities. The project is funded by Swedish International Development Assistance (Sida).

Since its implementation for more than ten years, the ACCP has undoubtedly contributed to the promotion and enhancement of children’s rights generally in Africa, as well as specifically in relation to the ACERWC, the role of civil society, and at a broader level—the AU and its member states. Notable results have been achieved around all three major objectives of the ACCP.

As the ACCP ends in June 2021, the project desires to compile the key achievements and learnings in a comprehensive and systematic way. In this regard, the ACCP requires the services of a Consultant to carry out the task under these terms of reference.

Rationale of the learning publication

To preserve the institutional memory and significant successes marked by the ACCP, it is important to document those learnings of the Project that provide the best source of material and framework to contribute to the project main goal.

Learning in the context of the ACCP is not limited to research or documenting information, or to a stage in the PME cycle. The consortium aims to firmly embed learning in its regular planning, monitoring and evaluation cycle. The Annual review and planning workshop of the ACCP sets the stage for addressing the learning agenda questions.

The ACCP consortium organizations use a variety of learning methods and actions to collect, analyse and value information on the key learning questions. These include Project management meetings, research, literature review, ACCP Annual Workshops (review and planning) meetings, interim programme reviews, reflections and exchanges with partner CSOs and other expert organisations, as well as meetings and surveys.

Objectives:

As it is mentioned above in the rationale of the learning aspect in the ACCP program the overall objective of the production of the learning publication of the ACCP is to document and clearly indicate and focus on our learnings/lessons learnt because of the three implementation phases of the project since 2010. In addition to documenting lessons learned, the publication will also be used as an input for future program design and learning for similar Pan African advocacy project. The specific objectives of the learning publication will be as follows:

Specific Objective of the learning publication:

1. To produce a creative publication with the very significant learnings on how ACCP achieved the three key objectives linked within the consortium members operations in Africa.
2. To present compelling stories of change as well as stories of advocacy targets within the ACCP working with Member States, the AUC, RECs and African CSOs
3. How effective CSOs develop in influencing and advocacy as one of our core learning for the future development of different advocacy initiatives.

Expected Outcomes:

We expect from the publication of the learning document:

1. A summarized and well-organized learning document for the last ten years produced and availed for use on how are ACCP objectives linked and how effective CSOs develop in influencing and advocacy. Designed, copy edited and ready for publication both in soft copy and hard copy.
2. A 5-10 minutes video that shows the lessons learned/key learnings including successes, failures and challenges as per the ACCP learning questions in a creative manner, based mostly on available footages.
3. Separate learning publication/designed copy of 2 stories of change for each objective.
4. Updating the existing ACCP compendium publications developed in 2015, with pictures of publications that were done throughout the program implementation period in all the program components.
5. Real time interview and story of changes as well as stories of advocacy targets (successes, failures, mistakes and learnings) produced and included in a leaflet format for easy dissemination
6. Presentation of the documentation on the Final ACCP workshop organized with the presence of all the consortium members, the ACERWC and other stakeholders.

Scope and Methodology

The learning publication provides analysis and compilation of the learnings that has been accumulated for the last ten years throughout the ACCP implementation period within and among the Consortium organizations as well as the partner organization and implementing CSOs. The publication will make use of qualitative and quantitative tools and methodologies to gather and analyse data. In addition the documentation will follow a personal interest story approach. Considering the COVID 19 pandemic context, the assignment will be done virtually and most of the learning publication will also use the existing footage of experiences and learnings that are already documented and have it in our recordings.

The consultant will be responsible for designing tools necessary for the task and share this with the project manager for review and approval before undertaking the assignment. 

Deliverables

The following deliverables are expected from the consultant;

1. An inception report detailing major components of the learning publication ; detailed work plan, highlighting operational methodology, data gathering and data analysis instruments attached to the inception report;
2. A designed, copy edited learning publication on the African Children’s Charter Project Programs in Africa both in hard and soft copy
3. A 5-10 minutes video that shows the stories of change in a creative manner
4. Updated compendium of available ACCP publications 

Timeframe

The learning publication is expected to take place from May-June 2021. The consultant shall submit the inception report within [two days upon signing the agreement. The final report of the learning publication and all the expected deliverables must be finalized and submitted by 8^th June, 2021.

Budget Indication

The consultant should indicate the estimated budget including:

• Consultancy Fees;
• Any other relevant cost related to and required for the proper conducting of the learning publication as per all the objectives and requirements detailed in the ToR.
• Note, Plan International AULO legally required to deduct withholding tax from the total fee of the consultant, this tax is part of the consultancy fee, and therefore it can’t be considered as additional cost.

Submission of the Proposal

The consultant shall submit a technical and a financial proposal, separately and the following components will be required in the proposals:

Technical Proposal, containing;

• The understanding of the ToR, the main goals and tasks of undertaking the learning publication
• A detailed methodology, tools and approaches on how the learning publication will be conducted
• Proposed implementation time schedule
• Organizational capacity statement, past experience and activities related to conducting learning publication
• Curriculum Vitae for all the consultants and proposed capacity of any complementary staff with a description of why experience is relevant to the task and how the proposed team complements each other as well as how they correspond to the profile
• Names, addresses, telephone numbers of three organizations that will act as professional referees
• Lists of relevant work undertaken in the last 2 years. The consultants should be ready to provide samples of previous work of similar nature. 

A financial proposal for the provision of the service;

• An itemized line by line budget proposal for consultancy fees. The proposal should also indicate all other expenses that will be billed as cost with supporting receipts as per Plan International’s expenses policy.
• Please note that the rate of non-residence withholding tax rate is 15% of the services fee (This withholding tax is not addition to services fee rather it is deduction from Services fee). For local consultant, the withholding tax would be as per the applicable law of Ethiopia.
• Proposed terms and schedule of payment.

Job Requirements

Required Competencies

The consultant must have undertaken similar works and must have the following competencies;

• An advanced university degree in Communications, Journalism, Multimedia production and experience in stories for transformation change
• Experience in working in a human rights and child rights context;
• Knowledge of the African Children’s Charter Project, its key objectives and outputs;
• Track record on conducting documentation, learning publication, video production
• Proven experience with qualitative and quantitative methodology.
• Expertise on Experience of gender and child rights context in Africa;
• Experience in facilitating and documenting/publishing social development best practices (case stories) for development organizations
• Experience working with virtual teams
• Excellent English communication skills
• Fluency in spoken and written English;
• Excellent conceptual and analytical skills;
• Conduct her/himself in an ethical manner at all times.

Intellectual Property

The title rights, copyrights and all other rights of whatever nature in any materials used or generated under the provisions of this Consultancy will exclusively be vested in the African Children’s Charter Project. The Consultant may however be permitted upon prior written agreement with the Project Committee of the ACCP to use the research for purposes of academic or lay publication

How to Apply

Qualified applicants should send their applications - comprising of a CV (no more than 3 pages), a technical and financial proposal, and two samples of previous work to AULiaisonOffice@plan-international.org no later than April 30, 2021