RFP - End-Term Evaluation Step Up the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation of Children (SUFASEC) Programme

Follow us@ngobox

About the Organization

Millions of children worldwide are sexually exploited, both online and offline.

And this number continues to grow. The Down to Zero Alliance is stepping up the fight against child sexual exploitation. We are committed to the protection of children and the prevention of sexual exploitation in twelve countries in Asia and Latin America.

Terre des Hommes Netherlands (lead), Child Rights Coalition Asia (CRC Asia), Conexión, Defence for Children – Ecpat, Free A Girl and Plan International work together in the Down to Zero Alliance with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands to address the sexual exploitation of children.

Down to Zero implements the programme Step Up the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation of Children (SUFASEC), that enables children and young people to defend their own rights, support communities to become safer and protective of their children against sexual exploitation, and helps governments to improve and implement related policies, laws and regulations. The Alliance also collaborates with the private sector, for example in the tourist industry.

About the Proposal

The ‘Step Up the Fight Against Sexual Exploitation of Children’ (SUFASEC) programme is implemented by the Down to Zero (DtZ) Alliance with Terre des Hommes Netherlands (TdH NL) as lead and Child Rights Coalition Asia (CRC Asia), Conexión, Defence for Children - ECPAT Netherlands (DCI-ECPAT), Free A Girl Netherlands (FAG NL) and Plan International Netherlands as Alliance members. The programme builds on previous DtZ experience taking into account the complexity and local context regarding sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in the 12 implementing countries. In Asia, the Alliance works in South East Asia in Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines and Thailand and in South Asia in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. In Latin America the Alliance works in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic and Guatemala. In total we work with over 25 local implementing partners and with different stakeholders. The donor for the SUFASEC programme is the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

The overall goal of the SUFASEC programme is that “Children in all of their diversity are better protected from sexual exploitation”, contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote well-being) and (eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls) and to results areas 1 and 4 of the Dutch SRHR Policy. The long-term impact will be reached through three interlinking Outcomes that address different dimensions (social norms, protective environments, and laws/policies/systems):

• Outcome 1: Children and youth and their communities successfully challenge social norms and harmful practices related to sexual exploitation of children.
• Outcome 2: Children and youth have access to and are supported by strengthened protective environments
• Outcome 3: Children and civil society meaningfully participate in holding duty bearers, including government and local authorities to their obligations towards improved implementation of laws, policies and systems.

Scope of Work:

In its final year of implementation, Down to Zero Alliance seeks to commission an externally and independently-led End Term evaluation. The End-Term Evaluation process shall be guided by the guidelines for evaluation of the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department of MoFa and the 17 evaluation criteria of the IOB. Furthermore, the evaluation conduct (evaluation methodology, data-collection and analysis), and corresponding products, will need to abide by the IOB Evaluation Quality criteria.

Apart from the IOB evaluation quality criteria, the evaluation also has to assess progress towards SUFASEC objectives and evaluate the coherence, effectiveness and the sustainability of the programme (based on the three mentioned OECD DAC criteria). The three selected criteria are cross-cutting across the overall vision and goal of the SUFASEC programme. It is important to mention that, although the evaluation should focus on the three mentioned criteria, consultants could highlight other aspects beyond these criteria if needed.

• Coherence: how well does the intervention fit with the local context, with the local needs and with the work of the other stakeholders?
• Effectiveness: is the intervention achieving its objectives? including any unexpected results across Outcomes?
• Sustainability: Will the benefit of the intervention last?

The End-Term Evaluation provides progress information on indicators within the results areas of the overall ToC. The evaluation will identify which pathways of the ToC worked as expected, where assumptions held true, if and where course corrections were done and if they were useful. Considering the programme’s design, using participatory methods is highly recommended. Programme budget and expenditure will also need to be evaluated by the external consultants. We also expect the analysis to be guided by gender/inclusion and children/youth engagement lenses as crosscutting themes.

• Gender and inclusion: how well did the intervention promote gender equality and include activities and strategies that are inclusive and accessible to all genders and other forms of exclusion and that effectively contribute to transform the unequal and to exclude power relations.
• Child-centeredness: how did the programme consider children’s voices, participation, and best interests (this includes ensuring activities are age-appropriate, engaging, and designed with the children’s developmental stages in mind) and how did the programme transform adult-centredness.

Finally the Down to Zero Alliance acknowledge the importance of an inclusive approach to MEAL and we therefore ask consultants to effectively address diversity, collaborative learning, use participatory methods and remove barriers that prevent women, LGBTIQ+ persons and other marginalized groups from participating (such as language, educational attainment, ethnic affiliation/religion, cultural values, gender stereotypes or financial barriers). In the ETE Evaluation Consultants should also give a special focus on the unexpected/unintended impacts of the programme on women and girls in all their diversity, LGBTIQ+ persons and other marginalized groups.

Evaluator/s:

Optimally (if the right candidates will be identified) the End-Term Evaluation will be conducted by two consultants/consultancy companies 2 (one for the Asia Region and one for the Latin American Region), who will closely collaborate with each other in order to align their approaches and data collection tools. Both consultants will need to develop together a common Final End-Term Evaluation Report including both results. Alternatively a single consultant, with experience in both contexts will be selected and asked to work on both regions. Evaluators from the Global South are strongly encouraged to apply and collaboration with young-emerging local evaluators is recommended. The evaluators will be independent, i.e. they have not been involved in the design or implementation of the project.

Evaluation Period:

The evaluation will cover the entire duration of the SUFASEC programme, from its inception in March 2023 to its conclusion in February 2026. This period encompasses all phases of the programme implementation and key Outcomes achieved.

Objective of the End-term Evaluation:

The overall purpose of the end-term evaluation of the SUFASEC programme is to provide transparency and accountability about the DtZ programme to the MFA, programme participants, and other stakeholders as well as to capture best practices, lessons learned and recommendations for future programming to address sexual exploitation of children in terms of design, governance, budgeting, child and youth engagement, shift the power, and any other relevant topic.

More specifically the main objectives of the End-term evaluation are:

• Assessing the SUFASEC ToC and the used assumptions
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the programme by assessing if and how did the programme achieve its intended results
• Evaluating the internal and external coherence of the SUFASEC interventions
• Evaluating if and how SUFASEC interventions ensure the sustainability of the results achieved
• Assess the child-centred strategies used by the programme and how the programme applied meaningful and inclusive child/youth participation according to the safeguarding policies and agreements
• Assess the added value of working as an Alliance

Eligibility

The consultants will be required to meet the following criteria. They should have:

• Demonstrable success in a relevant academic study (masters level) and proven mixed-methods research backgrounds in relevant fields (SEC, SRH, etc.);
• Excellent conceptual and analytical skills, demonstrated in a professional environment;
• Experience in conducting complex, multi stakeholder, multi-country and child-centred, gender sensitive, ethical, inclusive and context relevant evaluations (Example of previously accomplished Evaluations are welcome);
• Excellent facilitator skills with learning-oriented mindset
• Proven knowledge and/or experience evaluating programmes on child rights issues, specifically in SEC;
• Ability to deliver on time and on budget;
• Fluency in spoken and written English (for the Asia Region) and Spanish (and ideally Portuguese) for the Latin American Region.
• Experience with evaluations in one or more of the DtZ Alliance´s programme regions/countries (consultants based in one of the SUFASEC countries are encouraged to apply).
• Proven ability to work in an international team and to evidencing how collaboration with a consultant in another region is within the candidate’s skill set.
• Independence from Down to Zero programma, i.e. no involvement in design or implementation of the programme.

How to Apply

If interested in applying for this consultancy, please send your Application Letter and Proposal by 11th of May 2025 to the SUFASEC Programme Manager Monique Demenint (m.demenint@tdh.nl).

For more information please check the Link

Stay in the loop with the newest RFPs and Grants through NGOBOX's WhatsApp Channel. Join now by clicking here!

Tags Children and Childcare Advocacy Others