BASELINE SURVEY ON THE PREVALENCE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN SCHOOL AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF REPORTING, TRACKING, REFERRAL AND RESPONSE MECHANISMS IN SCHOOLS IN THE KARAMOJA SUB-REGION

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Background

The AfriChild Centre has been commissioned by UNICEF Uganda to conduct a baseline assessment in the Karamoja region. UNICEF has been supporting school-based programs (through RTRR guidelines implementation) aimed at preventing school-based violence against children, facilitating reporting of cases of violence where violence occurs, strengthening the capacity of school structures to ensure cases of violence against children are referred to relevant competent service providers and that, the service providers provide adequate and timely response to cases when referred. At the heart of this is the need to track the incidence of school-based violence against children, and the responsiveness of reporting, referral, and response systems. 

To facilitate monitoring of the progress and impact of this whole-school program, UNICEF commissioned the AfriChild Centre to undertake a baseline assessment to establish the prevalence of violence against children in schools, and current structures in place for reporting, tracking, referral, and responding to cases of violence against children in schools in Karamoja region. This baseline is part of a series of longitudinal assessments that will be conducted by UNICEF to support periodic monitoring of progress attained in reducing the incidence of violence against children; and improving reporting, tracking, referral and response. 

Purpose of the assignment

The purpose of the baseline is to conduct a baseline survey to establish the prevalence of VACiS, reporting, tracking, response and referral of VAC/VACiS reported in schools with an intention to understand the effectiveness of the RTRR guidelines and process. 

More specifically, the baseline is guided by the following objectives; 

1. To establish the prevalence and nature of VAC/VACiS among children, including their age, sex, grade, and vulnerability/disability status

2. To identify, describe and quantify structures that children report cases of violence when they occur

3. To identify the existing mechanisms for referral, response and tracking for cases of violence against children in schools.

 Scope of work

The study will be conducted in the nine districts of; Abim, Amudat, Kaabong, Karenga, Kotido, Moroto, Nabilatuk, Nakapirirpirit, and Napak in Karamoja region between the month of August to December 2024. In effect, this assignment will last for a period of 25 days across the study period.

Responsibilities of the Research Assistant

The Research assistant shall perform the following core functions in the implementation of this evaluation assignment:

1. Attend all days of the interviewer training

2. Participate in the pretest exercise.

3. Ensure safe custody of study equipment such as tablets

4. Screen eligible participants for the study

5. Conduct all interviews that have been allocated for the selected district 

6. Conduct transcription of all audio recordings allocated by the Research Coordinator

7. Provide progress updates to the study coordinator/designate 

Reporting

The consultant(s) will be supervised by the Research coordinator/designate at The AfriChild Centre. 

The consultant

The desirable candidate for this position should possess the following skills and experience:  

1. At least a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, public health, education, or any other related course. 

2. Experience with the Karamoja Region

3. Experience conducting research studies focused on Violence Against Children (VAC) in Uganda.

4. Experience using electronic data collection platforms such as Open Data Kit or Survey CTO.

5. Knowledge and a solid understanding of mixed methods research 

6. Proficiency in both written and spoken English and Ngakaramojong

7. Demonstrate a solid understanding of child protection issues, social-cultural context, and Uganda's policy environment.

8. A proven competency in child-focused research methods and ethics.  

9. Experience in audio transcription for qualitative research

Interested candidates should send their CVs to info@africhild.or.ug no later than 20th September 2024