ToR: Facilitate Training Workshop for Governments, Stakeholders and CSOs on the Provision of SSD at National and Regional

Background

The Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations (NEWA) is non-partisan, non-for-profit and a non-governmental national network established in 2003. NEWA strives creating a stronger advocacy voice for women’s political, socio-economic, and legal advancements. NEWA has a twofold goal: synchronizing the individual efforts of women’s associations into an integrated collective agency and synergy to realize their common aspirations for gender equality, through a vigorous public campaign, promotions, advocacy, and lobbying for Empowering and redressing the needs, asks of the girls and young women (GYW), and the creation of space for this underprivileged section of society, and wwomen’s rights, NEWA wants to achieve among others. NEWA is a membership coalition, with 50 member associations and organizations, operating in all over the country engaged to contribute in national development, governance and democratization processes.

NEWA is currently implementing varied projects and programs under its scope of work/ thematic areas. Among others, with the support from the Malala Fund and collaboration with the Education Champions Networks, NEWA is implementing a project entitled “Enhance Girls’ Education through promoting Safe school Declaration in conflict affected regions of Ethiopia (Amhara and Tigray)”. Years of conflict in the Amhara and Tigray regions have disrupted education systems, destroyed school infrastructure, and exposed children to severe protection risks. Girls, in particular, face heightened vulnerabilities, including gender-based violence (GBV), early marriage, sexual exploitation, abduction, trafficking, and loss of access to safe learning environments. In light of these challenges, NEWA, in collaboration with the Malala Fund, has developed this program to promote the declaration of safe schools. This initiative aims to draw the attention of governments, partners, and various stakeholders to the safeguarding of educational institutions, the education system, and the safety of students, particularly girls, through capacity building and evidence-based advocacy.

The Malala grant work in Ethiopia- obstacles to girls’ education including child marriage and gender-based violence are more pronounced in conflict-affected areas. These obstacles, combined with threats to security and the destruction of schools, impede girls’ learning. But girls are courageously standing up against the forces holding them back. The Malala grant over the next five years will focus on strengthening policies that guarantee the right to education for adolescent girls in conflict-affected areas, ensuring that schools are safe, adequately resourced and fully equipped to minimize learning disruptions. The Malala grant works in Ethiopia over the next five years will focus on strengthening policies that guarantee the right to education for adolescent girls in conflict-affected areas, ensuring that schools are safe, adequately resourced and fully equipped to minimize learning disruptions.

The context, therefore demands for concrete actions to safeguard the rights of girls and access to safe, free, quality education. This will ensure as requirement by (Malala Fund, 2028 on Ethiopia)

• Endorse and implement the Safe Schools Declaration and ensure that all learners and educators can learn and teach in safety.
• Ensure these are accompanied with periodic, gender-responsive and publicly available monitoring frameworks to ensure effectiveness and accountability.

The Safe Schools Declaration (SSD) is an intergovernmental political commitment aimed at protecting education from attack during armed conflict, strengthening the resilience of education systems, and ensuring the continuity of safe and inclusive learning environments. Since its adoption in 2015, governments, regional bodies, and civil society organizations have increasingly recognized the importance of operationalizing the SSD through national policies, coordination mechanisms, and multisectoral engagement.

Despite progress, many countries continue to face challenges in translating the Declaration’s commitments into practical actions. Capacity gaps remain in understanding SSD guidelines, monitoring attacks on education, integrating risk-reduction measures, and strengthening coordination between government ministries and civil society actors.

To enhance the endorsement of the SSD at both national and regional levels, this training workshop brings together key government stakeholders and CSOs to strengthen knowledge, skills, and cooperation.

2. Description of the project

General Objective

The project aims to national and regional governments endorse and implement provisions of the Safe Schools Declaration to protect girls’ education in regions affected by conflict. The logframe also describe the following goal and outcomes:

Goal

Secure national and regional government endorsement and effective implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration, ensuring the protection of girls’ education in conflict-affected regions.

Major outcome

• Advocate for the endorsement and integration of SSD in the national and regional education framework
• Enhanced the awareness among the policy makers, regional government, schools and communities on the importance of protecting schools and girls’ education in Tigray, Amhara and national level
• Strengthened safe and Protected learning environment for Girls’ during and post conflict.

3. Purpose of the Training

The overall purpose of this training workshop is to build the capacity of government stakeholders and CSOs on safe school declaration to effectively implement, monitor, and advocate for it, ensuring safe and inclusive learning environments.

4. Specific of the Training

• To deepen participants’ understanding on the SSD, its commitments, and the Guidelines for Protecting Schools from Military Use.
• To strengthen knowledge of legal, policy, and institutional frameworks supporting safe education during emergencies and armed conflict.
• To improve coordination and information-sharing between key government ministries, education clusters, security actors, and CSOs.
• To increase advocacy and monitoring capacity regarding education protection and safe learning environments.

5. Methodology

The methodology will be agreed upon after submission of the proposal; however, the training need be participatory, evidence based and practical and incorporate the national and regional guidelines, policies. The candidates are invited to submit their own methodology based on their experiences and related subject matter with the safe school declaration (SSD).

6. Responsibilities of the trainer

The selected trainer team will be responsible for:

• Preparing training material/manuals, and presentations, handouts, group activities, and case studies.
• Delivering a one-day training session using participatory and adult-learning approaches.
• Providing practical examples and demonstrations related to school safety, risk mitigation, and emergency preparedness.
• Show how conflict impacted education and why we need to endorse the SSD
• Facilitating group discussions and exercises to ensure participants’ engagement.
• Administering pre- and post-training assessments to measure learning outcomes.
• Preparing a training report summarizing key discussions, results, and recommendations.

7. Deliverables

The Safe School Declaration training will cover and address (but not be limited to) the following areas:

1. Training materials which highlight the below points but not limited to these

• Introduction to the safe school declaration (SSD) in detail: history, commitments, and global context and guidelines for the protection of schools from military use
• How conflict impacted education and why we need to endorse SSD
• Other similar counties experience on the endorsement, implementation and ensuring accountability
• Legal and policy frameworks: international humanitarian and human rights, law and national legal frameworks supporting safe education
• Attacks on education: trends and case studies: lessons from regional best practices
• Preparedness and risk reduction: school safety and safe learning environment strategies
• Advocacy & accountability: how to advocate to endorse SSD
• Development of action plans: national and regional SSD implementation plans, and roadmaps for follow-up activities
• Pre and post test

Training report submission

• Deliver workshop reports after the training session.

8. Training participants

• National and regional government stakeholders
• Civil society organizations and NGOs working on girls’ education

3. Expertise Required

The core research team of the consultant should have the following educational background & work experience:

• Master’s Degree or higher in education, disaster risk management, gender studies, law, development studies, or relevant social sciences field;
• At least the two core members of the research team should have 10 years of professional experience working in education in emergencies, school safety, relating training fields or similar assignments specially in relation to specialized education, gender issues; make sure that the team ensures gender composition
• Proven experience providing training in safe school declaration SSD in emergency/conflict contexts
• Language: Excellent writing and communication skills in English and Amharic.
• Excellent report writing skills
• Advanced knowledge of safe school declaration and national and international policies
• NEWA encourage competitive female to apply for this training call