Evaluation of CSEC program in Brazil

Full job description

Eligibility

Individual researchers, organisations and consortia are invited to submit proposals for this evaluation. Applicants must have the capacity to conduct field work in and around the Recife metropolitan area (RMA). Applicants fully or partially based in Brazil will be prioritised. The Freedom Fund is particularly interested in working with consultants/teams that can demonstrate: (a) having members who are from the local communities where the evaluation will take place (b) a gender-balanced team, if applicable, ideally with at least half of the team members being female and (c) commitment to survivor-inclusive approaches.

Budget

A fee of approximately USD 130,000 has been made available for this endline evaluation. Budgets will be reviewed with respect to the strength of the proposal in meeting the project objectives in a cost-effective manner – we do not simply prioritise the lowest budget. This is a fixed price, fee for service contract.

Background to our work on commercial sexual exploitation of children in Brazil

The Freedom Fund is a global non-profit organisation that identifies and invests in the most effective frontline efforts to end human trafficking. We select key geographic areas – our hotspot programs – known to have high rates of trafficking and exploitation, and where our interventions are most likely to be impactful.

An estimated 100,000 to 500,000 children in Brazil are forced into situations of commercial sexual exploitation. Despite the staggering scale of the problem, CSEC remains almost invisible in the country. There are few official data recorded by law enforcement or government agencies. This lack of reliable data makes it difficult to develop effective public policies or program responses. Furthermore, the invisibility of CSEC is compounded by widespread community attitudes that either trivialise the problem or regard it as “normal” practice. Linked to this, there is very little known about perpetrators of CSEC, including who they are and why they choose to engage children in acts of commercial sexual exploitation.

The Freedom Fund has conducted in-depth research to contribute to knowledge about CSEC in the RMA. This includes a research project which used different quantitative methodologies to estimate the prevalence of CSEC in the RMA and a mixed methods research project which explored the characteristics of CSEC perpetrators in the RMA. The findings from both research projects have informed the design and implementation of our PEMS program and wider Com.Direitos program. Through our combined work, we aim to build strong effective partnerships with civil society actors to support vulnerable children and survivors gain the information and skills needed to protect themselves from, or safely exit, CSEC.

Evaluation objectives

The overall objective of the endline evaluation is toassess the effectiveness of the components of the program implemented under our PEMS grant (funded by The Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking). Annex I provides a description of the programmatic objectives and main activities under the PEMS grant.

To ensure an in-depth analysis of the program activities’ implementation and outcomes, the evaluation will be guided by the following evaluation questions:

• To what extent has the program influenced the quality of anti-trafficking efforts within the Recife Metropolitan Region? Specifically, is the program leading to improvements in the design and implementation of policies to address CSEC and contributing to better coordination amongst key stakeholders? (Arm 1)
• To what extent has the program contributed to CSEC victims safely exiting situations of exploitation and accessing sustainable livelihoods opportunities? (Arm 2)
• To what extent has the program contributed to the existence of an environment in schools that prevents children and adolescents from entering CSEC and helps them exiting situations of exploitation? (Arm 3)
• To what extent has the program influenced the quality of services available to CSEC victims, as well as survivors’ access to these services? (Arm 4)
• Are methodologies applied by the program, especially on prevention and support to survivors, leading to the expected results? Are they scalable? (Arm 5)

Evaluation methodology

The Freedom Fund invites applicants to propose a suitable methodology for achieving the objectives above. Across the five arms, we envision seeking inputs from more than 400 program participants, service users, NGO leaders and policy officials:

1. Government representatives and civil society stakeholders who have been either directly or indirectly influenced by Com.Direitos advocacy
2. Trainees under the apprentice program: economic empowerment outcomes
3. Teachers and students trained under Com.Direitos: changes in knowledge and practices, and reporting of CSEC cases
4. Frontline service workers (e.g. healthcare) trained under Com.Direitos: changes in knowledge and practices
5. Case management : fidelity to and efficacy of new flows and protocols in integrated care of survivors
   of CSEC
6. Adolescent program participants’ own observations and assessment on the effects of Com.Direitos