Consultant in Bangladesh: Collecting data from children with disabilities to prevent online child sexual exploitation – Bangladesh

Terre des Hommes is looking for a consultant to carry out data collection to investigate how children with disabilities in Bangladesh can be protected from online sexual exploitation.

Background

Terre des Hommes Nederland (TdH NL) is a children’s rights organisation and an international NGO. Our vision is that children can thrive in a world free from all forms of child exploitation. Our mission is to protect children by preventing and ending child exploitation and by empowering children to make their voices heard. In carrying out our mission, we seek to address the root causes of exploitation by creating scalable, evidence-based solutions and influencing systemic change rather than providing one-off fixes.

TdH NL is conducting a participatory action research project on online child sexual exploitation (OCSE) in three countries. This research will delve into the intersectional dimensions of online sexual exploitation through a deeper analysis of the data collected in a previously conducted study. The current research will consist of three additional case studies to investigate the impact of OCSE risks and marginalized identities on the risk of exploitation.

Terre des Hommes Netherlands emphasizes the intersectionality angle in child protection, which focuses on overlapping or intersecting factors that can be empowering or oppressive, from gender and race to an unlimited set of factors including socio-economic class, age, sexual orientation and disability. There is a significant gap in data on the specific links between intersectional factors and OSCE.

Purpose of the study

The aim of this study, as one of the case studies, is to investigate the risk and protective factors of children with disabilities in Bangladesh and how they can be enabled to be safe from online sexual exploitation. The research aims to:

1. Gain insight into how children with disabilities in Bangladesh navigate the online world, including safety and risks;
2. Identify the specific strengths and needs of children with disabilities in Bangladesh and their parents/guardians in ensuring online safety;
3. Identify good practices and gaps in the actions of relevant stakeholders to promote the online safety of these children and protect them from sexual exploitation.

Exits

The advisor is expected to deliver the following:

1. Provide advice on the types and severity of constraints to be included in the sampling methodology for the study (October);
2. Technical advice to strengthen the research methodology and ensure that data collection and dissemination methods are accessible to children with the types of disabilities for which the sample was conducted (October);
3. A risk assessment and mitigation plan for the protection of children (October);
4. Qualitative methods with children (such as focus group discussions, based on expert advice), interviews with parents and caregivers and interviews with stakeholders (between 15-25 participants per group) based on guidelines and questionnaires developed by TdH NL (November – January);
5. Providing all raw data and verbatim transcriptions in the original language of the recordings and with a translated version in English, as well as completed note-taking templates (end of January);
6. A contextual analysis of the power position of children with disabilities in Bangladesh (November – January);
7. Setting up a validation exercise with research participants (Q2 2025).

The consultant may decide to collaborate with other researchers on this assignment. We suggest that at least one person be involved who can serve as a child protection person and take observation notes, in addition to the interviewer. All people working on this assignment should be listed in the proposed work plan and their resumes should be included.

Important to note: the assignment is primarily aimed at data collectionThe research methodology will be largely designed by Terre des Hommes Netherlands to ensure alignment with case studies in other countries. The successful consultant will be engaged to 1) strengthen and adapt the methodology, 2) identify, select and prepare research participants, 3) conduct the data collection activities and 4) provide raw data and annotation templates to TdH NL. The analysis and writing of the report is done by TdH NL. The successful applicant will also be deployed in validation activities with research participants.

Profile

Desired consultants have:

• Extensive experience in conducting participatory action research and qualitative research methodologies, including focus group discussions and (small group) interviews;
• Expertise in child protection and online safety;
• Extensive experience and/or expertise in working with children with disabilities and conducting inclusive research that makes specific adjustments for children with different disabilities;
• Strong understanding of intersectionality, having a disability and its impact on child sexual exploitation;
• Preference for Bangladeshi candidates to ensure cultural and contextual understanding. Candidates who speak Bengali or local languages ​​to facilitate communication with the target groups.
• Ability to communicate in English and translate reports into English.
• A positive police background check.
• Experience in co-designing research methodology with children is an advantage.
• Available from October 1st or as soon as possible with an expected end date of June 2025

Who can register?

Anyone or agency that meets the stated profile can apply. Agencies may not have a conflict of interest and a due diligence check is part of the selection procedure.

Important to note: As a children’s rights organisation, we want to maintain the highest level of protection to protect children. This is reflected in our recruitment process. This includes checking two references, an approved police background check and signing our code of conduct with child protection procedures. Methodology training with child protection procedures is mandatory before we start collecting data.