2022-04-19

Request of Proposal and ToR for Consultancy to conduct Baseline Study of Family Strengthening Program in Borama & Gabiley, Somaliland

Borama & Gabiley, Somaliland
Posted on April 19, 2022

SOS Children’s Villages

Request of Proposal and ToR for Consultancy to conduct Baseline Study of Family Strengthening Program in Borama & Gabiley, Somaliland

1 Context and rationale

1.1 About SOS Children’s Villages

SOS Children’s Villages is a global federation of 136 national SOS Children’s Villages associations, working in more than 2000 programme locations worldwide. We work together with a single vision: every child belongs to a family and grows with love, respect and security.

SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland is part of SOS Children’s Villages International, the umbrella organization to which all SOS Children’s Villages including SOS in Somaliland Association is affiliated. SOS Children’s Village in Somaliland is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that is not for profit, non-sectarian and non-partisan and which has been in existence since 1999.

SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland shares vision with SOS Children’s Villages and beliefs that every child belongs to a family and grows with love, respect and security. To realize this, SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland builds families for children in need, help them shape their own futures and share in the development of their communities.

SOS Children’s Village in Somaliland is committed to the welfare of children who lost parental care or at risk of losing parental care – often ensuring that children grow up in a loving family environment, and to strengthening families and communities as a preventive measure in the fight against child abandonment and social neglect, and upholds child protection policy as part of their commitment to the protection of children and youth from abuse.

SOS Children’s Villages was established in Somaliland in 1999 and it started first operations in Sahil region. Currently, SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland implements programs ranging from child care, child protection, youth empowerment and participation, education and emergency interventions. SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland is operational in three regions of Somaliland: Awdal, Marodi-jeh and Sahil, and it had a good relationship with many stakeholders, including government institutions, local authorities at national, regional and district levels, INGOs, LNGOs and local communities, as well as other CSOs who are in and out of the operational area.

1.2 Description of project locations and context

Somaliland is one of the Least Developed Countries (LCD) in the world. Over half of the population lives below the UN poverty line and has one of the highest youth unemployment rates where two out of three young people below the age 35 years are unemployed.

Somaliland has faced consecutive droughts in the past 5 years and the cyclone that hit in mid-2018 affected severely the livelihoods of the people living in the coastal area of Sahil and Awdal regions. With this protracted draughts as well as the effects of the cyclone, pastoralist and agro-pastoralist families lost their livestock, agricultural plots and shelter, and as a result of this, moved to urban areas. In addition, children under 5 years represent more than one-quarter of all those affected and are the most at risk of malnutrition and water and sanitation hygiene (WASH) related illnesses and other childhood diseases.

To ensure relevant intervention, SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland started to implement a Family Strengthening program in Borama and Gabiley towns to support the vulnerable families in the area with economic empowerment, skills development of youth, Shelter, WASH and protection interventions so that they will be able to create sustainable livelihoods, stand against future draughts and disasters, improve hygiene and sanitation practices, reduce GBV/child rights violations and provide adequate nutrition to their children. The project also entails to create stronger family and home environment for the children in the selected families and those in emergency situations by imparting good parenting skills to caregivers and enhancing their knowledge on child rights and protection, while building the capacity of the stakeholders (CBOs, relevant government line ministries, NGOs) to create lasting impact and generate multiplier effect with the aim to reach many children who are not in the program to benefit indirectly from the increased capacity of the duty bearers as well as policy implementation.

The proposed intervention targets 350 (300 Borama & 50 Gabiley families) with approximately 2100 children and 250 youth living in Borama who are at risk of losing the care of their parents to grow within a caring family environment and prosper in live. To realize this, the project aspires to enable targeted families and communities create safe living environment for the children and will focus on 1. Improving the commitment and capacity of families to adequately care for their children, 2. Strengthening the capacity of community structures so that they will sufficiently respond to the needs of vulnerable children 3. Advocating for the rights and protection of OVC children and young people at national level and regional levels 4. Providing young people with skills development programs and creating opportunities to learn skills to get jobs or start their own businesses.

The project duration – From January, 2022 to December, 2025

1.3 Rationale and overall objective of the baseline study

The overall objective of the baseline study is to serve as a benchmark for the family strengthening programme in Awdal Region (Borama town) and Gabiley town and provide information and statistical data on socio-economic indicators for the 350 targeted families prior to the intervention. The baseline is also needed to critically assess and update indicators to ensure the measurement of actual change in response to the outcomes/objectives of the project.

This study is expected to meet the following objectives: –

Establish a baseline indicator values for all indicators in the Result Framework of the project and propose possible improvements where needed.
Assess the living conditions of the families in the target locations and recommend the appropriate support based on their need.
Provide demographic information of the study locations (e.g. population Information (Children, Youth and Adults), Education level (literacy, numeracy and life skills) Shelter (Type and Condition of the family houses).
Identify Percentage of vulnerable and marginalized families and children in the target locations.
Assess the situation of children in the target community, risk factors and vulnerabilities that can put them at risk of losing parental care.
Analyse causes of child abandonment in study locations, as well as local and existing responses on child abandonment, family separation, youth and family empowerment.
Assess existing child and youth support services in the targeted areas focusing on services provided to separate and unaccompanied children, Disabled, GBV victims, and school dropouts. The assessment should also provide recommendations on how to improve these services.
Identify barriers to women, men and young people’s achieving self-reliance.
Detect existing challenges faced by young people, services available to them and appropriate interventions/solutions to address.
Identify challenges specifically faced by youth graduated from Secondary schools and Universities in the targeted communities.
Identify role of young people’s involvement and level of participation in their communities.
Identify food security data including number, type and quality of meals per day in the target location and identify the sources of families’ food, income and nutrition intake.
Identify community resilience and coping mechanisms in the study locations.
Assess accessibility of water and sanitation facilities to families, water consumption per person per day and sanitation practices (defecation, waste management, Communicable diseases and etc.) in the targeted communities.
Assess protection concerns and identify security risks against women/girls and children in the targeted communities.
Identify the percentage of school-aged children who are not enrolled schools formal and informal in the target locations.
Assess the level of knowledge of children, caregivers and Stakeholders on child rights, child protection and participation.
Conduct market assessment and propose the best Income Generating Activities (IGA) which will give the families and youth a sustainable income to meet the basic needs of their children. The assessment should provide solid information on the businesses which are in high demand, support needed and Challenges/barriers faced to start small businesses in the intervention communities.
Map out the existing TVET Centres in target locations and type of services they provide.
Assess the capacity of the existing Community-Based Organizations in target communities and identify areas for improvements.

2 GENERAL INFORMATION ON REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The bidders are welcome to submit their proposal for a baseline study in Awdal region and Gabiley town of Somaliland. This bid is open to all national and international suppliers (independent consultants or companies) who are legally constituted and can provide the requested services. The bidder shall bear all costs of the bid; costs of a proposal cannot be included as a direct cost of the assignment. The proposal and all supplementary documents have to be submitted in English. Financial bid needs to be stated in USD.

2.1 Process of Submission of Bids

To facilitate the submission of proposals, the submission duly stamped and signed can be done electronically in PDF format and sent to hr@sos-somaliland.org Electronic submissions preferred.

The titles of submitted documents should clearly state “Technical proposal for Baseline study of Family Strengthening programme in Awdal region and Gabiley town- by the company/consultant title” and “Financial Proposal for baseline study of Family Strengthening programme in Awdal region and Gabiley town- by the company/consultant title”. Please make sure that the technical and financial proposals to be submitted in a separate PDF files. During the process of evaluation, technical bids will be opened and evaluated first. The financial part of those proposals, which are shortlisted after evaluation of the technical proposal, will be opened in a second step.