Background and purpose of the assignment

Millions of children around the world do not have what they need to survive and thrive because governments do not prioritize them, do not listen to them, and are not held accountable when they fail them. Even more children still do not have an equal chance to fulfil their potential and contribute to their communities by participating in public decision-making processes. This negatively affects children as decision-makers do not always have their best interests in mind when they make decisions that affect them and their families, making children often last in line in a list of competing priorities. Many do not see children as citizens in their own right and do not listen to them when they explain what they need and want. As a result, not enough resources are spent on children’s health, education, or protection.

Save the Children works to change this. “Child Rights Governance” has been a global theme for Save the children since 2011, and a focus on fulfilling children’s rights has been a priority since the organisation was established more than 100 years ago. By addressing the lack of open, inclusive, and accountable governance for child rights and a lack of resources to fund obligations to children, our Child Rights Governance programming creates conditions for long-term sustainable change for children.

Knowledge management (KM) and communications is key to Save the Children achieving our ambitions. We are looking to strengthen the management of knowledge about how Save the Children’s programs,
advocacy and partnership advance good governance that translates into the fulfillment of children’s rights, alongside improved external communications that support our staff around the world and inform
external audiences including partners, donors and communities themselves.

This consultancy will provide KM and communications expertise and technical assistance to Save the Children’s Child Rights Governance (CRG) team. In this role, you will help set up and launch KM guidance and protocols that improve Save the Children’s documentation of our child rights and governance programming, as well as learning and communication templates and material for our global CRG team. The assistance will be focused on providing guidance to country offices that supports their US donor engagement efforts. The library of materials you will help design and populate will be hosted on Save the Children’s Resource Centre staff portal, where it can be accessed by our staff globally to support the preparation of proposals, expansion of partnerships, raising awareness of our child rights brand, and other similar resource mobilisation and communications purposes, especially for US audiences.

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What we delivered

Working closely with the Senior Advisor, Governance at Save the Children USA, our team of consultants delivered the following services:

• Assessment Phase I: Conducted a brief assessment of the overall existing KM architecture within the program, specifically a desk review of relevant documentation and interviews with HQ-based and regional teams (Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Eastern & Southern Africa Regional Office, West & Central Africa Regional Office, and Resource Mobilisation & Business Development Regional Office).
• Prepared and presented assessment findings to CRG focal points, outlining identified benefits and challenges of the existing systems (Resource Center, OneNet, Workplace: Global Child Rights Governance Community, Regional and Country Level Repositories, AMS, SaveNet). Provided concrete recommendations for improvement.
• Assessment Phase II: Identified gaps in resources/materials and provided suggested communications materials including a revised CRG factsheet, capacity statement related to USG audiences, short case studies on key CRG approaches most relevant to USG audience, tailored with USG-appropriate language, internal “cheat sheet” with talking points and language mapping for USG audiences, and short case study template with emphasis on results, impact, and evidence.
• Prepared a report outlining the CRG team’s reflection on its current KM architecture, and a change management plan for how to sort, update and provide access to existing knowledge already collected by the CRG team.
• Drafted and edited the following communication and knowledge products: Save the Children Human Rights and Governance Capability Statement; Save the Children’s Approach to Governance Key Message Brief; Brief: Child Parliaments; Case Study: Localization and Civil Society in Northern Nigeria; Case Study: Public Investment in Children in Nicaragua; Child-Centered Social Accountability Case Study: CHARGE Programmes, Philippines; Child Rights and Governance Evidence Report; and Child Rights Governance generic talking points for meetings with USAID mission.
• Developed a Case Study Brief template.