Terms of Reference – Safeguarding Policy Suite Development Consultancy

Organisation: Mary’s Meals International

Location: Remote

Duration: 30th September – 30th November 2022

Mary’s Meals is a global movement supported by people from all walks of life and we are focused on one goal – that every child receives a nutritious daily meal in a place of education. We continue to change the lives of over 2.2 million children who today will receive a Mary’s Meals. We believe in the innate goodness of people, respect the dignity of every human being and family life and believe in good stewardship of the resources entrusted to us.

Mary’s Meals is committed to safeguarding everyone that the organisation engages with including children that benefit from feeding programs across the world, adults at risk/ people we serve, board members/ representatives, volunteers, employees, contractors and everyone that interacts with Mary’s Meals International. We maintain the highest standards of safeguarding, built around a survivor-centred approach, and an organisational culture that strives to prevent abuse.

We have a Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults’ policy in place that informs interventions to ensure no child/ adult at risk is harmed in the course of delivering our mandate. We are seeking a consultant to support the organisation in strengthening the safeguarding policy suite and procedures in the organisation, with a view to reviewing and updating available policies and procedures.

The purpose of this assignment is to prepare a Safeguarding Policy suite which provides a comprehensive framework for protection of all children and vulnerable adults involved in MM activities, projects and programmes and contribute to the strengthening of the protection of children and adults at risk in the community. This Safeguarding Policy suite should be accessible to children and staff and volunteers at all levels.

Assignment Objectives, Activities & Outputs

The primary responsibility of the consultant will be to develop a safeguarding policy suite and related procedures that will ensure full implementation of the suite in line with good practice in the sector.

• Desk review of current and existing safeguarding and Code of Conduct documentation to become familiar with existing operational documents including policies i.e safe recruitment and procedures within the organisation.
• Conduct key informant interviews/ joint sessions with key organizational representatives to get an overview of existing gaps in policy and procedures across the organisation.
• Map out and present existing gaps and schedule an inception meeting with MM representatives to share consultant’s understanding of the ToR and provide a suggested framework that will ensure the targets are met within agreeable timelines.
• Develop a work plan outlining when key milestones for each policy will be developed alongside implementation procedures.
• Develop an outline of each policy with standards clearly articulated to be discussed in a workshop with MM.
• Develop best practice safeguarding procedures/SoP/guidelines for consideration by MM to enable contextualisation and ensure full implementation of Safeguarding Policy Suite.

The consultant will report regularly to the Global Safeguarding Lead and MM Director of People. The Safeguarding Policy suite full versions must be developed within the context of international best practices, donor guidelines, Scottish/ UK Law and any other relevant regulatory guidelines.

The policy suite should be submitted in English.

Contractor requirements:

• Demonstrated up to date understanding of International Safeguarding Standards.
• Working knowledge of child protection/ safeguarding strategies and initiatives.
• Experience of developing high quality child protection/safeguarding policies and procedures suitable for global audiences.
• Demonstrated up to date understanding of Safeguarding Due Diligence guidelines for major donors.
• First rate analytical skills.
• Excellent time management skills able to meet tight deadlines.