CONSULTANCY FOR BESPOKE SGBV SURVIVOR SAFEGUARDING POLICY AND ESCALATION PROTOCOL DEVELOPMENT

1. ## **Background and Objectives**

Tiko operates across sub-Saharan Africa to ensure adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) access essential sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) services safely, confidentially, and autonomously. Tiko currently operates across Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. Candidates must demonstrate deep local legal knowledge across these jurisdictions, including local statutory reporting laws, child protection mandates, and juvenile justice frameworks. As Tiko expands direct Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) programming, supporting both girls who have been abused as well as those engaged in transactional sex, Tiko requires a bespoke **technical and programmatic SGBV survivor safeguarding policy and escalation protocol** to be developed. Serving adolescent girls aged 15-17 and young women aged 18–24, demands robust survivor protection across Tiko’s SGBV user journey including community and provider-led screening, referrals to health facilities, safe houses, shelters, police stations, courts as well as reintegration, livelihoods and skills-building. The primary objective of this consultancy is to develop a bespoke, highly operational SGBV Survivor Safeguarding Policy and Escalation Protocol. This assignment focuses on technical and programmatic safeguarding adaptations (direct survivor protection, physical safety, immediate harm response, and clinical and legal risk mitigation).

## **2. Scope of Work**

The consultant will draft, refine, and operationalise a technical safeguarding framework that establishes clear roles, responsibilities, preventive controls, and technical escalation pathways across the following categories:

### **A. High-Risk Emergency and Incident Response Protocols**

Draft specific, actionable technical protocols covering immediate physical protection, reporting, medical management, chain of custody, and emergency coordination for critical scenarios including but not limited to:

- **Disappearance, Runaway, and Kidnapping:** Protocol for when an SGBV survivor disappears, runs away from a programme or safe house, or is kidnapped.
- **Self-Harm and Suicide Attempts:** Protocols for managing self-harm incidents or suicide attempts in safe houses, programme sites, shelters, or survivor homes.
- **Safe House Emergencies:** Emergency technical response for fires, physical security breaches, or external threats at safe houses or shelters.
- **Perpetrator Attacks and Ongoing Threats:** Immediate security, relocation, and protection measures if a survivor is stalked, threatened, or attacked by a perpetrator.
- **Legal and Judicial Site Incidents:** Safety protocols for survivors who are threatened, attacked, injured, or killed whilst in court or during transit to or from judicial proceedings.
- **Revictimisation Risk Mitigation:** Standard technical procedures to prevent re-traumatisation and revictimisation across medical, legal, and programmatic touchpoints.

### **B. Age-Differentiated Roles and Responsibilities Matrix**

Establish concrete matrix structures defining who holds ultimate operational responsibility for mitigating, preventing, and responding to safeguarding issues across two target cohorts:

- **Minors (15-17 Years):** Incorporating mandatory statutory reporting, legal guardianship management, legal consent waivers for emergency SRHR care, and juvenile court safety.
- **Young Adults (18–24 Years):** Tailored protocols respecting legal autonomy, adult informed consent, age of majority considerations, and self-determined protection planning.

### **C. Programmatic Escalation and Process Adaptation**

- **Technical Adaptation:** Redesign existing organisational Safeguarding and Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (SEAH) reporting channels into direct, technical SGBV escalation pathways.
- **Response Protocols:** Define exact step-by-step technical workflows, immediate safety response windows (e.g., 0–2 hours, 24 hours), case transfer protocols, and technical roles (e.g., Case Managers, Safe House Leads, Transport Escorts, Legal Navigators) to ensure end-to-end survivor safety.

**3. Key Deliverables**

**1.Deliverable - Inception Report and Gap Audit: Description -** Inception report, audit of current SEAH and safeguarding pathways, and a risk matrix of programmatic SGBV touchpoints.

**2.Deliverable - Bespoke SGBV Survivor Protection Policy: Description -** Comprehensive technical policy covering non-HR, programmatic survivor protection.

**3.Deliverable - High-Risk Incident SOP Manual: Description -** Step-by-step technical protocols for disappearances, kidnappings, safe house fires, self-harm or suicide attempts, perpetrator attacks, revictimisation, and transit or court injuries.

**4.Deliverable - Technical Escalation and Roles Matrix: Description -** Detailed escalation pathways and accountability matrices divided by survivor age groups (<18 and 19–24 years).

**5.Deliverable - Frontline Technical Tools: Description -** Emergency, actionable digital reference guides for mobilisers, CBO case managers, safe house staff, and transport escorts detailing instant response steps.

## **4. Consultant Requirements**

- Advanced expertise in SGBV technical programming, child protection (<18), young adult safeguarding (19–24), trauma-informed care, and SRHR legal frameworks.
- Proven track record designing technical crisis protocols (safe house management, transit security, self-harm or suicide response, statutory reporting).
- Extensive operational experience in sub-Saharan Africa across decentralised partner ecosystems and community-based organisations (CBOs).

## **5. Project Timeline and Key Milestones**

To ensure alignment on capacity and deliverable expectations, the consultancy will follow the tentative schedule outlined below:

**Phase / Milestone: Contract Award and Inception - Description:** Finalisation of contract, kick-off meeting, and background document transfer - Target date: 25th September 2026

**Phase / Milestone: Inception Report and Gap Audit - Description:** Submission of Deliverable 1 (Inception report and risk audit of current touchpoints) - Target date: 9th October 2026

**Phase / Milestone: First Draft Submission - Description:** Submission of Deliverable 2 (Bespoke Policy) and Deliverable 3 (High-Risk Incident SOP Manual) - Target date: 23rd October 2026

**Phase / Milestone: Review & Feedback Window - Description:** Tiko technical team review and feedback period - Target date: 23rd - 30th October 2026

**Phase / Milestone: Second Draft & Toolkits - Description:** Submission of Deliverable 4 (Escalation & Roles Matrix) and Deliverable 5 (Frontline Technical Tools) - Target date: 6th November 2026

**Phase / Milestone: Final Sign-off & Handover - Description:** Incorporation of final edits, executive approval, and submission of final package - Target date:13th November 2026

*Note: Dates may be adjusted slightly during inception planning based on the agreed level of effort.*