Consultancy on Interagency Community Outreach and Communication Fund on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA)

Location: Home based

Contract: Consultancy

Starting date and duration: Up to 10 working days, starting from 08 August 2024. Detailed workplan to be developed with ICVA.

About ICVA

Founded in 1962, ICVA (International Council of Voluntary Agencies) is a global network of over 160 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) active in 160 countries, operating at global, regional, national and local levels, whose mission is to make humanitarian action more principled and effective by working collectively and independently to influence policy and practice. ICVA promotes and facilitates effective NGO engagement in the humanitarian sector, with a focus on Forced Migration, Humanitarian Coordination, Humanitarian Financing, and transformative cross-cutting systems-strengthening issues, including climate change, localisation, diversity and inclusion.

Background to Consultancy

Raising community awareness on the risks of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) committed by aid workers is critical in the prevention of SEA, as well as ensuring that survivors know where and how to safely report SEA when it does take place. Local stakeholders have noted the need for effective, updated information, education and communication (IEC) materials on PSEA that are tailored to local cultural contexts, operational realities, the groups that are most at risk, and which take into account, among others, levels of literacy, languages, age and capacity.

To support NGOs in meeting these needs, in February 2020, UNHCR and ICVA partnered to launch the PSEA Community Outreach and Communication Fund. The Fund aims to support the critical work of NGOs in preventing situations of sexual exploitation and abuse by ensuring all affected people know that humanitarian assistance is never conditional on transactions or exchanges of any kind. Moreover, the Fund invests in community-led efforts to ensure that communities and SEA survivors know how and where to safely report allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation. The initiative is rooted in the recognition that local capacities and expertise, including that of affected communities themselves, are indispensable to effectively reinforcing protection from sexual exploitation and abuse.

Since its launch in 2020, the PSEA Fund has been met with a vast interest from NGOs, community-based organisations, safeguarding experts and other humanitarian actors involved in PSEA activities, operating in all regions and humanitarian contexts. 56 projects have been supported so far, which developed materials in some 50 languages, tailored to reach over 20 different Age, Gender, Diversity profiles through 60 types of materials, including print, video, audio, community discussion guides, workshops and trainings, amongst others.

Now in its fifth round, the Fund will provide rapid, targeted financial support to NGOs that lack the resources to develop and disseminate PSEA outreach and communication materials, and to make available to all IASC members and the wider sector the materials developed through the Fund for their further use or adaptation. In line with these objectives, the outcomes envisioned are that communication materials and strategies on PSEA are more effectively tailored to local needs and contexts, more accessible; that members of communities have greater awareness of their right to receive protection and assistance free from SEA, and that they know where and how to safely report concerns or incidents regarding SEA.

Consultancy Objectives

With this consultancy, ICVA aims to support the review and selection of eligible applications, giving priority consideration to proposals that outline a clear need to strengthen communication with communities on PSEA, demonstrate consultation with affected people in the development of their proposals as well as meaningful efforts to sustain this engagement throughout the lifespan of the project and beyond. The proposals will be evaluated based on criteria that is included in the Call for Applications and that will be shared with the consultant.

The final selection of the proposals will be carried out by the Fund’s Steering Group, made of subject-matter experts from NGOs, NGO networks and UN agencies. Since its launch in 2020, the PSEA Fund has received a large number of applications each year, showing that there is indeed a significant gap in PSEA outreach and communication and that there is interest in carrying out such projects. The consultant will carry the main bulk of the application screening and review in order to create a shortlist for the Steering Group.

Reporting Lines

The consultant will work in close collaboration and report to ICVA’s Senior Policy Officer PSEAH and Diversity and Policy Officer.

Consultant requirements, competencies and skills:

• Previous experience working in the humanitarian sector including relevant experience in the field of PSEA, safeguarding, accountability to affected populations (AAP) and/or protection.
• Experience in proposal review preferred.
• Fluent in English with good working knowledge of French and/or Spanish or fluent in French, with good working knowledge of English and/or Spanish. Knowledge of other languages is a plus.
• Ability to review a large number of applications in a short time while evaluating their quality and relevance.
• Proven ability to work autonomously and meet agreed deadlines with limited direct oversight.

Note: Throughout the work, the consultant must be registered in accordance with legal requirements in their country of residence and must be able to submit documentation that proves that she/ he is meeting all legal obligations for the consultancy, including full compliance with ICVA regulations including its safeguarding policy.