RFQ – FY23 – 146 Learning and Development Specialist

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 85 years, and are now active in more than 75 countries.

Read more about Plan International’s Global Strategy: Girls Standing Strong at https://plan-international.org/strategy

About the commissioning office

The Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE) team is part of the Global Hub for Plan International, with a headquarters office in Woking, England. The Global Hub is comprised of over 300 staff employed globally. Sitting under the Humanitarian Technical Team of Global Hub, the CPiE team consists of deployable specialists and thematic specialists who work closely with colleagues based in Regional, National, and Country Offices. The CPiE team, led by a Global Lead, is responsible for guiding the overall CPiE strategy in Plan International, including the areas of capacity-strengthening, technical expertise, monitoring, evaluation, research and learning, and leadership and influencing.

2. Background/Context

Plan International is currently leading the development of learning and development materials on behalf of the global child protection in emergencies actors. This includes the development of key learning and development resources on behalf of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humantiarian Action and supporting the establishment of a CPHA community of practice and learning management system.

The consultancy is also expected to support the creation of two online learning modules (e-modules) targeting child protection and food security practitioners. These e-modules will incorporate key findings and lessons learned from a global Child Protection and Food Security initiative and allow a wider group of CP and FS practitioners to access capacity-strengthening materials. The e-modules will complement an introductory e-module (forthcoming) developed by the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action on Standard 21 (Food Security and Child Protection) and Standard 22 (Livelihoods and Child Protection) of the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action. The e-modules will be developed between the period of February – June 2023. The process will be led by a CP-FS Focal Point from Plan International, along with participation from an inter-agency Technical Review Group and a digital learning agency (consultancy)

Additionally, as part of a collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), three online learning modules (e-modules) will be developed. These modules will target child protection and gender-based violence practitioners on the prevention and response to child marriage in refugee settings. These three modules are both standalone but can be taken as a mini-course, and have been developed to improve program quality, knowledge and capacity to better meet the needs of girls and their families, including girls who have experienced marriage. The process will be led by a Plan International Technical Advisor in collaboration with the Child Protection Technical Unit at UNHCR between May – September 2023.

3. Description & Objectives

Purpose

Plan International is seeking a consultant to support the creation, review, and finalization of learning and development materials for child protection in emergencies (CPiE) practitioners.

Users

The primary users of the results of the consultancy are members of the child protection in emergencies (CPiE) sector at the global, regional, and national level. This includes technical advisors, project managers, business development managers, and offices responsible for design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of CPiE programming. Additional users include donors, actors from other sectors such as GBV and food security, and other humanitarian stakeholders. The results of the consultancy will be used by organizations to strengthen the capacity of CPiE staff to prevent and respond to child protection risks.

Expected Outcomes

The consultant, in close collaboration with Plan International’s Child Protection in Emergencies team, in expected to:

Outcome 1: Development of key learning and development resources, platforms, and systems for child protection in humanitarian action (CPHA) professionals (completed by July 2023)

• Draft a competency development guide to support CPHA practitioners to strengthen their capacity in line with the inter-agency CPHA competency framework of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CHPA).
• Develop an advocacy paper on the relevance of capacity strengthening for improved protection outcomes for children, in cooperation with Advocacy Working Group of the Alliance for CPHA.
• Develop key learning resources on cash and child protection, such as learning briefs, case studies, and best practice guides.
• Pilot the CPHA CPMS learning programme, evaluate the programme, and finalise the learning package in English.
• Support the transition of the CPHA Community of Practice to a new platform.
• Support the set up of the Alliance Kaya Share learning management system.
• Support Plan Country Offices of the Ukraine Crisis to conduct capacity assessments of their partners from a CP perspective and develop capacity strengthening plans.

Outcome 2: Technical support to the development of (2) child protection and food security e-modules (completed by June 2023)

• Support the development of learning objectives of CP-FS e-modules, include provide feedback on drafted objectives and participation in a consultation call with the Technical Review Group.
• Review of the e-module storyboard and provide an andragogical review of the full storyboard, including storyboard methodologies.
• Review and testing of the draft module.
• Upload and testing of the e-modules onto the identified learning management system.

Outcome 3: Technical support to the development of (3) e-modules on child marriage in humanitarian contexts (completed by September 2023)

• Support the development of learning objectives of e-modules, include provide feedback on drafted objectives.
• Review of the e-module storyboard and provide an andragogical review of the full storyboard, including storyboard methodologies.

4. Deliverables and Timeline

Key Deliverables

1. Draft competency development guide for CPHA practitioners
2. Draft advocacy paper on the relevance of capacity-strengthening for improved protection outcomes for children
3. Evaluation findings and finalization of CPHA CPMS learning program.
4. Transition of the CPHA community of practice to a new platform.
5. Set-up of Alliance Kaya Share learning management system.
6. Provide technical inputs into partner capacity assessments and capacity strengthening plans.
7. Provide a technical review of the learning objectives and methodologies of five (5) e-modules: two (2) on child protection and food security and three (3) on child marriage in humanitarian settings.
8. Review and testing of two (2) e-modules on child protection and food security and uploading of e-modules onto identified learning management system.

Deliverables are expected through remote, desk-based work in collaboration with members of the Child Protection in Emergencies team of Plan International.

Timeline

The consultant will be expected to complete the deliverables from the period of March to September 2023. The work is expected to be completed within a total of 62 working days.

Outcome 1: 50 estimated working days

Outcome 2: 12 estimated working days

Outcome 3: 3 estimated working days

5. Expected experience of Consultant

Essential

• Advanced university degree (Masters or above) in relevant fields, including social work, international development, public health, etc.;
• A minimum of 5-years’ experience working in learning and development or capacity-strengthening in the areas of child protection in emergencies or other areas of humanitarian action at the national or international level;
• Previous experience leading or supporting the development of online learning content, including content specific to child protection in emergencies and humanitarian action;
• Previous experience using authoring tools and working with digital learning agencies and learning management systems.
• Experience working with inter-agency technical fora focused on humanitarian settings;
• Familiarity with existing online learning content developed by child protection networks, such as the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action
• Excellent research, analytical and writing skills, with the ability to provide actionable and timely feedback to humanitarian practitioners;
• Previous experience working on projects that require a highly iterative and consultative process, with the capacity to incorporate multiple levels of feedback and perspectives in final products;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to successfully interact with a diverse group of people;
• Collaborative work style, with strong team-player attitude and ability to identify gaps and to take initiative to fill them;
• Flexible work attitude, with the ability to follow direction and work independently across a virtual work environment;
• Excellent organizational skills, with the ability to independently track and follow-up on various tasks;
• Fluent verbal and written English.

Desirable

• Working knowledge of French, Spanish, and/or Arabic is an asset.

6. Reporting

The consultant will report to the Child Protection in Emergencies team at Plan International. The Child Protection in Emergencies team will also provide technical oversight and review progress of all deliverables.

7. List of documents to be submitted with the RFQ

• Detailed response to the RFQ/ToR
• Proposed methodology
• If applicable include any specific IT equipment, tools or materials that the Consultant will need to use/have to carry out the work
• Ethics and child safeguarding approaches, including any identified risks and associated mitigation strategies
• Proposed timelines
• CVs
• Example of previous work
• Reference
• Detailed budget, including daily fee rates, expenses, etc.

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

8. Submission of offers

Applicants should submit an application package by 6th March 2023 via email to [email protected] with the subject line ‘RFQ – FY23 – 146 Learning and Development Specialist’ and which must

include:

• Detailed response to the RFQ, including proposed scope, methodology and proposed timelines
• Detailed budget, including daily fee rates, expenses, etc.
• CVs of consultant(s)
• Example(s) of previous work
• Signed Annex A – Non-Staff Code of Conduct

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 the offers.

Part of the evaluation process may include a presentation from the supplier.

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

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.

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 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.

How to apply

Applicants should submit an application package by 6th March 2023 via email to [email protected] with the subject line ‘RFQ – FY23 – 146 Learning and Development Specialist’ and which must

include:

• Detailed response to the RFQ, including proposed scope, methodology and proposed timelines
• Detailed budget, including daily fee rates, expenses, etc.
• CVs of consultant(s)
• Example(s) of previous work
• Signed Annex A – Non-Staff Code of Conduct