Ukraine Crisis- Inter-agency Children’s Consultation

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. 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.

The gendered dynamics of the Ukraine crisis present specific needs requiring a highly targeted approach. Ukraine’s population has more women (54%) than men (46%), which together with restrictions placed on adult Ukraine men (18 – 60 years) to stay and join the fighting, has contributed to a distinct gender disparity in Ukraine’s internally displaced population and refugees. According to UNHCR, 93% of those leaving Ukraine for neighbouring countries are women, children and the elderly. Similarly, women, children and the elderly represent the majority of those displaced inside Ukraine. In general, those remaining in conflict-affected cities in the east and south are male adults, and those unable to leave including People with Disabilities (PWD) and the elderly. It is also estimated that about 36% of those fleeing Ukraine are children under 14 years, many of whom are unaccompanied or separated. This raises concerns of the heightened risk of human trafficking, exploitation and an acute child protection crisis.

The manner in which children, adolescents and young people experience conflict and displacement can be distinctly different from the experiences of adult men and women. This results in needs and problems specific to this affected population. For any humanitarian response to be effective, consultation with and participation of the affected population is crucial to build a strong case for response actions. It is therefore vital that the specific needs and concerns facing children, adolescents and young people affected by the crisis are understood, documented and taken into consideration when developing and reviewing strategies and key advocacy messages for response, and to influence decision making at national, regional and global level.

Current rapid gender analysis reports have highlighted the need to consult with Ukrainian women leaders and representatives of marginalised groups like Disability Rights Organisations and the Roma community to understand the needs they have identified and to increase their influence in making humanitarian decisions in and for their communities. However, there is an information gap within the Ukraine response, on the unique perspectives and experiences of children, adolescents and young people affected by the crisis. There is a need to consult and document issues specific to this highly vulnerable and affected groups within the larger affected population. This will provide opportunities for meaningful participation and ensure their voices contribute to the design and implementation of an effective response in line with the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability CHS). Additionally, the children’s consultations and participation will provide validated insights to support delivery of protection and advocacy interventions particularly for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, unaccompanied and separated children, people with disabilities (PWD), members of minority ethnic groups, girls and women as well as Protection from sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PSEAH), in line with the Ukraine Regional Refugee Response Plan and ethical and safety recommendations for researching, documenting and monitoring sexual violence in emergencies.

An inter-agency approach will add value to the children’s consultations and participation by bringing together the collective experience and resources from child and gender focused partners with active responses in Ukraine and the border countries, in support of local and national child protection authorities. This collective action will create an opportunity to identify concerns and gaps for joint advocacy and expanded partnerships beyond the consultations. The framework of the children’s consultations will be guided and adapted from similar inter-agency children’s consultations in Nepal (Children’s Earthquake Recovery Assessment) and the Rohingya Response in Bangladesh (Childhood Interrupted: Children’s Voices from the Rohingya Refugee Crisis) as well as more recent child consultations in Eastern Ukraine, before the crisis (Listen To Us: Girls’ and boys’ gendered experiences of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and Researching Unaccompanied and Separated Children on the Move: Lessons learned).

Moreover, as we see the strong government-led nature of the response, ensuring child and youth voices as advisory to the government is key. Exploring the right mechanisms for that, after the results of the first round of consultation is out, will be the second key step of the initiative. In consultation with local actors and national authorities, and guided by mapping of existing national and local child and youth advocacy structures, a system strengthening approach will be undertaken to ensure sustainability of existing or complementary child and youth-led advisory bodies that influence the response, act as strong advocacy elements, and ensure child and youth needs are being considered.

Subsequently, Plan International, Save the Children, UNICEF and UNHCR will collaborate to plan and deliver this inter-agency initiative in a phased approach, starting with Poland and Ukraine, thereafter, transitioning to Moldova and Romania.

This inter-agency initiative will purposely work with local partners in the focus countries to ensure ownership and capacity strengthening to support continuous children’s consultation throughout the programme cycle of the response. The phased approach will dedicate 6 – 8 weeks per cluster of two focus countries, with a replication of the process in the next phase – including country-focused adaptations.

3. Objectives for consultant

1. Conduct consultations with children (5 – 9 years) and adolescents (10 – 19 years) affected by the Ukraine crisis 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[3], Commitment 3[4], Commitment 4.6[5] and Commitment 5.1[6].
2. Conduct consultations with adolescents (10 –19) and young people (19 – 24) in 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. Map out the differential impact of the crisis amongst girls and boys of different ages and diversities as well as ethnic minorities represented in the displaced population.

Objectives for the three agencies

1. Raise the voices of children and young people to ensure their needs, perspectives and wishes are heard and understood by the national authorities, humanitarian community and international decision-makers and institutions (including UNSC, HRC, UNGA, EU and others).
2. Develop a targeted advocacy and communications Action Plan to amplify the voices of children, adolescent girls and young people, as directly as possible, to decision-makers both in response contexts and beyond.
3. 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, ensuring decisions makers remain responsive and accountable to the affected population.
4. Establish a Child Participation advisory group, linked to the inter-agency Child Protection Working Groups, to support long-term and impactful consultations and engagements across the focus countries within the Ukraine crisis response.

Purpose of consultancy

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

1. Lead engagement and coordination with Plan International, Save the Children, UNICEF and UNHCR focal points 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 and Save the Children 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, confidentiality 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 and member agencies (Plan International, Save the Children, UNICEF and UNHCR)
   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. Support development of a dissemination plan in consultation with the member agencies
   8. Any other relevant duties as identified/assigned

3. Field Testing

   1. Define and agree field testing criteria and data collection requirements with partner agencies and member agencies
   2. Collate inter-agency data and produce Inception Report to inform the final report.
   3. Pre-test the tools with children, adolescents and young people