Terre des hommes Hungary (Tdh) is seeking to engage a consultant to develop a Companion Tool on children’s participation and child-led initiatives and a respective training package. This tool will serve to reinforce and enrich the existing CARING Curricula within the framework of the EU co-funded ‘CARING 2.0: Multi-disciplinary Prevention of and Response to School-related Violence’ project.
Interested parties should submit their proposals as per the below guidelines: Terms of Reference for Consultancy: Development of Companion Tool on Children’s Participation and Child-Led Initiatives | ChildHub – Child Protection Hub
Key information
The objective of this consultancy is to develop a Companion Tool on children’s participation and child-led initiatives and a respective training package, aligned with and complementary to the CARING Curricula. The Companion Tool will be informed by the results of the needs assessment (FGDs with children, teachers, and parents) and the learnings emerged during the CARING project implementation. The Companion Tool will be in English, then will be contextualized and translated into Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Greek, Romanian. For the quality contextualization processes there will be 1 workshop/country organized. The consultant will also be responsible for providing guidance to the pool of in-country project team and trainers on the i.) Companion Tool contextualization process and ii.) trainings’ delivery in the project countries related to the developed Companion Tool. Contextualization and translation itself are not part of this consultancy. Throughout the consultancy period, the selected expert will collaborate closely with the CARING 2.0 project team at Terre des hommes Hungary.
About Terre des hommes
Tdh is the leading Swiss organization for children’s aid. We aim to enhance the rights and strengthen the psychosocial resilience of children and young people who are exposed to risks and face difficulties in accessing essential services around the world. Working in the areas of migration, access to justice and health, we take an inclusive approach to create durable solutions to the challenges children and their communities face. In 2023, globally we supported 5.2 million children and members of their communities in more than 30 countries through more than 230 projects. In Europe, Tdh works with children who are affected by migration, came in contact with the justice system as victims, witnesses or offenders, or in need of general protection from the risk of abuse, trafficking or exploitation and focuses on strengthening national child protection systems and raise professionals’ capacities who work for children. Tdh operations are present in Albania, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine. For more background information about Tdh globally and in Europe, please visit our global website and our European website.
Background information
Violence against children across Europe remains a significant concern, impacting children across all member states with varying severity and forms. Evidence from multiple sources suggests that various forms of violence are present in and around schools in Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo and Romania. While it should be acknowledged that in each national context legislative, policy and practice advancements have been made towards preventing and responding to violence against children, these measures need to be scaled up to support operationalization of integrated child protection systems with the best interest of the child at their center. Building upon the successful implementation of the REVIS and CARING transnational projects, the current initiative, CARING 2.0: Multi-disciplinary Prevention of and Response to School-related Violence, aims to enhance the effectiveness of integrated child protection systems. This will be achieved through multidisciplinary strategies that prevent and respond to school-related violence, with a particular focus on its gendered dimensions and the rights-based participation of children, especially those in vulnerable situations. To contribute to the reduction of school-related violence, Tdh Romania, Tdh Hungary, Tdh Greece, Tdh Kosovo, Brave Phone, SAPI, and Association Roditeli are collaboratively implementing this EU-funded project. The project, titled ‘CARING 2.0 – Multi-disciplinary Prevention of and Response to School-related Violence’, spans from 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2027 and is being carried out in Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Romania, and Kosovo, under the coordination of Tdh Hungary. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to strengthening and functionality of integrated child protection systems through multidisciplinary prevention of and response to school-related violence, including its gendered dimensions, and rights-based participation of children, especially these in vulnerable situations. To achieve this objective the CARING 2.0 project adopts an integrated and holistic approach to address school-related violence against children, concerted efforts at different layers of children’s social ecologies will be implemented through a range of mutually reinforcing methodologies, such as CARING Curricula for school staff and children, I Support My Friends for child-to-child support, Trauma-informed care training package for multi-disciplinary teams, as well as operationalization of inter-agency referral mechanisms at school level. One Regional Child & Youth Advisory Board (CAB) and four national CABs will be supported and developed as a tested mechanism to ensure meaningful participation of children in decision-making processes that affect their lives. Collectively, the implementation of these methodologies will provide a strong basis for disseminating best practices. One of the core methodologies applied by the project is CARING Curricula, created in the previous CARING project, aims to increase the capacity of children and young people and adults to deal with gender-based violence at school focusing on prevention by developing safe and friendly environment and ensure child participation transforming the status of children from passive recipients to active agents of change. While CARING Curricula is already available for the use in English, Bulgarian, Croatian, Greek, Romanian, drawing on the lessons learnt through the implementation of CARING project, two Companion Tools will be developed to reinforce and enrich the methodology and enhance its impact. The two Companion Tools are: one (i) Children’s participation and child-led initiatives (ii) Bullying/cyberbullying and Bystander attitude (the latter one is not part of this consultancy). The objective of this consultancy is to develop a Companion Tool to complement the CARING Curricula, with a focus on children’s participation and child-led initiatives. The tool will build on insights gained during the CARING project implementation, findings from a rapid needs assessment in Kosovo and focus group discussions conducted in Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece with children, school staff, parents. It is intended to reinforce and enrich the existing CARING Curricula by promoting meaningful, rights-based child participation, shifting the role of children from passive recipients to active agents of change. The Companion Tool and the training package will also draw on two other existing Tdh materials such as YouCreate1 and A methodological toolbox for establishing, supporting, and sustaining Children & Youth Advisory Boards2 . The Companion Tool should be developed in English, in a minimum 20-page electronic format. It will later be contextualized and translated into Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Greek, and Romanian (these tasks are not part of this consultancy). After the contextualization and translation of the Companion Tool, in each project country one 3-day Training of Trainers (ToT) will be organized on the CARING curricula and its Companion Tools I-II. to train school facilitators. The training package developed by the Consultant for the Companion Tool I. will be part of an overall 3-day ToT. (The delivery of the ToT is not part of this consultancy.) Then the trained school facilitators will cascade the knowledge to other school staff via replication trainings. The activities of the CARING Curricula and its Companion Tools will be implemented in the project countries in total in 50 schools with the aim to enable children to ideate, design, prepare and implement at least one child-led initiative per school, with an active engagement of parents and wider community members, to address some of causes and consequences of VAC in their environments. In this participatory action research and ideation process they will be supportively accompanied by adult facilitators. The whole process will be supported by the Companion Tool on children’s participation and child-led initiatives. The consultant will also be responsible for providing remote guidance to the pool of in-country project team and trainers on the i.) Companion Tool and its training package contextualization processes and ii.) ToT delivery in the project countries related to the developed Companion Tool. To support these processes, the consultant is expected to: (i) develop a guidance in English on the contextualization methodology and processes (ii) facilitate two 90-minute online sessions for the national trainers on a.) the contextualisation methodology and processes and b.) guidance on ToT in the project countries for using the Companion Tool in national contexts. These trained national trainers will subsequently deliver country-level activities in each country to support the tool’s effective adaptation and implementation.
Scope of work
Consultant is expected to ▪ Perform all work as per the signed contract, Terms of Reference, and the Technical and Financial Offer, including Tdh policies, and submit all deliverables as per the agreed deadlines. ▪ Be available for regular check-in calls, as necessary throughout the assignment to share updates on progress. ▪ Ensure that the identified Tdh Hungary project staff is regularly informed in case of any questions and issues (particularly, delays and blockages) that may emerge during the assignment and may require mutual discussion/planning.
Specifically ▪ The consultant will develop the Companion Tool I. to complement the CARING Curricula, with a focus on children’s participation and child-led initiatives. The tool must be submitted in electronic, ready-toprint format, in English, with a minimum length of 20 pages. ▪ The consultant will develop a training package that will be used within an overall 3-day ToTs and for a standalone use, too. ▪ The consultant is expected to develop a guidance in English on the contextualization methodology and processes. ▪ The consultant will facilitate two 90-minute online sessions in English on (i.) the contextualisation methodology and processes and ii.) guidance on training delivery in the project countries for using the tool in national contexts.
Deliverables
The following deliverables shall be electronically submitted in English language: ▪ Companion Tool I. (minimum 20 pages) in ready-to-print format, focusing on children’s participation and child-led initiatives, to reinforce and enrich the CARING Curricula. ▪ training material package that will be used for the 3-day ToTs in the project. The training material package is expected to be developed including both mandatory and optional activities for a twofold use i.) fitting as a 0.5 training in the 3-day ToTs, ii.) applicable in the future a stand-alone 2-day child participation training. ▪ guidance on the contextualization methodology and processes of the Companion Tool I. ▪ Delivery of two 90-minute online sessions in English for the national facilitators and trainers on (i.) the contextualisation methodology and processes and ii.) guidance on trainings delivery in the project countries for using the tool in national contexts. Including: session invitation, agenda, training materials/presentations, list of participants, and screenshots as documentation.
Timeline
The timeline and efforts estimated for the assignment in the below table are indicative and will be finalized through mutual agreement between Tdh Hungary and the Consultant. Consultants are invited to develop their detailed work plan for the assignment with detailed breakdown in their Technical Proposal. Throughout the assignment Tdh and its partners will jointly provide feedback and guidance. Please refer to the indicative timeline in the Terms of Reference via this link: Terms of Reference for Consultancy: Development of Companion Tool on Children’s Participation and Child-Led Initiatives | ChildHub – Child Protection Hub
Consultant profile
Tdh will accept applications from individuals, teams, academic entities, NGOs and companies as long as they are officially registered with a tax number (i.e. are able to issue an invoice) and have training, education, research or similar as their object of activity, which can be proven by legal documentation. In case the work is conducted by a team, the team should ideally be diverse, and gender balanced. Required experience and skills • MA degree in children’s rights, education, psychology, sociology, child development, childhood studies or other related fields • 5+ years of relevant experience working with national and international organizations in the field of child participation, formal/non-formal education, child protection • Experience in developing technical materials (curricula, manuals, guidance etc.) on the themes of child participation and child protection • Experience in developing and implementing trainings, coaching and mentoring activities for the project target group • Strong understanding of diversity, inclusion and intersectionality • Strong writing skills and ability to convey information and knowledge in tailored manner to the target audiences’ needs • Written and oral English proficiency • Official registration as an individual consultant or as an organization, company, think-thank, academia entity etc. being under the registered scope of activities • Capacity to issue invoices with tax registration in Europe (UK and Switzerland included)
Pricing and payment terms
The proposed price for the work will be provided by the Consultant in the Financial Proposal. Consultant is expected to work for approx. maximum 10 working days within the duration of this assignment, i.e. between the start and end date of the consultancy. Payment terms shall be 15 days net following Tdh’s receipt of deliverables based on the following schedule, in one instalment: the full contracted amount will be paid upon the successful delivery of all required deliverables.
How to Apply:
Consultant selection criteria
Tdh will provide a detailed briefing on its various policies and principles related to ethical considerations to the selected Consultant. All Tdh consultants are required to sign Tdh’s Good Business Practice and Code of Conduct, Data Protection and Child Safeguarding policies and adhere to its principles and ensure confidentiality of the information received from Tdh upon entering into contract.
Proposals submitted will be assessed based on the following criteria:
Area Element assessed Weighting factor
Technical proposal ▪ Workplan and timeline proposed ▪ Completeness of information based on the ToR. 40%
Financial proposal ▪ Value for money ▪ Consistency with technical offer ▪ Completeness of information based on the ToR. 40%
Profile and Demonstrated Experience of the applicant ▪ CVs and/or profile of the organization ▪ Previous work submitted. 20%
Total 100%
Only shortlisted applicants will be invited for an online meeting prior to contracting. All applicants will be informed of the outcome of the selection process by e-mail after the contract is concluded with the selected applicant.
Submission procedure
Submissions, including all attachments, must be in English and sent as a single package. The package shall contain the name and contact details of the lead representative of the Consultant. 7 The submission package shall include: ▪ Technical proposal including i.) Workplan with timeline for the consultancy, ii.) proposed table of content and concept note for the Companion Tool and Training Package. ▪ Financial proposal: daily fee in EUR. Price should be net, VAT is payable by Tdh in Hungary. ▪ Up-to-date CV of the expert(s) or profile/portfolio in case of an organization (max. 3 pages/document) ▪ 3 examples of previous work carried out ▪ Confirmation of legal registration including tax number or EU VAT number of the applicant for providing similar services and the ability to issue an invoice. All interested parties are invited to submit their proposals or communicate their questions via e- mail to hun.logistics@tdh.org, no later than 12th June 2025 (23:59 CET). The e-mail should have the subject-line: CARING 2.0 Companion Tool I. Consultancy — Consultant’s name.
Interested parties should submit their proposals as per the below guidelines: Terms of Reference for Consultancy: Development of Companion Tool on Children’s Participation and Child-Led Initiatives | ChildHub – Child Protection Hub
