Terms of reference for a consultant for awareness raising campaign on Preventing and Tackling Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the North-West Balkans and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met, and their voices are heard.  We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) for different purposes constitutes a major global crime, that is very often spread via internet. Children constitute a particularly vulnerable group that is most often exposed to these risks. Online CSEA of children for production, distribution, possession or viewing of inappropriate material – for and by the internet users – with children themselves participating in this, presents one of the worst forms of the child abuse. The immense penetration of technological devices in previous years in North West Balkans proportionally included larger number of children who use such devices and the Internet, accordingly. Data extracted from the research conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), by the Criminal Policy Research Centre (CPRC) and Save the Children (SC) in 2016, shows that five of six children age 9-17 out of the tested population own a personal cell phone. Also, research conducted by the Institute for Psychology, the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Belgrade and UNICEF in Serbia found similar data in 2013. The digital environment enables new forms of violence such as cyberbullying, grooming and other various forms of harassment, thus, accelerating traditional forms of different inappropriate behaviours (e.g. insults, harassment, threatening and insulting messages, false representation, incitement to hatred and violence) to be more present and utilized either by adults to, or among, children. These threats, either minor or serious, are not only virtual but can easily become a tangible “real world” threat both to physical and mental safety of all users of the internet, especially children. Children become victims of sexual violence through the actual production of materials used for pornographic purposes, with the help of modern information and communication tools, in a systematic and organized way, available to the general public. With each subsequent showing of such material children are re-victimized, emotionally and physically, which reflects negatively on the possibility of their psychological recovery and socialization.

Save the Children in the North West Balkans seeks an agency/firm/organization (from now on: the consultant) to produce awareness rising materials and carry out an awareness rising campaign on children’s online safety for children and parents in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The engagement involves:

- Development of the overall concept of the campaign (including slogans, messages, social network hashtags etc.) targeting children/general audience, including parents of school age children;

- Production of materials for the campaign in consultation with relevant SC staff;

- Development of the detailed media plan and the budget for online-based campaign aiming for children/ general audience, including parents of school age children in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in consultation with designated SC staff, to reach specified target;

- Implementation of the campaign;

- Reporting on the results of the campaign.

In order to complete the above-specified task, the consultant will be engaged from the October 1 to November 30 2020. The consultant will develop and implement the work plan in consultations and with the support of SCINWB designated staff, in line with the proposed timeframe below.

The interestedconsultantshoulddevelopandsubmittheproposaltorespondto the above mentionedspecifictasks by October 2 at 15:00.

If you are interested in submitting a bid/bids, please contact Save the Children NWB at the following address nenad.bosiljcic@savethechildren.org to express your interest and request the procurement documents. Procurement documents will be sent to you by return.