Consultation for Children’s Consultations – Moldova

1. Background Information on Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 75 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

Read more about Plan International’s Global Strategy: 100 Million Reasons at https://plan-international.org/strategy

About the commissioning office

Plan International commenced operations in Moldova in early March 2022 to support the Government of Moldova, UN agencies, and humanitarian organisations in responding to the arrival of refugees from Ukraine. Plan International brings a focus on promoting child’s rights, gender equality, and accountability to affected populations within our protection and education humanitarian response programming. We have become a vocal advocate for child rights, specifically adolescent girls, on issues including trafficking and safeguarding in refugee accommodation centres (RACs) as well as supporting specific protection needs of minority groups, including those from LGBTQIA+ and Roma communities.

2. Background/Context

Millions of people have been displaced as a result of active hostilities and bombardment inside Ukraine since 24th February 2022. As of 1 April, approximately 7.1 million people have been forcibly displaced within Ukraine – around 16 per cent of the country’s population.[1] More than 6.5 million (6,595,675) refugees from Ukraine – Ukrainian and Third Country Nationals – have fled into neighbouring countries (Poland, Romania, Hungary, Moldova, Belarus, Slovakia) while others have moved elsewhere.[2]

The Republic of Moldova is one of the countries most affected by the refugee situation, and its border, migration and asylum management capacities are under significant strain. The World Bank classified it as a lower-middle-income country–despite reasonable economic performance over the past two decades –and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a severe drought in 2020, put further pressure on an already struggling system. With economic ties with Ukraine, the Russian Federation and neighbouring European Union (EU) countries, the war in Ukraine and refugee outflows are posing immense economic and social challenges for the Government, which is estimated to be spending EUR 900,000 per day (roughly USD 1 million) on support for refugees.[3]

It is estimated that in the period 24 February – 15 April, 421,130 refugees have fled to Moldova and 101,331 of them have made the decision to stay. About an additional 8,000 refugees who have decided to stay are in the Transnistria region, located between the Nistru River and the Moldovan–Ukrainian border, a region in a protracted conflict (UN OHCHR).[4]

The majority of refugee population consists of women and children, including 47% children, due to the restrictions on men aged 18-60 leaving the country. Children and their families require access to basic food, hygiene and medical care, as well as systematic protection services including to address gender-based violence, violence against children and to access psychosocial care. Key child protection risks include the separation of children from their parents and families is a key concern, with those separated from all family members at greatest risk as well as those being evacuated from child care institutions in Moldova – it is estimated that at least 2% of children are separated or unaccompanied. Most women are entering and travelling without male family members, which creates significant protection risks and limits the ability of mothers to provide quality care for children. Children and female caregivers have also experienced or witnessed violence and the stress and uncertainty of displacement, resulting in high levels of psychosocial distress.[5]

3. Objectives

1. Conduct consultations with 50 children (5 – 9 years, at least 50% female) and 50 adolescents (10 – 19 years, at least 50% female) affected by the Ukraine crisis, both from refugee accommodation centres (RACs) and host communities, to understand and document their needs, aspirations and preferred feedback and participation approaches for a more age and gender appropriate humanitarian response in accordance with CHS Commitment 1[6], Commitment 3[7], Commitment 4.6[8] and Commitment 5.1[9].
2. Conduct consultations with 50 adolescents (10 –19, at least 50% female) and 50 young people (19 – 24, at least 50% female) from host communities to understand their needs, thoughts about social cohesion, their ideas on nature of support and gaps to children affected by the crisis in the host country.
3. Where relevant and possible, coordinate inputs from Protection partners in Moldova with regards to questions, methodology, and geographic coverage of the consultations.
4. Identify gaps and opportunities for humanitarian actors to integrate the voices and needs of girls and boys of all ages and diversities within existing sector responses.

Purpose of Consultancy

To lead and coordinate the children’s’ consultation and participation in Moldova, in partnership with the regional and national task forces in the following ways:

1. Lead engagement and coordination with Plan International Moldova and its partners to:
   1. Develop and contextualize the methodology to support the children’s consultations and participation, with reference to previous consultations;
   2. Engage with Plan International on the children’s ethics review and risk assessment and management
   3. Coordinate and plan geographical locations/spread for FGDs and Child Participation activities
   4. Develop and deliver a training for facilitators, which will include safeguarding, child protection, confidentially and data protection responsibilities, amongst other training content.
   5. Ensure agreement and sign off on common child safeguarding policy and code of conduct;
2. Liaise and coordinate with in-country local partners and partnering agencies to:
   1. Identify the appropriate platform for Key Informant Interviews, FGDs/Children’s workshops and/or online surveys,
   2. Arrange logistics with local partners where relevant
   3. Engage with the relevant government ministries for approvals and safe access to children, adolescent and young people within the host and refugee communities, as well as Third Country Nationals
   4. Undertake data collection and data analysis based on the approved analysis framework
   5. Produce the final version of the report and validation/feedback sessions with participants in the consultations
   6. Video compilation of child consultations and messages from children, adolescents and young people to their peers, the public and ‘decision makers’.
   7. Any other relevant duties as identified/assigned
3. Field Testing
   1. Define and agree field testing criteria and data collection requirements with Plan International
   2. Pre-test the tools with children, adolescents and young people

Users

The results of the consultations are to be utilized by Plan International and its NGO partners in Moldova. It is also expected that the results will be shared to the wider humanitarian community especially the Government of Moldova, Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) Taskforce, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Network, and the Child Protection in Emergency (CPIE) Sub-working group.

4. Deliverables and Timeline

Key deliverables expected from the consultant:

1. An Inception report & workplan including:

• a proposed timeline;
• detailed methodology, including draft sampling methodology and size;
• draft data collection tools;
• ethical considerations;
• consent forms for any primary data collection;
• draft methods for data analysis;
• brief justification of the methods and techniques used (including relevant underlying values and assumptions/ theories) with a justification of the selections made (e.g. of persons interviewed).

1. Final Sampling methodology (including unit of sampling and sampling frame) and size
2. Final Data Collection Tools
3. Consultations with children and adolescents
4. Draft Report
5. Final Report (including Executive Summary) in English, Ukrainian, and Romanian
6. Cleaned Data (including data files (e.g. Excel, SPSS), transcripts of qualitative data, syntax/ code books etc.)
7. Completed Consent Forms (including for children and their caregivers and adults)
8. An event to present the results of the consultations to Plan International and its NGO partners, relevant government agencies, UN agencies, and other humanitarian actors in-country

Table of Deliverables:

Workplan- Electronic document; English- 10 pages maximum

Final Sampling methodology; Electronic document; English; 5 pages maximum

Final Data Collection Tools; Electronic document; English; No limit

Consultations with children and adolescents; Depends on agreed methodology; 1 month maximum

Draft Report; Electronic document; English; No limit

Final Report; Electronic document; English and Romanian; Executive summary should be 2 pages maximum. 25 page limit for actual report

Cleaned Data; Electronic documents and/or workbooks; English; No limit

Completed Consent Forms; Actual signed documents; Romanian, Ukrainian, and Russian (depends on the preference of those giving consent); At least 200 consent forms

Presentation of Results; Face-to-face event for at least 50 people; English and Romanian; 2 hours maximum

Workplan; Electronic document; English; 10 pages maximum

Note: In the event that there is a change or additional deliverables during the contract period, an addendum to the contract must be agreed and signed. The change/additional deliverables must be in line with the initial scope of the consultancy.

Timeline

Plan International and the consultant’s timeline is linked to the deliverables above. The following should be considered:

• Request for Proposals, including quotations in EUR;
• Selection, including background checks, and contracting;
• Inception meeting between Plan International and consultant;
• Submission of Inception Report;
• Preparations for Data Collection (tool testing, translation of tools, mobilisation of respondents, training of enumerators where applicable, ethical or government approval for data collection (where applicable));
• Data Collection;
• Data Entry and Cleaning;
• Data Analysis;
• Validation of findings with key stakeholders and respondents;
• Submission of Draft Report;
• Submission of Final Report;
• Submission of Other Deliverables; and
• Presentation of Results.

Table of Timelines

Request for Proposals: 10 working days

Selection and contracting: 5 days

Inception meeting between Plan and consultant: 1 day

Submission of Inception Report, including agreeing the final version with Plan: 5 days

Preparations for Data Collection: 2 days

Data Collection: 5 days

Data Entry and Cleaning – submission of cleaned data: 3 days

Data Analysis: 3 days

Validation of findings with key stakeholders and respondents:7 days

Submission of Draft Report, including back-and-forth with Plan: 3 days

Submission of Final Report: 1 day

Submission of feedback videos & presentation of final results: 3 days

Note: At this stage, the timeline is indicative and the consultant may propose a different one during the inception phase. As part of the process, this timeline should be re-evaluated in consultation between Plan International and the consultant.

Review Framework and Methodology

Gender is a central element of all Plan International emergency response programmes. It is critical to note whether this response is contributing to Plan International’s new Global Strategy, and also reflects the Feminist Leadership principles.

The review should consider the questions from the above objectives. In addition the review should question to what extent the response approach is gender aware or gender transformative. This will be done by considering the following guiding questions, and also the Feminist Leadership Principle of Diversity;

• Are the different needs of girls, boys, women and men identified? In particular, is the girl child at the core of humanitarian programme planning?
• Does the humanitarian response in Moldova address these identified needs?
• Is the humanitarian response carried out in ways which promote gender equality in the communities where Plan International and other partners work?

5. Expected qualifications of Consultant

The consultant can be an individual, a team, or an organisation. At the minimum, the consultant should:

• Have the capacity to communicate fluently in English, Romanian, and Russian.
• Have educational background relevant to the consultancy, including proficiency in qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and data analysis.
• Have the capacity to carry out the actual data collection with minimal support from Plan International and its partners; and
• Have experience carrying out similar work with children and local communities. This includes operational knowledge on Safeguarding of Children and Youth, and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA).

6. Contact

Any questions in relation to this RFQ as well as submission of proposals please send to:

[email protected]

7. List of documents to be submitted with the RFQ

Technical Proposal

• Detailed response to the RFQ/ ToR
• Ethics and child safeguarding approaches, including any identified risks and associated mitigation strategies
• Proposed timelines and methodology;
• CVs or company profile including contact details
• Example of previous work
• Evidence(s) of capacity to carry out the actual data collection;
• At least three references;
• Detailed budget in EUR, including daily fee rates, taxes, expenses, etc.

All consultants/applicant are required to agree and adhere to Plan International’s Non-Staff Code of Conduct (Annex A)

All suppliers are required to complete Supplier Questionnaire (Annex B)

Financial Proposal

Plan follow a fair and transparent Procurement process and therefore it is not possible to share our budget. Please provide a detailed breakdown of your daily rate and the number of days and resources required per activity, as well as the associated cost.

Please include all additional costs Plan should be aware of.

8. Submission of offers

Please send your application to Plan International [email protected] by 26th July 2022 referencing “Consultation for Children’s Consultations – Moldova*”* in the subject line and including supporting documents as outlined in section 7.

9. Evaluation of offers

• Shortlisted suppliers may be invited to discuss their proposals in more detail at Plan’s discretion.
• Plan International, at its sole discretion, will select the successful RFQ.
• Plan international shall be free to:
• accept the whole, or part only, of any submission
• Accept none of the proposals
• Republish this Request for Quotations
• Plan International reserves the right to keep confidential the circumstances that have been considered for the selection of offers.
• Part of the evaluation process may include a presentation from the supplier.
• Value for money is very important to Plan International, as every additional £ saved is money that we can use on our humanitarian and development work throughout the world.
• Plan Internationalmay award multiple contracts and all contracts will be non-exclusive.

Women-owned businesses and companies actively engaged or advancing gender equality and women empowerment in the workplace are especially encouraged to apply

10. Contract & Payment terms

Please note that, if successful, Plan International’s standard terms of payment are 30 days after the end of the month of receipt of invoice, or after acceptance of the Goods/Services/Works, if later.

11. IR35 Requirements – Only applicable for UK based or connections to the UK Consultants

As of April 2021, all Global Hub UK-based contractors (Consultant/personal service company/agency/intermediary) employing “people” in their chain to deliver serves to Plan International must follow a strict process of IR35 determination.

Plan Limited will conduct a CES tool on all relevant shortlisted proposers as outlined above to determine whether they fall inside or outside IR35.

12. Plan International’s Ethical & Environmental Statement

The supplier should establish environmental standards and good practices that follow the principles of ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems, and in particular to ensure compliance with environmental legislation

13. Clarifications

The onus is on the invited individual/companies to ensure that its offer is complete and meets Plan International’s requirements. Failure to comply may lead to the offer being rejected. Please therefore ensure that you read this document carefully and answer fully all questions asked.

If you have any queries in relation to your submission, or to any requirements of this RFQ, please email: [email protected]

Thank you for your proposal.

[1] IOM Regional Ukraine Response Situation Report #13, 7 April, 2022

[2] Situation Ukraine Refugee Situation (unhcr.org)

[3] Ukraine Situation: Regional Response Plan, Mar – Dec 2022

[4] UN Human Rights in Moldova: Providing vital support to Ukrainian refugees

[5] The Child Protection Sub-Working Group: For coordination of child protection issues for the refugee response in Moldova – TOR

[6] CHS Commitment 1: Communities and people affected by crisis receive assistance appropriate to their needs.

[7] Communities and people affected by crisis are not negatively affected and more prepared, resilient and less at-risk as a result of humanitarian action.

[8] Policies are in place for engaging communities and people affected by crisis, reflecting the priorities and risks they identify in all stages of the work.

[9] Consult with communities and people affected by crisis on the design, implementation and monitoring of complaints-handling processes.

How to apply

7. List of documents to be submitted with the RFQ

Technical Proposal

• Detailed response to the RFQ/ ToR
• Ethics and child safeguarding approaches, including any identified risks and associated mitigation strategies
• Proposed timelines and methodology;
• CVs or company profile including contact details
• Example of previous work
• Evidence(s) of capacity to carry out the actual data collection;
• At least three references;
• Detailed budget in EUR, including daily fee rates, taxes, expenses, etc.

All consultants/applicant are required to agree and adhere to Plan International’s Non-Staff Code of Conduct (Annex A)

All suppliers are required to complete Supplier Questionnaire (Annex B)

Financial Proposal

Plan follow a fair and transparent Procurement process and therefore it is not possible to share our budget. Please provide a detailed breakdown of your daily rate and the number of days and resources required per activity, as well as the associated cost.

Please include all additional costs Plan should be aware of.

8. Submission of offers

Please send your application to Plan International [email protected] by 26th July 2022 referencing “Consultation for Children’s Consultations – Moldova*”* in the subject line and including supporting documents as outlined in section 7.