Introduction

Child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) are violation of human rights. Every girland woman has the right to be protected from these harmful practices, which have devastating consequences on their health, development, survival and psychosocial well-being. The continuation of these practices has serious economic implication for the girls/women as well as the country.

According to the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) 2016, 65% of women age 15-49, 47% of the girls aged 15-19, and 16% of girls aged 0-14 are circumcised. The prevalence of FGM/C in Ethiopia has decreased over the past 16 years, dropping from 80% in the 2000 EDHS, to 74% in the 2005 EDHS, and to 65% in the 2016 EDHS. With regard to child marriage, the 2016 EDHS shows that 40.3%of the young women aged 20-24 years old were married before the age of 18 and 14.1%were married before the age of 15. The trend in child marriage has also continued to decrease from 75% in 1980, 60% in 2005 and 40% in 2016. Although both child marriage and FGM/C are declining overall, there are variations across and within regions. National level figures hide regional and sub-regional variation that is important if FGM/C and child marriage is to be eliminated.

FGM/C in Ethiopia is mostly performed on girls between infancy and 15 years, the age at mutilation varies by ethnic group and geographical location. In some areas, FGM/C is performed right before marriage. There is also significant variation in the type of cutting. According to World Health Organization (WHO), there are four types of FGM/C. Type I: Clitoridectomy – partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or the prepuce. Type II: Excision – partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora. Type III: Infibulation – narrowing of the vaginal orifice with the creation of a covering seal by cutting and appositioning the labia minora and/or labia majora. Type IV: All other harmful practices to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes including pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization.

FGM/C can cause serious physical harm including bleeding, pain, shock, genital tissue damage, fever, infections, urination and menstrual problems, and in the worst case it can cause death. There is also evidence of increased risk of complications at childbirth putting mothers and new-borns at risk. The practice also reduces sexual functioning because of painful intercourse, lack of satisfaction and reduced sexual desire. It may trigger psycho-social complications including acute anxieties, depression, psychoses, neuroses and post-traumatic stress-disorder.

Child marriage increases the risk of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and limits girls’ opportunity to participate in the education and economic sector. Married girls have limited autonomy and decision-making power and have increased risk of experience violence and health risks including HIV. Child marriage is also one of the main underlying causes for child mortality in Ethiopia. Girls married early are at greater risk of reproductive health complications including obstetric fistula due to prolonged and obstructed labor.

The root cause for FGM/C and child marriage is primarily driven by negative socio-cultural norms that promote gender inequality. These socio-cultural norms are sometimes tied to religious beliefs that cut across ethnic, economic, educational and cultural backgrounds. In many communities, FGM/C is performed to control female sexuality or reduction of female sexual desires, and as a prerequisite for marriage. Procedures are mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and adolescence, and occasionally on adult women. Child marriage in Ethiopia stems from concerns about girl children becoming pregnant outside of marriage, low value placed on girls’ education, a lack of alternatives for girls who drop out of school, the desire to gain income from the groom’s family, concern for difficulty for a girl to get married if she gets older, and strengthening relationship with the groom’s family.

The government has made several legal and policy changes including the revision of the family code, criminal law, development of a National Strategy and Action Plan on Harmful Traditional Practices (2013), pledges to end child marriage and FGM/C by 2025, and development of a National Costed Roadmap to End Child Marriage and FGM/C (2020-2024) with an ambitions to end FGM/C and child marriage by 2025 in the country .. 

Different programmatic efforts under implementation across the country. These include social mobilization to change Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) such through Community Conversation and Dialogue, religious and other community leaders’ engagement, media, Women Groups, girls engagement such clubs, training on life skill; referral linkage and service strengthening; coordination mechanism and tracking and reporting of cases. These efforts resulted in encouraging result in the reduction of the prevalence of FGM/C and child marriage. Yet the rate of reduction is not the expected level and significant number of girls will continue to be affected due to the high population size. 

Addressing child marriage and FGM/C should not be the core responsibility of one sector. Efforts within just one sector cannot put an end to child marriage and FGM/C. It demands attention from multiple actors. Therefore, child marriage and FGM/C prevention and response services need to be integrated across various sectors to accelerate the pace of child marriage and FGM/C reduction in the country. The importance of multi-sectoral approach to address the different drivers and causes of child marriage and FGM/Cthrough coordination of the health, education, child protection, the legal system and services is also emphasized in the National Roadmap to End Child Marriage and FGM/C.If FGM/C and child marriage are to be eradicated by 2025 there is a need to incorporate FGM/C and child marriage prevention and response works into a variety of multi-sectoral and cross-sectoral actors. Thus this Terms of Reference (ToR) is developed to guide the development of a Child Marriage and FGM/C Integration Guideline for multi sectoral actors.

The Guideline development process will be led by MoWCY/the National Alliance to End Child Marriage and FGM with financial and technical support from Save the Children/Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). The assignment will include preliminary situational assessment developing the Integration Guideline document in English and translate the final version of the Integration Guideline into Amharic.

Purpose of the study and specific objective of the

Purpose of the Assignment assessment

Addressing child marriage and FGM/C should not be the core responsibility of one sector. As the drivers, causes and impact of child marriage and FGM/C are multifaceted it needs multi-sectoral response, thus the purpose of this intgration Guide line assignment is to develop child marriage and FGM/C Integration Guideline for multi-sectoral actors include Women, Children and Youth, Education, Health, Labor and Social Affairs, Justice, Agriculture, General Attorney, Justice, Police, etc…

Objective of the assignment

• Map and assess to what extent existing programs / strategies of multi-sectoral actors are integrating child marriage and FGM/C issues
• Identify opportunities, strength and gaps in existing sector strategies, and on any existing effective child marriage and FGM/C integration strategies used by multi sectoral actors
• Undertaking budget and expenditure tracking to identify the current status, gaps and inform resource mobilization efforts
• Provide workable and evidence based strategies/ approaches for integrating child marriage and FGM/C in multi-sectoral actors plan and actions
• Gather/Identify evidences regarding other effective integration strategies and approaches on similar related issues (from national and other country programs in the region)such as gender equality and women empowerment, HIV/prevention and control, etc that can be model /lesson for the proposed Integration Guideline on FGM/C and child marriage (this will be part of the initial task)
• Provide recommendation on where to put resources for purposeful integration of FGM /C and ECM in multi-sectoral actors plan and strategies
• Develop an applicable guidance for integrating child marriage and FGM/C key strategies and plans of multi sectoral actors
• Present draft and Collect input from stakeholders’ workshops and incorporate in the draft guideline.

Scope of Assignment

The scope of the assignment includes assessing to what extent the multi sectoral actors are integrating FGM/C and child marriage issues throughout their program cycle, the existing gaps and strength in existing child marriage and FGM/C integration and also identifying workable integration strategies and action. Based on the findings of the assessment the consultant is expected to develop a comprehensive evidence based Integration Guideline to be used by multi sectoral actors at the national, regional, zonal and woreda levels. Geographically, the assessment will be conducted at national/federal level, in six Regions Afar, Amhara, Harari, Oromia, SNNPR, Somali). The Regions will be also revised/ replaced based on the discussion with MoWCY/the National Alliance to End Child Marriage and FGM/C.

The assessment should focus:

1. The knowledge and capacity of multi-sectoral actor staffs on FGM/C and child marriage issues
2. The extent to which existing multi sectoral actors program/ strategies are integrating child marriage and FGM/C issues
3. Assess to what extent multi-sectoral actors program consider child marriage and FGM/C components in selection of beneficiaries and service delivery
4. Asses opportunities, strength and gaps in integrating FGM/C and Child marriage issues in their plans and actions including budget allocation, reporting on progress against relevant indicators
5. Assess the availability, accessibility and use of child marriage and FGM/C integration tools; including the gaps and strength in the tools
6.  Availability of child marriage and FGM/C sensitive compliance and response mechanisms (Availability of specific performance indicators included in the vertical and horizontal systems in place for tracking and reporting on progress)

Child Marriage and FGM/C Integration Guideline

1. Provides information on the ‘why’ for the need to have such Guideline and the purpose of the Guideline
2. Identifies the relevant multi-sectoral actors that child marriage and FGM/C issues are to be incorporated
3. Provides clear sector specific guidance, strategies and approaches for integrating child marriage and FGM/C issues into multi-sectoral actors
4. Provides clear direction on how each sector can integrate child marriage and FGM/C issues in including planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of their actions.

Job Requirements

This consultancy’s firm assignment is open for all legally registered experienced multi-disciplinary team of consultancy firm. The firm shall consist of professionals with relevant backgrounds as detailed below.

The Consultancy Firm or Consultants shall have the following expertise and qualifications:

• A team of multi-disciplinary professionals with minimum of post-graduate degree in Statistics, Social Work or Sociology, public health, economics and law with sound knowledge and experience in child protection, gender and qualitative research.
•  Excellent understanding and experience in gender based violence and child protection programme in the Ethiopian context.
• Knowledge and experience of conducting research on areas of child marriage and FGM/C (preferably), and in developing multi-disciplinary guideline. Experience on gender and gender transformative strategies gender based violence and public finance is a value add. 
• Strong analytical, presentation and high quality writing and reporting skills in English language
• Strong child rights programming skills (child participation skills an asset)

How to Apply

Application Guide line 

• Expression of interest: a cover letter with a maximum of one page introducing the Consulting Firm/Consultants with an expression of interest to carry out the work as described in this ToR.
• Technical proposal: This should include, but not limited to, understanding of the ToR with critical reflection on the consultancy assignment, methodology (with extremely strong emphasis, should be detailed with clear presentation), tentative work plan, proposed team qualification and experience, others. NB. Once the Consultancy Firm has been selected to undertake the assessment, Save the Children will not accept changes on the team composition.
• Financial proposal: This should outline the detail financial breakdown per each of the proposed activities (separate estimation for the Assessment, Integration Guideline Development and Translation of the Guideline into Amharic). 

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Consultancy work should be collected in hard copy from Save the Children Ethiopia Country Office in Addis Ababa, situated around Bisrate Gabriel Church Save the Children Ethiopia Office At the Main Security Gate Dire Complex, Behind Bisrate Gabriel Church P.O Box 387 Tel 011 3 72 84 55-61 or 011 6 53 51 74 Addis Ababa

Interested applicants should submit two separate sealed documents in which one document should include the technical proposal including of the proposed professional(s) with supporting document that shows previous work experience. The second document should include professional fee stated work along with copy of renewed Audit License to the above mentioned address of Save the Children, Ethiopia Country Office before or on November 19,2020 at 4:00 P.M in person.

Bid shall be submitted in the box ready at reception for this purpose

Save thechildren reserved the right to cancel all the bid or partially