Consultancy for Save the Children Denmark: Child and Youth Resilience Programme Revision At Save the Children Denmark

Background

Investing in resilience-building can boost children and young people’s well-being at all levels and make them better able to manage and cope with adversity. In addition, strengthening both the capacities of caregivers and community support mechanisms ensures a supportive and protective environment for the children and young people, which is a precondition for their thriving and well-being. These are the key focus areas of Save the Children’s Child and Youth Resilience Programmes (CYR Programme). The main objective of the programmes is to promote coping skills and resilience among children and youth in order to support their protection, psychosocial well-being and healthy development. Non-clinical, participatory and creative methods are used to build personal skills as well as protective social networks for children and youth at all levels: family, friends and community.

Through a process of carefully selected games and activities, children’s knowledge, skills and confidence are built, so that they are better equipped to learn, participate and thrive. The resilience promoting activities are selected based on modern methods inspired by neuroscience and other advances in child development research.

Additionally, activities are undertaken to reduce risks and strengthen protective factors within the community, including enhancing community referral mechanisms. The programs can also be linked with additional community activities, such as child/youth clubs and networks, child protection committees, advocacy initiatives, and various community forums.

Save the Children’s Child and Youth Resilience Programmes consist of two different programmes:
THE CHILD RESILIENCE PROGRAMME – developed in 2010 by Save the ChildrenDenmark and the Psychosocial Centre ofthe International Federation of Red Crossand Red Crescent Societies.
THE YOUTH RESILIENCE PROGRAMME – developed in 2015 by Save the Children Denmark on behalf of the Child Protection Global Theme of Save the Children. It is an independent continuation of the Child Resilience Programme.

The Child Resilience Programme is primarily for children aged 10-15 years, while the Youth Resilience Programme is developed for young people aged 14-20, and has the flexibility for the young people to participate in the identification and selection of key topics to focus on during the workshops.

Child and Youth Resilience programmes have been rolled out extensively in Save the Children, and by 2017, more than 25 countries had implemented the programs across different contexts. They have been adapted to address different issues (including children with disabilities and children at risk of sexual and gender based violence), and for incorporation into programmes such as the Arsenal Sports programme. Significantly, they have also been adopted in a couple of Save the Children’s Common Approaches. The CYR Programme forms the basis for the child and youth sessions in the Save the Children’s Safe Families Common Approach. The Youth Resilience Programme has been selected as one of the possible curricula country offices can choose to use within the Lifeskills for Success Common Approach.

Significant feedback has been received from countries implementing the programmes over this period, as well as important advances in understanding of child development. Furthermore, new thematic areas, such as climate change, are emerging where the importance of integrating a focus on children’s mental health and psychosocial wellbeing is becoming increasingly evident. The Nordic Road Map on MHPSS in Fragile and Humanitarian Settings, and the corresponding open pledges from the 2nd Nordic Conference on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in March 2024, highlighted the critical need for commitment and action to better integrate gender considerations within MHPSS, as well as mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in the context of the climate crisis. As the Child and Youth Resilience programme has proven to be a strong foundation for working with children and caregivers on building critical knowledge and life skills across different topics, this provides a good opportunity for putting into action our pledges, as Save the Children, to invest in better integration of MHPSS, gender and climate change.

It is therefore timely and important to review the Child and Youth Resilience manuals and consider relevant updates particular in the area of gender and disability inclusion, as well as potential investments in additional workshops in the areas of gender, SGBV and climate change. This is critical to ensure that the programme stays up to date and effective and is able to support children and young people around the world, and respond to the key risks they are facing.

Objective of the consultancy

The objective of the consultancy is to update existing Child and Youth Resilience material and develop new content to ensure the Child and Youth Resilience programmes are able to contribute effectively and inclusively to gender and climate change programming, including strengthening the integration of MHPSS.

Deliverables of the consultancy:

Consultation report with recommendations for:
- relevance of the CYR Programme within gender and climate change programming and relevant existing tools and possible programme design
- revisions to be made to current manuals
- new workshops to be developed
- contextualization
Four updated manuals (2 for Child Resilience and 2 for Youth Resilience), with:
- revisions to existing workshops to include relevant gender, SGBV, disability inclusion and climate considerations
- approximately 3-5 new workshops in identified priority areas around gender, SGBV and climate
Guidance on building gender and climate change tracks to support programme development, including linking with other relevant programmes such as Girls Decide, and contextualisation / building on local knowledge and practices.

Tasks

Familiarization by consultant(s) with content of Child and Youth Resilience manuals and accompanying resources (training package etc). Consider: gender sensitivity; disability inclusion; participation; and contextualisation.
Conduct consultations with 12 interviews/FGDs from COs, key colleagues and/or local partner organisations, who have implemented the Child and Youth Resilience programme, or a programme which has been influenced by it. Including:

4 Regional MHPSS Advisors (FGD)
4 Regional CP Advisors (from perspective of CYR programmes and Safe Families) (FGD)
Interviews with countries (Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Mali, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Jordan (play based adaptation), Solomon Islands, Denmark- including where possible reps from partner organisations who have implemented the programme) and technical advisors which have implemented the programme (at least 8 interviews)
Safe Families Focal Points
Girls Decide key actors
3. Identify key topics and content for inclusion in new modules on climate, gender and SGBV
Conduct 8-10 interviews and/or small focus group discussions with:
- Gender advisors in 2 or 3 SPA countries where CYR has been implemented
- SCD Senior Gender Advisor
- SCD Senior Climate Advisors
- SGBV Advisor (CPHT)
- CP technical advisors with experience in MHPSS and DRR
- The MHPSS Collaborative
- SCI MHPSS Global Lead
- Climate, DRR and gender technical advisors from SCI, from local partner organisations, and other organisations as relevant.
Review other relevant programmes from SC and other agencies where sessions could be drawn from (DRR, climate change and anticipatory action, Girls Decide)

4. Produce consultation report and key recommendations for the updating of the manuals

5. Presentation of findings to SC and agreement on next steps

6. Content co-creation workshops with youth advisory groups to engage youth in the development process, and agree content and methodology for new workshops – two groups, one working on the SGBV content, and the other on the climate workshops. These activities can be conducted by a second consultant.

Input into the development of plan for co-creation process with youth advisory groups
Provide content for review and discussion by the youth advisory groups based on the recommendations from the consultation.
Engage in the workshops, with time split between both, to help guide content development based on the feedback from the consultations (provisional plan, dependent on design of youth co-creation process)
Ensure clarity and agreement on content for the new CYR workshops by the end of the week, to enable write up and inclusion in CYR manuals.

7. Based on consultation recommendations, and youth content co-creation workshops, update existing manuals and develop 3-5 new workshops:

a. Strengthening of CYR programme around gender:

Update of existing workshops to be gender sensitive and transformative where possible
Address key gaps in the programme, particularly to be gender transformative, and gaps around SGBV, as per priorities identified during consultation (possible areas include grooming, legal aspects, child early forced marriage) by:
1. Identifying if there are workshops in other programmes which can be drawn on
2. Developing new workshops IF necessary
3. Develop guidance on building a gender track, including how to programme with other key programmes eg Girls Decide where relevant

b. Strengthening of CYR programme on climate change

Develop a simple integrated conceptual framework for psychosocial- and climate resilience (including: how psychosocial resilience fits with climate resilience; what are the key skills and knowledge critical to work with children affected by climate shocks; how to integrate CYR into Anticipatory Action activities; CYR as a foundation for further AA activities by groups etc)
Integrate climate considerations into introductory workshops for both Child and Youth Resilience, as well as within other key workshops as relevant
Revise the Child Resilience Children Affected by Disaster track to incorporate a climate change focus throughout, and bring in line with other SC DRR resources (the disaster track is the least used track, and some content issues have been raised previously)
Develop approximately 2-3 climate specific workshops for children and youth
Adapt additional workshops for youth resilience if relevant (the Youth Resilience does not currently contain any DRR focused workshops)
Develop guidance on building a climate track including how to programme with other key programmes where relevant

c. Update manuals to integrate critical revisions related to disability inclusion; participation; contextualisation; and any other critical areas identified during the consultation and agreed with SC[1].

8. Review and update training materials based on updates and new workshops where relevant.

Timeline
The consultancy would start in September or October 2024, ending no later than 31st December 2024. It will be divided in three parts, with a specific workplan for Part 2 & 3 being developed at the end of Part 1, outlining agreement on revisions and new workshops to be developed.

There will be a total of either 43 days or 38 working days depending on securing resources for part 2.

Part 1: Initial Review and Consultations

Review Child and Youth Resilience manuals and accompanying resources
- Who: Consultant
- Level of Effort (LoE): 4 days
Develop an inception report
- Task: Outline methodology and create a detailed work plan
- Who: Consultant
- LoE: 1 day
Conduct consultations with 12 Country Offices, local partner organizations, or key colleagues
- Task: Interview or conduct focus group discussions (FGDs) with those who have implemented or been influenced by the Child and Youth Resilience program
- Who: Consultant (with support from Save the Children (SCD) to set up and develop interview guides; budget provided for translation if needed)
- LoE: 4 days
Conduct 8-10 interviews or small focus groups
- Task: Identify key topics for inclusion in new modules on climate and gender
- Who: Consultant (with support from SCD for setup)
- LoE: 3 days
Review relevant programs from Save the Children and other agencies
- Task: Identify activities or sessions on new topics that could be integrated
- Who: Consultant
- LoE: 2 days
Produce consultation report with key recommendations
- Who: Consultant
- LoE: 1 day
Workshop to discuss recommendations and agree on priority updates
- Participants: Consultant, SCD Project Lead, and Advisory Group (selected focal points from Child Protection, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), Climate)
- LoE: 1 day
Agree on work plan for Parts 2 and 3
- Who: Consultant, SCD Project Lead
- LoE: 1 day

Part 2: Co-creation with Youth Advisory Groups (Provisional Plan)

Collaborate on the development of a plan for the co-creation process
- Task: Develop content for gender and climate tracks with youth advisory groups (led under a separate consultancy)
- Who: Consultant, Youth Process Lead, SCD Project Lead
- LoE: 2 days
Engage in co-creation workshops with youth advisory groups
- Who: Consultant, Youth Process Lead
- LoE: 5 days (plus 2 days for travel)

Part 3: Manual Updates and Content Development

Update existing manuals and develop 3-5 new thematic workshops
- Who: Consultant
- LoE: 11 days
Develop guidance on building gender and climate change tracks
- Task: Support program development
- Who: Consultant
- LoE: 2 days
Review and update training materials based on new content
- Who: Consultant
- LoE: 2 days
Incorporate feedback from Save the Children advisory group
- Who: Consultant
- LoE: 2 days
Coordinate with SCD Project Lead
- Who: Consultant, SCD Project Lead
- LoE: 1 day

Total Level of Effort (LoE)

Total Days: 43 days (including separate workshop consultancy)

Competencies required– either as an individual or within a team of consultants

Familiarity with the Child and Youth Resilience programme or adaptation
Significant experience in developing workshop manuals and training materials
Significant experience in leading consultative processes
Significant knowledge and experience from the field of MHPSS, including resilience & recovery, child development, working with parents & caregivers.
At least 5 to 7 years of humanitarian/development work experience with technical expertise in the areas of: MHPSS in integrated programming, gender and SGBV, climate change, disability inclusion, and participation.
A high level of written and spoken English.

[1] For example some projects have included sleep hygiene.