The complete Terms of Reference can be consulted at the following link: Terms of Reference_Capacitacion Egreso.pdf
Background
Aldeas Infantiles SOS is an international non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in Austria in 1949 and with a presence in 134 countries around the world. Since its origins, the organization has been dedicated to the care of children, adolescents and young people who have lost family care or are at risk of losing it, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Guidelines on Alternative Modalities of Child Care, through community empowerment and family strengthening for the prevention of loss of family care, the provision of care alternatives for boys, girls, adolescents and young people who have lost the care of their families, promoting whenever possible the restitution of the right to live as a family member,through reinstatement with his family of origin.
As an organization, SOS Children’s Villages also works in the preparation of adolescents and young people in the transition towards autonomous and independent life, through the provision of youth preparation services for the discharge of alternative care and their post-deposit care (independent and supervised accommodation solutions), as well as in actions of political incidence, seeking that the States generate necessary and sustainable conditions so that children, adolescents and young people fully exercise their rights.
With the implementation of the SOS Care Promise policy and taking into account that 60% the population participating in the SOS Alternative Care Programs for Children in Latin America and the Caribbean (AISOS LAAM) are adolescents and young people between 12 and 25 years of age, the SOS National Associations of Children’s Villages in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAAM) have begun a process of diversification of their services for young people who graduate from alternative care, which must be aligned to international and national regulations on the matter and in the requirements and needs of the localities where they implement their services.
Although there are regulatory frameworks that protect the rights of adolescents and young people (Convention on the Rights of the Child and Ibero-American Convention on Youth Rights and the Ibero-American Youth Pact) and specifically, the rights of young people who graduate from alternative care (Guidelines on Alternative Modalities of Child Care of the UN), in 2023, SOS LAAM Children’s Villages carried out the Mapping of public policies for the systematization of experiences of preparation and conditions of discharge from the care of the protection system in Latin America and the Caribbean, which evidenced that although all the States have public policies that structure the alternative care of children and adolescents who have lost family care, they have few provisions,technical guidelines, guidelines and material supports to guarantee the accompanying discharge process.
Of the 20 States that make up the LAAM region, only Argentina has an exclusive public policy for the process of discharging alternative care (Law 27364) and although there are some efforts by States to provide government programs, projects or initiatives to ensure an accompanied discharge process, these efforts are insufficient with respect to the magnitude of the problem, since, the process of transition towards the independence of young graduates occurs in a more anticipated, forced, discriminatory way (the basis being an age criterion and not individual conditions), in greater inequality and with less preparation and material conditions than young people from other vulnerable social groups.
The purpose of the consultancy is to develop a proposal that compiles the existing methodologies in SOS Children’s Villages in a training that allows collaborators of youth development and advocacy at the regional level, national and local, have the knowledge, skills and tools to improve the processes of preparation for discharge and advocate for public policy of discharge accompanied by quality standards and suitable strategic lines.
The results of the project will achieve sustainability by strengthening knowledge and installing capacities at different levels of the organization to improve the processes of exit from alternative care (preparation, transition and post-return) not only in the SOS Children’s Villages Programs, but also in the creation of public policies that help improve the conditions of discharge from alternative care to the autonomous and independent life of young people in Latin America.
General objective
Design and implement a training curriculum and methodology to strengthen the process of discharging alternative care and the impact on public policies of discharge with collaborators/ace of development of youth and advocacy and young participants and graduates of SOS Children’s Villages Latin America and the Caribbean, based on the existing frameworks, benchmarks and methodologies in the organization.
Specific objectives
- Structure a curriculum and training methodology to strengthen the process of discharging alternative care and influencing public policies for discharge, based on frameworks, references and methodologies existing in the organization.
- Implement synchronous and virtual training to strengthen the process of discharging alternative care and influencing public discharge policies with 60 collaborators/youth development and advocacy from the Regional Office, National Offices and Local Offices of SOS Children’s Villages Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Design and implement a webinar on the right to accompanied discharge and youth advocacy in public exit policies with 40 active young participants and graduates of SOS Children’s Villages Latin America and El Caribbean.
Methodology
The proposed methodology should consider the following factors:
- Based on the Human Rights, Childhood, Teen and Youth approach, gender perspective and intercultural approach.
- Culturally sensitive with the 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in which SOS LAAM Children’s Villages has a presence.
- Participatory, with friendly methodologies and adapted to the target populations.
The expected activities for this consultancy include:
- Preparation of the work plan with its schedule
- Review of referential documents of the organization
- Permanent communication between the consulting person / team and the regional work team assigned by SOS LAAM Children’s Villages
- Preparation of progress reports
- Coordination and review meetings of the consulting products with the regional work team assigned by SOS LAAM Children’s Villages
Participants previously defined for the generation of this consultancy should be considered:
- 60 collaborators of youth development and advocacy from the Regional Office, National Offices and Local Offices of SOS Children’s Villages Latin America and the Caribbean (2 collaborators from the Regional Office, 35 of National Offices and 23 of Local Offices)
- 40 young people participating and graduated from SOS Children’s Villages (2 young people for each of the 20 National Associations), depends on the methodology of the webinar can increase the number of young people.
Products
- Work plan with schedule.
- Curriculum and training methodology to strengthen the process of discharging alternative care and influencing public discharge policies with at least 3 synchronous and virtual sessions.
- Training sessions with 60 youth development collaborators and advocacy SOS Children’s Villages Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Webinar on the right to accompanied discharge and youth advocacy in public policies with 40 active and graduated young participants.
- Consulting results report.
Consulting duration
The duration of the consultancy will be made in accordance with the moments established in this document. To achieve the proposed objectives, a period of 3 months from August to October 2024 is considered.
Consulting profile
The consultant and his team must meet the following requirements:
- Training in Social Sciences, Political Sciences or related career
- Minimum 5 years of experience in the development of projects, programs and / or processes to promote the rights of children, adolescents and young people
- Preferable: work experience in protection systems, alternative care and / or discharge processes accompanied by the protection system.
- At least 2 years of experience in the design and implementation of training processes for adults and adolescents and young people
- Knowledge in pedagogical mediation tools in virtual spaces.
Fees
Consulting costs must be proportional to the Terms of Reference and the technical proposal presented. This is a virtual consultancy, so travel payment will not be considered within costs. For this consultancy, offers will be valued among the $ 7,000 and $ 10,000 USD.
How to apply
Receipt of applications
Interested persons should send:
- Presentation letter and / or interest in consulting.
- Living and professional sheet of each member of the consulting team and, if possible, their catalog of previous services and/or documentation that supports experience in the technical preparation of documents and regulatory proposals.
- Technical and economic proposal in accordance with the Terms of Reference.
Only technical proposals and economic offers that meet the requirements defined in these Terms of Reference will be evaluated. In selecting the consultant, a clarification interview can be considered, if deemed necessary.
The required documents must be sent in digital format to emails:
Programs.LAAM@sos-kd.org and Jessica.ugalde@sos-kd.org to the July 23, 2024.
