Request for Proposals for Endline Evaluation of the Addressing Child Trafficking & Slavery (ACTS) Project (Funded by GFEMS) At Hope for Justice

1. Description of the Request

Hope for Justice Uganda are procuring a consultant/s to carry out an endline evaluation of the ACTS project which contributes towards a reduction of Child Sexual Exploitation through improving trauma informed care services for survivors across Uganda.

1. About Hope for Justice

Hope for Justice is a global charity organisation that currently operates in more than 30 locations across five continents. Using a trauma informed approach, Hope for Justice programmes aim to end modern slavery by preventing exploitation, rescuing victims, restoring lives and reforming society. In Uganda, Hope for Justice operates four shelters (approved children’s homes called Lighthouses) where children rescued from trafficking and exploitative situations are supported with key tailor-made restorative care in preparation for eventual reintegration into their families/communities or alternative care. Hope for Justice programmes are also designed to influence the attitudes and systems that lead to unsafe family-child separation and work with vulnerable families and communities to build their capacity to protect children and hence reduce vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation.

1. PROJECT OVERVIEW

The project is led by Hope for Justice UK working through its country office in Uganda, the University of Nottingham Rights Lab, UK, and Platform for Labour Action, Uganda (PLA). Hope for Justice has a known presence and reputation in working with child victims and survivors of modern slavery in Uganda; the Rights Lab is world-renowned for its research and practice in combatting modern slavery, and PLA specialises in the provision of legal and vocational support to children and young people who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). The Addressing Child Trafficking and Slavery (ACTS) project was designed to deliver an integrated suite of activities at multiple levels in order to address issues surrounding the commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and trafficking of children in Kampala. The ACTS project is part of a portfolio of projects funded by GFEMS in East Africa.

The project will close at the end of October 2022.

The overall intended impact of the project is that it contributes towards reduced prevalence of modern slavery among child victims of sexual exploitation and forced labour in Kampala, Uganda.

Project Outcomes:

1. Children and households have reduced vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation through sustainable reintegration and economic strengthening.
2. Trauma-informed care for survivors of trafficking is standardised across multiple structures to enable better support and navigation through justice systems and referral services.
3. Practitioners respond effectively to victims and survivors of trafficking through engagement with and training in trauma-informed care models.

Project Objectives:

1. To provide trauma-informed care (TIC) services for child victims of commercial sexual exploitation, and facilitate access to vocational, educational, legal, and economic opportunities for children to reduce vulnerability to trafficking and enable sustainable livelihoods.

Associated activities:

1. 1. Rescue children and provide Lighthouse-based rehabilitation activities, including shelter, psychotherapy, life skills training, healthcare, hygiene lessons, and basic education.
   2. Provide vocational training/apprenticeships programs
   3. Assist survivors in pursuing legal action, including the filings of police reports, provide legal advice and prepare survivors as witnesses for court sessions.
   4. Identify households in need of economic strengthening support and provide material support, capacity building, and coaching.
2. In participation with relevant civil society, government and survivor representatives, to develop comprehensive, evidence-based standards of trauma informed care (SOC) for survivors of trafficking, intended to guide and inform the provision of care by all relevant stakeholders in Uganda.

Associated activities:

1. 1. Undertake a comprehensive global evidence review of the provision of trauma informed care to survivors of trafficking
   2. Engage relevant stakeholder groups to guide and inform SOC development.
   3. Publish and disseminate the SOC and associated targeted resources.
2. To strengthen the Coalition Against Trafficking in Persons in Uganda (CATIPU) and to enhance the network’s operations and sustainability.

Associated activities:

1. 1. Review of CATIPU background, strategy and structure
   2. Engage CATIPU members to develop relationships, and identify and prioritize areas of focus
   3. Develop and deliver up to three priority work packages
2. To support and build capacity for key practitioners and stakeholders through the provision of training, immersive learning, and resources for TIC-modelled programming.

Associated activities:

Provide:

1. Life skills training;
2. Reintegration training;
3. Foster care trainings
4. Judicial officers training
5. Immersive learning training

Summary of Anticipated Reach at the End of the Project

Overall, this project aimed to reach 1,060 beneficiaries; 700 direct beneficiaries comprising children, training participants, and individual CATIPU members who participate in ACTS project’s activities (180 children, 270 caregivers and 250 CATIPU participants/members and justice actors) and 360 indirect beneficiaries comprised of children from reintegration households that receive IGA grants respectively.

1. OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE OF THE REQUEST

The purpose of the endline evaluation is to determine the extent to which projects aims were achieved along with the value and appropriateness of the selected approaches, to include:

Reducing vulnerability to trafficking

1. Assess the extent to which the services that were provided to children through the Lighthouse contributed to reduced vulnerability to trafficking[1]
   1. To what extent do Lighthouse Trauma Informed Care services lead to improved wellbeing & safe reintegration of girls to their families?
   2. To what extent have the relevant accountability processes and mechanisms enabled the meaningful participation of intended beneficiaries?
   3. To what extent have legal services led to survivors of CSEC participating, safely and effectively, in the legal process of pursuing cases against their traffickers?

Stakeholder Engagement

1. Consider the nature and extent of the CATIPU network’s development as a consequence of project activities.
   1. What are CATIPU members perspectives on the value, usefulness, and appropriateness of the project’s Network Strengthening activities?

Standard of Care Resources

1. Evaluate the newly developed Standards of Trauma Informed Care (SOC), including the processes utilized in their development, and recommendations for their future use.
   1. What factors may affect the extent to which CATIPU member organizations implement the TIC Standards?
   2. To what extent do participant stakeholders feel their input and contributions where incorporated through the standard of care development process?

Immersive Learning Centre & training

1. Assess the capacity building trainings provided to build participants’ knowledge and skills in providing trauma informed care services by participating project partners.
   1. Assess the design, delivery and impact of the Immersive Learning Centre (ILC) programme
   2. To what extent have ILC program learners adopted and incorporated their learnings in their individual organisations?
   3. Provide recommendations for sustainability and scale up
   4. To what extent have participants applied knowledge and skills acquired from the reintegration; life-skills and TIC training for stakeholders in the Justice sector (including law enforcement, prosecutors, Ugandan judiciary and other officials?

The project’s Learning Agenda (available to applicants prior to interview) provides additional questions to guide the evaluation.

It is encouraged to use the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Evaluation Criteria to inform the project assessment, this should form part of a draft methodology to include as part of the analysis:

• How has the project performed in terms of economy, efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, and sustainability; coherence and impact and how can this inform future work (definitions building on UK National Audit Office and the DAC criteria)?
  • Economy: the costs of inputs and resources of an intervention
  • Efficiency: was the project delivered efficiently?
  • Effectiveness: how far a programme achieved its intended outcomes, using qualitative and quantitative assessments of change
  • Relevance: how well did the programme’s activities fit with the overall goal and meet the needs of the beneficiaries
  • Sustainability: how well will the benefits of a programme continue after the programme is completed, both environmentally and financially?
  • Coherence: How well does the intervention fit?
  • Impact: what difference does the programme make?

1. Proposed Methodology

Prospective evaluation service providers should propose an appropriate evaluation design and methods to address the evaluation requirements and the key evaluation questions outlined above in section D of this ToR.

Hope for Justice will require evaluations to follow a participatory methodology, which enables beneficiaries, especially children to provide their feedback on the project’s work.

1. Expected Deliverables for this request

The contracted consultant/s is expected to deliver the following:

• Outline draft methodology and work plan (Inception Report) with costed budget, workplan and timeline
• Draft report, for feedback from Hope for Justice & partner staff
• Executive Summary of no more than 4 pages
• Presentation of findings, to be presented to Hope for Justice & partner staff for feedback
• Validation workshop of results with beneficiaries and stakeholders
• Final report (No longer than 50 pages, excluding annexes)

The final report should follow Hope for Justice guidance for reports, which will be shared with the consultant, and be in line with Hope for Justice Child Protection policy, which the consultant will be expected to sign and uphold.

[1] Lighthouse: Transitional Care Centre for children who have been commercially sexually exploited

Refer to the link for details of the TOR for for consultancy profile.

https://hopeforjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Request-for-Proposals-Endline-Evaluation-of-the-Addressing-Child-Trafficking-Slavery-ACTS-Project-Funded-by-GFEMS.docx

https://hopeforjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EVALUATION-CONSULTANCY-APPLICATION-FORM.docx