Panama: MAPPING ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGICAL NEEDS OF CHILDREN ON THE MOVE AND THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND GOVERNMENTS IN PROMOTING AND FACILITATING ACCESS TO COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

Organization: UN Children's Fund
Country: Panama
Closing date: 25 Jul 2017

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANCY

MAPPING ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGICAL NEEDS OF CHILDREN ON THE MOVE AND THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND GOVERNMENTS IN PROMOTING AND FACILITATING ACCESS TO COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

Background
Over the past years, an increasing number of children from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico are moving northwards. Over the course of the 2016 US Fiscal Year, a total of nearly 60,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended at the Mexico – US border (compared to nearly 40,000 in the 2015 Fiscal Year). These children have decided to leave their home communities for many reasons, fleeing from high levels of violence and organized crime as well as from limited opportunities to break out of the cycle of poverty. Many others also move up North seeking to reunite with their families. On their way, these children are vulnerable to crime and violence, and many of them are exploited or abused or returned to their country of origin without hope and stigmatized by society.

Along the migration route, child migrants are easy prey to extortion, kidnapping, sexual violence and trafficking. If detected by authorities they are often detained under prison-like conditions. In countries of transit or destination they often find access to their basic rights, such as education and health, are obstructed. Many times, a proper determination of their circumstances, including potential risks to their physical safety upon return to their home country, is not undertaken before making the decision to send migrant children back to their place of origin.

It is important to highlight that for most returned migrant children, their reality of vulnerability and violation of rights in their countries of origin continues because the structural causes that led them to migrate such as violence, social exclusion, poverty and separation from the family-remain unchanged.

For migrant children having access to information about their rights and access to support services is crucial. Being able to maintain contact with family members is also an important safety strategy. It would be also important to recognize that sometimes children use technology to be in touch with smugglers and there are risks associated to their use of ICTs. ICT companies can play a role in strengthening the protection of migrant children through technology solutions.

Objective of the consultancy

Identify the technological needs, challenges and opportunities of migrant children; as well as the role of ICT industry and Governments in creating and facilitating technology for migrant children and their families.

Technological solutions for migrant children in Central America could help ensure: a) their safety; b) communication with their families; c) access to key information and services (legal advice, health, security, etc.); d) the tracking of their routes to ensure their safety e) the request of international protection; f) the use of technology to better connect child protection agencies across countries; g) the use of RapidFTR or similar apps to register children; h) the use of technology to protect migrant children against risks associated to their journey; etc.

It would be important to consider that some children have the fear of being tracked and detained. In this sense, the analysis should also explore how the technology would be a safe and desirable tool in that regard.

The collection data from companies and other stakeholders has to be done in a responsible way, being respectful of the privacy of children and adolescents.

The specific goals of the consultancy

The specific goals of the consultancy are the following:

Develop a Methodology proposal.

Deliverable: Methodology prepared

Work plan with proposed schedule.

Preliminary index of the final report

Draft methodology for data collection

Develop stakeholder engagement plan and material. This includes outreach and interview material for participating stakeholders (e.g. semi-structured interviews and children surveys), and list of stakeholders to be interviewed.

Engage 2-3 international ICTs companies (selected by UNICEF) and child rights/human rights organizations to review and validate the methodology and stakeholder selection.

Desk research and plan for the field visits.

Deliverable 2: Preliminary profile of the children on the move and their technological needs as well as plan for field visits.

Undertake desk research related to children on the move and the technology used by them to communicate with their families and friends; as well as information related to education on the move.

Perform a literature-practice review of existing studies on technology support to child migrants. This should include best practices from the ICT sector in LAC or abroad.

Undertake telephone interviews with key stakeholders inside the countries and internationally to verify desk research findings and further refine research questions.

Describe the profile of Children on the Move in LAC and develop initial assumptions on how they use ICTs throughout the journey

Prepare children surveys and focus group discussions with stakeholders, including families, caregivers, community members, education experts, and children (as appropriate).

Prepare a plan for field visits which should include at least one visit to Guatemala and another one to Mexico. Other field visits could be planned, subject to prior UNICEF approval.

Undertake field research to interview key stakeholders, experts and migrant children (including returned migrant children)

Deliverable: Summary of field visits report

Undertake field research in selected countries to validate the information gathered in the desk review and the preliminary assumptions about the use of technology by migrant children.

Interview wide range of stakeholders (children, families, community members, teachers, experts and private sector representatives, institutions responsible to provide services to migrant children) to understand and describe the technological needs of migrant children, including: the technology used to communicate with their families and friends; the technology used to contact public services (legal advice, health, security, etc.); trends using social networks and apps; education on the move using technology: etc.

Interviews are also intended to understand and describe the role of the ICT industry and Governments in creating and facilitating technology for migrant children and their families.

Analyze research findings and draft summary report.

Deliverable 4: Summary report including executive summary, photo-essays and PPT presentation.

Based on research findings, draft a summary report in Spanish that will include information about the technological needs of migrant children, the role of ICT industry and Governments in creating and facilitating technology for migrant children and their families and recommendations to UNICEF on how to engage the private sector and governments to better attend the technological needs of migrant children and their families. The report should also include recommendations to the institutions responsible to attend and provide services to migrant children.

The report should include an executive summary of up to 2 pages in Spanish and English.

The report should include photo-essays showing a day in the life of different child migrants and their use of technology in different moments of a journey, see example here: http://fashionrevolution.org/day-in-the-life-of-a-garment-worker/

Develop presentation material (PPT) summarizing assessment findings and present them in a webinar organized by UNICEF.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study will be focused on the situation of the migrant children in the Northern Triangle of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) and Mexico.

QUALIFICATIONS AND SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE/EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

The incumbent individual contractor will conduct the research from their premises.

Individual contractors are expected to have previous research experience in one or more of the following fields: Migrant Children, Child Protection in general, Corporate Social Responsibility, ICT industry and its trends and regulations and/or Education of Children. Fluency in English and Spanish required.

The duration for the contract is estimated to be 3 (three)months starting on the date of the signature of the contract.

HONORARIA & FEES

Please submit the CV of the responsible consultant/s as well as a methodological proposal/project plan (max 2 pages), including the proposed budget with subject “Migrant Children, technological needs study”. The proposal should highlight relevant experience of the consultant or the organization regarding children and technologies.

If you have any technical question, please address it to lacro-ops@unicef.org

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.

How to apply:

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=505826