TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INSTITUTIONAL CONTRACT

Title of the assignment

Develop Training Module and Conduct Training of Trainers (ToT) on Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 and Rules 2018 for Child Marriage Prevention Committee, government officials and local government representatives in Bangladesh.

Purpose

To carry out training needs assessment of the key actors and based on the assessment develop a comprehensive training module on Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 and Rules 2018 (with specific modules for Child Marriage Prevention Committee based on their specific functions) and deliver training of trainers (ToT) for the nominated government and civil society officials to develop a trainers pool.

Location

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Estimated Duration

15 June to November 2021

Reporting to Technical Supervisor of this assignment

Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF Bangladesh

1. Background and rational

Child Marriage is defined as a marriage of a girl or boy before the age of 18 and refers to both formal marriages and informal unions in which children under the age of 18 live with a partner as if married[1]. It violates children’s rights and places them at high risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse. Study reveals that child marriage has profound detrimental impact on physical and mental well-being of children, and their ability to live free of violence. Consequences of child marriage have lasting effects as they struggle with the health effects of getting pregnant too young and too often, their lack of education and economic independence, become subject to domestic violence, and marital rape and lost the natural childhood.

According to MICS 2019 South Asia has the highest rates of child marriage in the world. Almost one in five girls (17%) are married before the age of 15. Bangladesh is home to 38 million child brides, including currently married girls along with women who were first married in childhood. Of these, 13 million married before the age 15. Bangladesh ranks among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest levels of child marriage. Fifty-one per cent of young women in Bangladesh were married before their 18th birthday[2]. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Bangladesh is one of the top twenty “hot spots” of child marriage, or countries with the highest prevalence.

Child marriage affects both girls and boys, but it affects girls disproportionately. It harms girls’ rights to health, education, equality and a life free from violence and exploitation. Married girls are over four times more likely to be out of school than unmarried girls. Child brides are somewhat more likely to reside in rural areas and to live in poorer households and are less likely to have more than a secondary education. Nearly 5 in 10 child brides gave birth before age 18, and 8 in 10 gave birth before the age of 20[3].

Bangladesh has acceded or ratified International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).  

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) provides that marriage must be entered into with the free consent of the intending spouses [Art. 10(1)]. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides for the right of men and women of marriageable age to marry. It also states that no marriage shall be entered into without the free and full consent of the intending spouse (Art. 23). The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) states unequivocally: “The betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an official registry compulsory.”

Child marriage also undermines a number of rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child which includes the right to education (Art. 28), the right to be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, including sexual abuse (Art. 19) and from all forms of sexual exploitation (Art. 34), the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (Article 24), the right to educational and vocational information and guidance (Art. 28), the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas (Art. 13), the right to rest and leisure, and to participate freely in cultural life (Article 31), the right to not be separated from their parents against their will (Art. 9) and the right to protection against all forms of exploitation affecting any aspect of the child’s welfare (Art. 36).

UNICEF and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child have declared that child marriage constitutes a ‘harmful traditional practice’.[4] The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in its concluding observations in 2015 expressed its serious concern at the persistence of adverse cultural norms, practices and traditions, as well as deep-rooted stereotypes regarding the roles and the place of children, in particular girls, in society. Such stereotyping contributes to the persistence of violence against children and harmful practices, including child marriage. The Committee recommends that the State party to take measures to eliminate stereotypes that discriminate against children.

As a party to the said treaty or convention, Bangladesh has international obligations to protect the rights of girls and women. Human Rights Watch found that child marriage in Bangladesh can result in the inadequate fulfilment and protection of these rights.

Government of Bangladesh enacted the 2017 Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA) on 27 February 2017, repealed and replaced the 1929 CMRA which provides the minimum legal age for marriage is 18 years for girls and 21 for boys. While the 2017 CMRA does not declare child marriages as void, it strengthened penalties for those who marry or assist the marriage of children.[5] The 2017 CMRA imposes a penalty of imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to Tk 50,000  for an adult man or woman who marries a child as well as parents or guardians who promote or organize a child marriage, which is higher than the penalties previously imposed under the repealed CMRA, which were imprisonment of up to one month and/or a fine of up to Tk 1,000.[6]

Bangladesh has committed to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (target 5.3).  At the 2014 London Girl Summit, the Bangladeshi government signed a charter committing to end child marriage by 2041 also pledged that Bangladesh would end marriage under the age of 15 by 2021 and under 18 by 2041, and reduce the number of girls getting married between 15 and 18 by more than one third by 2021. Meeting the SDG target to end child marriage by 2030, or the national target to end child marriage by 2041, will require a major push. Progress must be at least 8 times faster than the rate observed over the past decade to meet the national target, or 17 times faster to meet the SDG target[7].

2. Objectives, Purpose and Expected Results

Purpose of the assignment

The Government of Bangladesh enacted the 2017 Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA) on 27 February 2017 and Rules in 2018, repealed and replaced the 1929 CMRA. The efficient enforcement of the law depends, inter alia, on the performance of efficient workforce. The purpose of the assignment is to develop a pool of master trainers who are nominated from the government and civil society organiations on the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 who will cascade the training to the pertinent actors under the law at natonal, district, upazila and union level.

The objective of the assignment is to (i) assess the capacity needs of pertinent actors under CMRA. (ii) develop a training module and (iii) facilitate ToT on CMRA aiming to develop a pool of trainers.

The selected agency is expected to conduct ToT for officials from government and civil society organizations nominated from different parts of the country on Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 with the required technical and operational support from UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office. MoWCA would be the lead ministry to create a Reference Group to oversee the progress of the assignment and advise time to time. The agency will work under the technical guidance and overall supervision of the Child Protection Specialist, Child Protection Sections and Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA).

3. Description of Assignment

The scope of the assignment is to provide the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and UNICEF Bangladesh with technical assistance in relation to building capacity of the institutions in relation to ending child marriage taking into consideration the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 and the Rules 2018 and the National Plan of Action on Ending Child Marriage in Bangladesh, particularly to ensure the followings:

• Prepare and submit detail plan for need assessment and ToT plan with creative strategy and methodology based on the understanding of the ToR and its requirements
• Conduct a brief training need assessment and submit report as per proposed sample size and agreed methodology
• Conceptualize and finalize development of courses outline, course curriculum, materials and modules for the trainees who will be the prospective trainers.
• Pre testing of the training module in two different location as agreed by UNICEF
• Finalisation of the module and share with the reference group for approval and MoWCA’s endorsement
• Online version of the training module need to be prepared
• Plan, lead and facilitate the ToT with trainers. (nominated and relevant government stakeholders e.g officials of MOWCA, Ministry of Local Government; Ministry of Home, Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs and civil society members from different parts of the country)
• Prepare and submit completion report.

The assignment is for 6 months to be started from 15 June 2021. The consultant will be based in Dhaka UNICEF BCO to provide his/ her full-time technical support to UNICEF and the MOWCA.

Time Frame: The agency will implement all the activities under this ToR in three months spread over the period from 015 June to 30 November 2021.

4. Deliverables

SL#

Tasks

End Product/Deliverables

Time frame

1

Develop detailed work plan with methodology of capacity needs assessment, training modules and training programme schedules.

Detailed workplan with implementation strategy developed

3 days

2

Prepare report on capacity needs assessment on Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017, policies, by-laws .

Report on capacity needs assessment prepared, and

10 days

3

Development of training modules in Bangla and English including PPT and online version

Training modules in Bangla and English developed including online version.

17 days

4

Field test of the module and incorporate the views of the participants

Field test is conducted, and the views of participants are incorporated

5 days

5

Develop pre- and post-test questionnaires, execute the tests and submit test reports.

Pre- and post-test questionnaires developed, tests executed, and reports submitted.

2 days

6

Online version of the training module needs to be prepared

Online training module is readily available

7

Deliver training of trainers (ToT) to 75 participants in three batches

ToT training to 75 participants in three batches delivered.

15 days

8

Submit training report, along with printed and soft copies of detailed training modules in Bangla and English, participants’ feedback and pre and post- test assessment results.

Training report submitted, along with printed and soft copies of detailed training modules in Bangla and English

5 days

5. Reporting requirements

• Inception report with detailed work plan with methodology of capacity needs assessment, training modules and training programme schedules.
• Capacity need assessment report
• training module in English and Bangla and ToT conduction report
• Final report

6. Payment Schedule

Due date

End result

Amount (in %)

Within 10 days of the signing of the contract

Inception report with detailed work plan with methodology of capacity needs assessment, training modules and ToT programme schedules.

5000

15 July 2021

Capacity need assessment report

5000

15 September 2021

Training module in English and Bangla and online version

10000

15 October

ToT conducted and report

5000

15 November

Final report

5000

7. Qualification requirement of the company/institution/organization

Qualifications requirements:

• National agency with minimum 5-year experience in developing training module in the area of child protection and conducting ToT, including capacity need assessment.
• Minimum 5-year Experience of developing module from Law/Acts will be an asset.
• Strong track record of quality data collection, analysis and report writing in English.
• 5 years’ experience on digital programming and development of training modules
• Demonstrated ability to network within national government partners, National Statistical Offices, NGOs and the academic and development community.
• Familiarity with UN systems and procedures, management and monitoring tools is desirable.

7a. Qualification requirement of the team (optional)

• The Technical Team should be comprised of experts on a) legal system in Bangladesh, governance and interpretation, b) on development of training modules and curriculum development and c) experts on developing digital and online programming to develop online self-learning training package.

8. General conditions: procedures and logistics

Policies both parties should be aware of:

i.          The consulting agency will be responsible for all support required to complete the assignment

including accommodation, meals, transportation, and tools of trade (including computers);

ii.          Office space will be provided by UNICEF for use during the evaluation and UNICEF premises will be available for the meetings and consultations;

iii.         The consulting company will not be entitled to the use of UNICEF transportation;

iv.         No contract related activities may commence unless the contract is signed and received by both parties.

vi.         Institutions or their staff will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget; and,

Policy both parties should be aware of:

• Members of the contracting company are not entitled to payment of overtime.  All remuneration must be within the contract agreement.
• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the Contractor.
• No member of the contracting company may travel prior to contract signature.
• Members of the Institutional contractor company will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget.
• No additional payment request beyond the approved budget will be authorized by UNICEF.