Request for Proposal: Urban Child-centred HVC Assessment and Planning Process Tool Development

EDUCATION SAFE FROM DISASTERS RESEARCH

Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organisation for children. We work in 120 countries. We save children’s lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfil their potential. We work together, with our partners, to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. We have over two million supporters worldwide and raised 1.6 billion dollars in 2011 to reach more children than ever before, through programmes in health, nutrition, education, protection and child rights, also in times of humanitarian crises.

Save the Children International Asia Regional Office is inviting submissions for proposal of delivering the following research:  “Urban Child-centred HVC Assessment and Planning Process Tool Development”

1. BACKGROUND 

Researchers are invited to apply for Phase 2 of a research project on “child-centred hazard, vulnerability and capacity assessment and planning in urban settings: process tool development and piloting”. 

Phase 1 (completed in April 2017) was a scoping study, comprising a document review and interviews with key informants, to understand the current state of knowledge and practice in this subject. It examined and documented existing frameworks, tools and approaches for child-centred HVCA and planning and their relevance to urban contexts.  The study considered their appropriateness, effectiveness and adaptability, together with the needs of practitioners, with regard to DRR and CCA program support.

Based on the findings, priorities, and recommendations identified in Phase 1, Phase 2 of the project (to end in December 2017) will develop, pilot and review the effectiveness of an HVCA process tool that enables users to plan, choose, and adapt their HVCA approaches more effectively by making them reflect upon, and question, the decisions they make during the HVCA, leading to more effective assessment and planning that identifies vulnerable children in urban settings, understands the hazards they face and their vulnerabilities and capacities, and engages adults and children in reducing risks and building resilience.  It will also enable them to think through designing for scalability of these tools by understanding and leveraging existing capacity in the urban context.

Instead of designing and testing yet another ‘new’ HVCA toolkit for working with children in urban areas, based on the many existing tools of different kinds, an alternative approach is needed, focusing on the decision-making processes through which these various HVCA tools and toolkits are selected, adapted, and deployed.  The project will develop and pilot an HVCA process tool that enables users to plan and choose their urban child-centred HVCA approaches more effectively by making them reflect upon, and question, the decisions they make during the HVCA, and guide them in the adaptation and localization process.  This is an integrating approach that can be applied across multiple tools/toolkits and operational contexts.  It ensures consistency through the same robust, deliberative, decision-making process in planning each individual HVCA, but allows for flexibility regarding the choice, application and modification of individual methods and tools.  The process tool will be piloted in 2 to 5 urban centres.

2. RATIONALE 

Phase 1 of the project has made recommendations for the adaptation and/or development of tools, for piloting and localization, in order to develop evidence-based approaches and practices for child-centred hazards, vulnerabilities and capacities assessment and planning with multiple stakeholders, in urban settings.  

A key recommendation is to develop and apply a deliberative assessment process tool to guide and integrate different a range of HVCA and urban assessment methods. This would ensure that in each urban settings, a group of users, working in partnership, goes through a consistent and deliberative decision-making process with regard to planning for a set of HVCA tools to be used at scale, while allowing for flexibility of choice regarding a set of localized tools and methods.  The process tool would encourage users to interrogate the entire procedure from inception to delivery and beyond. It would begin with stakeholder analysis and engagement, and with scalability in mind.

3. AIM & OBJECTIVES 

Aim:

To design and pilot, in partnership with practitioners, a deliberative assessment process tool for urban hazard, vulnerability and capacity assessment and action planning applicable to a wide range of tools, as well as innovative thinking for implementation at scale.

Objectives:

1.    To develop a draft process tool for stakeholders to use in designing and implementing urban hazard, vulnerability and capacity assessment (HVCA) and planning activities effectively.

2.    To pilot, review and finalise the process tool in partnership with Save the Children DRR practitioners in 2-5 countries.

4. SCOPE of WORK and DELIVERABLES

Applicants please note: The full Scope of Work will be agreed upon following submission of successful Research Proposal.

Scope of Work: 

Developing an appropriate child-centred hazard, vulnerability, capacity (HVC) assessment and action planning process tool for urban settings, which has proper flexibility for practitioners in different countries. The study is to be conducted in urban and peri-urban areas in 2-5 selected countries in Asia where Save the Children is working (possibly India, Bangladesh, Philippines or China). The exact locations and programmes best fit for this study are open to discussion with selected service provider. Two countries will be selected for in-situ testing of tools, and up to 3 more will be given remote support to pilot the tools on their own and submit results for inclusion in this study.

Ethical statement regarding human subjects. (Note that any results that are to be published in a peer-reviewed academic journal will require approval by academic institutional human subjects or ethics board).

DELIVERABLES:

1. Final Process Tool (approximately 10 to 20 pages)
2. Final Report (20 pages + appendices) (for technical practitioner audience)
3. Summary Report (4-6 pages) (for public stakeholder audience)
4. PowerPoint presentation explaining the tool for stakeholder workshop
5. Full data set of any research findings (where applicable). 

5. QUALIFICATIONS 

Applicants should have:

• Masters or Doctoral degree 
• Subject-matter expertise in disaster risk reduction and programming in urban contexts 
• Proven track record in designing and piloting of program tools
• Firm grasp of ethical/human subjects review considerations
• Experience in participatory-action research, desirable
• Commitment to outcome dissemination and interest in implementation science highly desirable
• Appropriate cultural and language skills to carry out research in this particular context

Service provider may propose this as an individual or team. 

6. RESEARCH TIMEFRAME

Research Duration: 1 July – 30 November 2017