TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL CARE PROFESSIONAL USER GUIDE FOR SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES SOMALIA

Introduction
SOS Children’s Villages International is the umbrella organization to which all SOS Children’s Villages including
SOS Children’s Villages Somalia Association is affiliated. SOS Children’s Villages Somalia has officially been
working in Somalia since 1985. SOS is currently working in 134 countries worldwide. We are committed to the
welfare of children – often throughout the whole of their childhood, and to strengthening families and
communities as a preventive measure in the fight against abandonment and social neglect. SOS Childrens
Village Somalia was registered as a national organization of the international umbrella organization of SOS
Childrens Villages in 1983 and is a non-political, non-governmental organization. The program activities with
the components of Health, Nutrition, Protection, Family strengthening and Family based alternative child care
are carried out by highly qualified employees at two program locations (Heliwaa, Badbado) in Mogadishu and
Baidoa.
SOS CV Village Somalia seeks to recruit a consultant to undertake the development of the national care
professional user guide which aims to support MAs to implement commitment Number 5 of the SOS Care
Promise, i.e. “We promote and continuously strengthen the care profession”.
SOS CV Somalia build families for children in need, to help them shape their own futures and to share in the
development of their communities. the care solutions are always aligned to the best interests of each individual
child; the needs of the local community, which are met through locally-led programme adaptations; the
international frameworks guiding our work; the experience and expertise of our dedicated staff at all levels of
the organization. SOS CV’s care solutions include alternative care and family strengthening. An
understanding of SOS parenting duties is also grounded in the knowledge of academic fields such as education
and psychology. Specific skills are required to apply this knowledge and put what has been learnt into practice.
Background and Rationale
SOS Children’s Villages has been providing alternative care for children without adequate parental care for
more than seventy years with over 35 years of continued child care services and humanitarian work in Somalia.
While also diversifying into other interventions in recent times, SOS family care continues to be the core service
in most member associations, both in terms of resources invested and co-workers employed.
When children lose the care of their family, the state authority tries to find the right placement for them. For the
children placed with SOS Children’s Villages, SOS parents and other care professionals such as foster parents
and youth care workers step into the role of the caregiver. Their aim is to ensure that children receive quality
care, based on the development of stable and lasting relationships in a caring family environment. Caregivers
need to be able to support the children in coping with their adverse experiences, realizing their rights and
developing their potential.
The SOS parent provides quality care and protection to children and young people placed in SOS family care
by the state authority. The SOS parent lives and works with a maximum of eight children and young people (or
the national legal standard) in an SOS family, creating a safe and caring family environment. She/he
cooperates with a supervisor, a multidisciplinary team, the children’s families of origin and the community (e.g.,
neighborhood, schools, sports clubs, etc.) in meeting the needs of the children and young people.
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All these undertakings require a professional approach in order to achieve the objectives of the Programme. A
key strategy in ensuring professionalism among the parents in the SOS CV Village Somalia is the development
and implementation of the SOS Parent Profession User Guide.
It is against this background that SOS CV international, in 2020, developed the SOS Parent Profession User
Guide aimed at strengthening SOS parents to ensure Quality SOS family care. The guide focuses on the
specific requirements for the SOS parent profession and describes profile, required competencies, recruitment,
onboarding and preparation as well as ongoing learning and development opportunities, all of which aim to
meet current and foreseeable internal and external requirements.
However, the children’s village faces many challenges in implementing the Parent Profession User Guide
among them lack of internal capacity, lack a clear implementation framework at the national level, and lack of
clear understanding of the internal and external care profession landscape.
In light of the above; the need to develop a tailored, context-relevant and practical national care development
user guide for the SOS MA becomes critical and as result, SOS CV Somalia intends to engage in an
experienced consultant with previous experience and expertise on child care programming and the
development of such manual in line with SOS CV International user guide and SOS CV Somalia’s strategic
plan of 2020.
Purpose and Objective
The overall objective of this assignment is for the consultant to undertake the task of the development of the
national care professional user guide for the SOS CV Somalia which will promote and strengthen alternative
care programming in Somalia.
Specific Objectives of the assignment
The consultant is required to undertake the task of developing an implementation framework based on the
following specific objectives:
• To develop an SOS CV Somalia national care professional user guide which is context-relevant and
tailored to SOS CV Somalia operating AC Programming and relevant national laws and policies.
• Assess and highlight SOS CV Somalia’s weakness, readiness and capacity to implement the SOS Parent
Profession User Guide and recommend measures to ensure effective implementation.
• To assess or map out the national internal and external “care profession landscape”
Scope of Work
Geographically the consultant will work within the Benadir region and will travel to locations within the Benadir
region.
The followings are some of the key activities/actions that the consultant is expected to do:
• Assess and review SOS CV Somalia Alternative care programming by visiting the children’s village and
engaging with the relevant program staff.
• Review existing implementation processes in line with reviewed literature and context of SOS CV Somalia.
This includes documentation of case management procedures, external policies, tools and systems.
• Review the existing SOS Parent Profession User Guide and other care professional guides and adapt what
is relevant for the context of Somalia.
• identify and isolate specific gaps based on the global, regional and national agenda and perspectives
• Review literature on the internal and external care profession landscape, legal and policy frameworks,
guidelines and strategies, which relate to the parent profession user guidelines.
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Methodology
The consultant is expected to adapt and use a mixed method approach for this assignment and includes the
following but not limited to: –
• Desk based review of the existing framework, including laws and statistical reports.
• Detailed Review of SOS CV International Care Professional user guider and other similar guides.
• Key informant interviews to be conducted with relevant program staff including co-workers, mothers and
aunties providing care support to children.
• Conducting a Programme location assessment in SOS CV Somalia operational area in the Benadir region.
• Facilitate a workshop on the content of the developed manual ‘validation
• The consultant drafts the report based on the discussions and data.
Key Deliverable
• The development of a national care professional user guide for SOS CV Somalia which is relevant, context
-tailored.
• Facilitate 4 days workshop on the use of the use developed manual for the program team
Duration of the Work
The consultant is expected to submit the first draft of the manual in accordance within 20 days upon signing of
the contract and the 2
nd and final draft a week after the review. The consultant will work closely with SOS CV
alternative care team in Mogadishu and will be supervised by the program director.
Selection Criteria
The following criteria that will be used for the selection of the successful consultant are as follows:
• Level of expertise and experience of the consultant in the development of similar and related care
professional manuals.
• Timetable/work plan: The timetable/work plan is realistic and meet the needs of the project
• Cost: The cost of the proposal given the availability of data, analysis, method, and other aspects of the
proposal are reasonable and feasible.
• Proposals should include a section on how the consultant understands the assignment, methodological
approach, a detailed work plan, costs with clear breakdowns, and CV of the consultant.
Guideline Format
The national care professional manual will take the below format in terms of structure and can be further finetuned after the initial drafting. The guide should be presented in concise with a maximum length of 20 pages
including an Executive Summary. All confidential information should be kept in a separate annex to protect
participants. The final report should be provided electronically and in hard copy.
The report format below must be strictly adhered to:
Cover page
o Title of Need Assessment report
o Country, programme, date of assessment
o Name and contacts information of consultant
Executive summary (maximum 2 pages; cross-reference pages or paragraphs in the main body)
o Assessed action
o Purpose and methodology (incl. limitations and challenges)
o Main conclusions, recommendations, and lessons learned
Main body
o The structure of the main body is determined by the desired results (See 2.3)
o For each key conclusion, there should be a corresponding recommendation that is realistic, pragmatic,
and operational
Annexes
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o Terms of Reference
o List of persons interviewed and sites visited
o Map of areas covered by the programme
o Bibliography/references
o Data collection instruments/tools.
o GPS enabled photos
Profile of the consultant (Qualifications)
The consultant is expected to closely collaborate with the program unit and MEAL department. The consultant
should have the following qualifications and experiences: –
• Master of social science, sociology, child rights development, education and public policy development.
• At least 5-8 years of practical experience in conducting assessments in the area of the child protection
system approach
• Demonstrate expertise and experience in conducting similar assessments
• Excellent analytical, oral and written communication skills in English
• Proven experience in conducting assignments in complex institutional environments
• Demonstrated experience in report writing
• Knowledge of the region and practical work experience in the country is a strong asset
• Practical knowledge on the situation of vulnerable children (and ideally of children without parental care
and those at risk of losing parental care in the country)
• Knowledge of legislation, policies, strategies and programmes related to this target group in the location.
• Able to work independently to collect the information of the target group from the said locations
Additionally, the consultant (individual/firm) should provide;
• A detailed CV of the lead evaluator/consultant as well as name(s) and basic information of the consulting
firm submitting the proposal.
• Names and professional qualifications of the representatives of the firm that will be conducting the study.
• List of the firms or entities, including the names and contact information, for which the bidder had
conducted similar studies. Include a brief summary of the purpose of the study and any measurable
results to date.
• A detailed description of the approach or process that will be undertaken to gather data/information,
including identifying potential enumerators, conducting personal and/or group interview sessions.
• Describe the methods for presenting the findings, conclusions, and recommendations that will enable
SOS Children’s Villages Somalia and potential stakeholders to make informed decisions.
• Provide a schedule and time frame for completion of the study.
• The applicants will acknowledge receipt of all Addenda, if any, in their proposals.
Child Safeguarding and Code of Conduct
SOS Children’s Villages organization is committed to safeguarding the rights of the children and
therefore, it is expected that every individual who joins or working with SOS Children’s Villages Somalia
understand his/her responsibility in protecting and keeping children safe always. SOS Children’s villages
Code of Conduct sets out the standards which all staff members must adhere to and the consultant is
bound to sign and abide to the SOS Children’s villages Code of Conduct.
A contract will be signed by the consultant before commencement of the action. The contract will detail
terms and conditions of service, aspects on inputs and deliverables. The Consultant will be expected to
treat as private and confidential any information disclosed to her/him or with which she/he may come into
contact during her/his service. The Consultant will not therefore disclose the same or any particulars
thereof to any third party or publish it in any paper without the prior written consent of SOS Children’s
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villages. Any sensitive information (particularly concerning individual children) should be treated as
confidential.
An agreement with a consultant will be rendered void if SOS Children’s villages Somalia discovers any
corrupt activities have taken place either during the sourcing, preparation and implementation of the
consultancy agreement.
Payment Modality
Payment will be made in two installments as indicated below
• 1
st Instalment: The consultant shall receive 40% of the total agreed amount upon signing of the contract
• 2
nd Instalment: The consultant shall receive the remaining 60% after the submission of the final approved
manual (two rounds of reviews envisaged in the process)