TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR):
ToR for hiring a Consultant for developing of Training of Trainers (ToT) package on Psychosocial Counselling under the Child Bride to Bookworm- Christmas Calendar Project.

Background and Introduction

About Plan International Bangladesh

Founded over 80 years ago, Plan International is one of the oldest and largest children's development organizations in the world. Plan International plays an important role in mobilising children, communities and civil society organisations to claim the rights of children and achieve agreed upon local development priorities, towards a commitment to ensuring the wellbeing of children in support of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Plan International is independent, with no religious, political or governmental affiliations, and with a vision of a world in which all children realize their full potential, in societies that respect people's rights and dignity.

Plan International works in fifty-two developing countries across Africa, Asia and the South America, and twenty-one countries raise funds to support these efforts. In 2015, Plan International worked with eighty-four million children in 85,280 communities. Plan International has stated Global Strategic Goal is to reach as many children as possible, particularly those who are excluded or marginalized, with high quality programs that deliver long-lasting benefits. Children are at the heart of everything we do.

Plan International started its operation in Bangladesh in 1994. The vision of Plan international 2030 is to “Empower girls and young women, to be heard, to live without fear of violence and to achieve their rights”. Presently under country strategy V Plan International Bangladesh is implementing programmes in Three thematic areas where our priority areas are Leadership with the objectives of Empower children and young people as drivers of a systematic change in gender norms and power relations (Leadership), Promote an enabling environment for girls and young women to live free from discrimination, coercion, fear of violence and harmful practices, building their future aspirations and making decisions about their bodies,  SRHR with the objectives of promoting an enabling environment for girls and young women to live free from discrimination, coercion, fear of violence and harmful practices, building their future aspirations and making decisions about their bodies, SOYEE with the objectives of  raising public and private sectors’ support for young women to access decent work opportunities in the 21st century labour market and have control over resources.
As a continuation, Christmas Calendar project works to create a community around the school, support school environment to ensure quality education and the inclusion and retention of vulnerable groups. The strategy of Christmas Calendar project is based on the experience of Plan International in Bangladesh and their local partner SUROVI to improve conditions for the most vulnerable children in relation to education, active citizenship and influence in local decision-making structures. Since 2012, Plan International Bangladesh has developed and implemented a model of inclusive learning environment in Bangladesh. In addition, Plan International Bangladesh is also implementing a project titled ‘Generation Breakthrough’ for improving adolescent sexual reproductive health rights and reducing gender-based violence with the support from UNFPA and Government of Bangladesh for the last 5 years.

Project Overview

Child Bride to bookworm project aim to reduce school dropout and early marriage from urban slum’s Girls and boys towards increasing the completion rate at lower secondary school. Project is envisioning to reduce school dropout of 22 lower secondary school through since 1st January,2020. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the world's fastest-growing cities with half a million new residents every year. 60 per cent of the city’s population lives in slums, where extreme poverty, disease, violence, pollution and floods are part of everyday life. Despite the fact that the vast majority of children start school, only one-third of all children in the slums go all the way from Class 1 to 10 and complete their schooling. Bangladesh has the highest incidence of child marriages in Asia. Here 52 per cent of girls are married off before reaching the age of 18. Along with child labour is also an important reason why many boys and girls do not complete their schooling. In the slums, there are three times as many children who work compared with the national average. Slum children are a group which is difficult to reach. But since almost all children in Bangladesh start school, it makes the school a strategic platform from which to create a positive impact on disadvantaged children's lives. Despite the natural interface between teachers, pupils and parents, schools in Bangladesh are unfortunately poorly equipped to cope. Under Bangladeshi law, all schools must have a School Management Committee, a Parent Teacher Association - PTA, and a Student Council for primary school and Student Cabinet in secondary school.
Christmas Calendar project works to create a community around the school, support school environment to ensure quality education and the inclusion and retention of vulnerable groups. The strategy of Christmas Calendar project is based on the experience of Plan International in Bangladesh and their local partner SUROVI to improve conditions for the most vulnerable children in relation to education, active citizenship and influence in local decision-making structures. The aim of this project is to address the root causes of children from the slums dropping out of school, by a combination of three intervention strategies will lead to increase the number of girls and boys from urban slums who completes quality education. Interventions are as bellow:

1. IMPROVED SCHOOL GOVERNANCE : Strengthened participation and collaboration of School Management Committees (SMCs), teachers and relevant stakeholders in school governance
2. SCHOOL-BASED INITIATIVES: SMCs, Teachers at targeted schools, parents, and youth leaders are actively supporting initiatives to increase school completion
3. Access existing learning opportunity at school: School authorities and donors are actively supporting young people living in the urban slums of Dhaka, especially girls, to access existing learning opportunities and return safely to schools
4. Covid-19 Emergency response: To support the children of the most marginalized families to continue learning during the Covid-19 school closure and enable them to return to school once they reopen.

Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be downloaded from this link.

Submission of Proposal:

The technical and financial proposals should be submitted electronically to the email address: Planbd.consultant.hiring@plan‐international.org with title “Proposals for developing of ToT package on Psychosocial Counselling under the Child Bride to Bookworm- Christmas Calendar Project as a subject. Proposal submitted to any other email account except this and in hard copy will be treated as disqualified. 

Submissions deadline 27 October, 2021 before at 3:30pm. Both technical and financial proposal should be submitted PDF format into one zip folder with a covering letter addressing to Md. Enamul Haque, Supply & Procurement Specialist, Plan International Bangladesh.