Children and Young People Safeguarding Consultant for East and Southeast Asia

EMpower - The Emerging Markets Foundation (Hong Kong)

Apply by: August 15, 2021

Call for Proposal: Consultancy Services “Children and Young People Safeguarding”

1. Purpose of the Consultancy

EMpower Hong Kong seeks the support of a consultant to conceptualise and run a series of webinars (2 to 3 webinars, approximately 1.5 hour each) on “Safeguarding Practices for Programme Services for Young People” with and for our grantee partners in East and Southeast Asia (implementing programmes for young people 10-24 years old in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam).

The consultant will support the EMpower Hong Kong Programme team in our regional efforts for capacity strengthening related to Children and Young People Safeguarding.

The overall objective of the webinars is that our partners in the region have strengthened knowledge on Children and Young People Safeguarding and/or best practices grounded in their specific needs, their local context and across their different programme areas (Economic well-being, Safe and healthy life, Inclusive learning; for definitions please check https://empowerweb.org/areas-of-focus).

2. About Us

EMpower – The Emerging Markets Foundation (EMpower), a global philanthropic organisation and grant-making foundation, is dedicated to improving the lives of marginalised young people ages 10-24 in 15 emerging market countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Russia and Turkey. Through grants and non-financial capacity strengthening support, EMpower partners with local organisations in emerging market countries, and other change-makers, to enable marginalised young people to transform their lives and communities. Our vision is to build a world where all young people at the margins, especially girls and young women, have the skills, opportunities and power to live their full potential.

EMpower has offices in Hong Kong, Delhi, Singapore, London and New York. The EMpower Hong Kong office with which the consultant will collaborate closely is managing grants and capacity strengthening work for grantee partners in East and Southeast Asia (China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam). To learn more, check out our website at www.empowerweb.org.

3. EMpower’s Commitment to Children and Young People Safeguarding

EMpower is committed to safeguarding children and young people, to prevent abuse, violence or exploitation and promote the safety, protection, wellbeing and development of all children and young people involved in the programmes we support. We believe that all children and young people, no matter their life circumstances, deserve the opportunity to lead healthy, productive lives to fulfil their human rights.

4. Background of the Consultancy

EMpower Hong Kong recently hosted an introductory webinar for its East and Southeast Asia partners on “Safeguarding practice for online programme services for young people”, recognising that safeguarding risks for children and young people are heightened under the COVID-19 pandemic with programmes shifting to online offers.

In the post-webinar evaluation survey, a majority of partners told us that our initial training improved their understanding of the importance of strong and up-to-date Children and Young People Safeguarding policies and practices for (online) programme services for young people. Many of them expressed additional interest and/or needs to learn more, e.g. on 1. concrete Children and Young People Safeguarding strategies and responses proven to be effective in form of a discussion of best practices, case studies, and/or scenario analysis or 2. effective ways to train staff, volunteers and associates and 3. to involve young people meaningfully.

This makes us confident to offer follow up webinars on this topic and we aim to offer a series of 2 to 3 webinars (approximately 1.5 hour each) during the period of September 2021 to June 2022.

5. Scope of the Consultancy

Note: During the whole duration of the consultancy, the consultant will work in close collaboration with the EMpower Hong Kong Programme Team that will support where needed. Our team consists of three staff (Senior Programme Officer, Programme Officer and Programme Assistant for East and Southeast Asia) based in Hong Kong.

WEBINARS

Underlying principle for the webinars: We acknowledge the need to strengthen practice of our grantee partners by encouraging peer-to-peer learning through valuing and supporting existing good practice. This shall be taken into account during “Planning and Content Development” as well as “Implementation”.

Needs Assessment:

• Create a pre-training survey to confirm and possibly refine our understanding of grantee partners’ needs identified in the recent webinar post-training evaluation.
• Analyse and summarise partner’s responses, and propose any modifications to the direction of the series of webinars.

Planning and Content Development:

• Based on responses, develop a plan for the series of webinars (2 to 3 webinars, approximately 1.5 hour each) for the partners.
• Do necessary research on e.g. best practices and/or case studies of safeguarding for children and young people adapted to the geographical context (Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam) and across different programme thematic areas that our partners work on (Economic well-being, Safe and healthy life, Inclusive learning; for definitions please check https://empowerweb.org/areas-of-focus).
• Develop webinar pedagogy, content and presentation materials tailored to the needs of our grantee partners. Please note that we are committed to webinars that allow partners to express, make them participate and allow for questions.
• Create post-training surveys to evaluate outcomes.
• Curate a list of resources and/or link grantee partners to trainings that allow them to further learn.

Implementation:

• Lead and facilitate the series of webinars together with the EMpower Hong Kong Programme Team.
• Facilitate dialogues between partners during the webinars for exchanging best practises.
• Answer post-training questions raised from partners within an agreed timeframe.

Learning and Evaluation:

• Analyse and summarise partners’ responses, and propose any recommendation to future Children and Young People Safeguarding webinars.
• Come up with recommendations for EMpower and EMpower Hong Kong to improve internal Children and Young People Safeguarding practices based on observations during the collaboration period.

OTHER LEARNING OFFERS

Leveraging on the positive momentum created with the first webinar, the consultant will also be asked to conceive other different learning opportunities for partners in order to continue and build on the conversations around Children and Young People Safeguarding. This could be done e.g. via:

• Sending regular emails sharing about relevant trainings, news, etc.
• Setting up a safeguarding learning platform online for partners to share useful resources and documents
• Conceiving a bi-annual newsletter that shares best practices, key achievements and successful initiatives
• Researching and communicating to partners links to specialist organisations/ professionals who can provide more in-depth quality support in their countries

6. Estimated timeframe of the consultancy

The timeframe for this consultancy is estimated to be a minimum of 8 days up to a maximum of approx. 15 days over the period of September 2021 to June 2022.

7. Qualification Requirements

In short: Competent, Experienced, Humble

Experience:

• Recognised university degree in field related to child/youth development, such as social work, social sciences, psychology, international development, gender studies, anthropology and human rights; relevant professional experience with a strong focus on Children and Young People Safeguarding in the sector in lieu of a university degree would compensate for lack of educational background.
• Solid knowledge of policy or legislation for the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable young adults.
• Professional experience in the philanthropic and/or non-profit sectors, preferably in East and Southeast Asia.
• Demonstrated professional experience in Children and Young People Safeguarding in a complex organisation.
• Demonstrated experience in the design, development, delivery and facilitation of capacity strengthening or educational workshops, webinars and training programmes that catalyse changes at the individual and organisational level.

Skills:

• Strong English speaking and writing abilities.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills with culturally diverse audiences (our grantee partners implement programmes in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam).
• Strong and genuine facilitation/coaching skills asking appropriate questions to guide and empower organisations to find their own answers to dilemmas and encourages participation, ownership and creativity.
• Strong relationship managing skills with a small team of three (EMpower Hong Kong Programme team) on this project remotely or in person.
• Active listener who continuously seeks to understand people and organisations’ needs.

Qualities and Values:

• Strong commitment to keeping children and young people safe.
• Strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in alignment with EMpower values.
• Strong commitment to the partners: the consultant should take a partner-centred approach.
• Humility underpinned by the belief that partners know best about their local contexts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds, recognising that diversity enriches all staff and our work globally. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or faith, or physical ability.

8. Submission Instructions

Interested applicants shall submit their application by August 15, 2021 to Ms. April Yip (ayip@empowerweb.org) and copy Ms. Gritt Richter (grichter@empowerweb.org) comprised of the following documents:

A narrative offer: Your resume and a cover letter expressing your interest and fit for the consultancy in highlighting your approach to Children and Young People Safeguarding work and the principles you apply in your work as a consultant.
A financial offer: Your expected daily rate (in HKD or USD). Please specify the costed hours you observe in a working day.
References: e.g. in form of materials of trainings conceived and run, publications or articles relevant to the context of this consultancy.

Questions can be also directed to Ms. April Yip (ayip@empowerweb.org).

We will only be able to acknowledge and respond to candidates identified as most suitable wo will be invited to a virtual interview.