Finn Church Aid (FCA) seeks to hire a Psychosocial Support Trainer

Finn Church Aid (FCA) is the largest Finnish development cooperation organization and important provider of humanitarian assistance. FCA is a faith-based organization founded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland as an instrument of its international diaconia. We value the different backgrounds and beliefs of all the people we work with and promote interfaith collaboration. The Christian tradition of compassion and social justice guides us. FCA is a member of ACT Alliance and is committed to working with its ecumenical and faith-based, and international and local partners.

Project Background

The Right to Inclusive and Safe Education (RISE) project is funded by Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration (BPRM) and implemented by Finn Church Aid-Kenya (FCA) in Kakuma-Kalobeyei refugee settlement. The goal of the RISE project is to provide inclusive and equitable quality Primary Education in a safe environment for refugee and host boys and girls in Kalobeyei refugee settlement. The project has the following major capacity-building components for targeted teachers in Kalobeyei Refugee Settlement:

• Provision of Psychosocial Support (PSS) for teachers in target primary schools, using FCA’ Community Based PSS Guidelines.
• Provision of FCA staff and selected teachers PSS training.
• Supporting children’s clubs to enable peer to peer support system development in schools.
• Training of teachers on the Teaching in Crisis Contexts (TiCC) package.
• Support continued professional development opportunities for teachers through teacher learning circles (TLCs).
• Building capacity of teachers on inclusion of PSS and Children’s Clubs in teaching

Overall Project Impact

The goal of RISE is to provide inclusive and equitable quality primary education in a safe environment for refugee and host population boys and girls in Kalobeyei Refugee Settlement. It will address the specific needs of the most vulnerable children, including CwD, OOSC and overage learners, and draw upon the findings of FCA EiE programs in Kalobeyei, as well as the UNHCR-led Participatory Assessment (2020) in which both FCA staff and teachers participated. Through mainstreaming school-based protection activities, the project will strengthen child protection and referral systems, address the psycho-social needs of teachers and learners, and ensure the participation of children in their own decision-making regarding education and protection.

Project Objectives:

• Objectives 1: Increased access to safe and inclusive primary education for refugee and host population boys and girls in Kalobeyei refugee settlement
• Objective 2: Improved protection, safety and wellbeing for refugee and host population primary school boys and girls in Kalobeyei refugee settlement with a focus on the most vulnerable.
• Objective 3: Improved quality of primary education for refugee and host population boys and girls in Kalobeyei refugee settlement.

Major Tasks and Deliverables of the Psychosocial Support Trainer

• Conduct a need assessment for staff and teachers on psychosocial support
• Conduct a training on psychosocial support for teachers and other staff working in crisis context using the FCA’s Community Based PSS guidelines
• Conduct individualized debriefing and guiding sessions with staff and teachers in crisis context
• Develop and share coping strategies for staff and teachers for maintaining physical and mental fitness while at duty station (to support in unloading and processing difficult situations they encounter at work; to ensure their ability to function after a crisis; to prevent burnout)
• Provide guidance in development of spontaneous sports and activities that promote workplace wellbeing
• Promote the strengthening of team spirit and sense of community among staff
• Build capacity of teachers and other staff on sustained psychosocial support.
• Identify and recommend areas of strengthening in terms of psychosocial support for staff and teachers in their current workplace context.
• Draw an end of assignment/ PSS training report including recommendations

Timeframe

This is a 10 days assignment expected to commence in January 12th – 21^st, 2022.

Qualifications and Expertise Required

Position-Specific Qualifications and Competencies:

• Degree in counselling/counselling psychology
• Master’s degree in the same field will be an added advantage
• Licensed counsellor with a relevant professional counselling body
• Experience in facilitating psychosocial support trainings/TOT especially in crisis context
• Excellent communication skills
• Conflict resolution skills
• Demonstrated evidence of supervised work experience
• Social problem solving skills
• Experience in training in Education programmes e.g. Education in Emergencies, Teacher Training, and/or Content Development
• Good report writing and communication skills
• Ability to maintain professionalism in services delivery and ethics

Remuneration

The consultant is advised to submit an itemized budget with realistic daily rates for the assignment based on the understanding of the assignment and the current market rates. Where need be, Finn Church Aid will engage the consultant to an agreeable daily rate. Finn Church aid will cover for the consultant’s air tickets on economy class to relevant field sites, accommodation on bed and breakfast plus airport transfers in the field. All other costs shall be borne directly by the consultant. Remuneration will be based on submission of deliverables that are satisfactory to Finn Church Aid as agreed upon after discussion with FCA in the inception meeting. The payments will only be made when the deliverables have been assessed by FCA team to be of good quality. Taxation laws for Kenya will apply on the overall consultancy fee.

The following payments will be paid to the consultant using an agreed mode of payment.

• After approval of inception report: 30%
• After approval of Final Report: 70%

Ethics, Child Safeguarding and Code of Conduct

As the consultant, will be working on behalf of Finn Church Aid they will be required to sign and adhere to the Child Safeguarding Policy and ethical guidelines. Note that background checks will be undertaken on all applicants.

The consultant will make clear to all participating stakeholders especially children of all ages that they are under no obligation to participate in the exercise and that it is purely voluntary. All participants will be assured that there will be no negative consequences if they choose not to participate. The consultant must obtain informed consent from all participants, including children and their care-giver if a child is to be interviewed. The consultant must receive prior permission for taking and use of visual still/ moving images for specific purposes. The consultant will assure the participants the anonymity, confidentiality and will assure the visual data is protected and used for agreed purpose only.

About the documentation, the title rights, copyrights and all other rights of whatever nature in any materials used or generated under the provisions of this consultancy will exclusively be vested with Finn Church Aid-Kenya country office.