Back Explosive Ordnance Risk Education Strategy review Mine Risk Education in Thailand

1. Background

1.1 About Humanity & Inclusion (Handicap International)

Handicap International runs its program under the operating name Humanity & Inclusion (HI). HI is an independent and impartial aid organisation working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. HI works alongside people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, taking action and bearing witness in order to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and their fundamental rights. HI is currently implementing projects in more than 60 countries worldwide, including Thailand.

1.2 Context in which the project takes place

Thailand has been one of the main countries hosting asylum-seekers and refugees from Myanmar for more than three decades. Currently, more than 80,000 people live in nine temporary shelters along the Thai-Myanmar border[1].

In 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), jointly with the Royal Thai Government (RTG) and the Government of the Union of Myanmar (GoUM) launched a Facilitated Voluntary Repatriation Process (FVR) to support the return of refugees. Nevertheless, this process is still very incipient as refugees feel a lot of uncertainty regarding their future to Myanmar.

Large areas of Myanmar remain contaminated with landmines and other explosive ordnance (EO), as a legacy of decades of armed conflict between the national government and a range of ethnic armed groups. Existing data indicates that Myanmar has one of the most severe landmine problems in the world today. It is believed that most of the areas of origin and potentially of return for Myanmar refugees remain of concern in terms of safety and security for the civilian populations.

1.3 About Humanity & Inclusion in Thailand

HI started working in Thailand in 1982 and first focused its actions on the delivery of mobility and assistive devices to Cambodian and Burmese landmine victims, most of who needed lower limb prostheses. Since 1998, the scope of projects broadened and HI started providing physical rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities, as well as promoting inclusion within mainstream service providers.

Risk Education (RE) was delivered by HI in camps along the border from 2000 to 2008 and then was interrupted. After an official demand from camp leaders in May 2012, HI started in July 2012 a new RE project in the 9 refugee camps, with a focus on at-high risk groups (children, travellers, returnees, boarding students).

In addition to the RE project, HI implements 3 other projects at the moment, in Thailand:

• Physical rehabilitation: Physiotherapy and occupational therapy-based services and provision of assistive technology, implemented across 5 temporary shelters in Tak and Mae Hong Son province;
• Disability and Social Inclusion: Inclusion of disability into mainstream livelihood, vocational training and protection services providers, capacity building of Self-Help Groups and physical accessibility across 5 temporary shelters;
• Growing Together: development of accessible and secure play areas to enable children with and without disabilities to play, learn and grow up together in a safe and inclusive environment in 7 temporary shelters.

1.4 The project in Thailand

Project name

EO Risk Education (RE)

Exact location

Nine camps namely Mae La, Umpiem, and Nu Po, in Tak province, Mae La Oon, Mae Ra Ma Luang, Ban Mae Surin and Ban Mai Nai Soi camps in Mae Hong Son province, and Band Don Yang and Tham Hin camps in Kanchanaburi province situated along the Myanmar-Thailand Border

Target groups (Beneficiaries)

All camp population including most at risk groups such as travellers, children, and refugees willing to return to Myanmar

Funding

Bureau of Population Refugee and Migrant (BPRM)

Project Goals:

• To increase people at risk's knowledge on RE to further adopt safe mine and EO practices in 9 refugee camps in Thailand.

• To increase the level of information of the refugee population in 9 camps in Thailand about mine/EO risk in Myanmar.

1.5 Justification for calling upon a consultant

A RE Pre-Impact Assessment was conducted in November 2012 and Post-Impact Assessments (PIA) were regularly conducted to analyse feedback on changes and adoption of safe behaviours: in November 2013, September 2015, April 2018 and September 2019. This last PIA, unlike the previous ones, has not been conducted by a consultant, but internally, by HI staff, following the methodology of the previous PIAs.

The results obtained with the 2019 PIA have showed high level of knowledge on mine and other EO in the nine camps, with a significantly good level of correct attitudes and practices.

It however seems unrealistic that a large majority of more than 80,000 refugees living along the Thai-Myanmar border are fully knowledgeable and adopt safe behaviours encountering a mine or other EO. A rapid survey done in May 2020 has shown that when answering open questions, interviewees have a much lower knowledge of the risk and how to avoid it. The PIA methodology seems to have some limitations and does not allow to draw substantive conclusion on the impact of HI’s action. There is therefore a need to review this methodology (questionnaire and protocol) to be more relevant to the context.

RE IEC materials have been reviewed in mid-2019 and updated but it seems the current approach is more focusing on knowledge than attitude and practice.

On the whole, there is a need determine the actual impact of the RE project and the lessons to be learnt from 8 years of RE activities implementation.

2. SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE SURVEY

2.1. Objective

The overall objective of the consultancy is to support the RE team in enhancing the RE activities, review and adjust the methodology to assess the RE’s impact, especially in terms of attitude and behaviour, and provide lessons-learnt and recommendations for next programming (which may include defining an exit strategy).

2.2. Specific objectives:

1. Determine an appropriate methodology to assess the impact of the RE project

2. Revise the current methodology used to assess the impact of RE sessions (PIA)

3. Define an efficient methodology to assess this impact, by developing tailored tools, i.e. questionnaire on behavior change, testimony/short stories/interviews, observation through role play/games, focus group discussions, community workshop etc, using a gender and diversity approach.

4. Train the RE team on how to use these new tools and accompany the team to implement the new methodology and define the baseline of a next project.

5. Evaluate the efficiency of the RE sessions

6. Evaluation of the RE sessions provided by the CBS to identify specific gaps / priorities.

   📚 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗮 𝗝𝗼𝗯 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗡 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯! 🌍🤝 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗡 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗨𝗡𝗛𝗖𝗥, 𝗪𝗙𝗣, 𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗘𝗙, 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗦𝗦, 𝗨𝗡𝗙𝗣𝗔, 𝗜𝗢𝗠 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀! 🌐

   ⚠️ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐰: 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐍𝐎𝐖!

7. Review the methodology of the different RE activities, i.e. pre-departure sessions, RE sessions for the children (including those at schools done by the teachers and trainers).

8. Review the activity report form that could be used to collect relevant data (particularly to determine the areas of return of the travelers and our beneficiaries).

9. Review the IEC materials, identify gaps and support the team to develop news tools and materials

   1. Define ways forward

10. Define an exit strategy using a participatory approach (with HI teams but also communities’ members and leaders, other NGOs and CBOs, UNHCR), with a timeframe

11. Assessment of potential partners to take over RE activities from HI

12. Provide recommendations on programming (activities and indicators)

3. METHODOLOGY

The exact methodology should be proposed by the consultant/s in the application documents, and could consist in:

The methodology should be participatory, taking into account the opinions of the different stakeholders. Inclusive methodologies will need to be developed for people with any type of disabilities to be reached and able to express their views.

The methodology should include both quantitative and qualitative data collected through:

• secondary data review (HI program documents, HI RE methodology and tools)

• IDIs, FGDs, PFGDs, and KIIs with various community members, ranging from HI teams members (Country Manager, MEAL manager, RE national teams and camp-based staff, HQ technical advisor), to camp committee members and UNHCR, NGOs, CBOs workers (including HI camp-based staff).

The consultancy will consist in:

(1) A desk phase during which the consultant will

• Discussions with the RE team and the CM, review existing project documents (HI program documents, HI RE methodology and tools, PIA reports and protocol, rapid survey results) to get acquainted both with the projects and the challenges faced by HI in terms of implementation and assessment of the activities;
• Gather and analyse secondary data.

(2) A field phase (steps/methodology to be detailed by the consultant)[2]**

• Field visit to understand the RE project fully and evaluate the RE sessions;**
• Workshop with the team to define a qualitative impact assessment methodology and baseline;**
• Review IEC materials;**
• Assessment of potential partners for hand-over;**
• Workshop to define an exit strategy.**

(3) A reporting phase, during which the consultant will

• Write a preliminary report on findings, analysis and recommendations, with a clear and detailed exit strategy;
• Submit the preliminary report to get comments and feedback from HI team within 5 working days;
• Organise a debriefing workshop with HI team, to present the findings with the aim of exchanging, and sharing feedback;
• Submit a final report to HI including annexes and raw and cleaned quantitative data.

4. DELIVERABLES

All the documents should be delivered in English (good quality English but easy to understand by local communities who are not fluent in English).

• Finalized guidelines detailing the methodology to follow in future impact assessment of the RE project. The document shall also explain how to use the new tools of this assessment process.
• Finalized list of recommendation on how the RE sessions should be structured in order to enhance their efficiency.
• Final report with exit strategy. Within the report, confidentiality shall be respected when representing personal information. A consent form needs to be used prior taking any photo and doing any interview. Any inclusion of pictures of children will have the statement within the document…. “All names & information about the location of children and family privacy in conformity with HI Child Protection Policy”

NB: For reasons of confidentiality, the report remains the intellectual property of HI exclusively.

5. TIMELINE

The consultancy should start by 1st August 2020. The final deadline for the submission of the consultancy report is 14th September, 2020. The consultancy will be planned in accordance with HI project team and depend on activities planned for the proposed timeframe.

6. PROFILE OF THE CONSULTANT

The consultancy can be carried out by an individual consultant or a team of consultants.

If a team of experts is selected, the evaluation will be put under the responsibility of one team leader chosen among the team of experts. This person will ensure all communication with HI Thailand office and will be the sole responsible party for managing the organization of the research.

Consultants based in Thailand or with the capacity to sub-grant locally will be privileged due to the travel restrictions related to the covid-19 pandemic.

The consultant or team of consultants should combine the following skills, experience and knowledge:

• Master’s degree in a related field (sociology, international development or other social science)
• Proven experience in mine/EO Risk Education and/or humanitarian mine action (at least 5 years) – experience with HI is a key asset
• Significant experience in project management and/or MEAL management (preferably of RE projects)
• Significant experience with both quantitative and qualitative survey - design, implementation, analysis and reporting
• Significant facilitation and interviewing skills
• Experience in refugees’ context including refugees’ return or remote RE
• Fluency in English

7. FORMALITIES

Proposals from interested consultant(s) should include:

1. Letter of expression of interests (compulsory);

2. Curriculum vitae (compulsory) detailing the consultant’s working experience in setting, revising and adapting RE activities as well as in developing impact assessment surveys, highlighting those focused-on data processing and analysis, data collection with reference of previous assignment done or sample of work accomplished;

3. Technical proposal (compulsory) including methodology, data collection and analysis, activities and confirmed timeline (suggested timeline attached) considering contextual limitations (see below);

4. Financial proposal (compulsory) for consultant’s assignment. All costs related to the consultancy without exceptions should be figured into the financial plan of the consultant, including consultancy fees, domestic and international travel if needed, visa, accommodation, interpreters, data entry, per diem, logistics, organization of workshops, etc. (transportation from Mae Sot to the refugee camps will be provided by HI);

5. 3 references of which 2 should be from previous EO Risk Education experience;

NOTE - Camp/ field visit limitations:

• No entry to the camps without camp-pass permission;
• No camp visit during Bank Holidays;
• No work/interviews on the weekends at the temporary shelter level;
• Mae La is 45 minutes from Mae Sot; Umpiem Mai and Nu Po camps are about 2 and 6 hours from Mae Sot- accommodation at Umpang (mid-way for both camps), Mae Ra Ma Luang and Mae La Oon are 6 to 8 hours from Mae Sot, there is a HI´s guesthouse, where a consultant can stay for the week in order to cover both temporary shelters, Bae Mae Surin and Bae Mai Nai Soi are 8 hrs away from Mae Sot- hotels available in Mae Hong Song, Ban Don Yang and Than Him camps are 8 hrs away from Mae Sot-; some key stakeholders have their main offices in Mae Sariang, 4 to 6 hours away from Mae Sot.

Evaluation of the proposals/ applications will be made through a selection committee through two phases:

• Administrative selection: checking for completeness of application (all 7 items listed above and 5 minimum as compulsory).

• Technical selection: criteria to select the best application will be based on the quality of the technical proposal, competitive financial proposal, human resources skills and previous experiences, demonstrated expertise of the applicant.

Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration for technical selection.

The deadline for submission of proposals is 19th July 2020 at midnight Thailand time. Applications received after the application deadline will not be considered**