RFP- to carry out a study on current status, root causes, consequences of child marriage and gaps in existing system & mechanism to address child marriages in Uttar Pradesh

Follow us@ngobox

About the Organization

ChildFund India I registered as a Society since 1984 and works in 85 districts across 15 States, annually reaches nearly 4 million children, youth, and their families from 3200 communities/villages. Through its unique programs, ChildFund India provides comprehensive support to children from birth until they reach 24 years of age through holistic interventions integrating health, nutrition, gender, education, livelihoods, and child protection. Child Fund India's interventions are aligned with age-specific and contextual needs, utilizing a unique Life Stage approach based on children's experiences of deprivation, exclusion, and vulnerability.

About the Proposal

India is home to the largest number of children in the world, with children under the age of 18 years representing 37% of the population (445 million). 172 million, or 40%, of these children are vulnerable or experience difficult circumstances.  According to UNICEF, 1 in 3 of the world’s child brides live in India and of the country’s 223 million child brides, 102 million were married before turning 15. Approximately 1 in 4 young women in India were married or in union before their 18th birthday- YOUNG LIVES.  In some states, such as . Child marriage among boys does occur in India, but at levels much lower than those seen in the past. Only 1 in 25 men were married before age 18, but one in five were married before the legal age of 21.

In an effort to address child marriage several policies and programmes have been by the Central & State Governments.  These policies are meant to ensure that the rights of children and adolescents are protected. At the central level, several legal frameworks were introduced that have addressed the issue of protection of child rights. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Right to Education Act, Juvenile Justice Care & Protection Act, National Plan of Action for Children. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan have increased the access for girls to primary and secondary education. To empower girls and address gender based discrimination, there are schemes like SABLA and Kishori Shakti Yojana, in order to reach out-of-school adolescent girls and provide them with an avenue to access information related to health, nutrition, life skills and opportunities, as non-formal education and vocational training. Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) aims to create a protective environment for children and contribute to the improvement of the wellbeing of children in difficult circumstances, as well as to the reduction of vulnerabilities, situations and actions that lead to abuse, neglect, exploitation, abandonment and separation of children. But still the incidences of child marriage are significant in this State as 36 million of child brides live in this State. Together with State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, ChildFund India is planning to conduct a study on Child Marriage in the State of Uttar Pradesh in India. ChildFund India is looking for highly qualified researcher to complete the study.  The proposed study will help to address the child marriage issue which affects growth and development of children.

Objectives

Overall objective of the consultancy assignment is to conduct a study to develop an understanding of the gravity & scale of child marriage in the districts of the State.  Its aims to explore and examine the underlying causes and deeper level of consequences of child marriages and to understand the gaps in the existing system & mechanisms to address the child marriage issue in the States of Uttar Pradesh in India.

In addition, the study also will explore whether and how Covid-19 contributed for increasing

the incidence of child marriages in ChildFund India’s programme areas.

Scope of Work

The external consultant under close guidance and consultation with Specialist- Child Protection and Advocacy Lead, of ChildFund India, will conduct the study. The consultant will coordinate and collaborate with ChildFund India’s project staff in the districts for meeting/consultations/other ground support as required. The specific objectives of the study are:

• to explore the underlying causes and local practices of child marriages
• to recognize the contemporary push and pull factors for child marriages with gender lens
• to explore the gaps in existing system & mechanism to address child marriage issue
• to understand the impact of COVID -19 pandemic on child marriage.
• To find out short term and long term consequences both for girls and boys
• To explore how the causes of child marriage can potentially be arrested?

 Deliverables:

All deliverables will be submitted to the ChildFund India office at Delhi.  All draft documents will be submitted as soft copies while the final products will be submitted as a soft copy and three hard copies. The consultant should submit following key deliverables:

• Inception report: The inception report should provide the detail methodology with timeline with each of the process. The inception report will cover (i) Analysis plan and report structure and (ii) work plan and timeline
• Develop and share data collection tools
• Training the enumerators on data collection and data entry
• Facilitating data collection from ten selected districts.
• Analysing the data and generating report.
• Presenting the draft report to ChildFund India
• Presentation of the final report
• Providing the detailed final report in English containing findings and recommendations for addressing the child marriage issue including a brief summary report

Eligibility

The consultant engaged to conduct the study should have the following:

• Master’s degree in Social Sciences and/or any relevant field.
• At least 8-10 years of experience including in the area of Research, Advocacy, and Report Writing with a special focus on Child Protection/Child Marriage and Community Development.
• Expertise in Child Rights/Gender and deeper understanding of Child Marriage issue in the State.
• Knowledge of strategies to address Child Marriage issue at local, state and national levels.
• Proven professional expertise in the area of research (both qualitative and quantitative)
• Have knowledge, experience, skills and confident to lead the research of particular
• districts independently
• Excellent analytical and synthesis skills and able to present the findings effectively through graphs, tables and associated textual reports.
• Capacity to produce reports for different audiences.
• Happy and ready to travel rural areas and communities
• Understanding and Speaking abilities in local language is an essential.

How to Apply

Interested consultants are requested to submit an application (expression of interest) which includes:

• A covering letter (addressing the essential criteria)
• Technical Proposal
• Financial Proposal
• Updated CV of the assigned persons involved in the Research
• Details of at least two references
• Previous research reports related to Child Protection/Gender/Child Marriage or Child Rights issues

Application should reach in the following mentioned email address by 17:00 hours of 25th September, 2022.   Please note, the applications received lately will not be considered in reviewing process.

Email Id: centralpurchase2@childfundindia.org

For more information please check the Link

Register for India's Largest CSR Event-India CSR Summit

Be a part of India ESG Forum 2022

Tags Education and Education Technology (edtech) Healthcare and Healthtech Livelihood Skill Development Women Empowerment Research Others