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Terms of Reference for the child alternative care assessment study
SOS Children’s Villages Zimbabwe

Deadline: 14 November 2013

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1.0 Background Information

SOS Children’s Villages Zimbabwe is a non-governmental child development organisation established in Zimbabwe in 1985. Its mission is to build families for children that have lost parental care or at risk of losing parental care, help them shape their own futures and share in the development of their communities. It is a member of SOS Children’s Villages International which is currently working in 133 countries. In Zimbabwe SOS Children’s Villages is implementing various child and youth development interventions focusing on the provision of direct essential services; capacity building of child care-givers and community partners; as well as advocacy in the areas of care, health, education and gender.

On 18th October 2010, SOS Children's Villages International unanimously adopted the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children as a key framework for its work. SOS Children's Villages has therefore dedicated itself to implement the UN Guidelines in its work as well as to advocate for their application around the world. The organization believes that the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children has the potential to promote children’s rights and improve the lives of millions of children, their families and communities around the world.

It is against this background that SOS Children’s Villages Zimbabwe intends to conduct a care assessment exercise to ascertain the extent to which children under various care systems are benefitting through implementation of current policy and legal framework.

2.0 Purpose of the assessment

The care assessment will focus on assessing:

• the measures in country to prevent family separation,
• the various living arrangements for children in alternative care with a focus on: Extended family (kinship care),Community care, Formal foster care, Residential child care, and
• the administrative arrangements managing the above mentioned services.

It will also explore how the current national legal and policy framework governs the delivery of services in these various forms of care.

3.0 Scope of the assessment

SOS Children’s Villages Zimbabwe will provide an assessment tool which will guide the consultant during the exercise. The tool details the exact scope of the work to be undertaken in the assessment. Broadly, the scope of work covers the following key elements:

• Conduct an assessment of: Extended family (kinship care), Community care, Formal foster care, Residential child care, and informal foster care as the current child protection and child care systems in the country.
• Conduct an assessment of the current legal and policy framework related to: Extended family (kinship care), Community care, Formal foster care, Residential child care, and informal foster care systems in the country.
• Assess whether or not current preventative services for child family separation are effective and efficient.
• Assess whether or not the current policy environment provides a clear framework for care providers to document circumstances and motives that lead to child placement into formal care institutions.
• Provide an assessment of the current child care admission processes and placements into formal care
• Provide an assessment of the current policy framework in terms of support offered to children leaving: Extended family (kinship care),Community care, Formal foster care, Residential child care, and informal foster care
• Carry out an assessment of current national monitoring and follow-up systems for: Extended family (kinship care), Community care, Formal foster care, Residential child care, and informal care systems. This should include an assessment of the current national capacity to provide quality care services to children.
• Review current financing systems for: Extended family (kinship care), Community care, Formal foster care, Residential child care and informal care institutions in the country. This should include a review of funding trends towards these institutions.
• Assess the current policy framework in terms of provision of an efficient and effective protection and complaints systems within: Extended family (kinship care), Community care, Formal foster care, Residential child care, and informal care options of child care.
• Make recommendations on each of the issues raised under each of the above scope of the assessment. The recommendations should address current policy and legal framework gaps.

Visit the SOS Children’s Villages Zimbabwe fact sheet

Download full document
- MS Word version - (79KB)
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