ToR: Consultancy to edit the draft Child Rights and Protection Proclamation

1.      Introduction

SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia (SOSCVE) started its humanitarian work by opening the first Village in Mekelle in 1974. It began its work by providing life-saving provisions such as food, water and health services for many children devastated by severe drought and the subsequent famine. Today, its programs have grown significantly to meet the persistent challenges confronting Ethiopian children and young people who have lost parental care and are at the risk of losing, the love, care and protection of their families and caregivers. Working in close cooperation with donors, the government, and community-based organizations (CBOs), SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia has continued supporting thousands of children and young people who have lost parental care and are at risk of losing it. The organization is rigorously working to expand its geographic scope and program intervention areas to reach more vulnerable children and young people throughout the country and positively impact the lives of the children, young people, and their families as well as the community at large.

In line with its international and regional obligations, Ethiopia has revised several national legislations such as the Revised Family Code, Criminal Code, and Labour Law. However, the country has not yet complied with the CRC Committee’s recommendation to adopt a broad-based comprehensive child law at a national level. A comprehensive law will ensure the reflection of all the principles and provisions of the CRC considering the interconnected and interdependent nature of all rights. Most importantly, a comprehensive children’s act will address the rights and needs of children who need special protection such as children without parental care and those at risk of losing parental care. Most such laws address a broad range of children’s rights and protection issues including parental responsibility, foster care, adoption, child welfare/funding, and administration of different children’s institutions.

Thus, SOS Children’s Villages is advocating for the adoption of a comprehensive children’s act (Child Rights and Protection Proclamation) at Federal Level. As a result, the MOWSA has drafted a child rights and protection proclamation. The MOWSA would like to engage a consultant to edit the draft child rights and protection proclamation to address. For that purpose, SOS Children’s Villages will provide technical and financial support to procure a consultant.

2.      General Objective

The purpose of this consultancy is to edit and improve the draft child rights and protection proclamation resulting in a clear, consistent, and legally sound document.

Specific Objectives

1.      To improve clarity and coherence of the draft

2.      Ensure consistency of legal terminology and definition

3.      Validate compliance with applicable laws and regulations

4.      Eliminate ambiguities, redundancies, and contradiction

3. Expected Outcomes

·       Edited draft child rights and protection proclamation.

4. Scope of work

The scope of work includes a comprehensive review of the entire draft document, including articles, minutes of consultative meetings, and impact assessment. The review will cover legal language, structural coherence, and compliance aspects, it will also include substantive legal advice beyond textual editing.

5. Methodology

The editing process will follow a structured methodology comprising initial assessment, clause-by-clause revision, consistency verification, and final quality assurance using tracked changes to ensure transparency.

6. Deliverables

·       Edited draft proclamation with track changes

·       Clean Edited draft proclamation

·       Summary report on key issues and rationale

·       PowerPoint presentation

Qualification and Legal Requirements

The consultant(s) should have: –

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in law (LLB, LLM)
• Have experience in legal drafting and legal analysis.
• Good understanding of legal environment of the country.
• Good report writing and analytical skills
• High proficiency in written and spoken English and Amharic languages.
• Legally registered firms with renewed license, VAT registration or TIN number for individual applicants