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
Our work on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) has grown over the past decade and is underpinned by a gender-transformative approach aiming to tackle root causes of gender inequality and shifting unequal power relations that shape the prevailing social and gender norms that control girls’ sexuality.
Our key investment areas for SRHR are:
• Comprehensive sexuality education and dialogue
• Quality adolescent- and gender-responsive SRHR services
• Targeted support for adolescent girls and young women most-at-risk
• Child, early, and forced marriage and unions, and female genital mutilation / cutting.
Introduction & Background
My Body My Future 2 (MBMF2) is a gender transformative multi-country Programme funded by the Finish Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 2022-2025. The long-term vision for the programme is that children, adolescents, and youth (CAY) in all their diversity have control over their bodies and futures in a healthy, safe and supportive environment. MBMF2 aims at transforming gendered power relations and tackling the root causes of gender inequality and exclusion at the level of individual, families, communities and the state. To achieve this, the MBMF2 Theory of Change (ToC) outlines a multi-component approach to SRHR which combines the scaling up of SRHR education, improving quality and youth-friendliness of SRH services and encourages increased societal and political acceptance of CAY’s sexuality.
A social and gender norms diagnosis was carried out under MBMF2, with the behaviour of interest being “access and use of contraception among youth 15-18”. The findings aimed to inform programme development and policy and influencing work, including SBCC strategies and approaches.
Requirements
This consultancy will strengthen SBCC for adolescents’ and young people’s SRHR knowledge and skills, with a focus on new social and behaviour change methodologies; and document and review SBCC for adolescents’ and young people’s SRHR in selected MBMF2 countries, with a view to advance SBCC strategies based on the social and gender norms diagnosis and current practice, as well as systematically in the programme.
Specific objectives
Part A:
- To design and deliver two internal global webinars to strengthen SBCC for adolescents’ and young people’s SRHR knowledge and understanding, including sharing best practices from the SRHR sector
- To do a desk review of MBFM2 project documents, including the social and gender norms diagnosis, the analysis briefs of the selected projects and the programme mid-term review.
- To strengthen Plan Finland’s Technical Advisors’ SBCC for adolescents’ and young people’s SRHR knowledge and skills, with a focus on new social and behaviour change methodologies, and how to take these into consideration in programme design
Part B:
- To understand how selected countries are doing SBCC for adolescents’ and young people’s SRHR in their current programming, what type of actions, activities, strategies they are using that would fall under the umbrella of SBCC and how they are doing it?
- Based on the above assessment, to provide recommendations per country involved (project-level) on how to advance SBCC for adolescents’ and young people’s SRHR, with a focus on taboo topics such as contraception, and how to engage key gatekeepers. Key questions include
- How can we better design SBCC for adolescents’ and young people’s SRHR?
- How can we better do SBCC for adolescents’ and young people’s SRHR? With a focus on methodologies and approaches, including messages/messaging that would work with a specific key reference groups (in which some of their members see for example contraception as a moral issue) as well as audience segmentation and media channels and formats used.
- How can we do participatory messaging development? With a particular focus on adults in the lives of young people, e.g. parents.
3. To provide recommendations for the future around how we can further advance SBCC for SRHR systematically in the programme (and its future iterations). Key questions include:
- How can the SBCC design be better guided by SBC theory of change?
- What are the key components we need to work on to do this effectively? What type of format/media can we strengthen across projects for advancing SBCC for adolescents’ and young people’s SRHR?
- How can we do participatory messaging development? With a particular focus on adults in the lives of young people, e.g. parents.
Overall approach
It is expected that the consultant will work in a collaborative manner with staff in the Plan International Global SRHR Hub and Plan Finland, maintaining open communication as the work progresses.
Part A will include:
- Desk review (3 days)
- Two global webinars (2 days)
- One-to-one sessions with FLNO Advisors over a period of six months (3 days)
Total for part A: 8 days
Part B will include:
- 1 FGD with country teams, including partners (2 hours)
- Potentially 3 FGDs with Zimbabwe and Laos and Myanmar (1.5 days)
- 1-hour KIIs with focal points from selected countries to gather more information. This will potentially be 6 in total (2 per country), (3 days).
- 1 feedback session after recommendations have been developed, also to validate what will be integrated. This will be 2-hour sessions for 3 countries. This will also work as a coaching session where teams can ask questions and get advice on how to move forward (1.5 days)
Total for Part B: 7 days
Deliverables:
- Part A: a strengthening plan and feedback document detailing session outcomes and recommendations (1 day)
- Part B: A comprehensive report (12-15 pages) including information about the process, findings and recommendations, both at Country project-level and overall programme-level. The introduction should include information about how SBCC was conceptualised (5 days). And a 2-hour webinar presentation on process and findings, including recommendations (1 day for prep and session).
Management and timeframe
The consultant will report directly to Emebet Wuhib-Mutungi, Hub and Programme Lead: SRHR. The manager will convene a small internal reference group with Plan Finland technical staff, to provide additional technical insight and feedback to the consultancy.
It is anticipated that Part A of this assignment will take up to 9 working days between December 2024 to April 2025. And part B of this assignment will take up to 13 working days between February and June 2025.
Consultant Profile
- Post-graduate qualification in international health, public health with a focus on health promotion, or strategic communication/social and behaviour change communication (SBCC)
- Strong SBCC for SRHR background and a strong understanding of young people’s sexual wellbeing
- Experience in training and/or coaching
- Strong inclusion technical skills, with a focus on disability and SOGIESC
- Practical experience in the development sector including SBCC programming at the field level and preferably across multiple countries and cultures
- Good understanding of child rights, gender equality and inclusion and participatory approaches
- Strong analytical skills and strategic thinking
- Excellent English writing skills
How to apply
Please email [email protected] for a full pack of RFQ documents, ensure your email includes the subject line “RFQ FY25-190 – Strengthen SBCC for adolescents’ and young people’s SRHR”.