Ethical Youth Engagement for Safe and Sound City Program (S²City)

Deadline: 10-Dec-21

The Ethical Youth Engagement Safe and Sound City Program (S²City) is an initiative proudly led by Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB), hosted by Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, and with the support of Fondation Botnar.

This global program aims to improve safety and wellbeing of young people in urban environments in secondary cities across low- and middle-income countries.

Young people sit at the center of S²City as partners, collaborators, leaders, decision-makers and visionaries. The program approaches young people (exact range to be defined, but between 15 – 24 years old) as primary stakeholders with unique insights and perspectives that can inform more effective policy and programming. S²City therefore seeks to foster systems change through youth engagement. Young people will be engaged in various ways and at various points throughout the program, including in data collection, issue identification, skills development, capacity building, bridge-building between young people and key urban stakeholders, ideation activities, innovation competitions, implementation of solutions, internal and external communications of the program and follow-up and review.

The S²City Program started its pilot phase on 22 June 2021. At this stage, the program aims to engage with a number of actors (young people, youth organizations, public sector, private sector, NGOs, academia, others) in at least two secondary cities (Envigado and Bandung) in Colombia and Indonesia (respectively) for the activities in the first three years of the program, to then scale up the intervention to other cities.

Duration

The duration of the consultancy is no more than 25 person days between 22 December 2021 (or earlier) and 15 March 2022 at the latest. A first draft for feedback is expected by 7 February 2022. A second draft for feedback is expected by 28 February 2022.
The contract is envisioned to be signed by 22 December 2021.

Expected Outputs

Ethical youth engagement guidelines with accompanying safeguarding policy and short training document which assists program staff in implementing said guidelines and safeguarding policy. The guidelines and safeguarding policy should achieve the following:

affirms GIB’s commitment to the safety and protection of young people and to ensure that S²City does not perpetuate or reinforce systematic or structural abuse, discrimination and/or exploitation of young people through program implementation;
defines and outlines standards of behavior, responsibilities and approaches which ensure that this commitment is integrated into all areas of S²City and is adhered to by all program staff, including partners, grantees, (sub)contractors and volunteers;
provide adequate structure and scope for implementing young person-safe practices within S²City’s culture, activities, policies and procedures, which are understandable and implementable at all levels by all program staff;
minimize risk of abuse, discrimination and/or exploitation in activities that take place online, in person and via social media which directly engage young people, including but not limited to communications, networking, representation, capacity building workshops, ideating solutions to safety issues, surveying, competitions, submission of original art or any form of creative output, and distribution of financial awards for innovation competitions to potentially underage young people who may or may not form a legal entity;
describe the correct reporting procedure to be followed if there are grounds to suspect that young people are at risk of abuse, discrimination and/or exploitation or have been abused, or if risk of abuse, discrimination and/or exploitation is disclosed;
ensure that all cases of disclosed or suspected abuse, discrimination and/or exploitation are handled in a confidential, consistent, and thorough manner, in line with any relevant legislative requirements;
include a provision for monitoring and reviewing the guidelines with accompanying safeguarding policy;
reinforce overall program effectiveness in youth engagement in the respective focus countries, starting with Indonesia and Colombia in years 1-3.

Conditions

The consultancy involves virtual coordination with GIB (and program advisors when necessary), according to a jointly set workplan, to develop the guidelines with accompanying safeguarding policy. This will include holding calls, answering e-mails and attending virtual meetings.
The consultant(s) will work remotely and receive online support from GIB, including to facilitate coordination with relevant partners and advisors, and the review of drafts leading up to the final deliverable. The consultant will also rely on a number of program documents developed by GIB.

Criteria

The selected applicant should have the following qualifications and experience:

Bachelor’s degree or higher in social sciences, law, sociology or any other related field is required. Advanced degree or proven experience in the areas of young people’s rights, youth participation, young people’s protection, youth advocacy or other relevant discipline related to the assignment is desired.
Demonstrated strong familiarity with issues related with youth leadership and engagement, human rights and gender equality in urban contexts in low and middleincome countries.
Strong technical expertise of safeguarding, including creating an organizational culture of safeguarding.
Relevant knowledge and experience in the fields of safeguarding in youth participation/participatory approaches, human/child/youth rights, international development, gender equality.
Proven experience in researching and drafting ethical engagement guidelines and safeguarding policies for both in-person and online engagement.
Ability to work with civil society partners and young people from different backgrounds in a multicultural and respectful manner.
Excellent research, writing and communication skills.
Fluency in English.