Somalia: Developing a Targeting Methodology, Tool and Guidelines for implementing Social Protection programmes in Somaliland

INTRODUCTION For over 90 years Save the Children (SC) has been making a difference in children's lives in more than 120 countries. We are the world's largest independent child rights organisation, underpinned by a vision in a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Our mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. Save the Children Somalia/Somaliland (SCSOM) has over 40 years’ experience working in Somalia/Somaliland in several thematic areas and is currently working under the broad global themes of Education, Health & Nutrition, Child Protection, Child Rights Governance and Child Poverty. Save the Children (SC) has been operational in Somaliland/Somalia since 1951, implementing programmes across the following sectors: WASH, Food Security and Livelihoods, Health, Nutrition, Education, and Child Protection/Child Rights Governance. Currently SC’s programme in Somalilnd are situated under the broad global themes of Education, Health & Nutrition, Child Protection, Child Rights Governance and Child Poverty.

Save the Children has been implementing Child Poverty/ livelihoods programs in Somalia/Somaliland for the last two decades and is currently implementing projects in 10 of the 18 regions of Somalia. SC Somalia annually reaches an estimated 30,000 households (approx. 210,000 people) through its Child Poverty/ Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL) interventions, which can be broken down into the following categories: unconditional/conditional cash grants; livestock and crop production; income generation; natural resource management and infrastructure rehabilitation; and technical, vocational training (TVET) for youth employment. These programmes aim to increase the ability of children, women and men in vulnerable communities to resist and recover from cyclical shocks and stresses through strengthened ecological, social, and economic capital of households and communities and increased resilience.

SC's long history in Somaliland has endowed it with experienced local staff and established systems and procedures to effectively manage and implement projects in an often volatile operating environment. SC has strong technical and operational capacity both at Nairobi and field level to support the scale up of these activities. It has 3 field offices with well experienced national and international staffs across Somaliland to facilitate its project management, implementation and monitoring activities. The field offices are Hargeisa, Burao and Borama in Somaliland.

Save the Children Somaliland strategy (2016-18) contributes to the following results specific for children: Sub theme 1: Child sensitive social protection; increased purchasing power for households of the most deprived enabling them to meet the essential needs of their children for survival, learning and protection Sub theme 2: child sensitive livelihoods; improved resilience against shocks for Households of the most deprived children enabling them to invest in their children’s survival, learning and protection Sub theme 3: Adolescent skills for successful transition; adolescent girls and boys are empowered through training and employment opportunities to increase their participation in economic activities Youth/adolescent support mechanisms or networks established and functioning and those involved have basic life skills and competencies need to effectively and productively operate in their community in Somaliland Save the Children Somaliland’s engagement in Social Protection focuses on forging partnerships with like-minded actors and providing support to the Govt. of Somaliland to establish an effective and efficient social protection system. Efforts will be based on SC’s Child Sensitive Social Protection (CSSP) approach combining “cash transfers” with “plus activities” such as enhanced child sensitivity through improved parenting practices; and better access to basic and social services through promotion of transparency and accountability mechanisms and measures. All these efforts are ultimately expected to help strengthen the social protection system’s effectiveness for the mitigation of child poverty and guiding better targeting of social protection benefits.

1. Background Social protection has gained increased momentum in the development policy debate as a means to reduce child vulnerability and poverty caused by household stress, shock and chronic poverty. Different social protection measures , depending on their design, have been shown to be greatly beneficial to children living in poverty with positive impacts on nutrition, health, education and reduction in child labour. Consequently, social protection measures have the potential of breaking inter-generational transfers of poverty, particularly when they are combined with efforts that aim to foster a more protective and caring atmosphere for children by investing in them and supporting their rights.

   Based on the realisation that social protection can be a key thematic area to reduce child poverty, Save the Children has developed projects and programmes referred to as Child Sensitive Social Protection (CSSP) in a range of countries. For Save the Children, CSSP encompasses child-focused or family-based social programmes that directly or indirectly address children’s needs and rights through a combination of Economic support - such as cash transfers to families and children living in poverty - and complementary interventions; which improve child development as well as ensure that all social protection is child-sensitive, by maximizing impacts and minimizing harms on children, girls and boys alike.

   Save the Children in Somaliland has developed Child Sensitive Social Protection (CSSP) as a thematic area. A pilot project has also been initiated on the principles and approaches of CSSP as well as to work at national and policy level to advocate for child sensitivity in Somaliland’s social protection policy/strategy. The CSSP project in Somaliland (Hargeisa and Borama) has been developed in partnership with Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) and HAVAYOCO. The objective of the project is to achieve improved outcomes towards children’s well-being, more specifically around their education, nutrition and protection issues. The project will employ a “cash plus approach” where some of the most vulnerable households with children under 5 in 3 IDP camps of Hargeisa will receive a “child grant”. This is to support the poor parents to be able to improve the nutritional intake of children, pay their child’s school fee and take them to health services among others. Alongside the cash, the project also has key components of i) enhancing child sensitivity among parents, caregivers and service providers and ii) improving access to basic services especially around education and nutrition. The project will implement the child grant component of the project only in Hargeisa. In Borama, the project will closely work with UNICEF which will be providing the “child grant”. The project will support the “cash plus” component (child sensitivity) with selected beneficiaries of the “child grant”. Since the project is piloting the child sensitive social protection approach (combining the “child grant (cash transfer)” with enhancing child sensitivity (parenting) for improved children’s care and support, in two different areas, it will also try to draw evidence and learning conclusions by assessing the effectiveness of the CSSP approach. To accomplish this, the project is setting up a comprehensive operational research. In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project and enhanced Somaliland government’s ownership the proposed project will be jointly implemented by SCI, MoLSA and a local partner NGO HAVAYOCO. Strong links will be made with UNICEF and local government while implementing the project in Borama district. The project will facilitate cash transfers in the form of the “child grant” to 300 households in 3 IDP camps and an additional 100 households will be supported by MoLSA, Govt. of Somaliland. Save the children will provide funding for the project and technical support through technical advisors and field program managers. In Hargeisa, MoLSA has staff who will be involved in implementing this project. As the project seeks to support the promotion and establishment of a social protection system in Somaliland, it is likely that the ‘child grant’ transfers will be routed through MoLSA. The project also has a very strong component supporting MoLSA through continuous capacity building and technical knowledge transfer so that it has the capacity and knowledge to easily carry out designing and implementation of such kind of social protection interventions in the future. It is with this objective that Save the Children, in consultation and partnership with Unicef and MoLSA, wants to roll out an assignment for developing a comprehensive and contextualised targeting methodology and tool with well written user guidelines that can be used for advancing social protection for the poorest and most marginalised populations and their children in Somaliland.

2. Overall Objective and Scope of the Assignment

3.1 Overall Objective: The overall objective of the consultancy is to review any existing materials on Geographical, Demographic and Household level targeting methodologies and tools and develop a comprehensive and contextualised targeting methodology and tool with well written user guidelines that would help the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Govt. of Somaliland and other Social Protection/Child Sensitive Social Protection partners to undertake proper targeting of social protection/ cash transfer programme beneficiaries.

3.2 Scope of the Assignment: The consultancy firm/consultant (s) will undertake and ensure the completion of the following activities:

I. Development of a comprehensive, context specific and tailor-made targeting methodology and tool with appropriate assessment parameters that capture different aspects of multi-dimensional poverty. More specifically, the tool should include context specific and child sensitive indicators and parameters which have the possibility to capture, provide and assess multiple dimensions of vulnerability, deprivation and poverty. Ultimately, the aim of the targeting tool is to ensure that social protection interventions/support is based on objectively established deprivation, vulnerability and poverty facts, supported with good and deep rooted assessment and analysis.

Specifically, the deliverables of the assignment are as follows:

• A targeting tool which considers the different vulnerability and deprivations among children in Somaliland.

• The tool(s) developed should provide good set of indicators for a) geographical targeting; b) demographic targeting; and c) household based targeting. • A clear guidance on how to implement the targeting tools, including: o A step by step guideline on how to implement the tools during data collection, data entry, data cleaning and data analysis. o Data analysis instruments and tools which can help the user easily analyse data and produce findings. These instruments and tools should be simple and user friendly.

II. Develop a brief tool development report describing briefly the objectives, methods used, scope and any limitations of the tools and the process followed. The report should also provide an analysis of challenges encountered in the process and recommendations for future action.

1. Methodology The consultant is expected to produce a targeting methodology, tool and guide/manual through a participatory process and with the engagement of relevant stakeholders. The consultant is also expected to come up with a specific methodology for conducting targeting assessment.

2. Preparations and Logistical Support

Save the Children Somaliland’s Child Sensitive Social Protection project team will provide the following logistical support and guidance:

• Ensure prompt payment of professional fee and other costs arising from the contract; • Provide logistical support (transport, accommodation, visa) during the assignment when out of duty station; • If a consultant is coming from outside of Somaliland, purchase an air ticket in economy class and provide airport transfer in Hargeisa; • Provide guidance, input and support during the exercise; • Provision of meeting venue (in SC office or MoLSA) and any other materials needed for these meetings. One to one or specific agent meeting will be held in a way convenient to the different stakeholders.

1. Consultant Qualification requirements

The consultant should have:

• A minimum of first degree relevant to the area of the task (e.g. human rights, social science, social work). Master degree of the same will be an added advantage. • Previous experience and assignment in regard to development of such tools and guidelines in Somaliland, Somalia or in the region. • Excellent knowledge on children’s rights and child sensitive social protection • Good understanding, knowledge and experience on social protection • Experience in working with NGO’s/INGOs/ Donors and Government Ministries and Departments • Understanding and commitment to Save the Children’s vision, mission and values • Experience in working in Somalia and/or Somaliland will be an added value

1. Payment Details

• Payment will be in accordance with a detailed budget breakdown as submitted through the proposal, and invoices will be expected from the consultant prior to payment. • Save the children Somaliland will pay the consultant according to Save the Children’s guidelines on procurement of services. • A contract will be signed by the consultant before commencement of the action. The contract will detail terms and conditions of service, aspects on inputs and deliverables.

1. Code of Conduct

Save the Children's work is based on deeply held values and principles of child safeguarding and it is essential that our commitment to children's rights and humanitarian principles is supported and demonstrated by all members of staff and other people working for and with Save the Children. Save the Children's Code of Conduct sets out the standards which all staff members must adhere to and the consultant(s) are bound by the principles and conditions of Save the Children’s Code of Conduct and will need to sign it before commencing the assignment.

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST Interested applicants who meet the consultancy requirements should submit the following documentation to:

Somalia.Procurement@savethechildren.org by COB 27th November 2017

• Cover letter • Detailed technical proposal to ToR, with specific focus addressing the scope of work, methodology to be used and key selection criteria • CVs of consultant(s) with minimum of 3 traceable and recent referees; company profile if relevant • Detailed financial proposal based on expected daily rates • Initial work plan and availability of the consultant • Sample of previous work done. This could be tools, guidelines or approved assignment reports.