Consultancy Services to Conduct Cambodia Situation Analysis and Horizon Scanning

Location: Phnom Penh

Plan International strives to advance children’s rights and promote equality for girls around the world. As an independent development and humanitarian organisation, we work alongside children, young people, supporters and partners to address the root causes of the challenges faced by girls and other vulnerable children. Our strategy focuses on supporting vulnerable children—especially girls—to learn, lead, decide and thrive.

Overall Objective

- The overall objective of the Situation Analysis is to provide a robust, evidence-based, and forward-looking analysis of the situation of children, adolescents and young people (0–24 years) in Cambodia — with a particular focus on girls’ rights and gender equality — to inform

• Development of Plan International Cambodia’s next Country Strategy (FY28–FY33)
• Strategic positioning, partnership choices, and operating model transformation

Specific Objectives

• Analyse the realisation of children’s, adolescents’ and young people’s rights (0–24 years), with disaggregation by age, sex, geography and exclusion, identifying key gaps, inequalities, trends and risks.
• Identify and analyse priority children’s, adolescents’ and young people’s rights (0–24 years) and gender equality issues, including their immediate, underlying and structural causes, using cause-and-consequence (problem tree) analysis.
• Assess roles, responsibilities, capacities and power dynamics of key duty-bearers, influencers and stakeholders at national and sub-national levels.
• Examine social, political, economic, technological, environmental and legal factors influencing children’s, adolescents’ and young people’s rights (0–24 years), including climate change, disasters, conflict and digital transformation.
• Analyse trends in government and donor investments, funding priorities and implications for Plan’s strategic focus.
• Map the civil society landscape, with a focus on youth-led, women-led and local organisations, identifying opportunities for localisation and partnership.
• Integrate children’s and adolescents’ perspectives, ensuring meaningful, safe and inclusive participation of girls and boys, including those from marginalised groups.
• Conduct horizon scanning to identify emerging trends, risks and opportunities likely to shape children’s, adolescents’ and young people’s rights (0–24 years) and civil society space over the next 5–10 years.
• Assess Plan International Cambodia’s organisational capacity to respond effectively to identified priority issues and strategic options.

Scope of Study

• Geographic focus: National level, with targeted primary data collection in Siem Reap, Ratanak Kiri and Stung Treng.
• Population focus: Children, adolescents and young people aged 0–24, with special attention to adolescent girls and excluded groups.
• Analytical lenses: Child rights-based approach, gender equality, power and exclusion, climate and risk, localisation.

Key Analytical Components Context and Child Rights Gap Analysis

• Social, political, economic, cultural, legal and environmental context
• Children’s, adolescents’ and young people’s rights gaps and inequalities by age, gender, geography and exclusion.
• Analysis aligned with CRC pillars (Survival, Development, Protection, Participation)

Cause and Consequence (Problem Tree) Analysis

• Priority problem statements developed through initial prioritisation
• Analysis of immediate, underlying and structural causes
• Analysis of consequences for different groups of girls and boys

Roles, Responsibilities and Power Analysis

• Mapping of duty-bearers, rights-holders and influencers
• Assessment of incentives, motivations, barriers, capacities and power dynamics
• Gender and exclusion lens applied throughout

Children’s, adolescents’ and young people’s rights Causal Analysis

• Participatory consultations with girls and boys to identify priority issues and causes
• Integration of children’s perspectives into overall problem analysis

Donor Landscape and Funding Analysis

• Mapping of international and national donors, trends and priorities
• Analysis of funding risks, opportunities and implications for strategy

Civil Society and Partnerships Analysis

• Mapping of civil society actors and coalitions
• Opportunities for localisation, partnerships and alliance-building

Organisational Capacity Analysis

• High-level assessment of Plan International Cambodia’s strengths and gaps
• Implications for strategic choices and operating model

Horizon Scanning

• Identification of emerging trends, risks and uncertainties (5–10 year outlook)
• Impacts on children’s rights, civil society space and Plan’s strategic positioning

Main Research Questions Under each research criteria, a set of indicative research questions is presented. These questions are not exhaustive or limiting, but are intended to guide the consultant team in the collection and analysis of relevant data and information.

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Criteria

Indicative Research Questions

Children, Adolescent and Young People’s rights & equality for girls

What rights are realized? What rights are not realized? Are any rights at risk? Classify structure of analysis into separate age groups; and include genders-based aged group?

Example

- 0 to under <5 years old

- 6 to 12 years old

- 12 to under 18 years old

- 18 to 24 years old

· What are girl’s roles, are they valued differently than boys, can they participate and make decisions, and what resources do they have access to?

· What effect does the situation have on children, and especially girls? Which children are most affected? Are girls impacted differently?

· Why are these rights, and/or equality not realized? What are the immediate and structural causes?

· What are the opportunities that can be capitalized upon to advance children’s rights and the equality of girls?

· How do different climate hazards—such as floods, droughts, extreme heat, and storms—impact children’s rights across key sectors (health, education, WASH, child protection, and livelihoods)?

· Which age groups of children are most vulnerable to

climate-related risks, and in what ways does gender shape or increase this vulnerability.

Responsibilities of Royal Government of Cambodia/Institutions

· Who are the duty bearers

• primary and secondary?

· What is the role of duty bearers? What are they doing/not doing to fulfil their obligations? Do they reinforce gender inequality and if so how? Or do they promote gender justice and how?

· What are the current institutional arrangements within the government at various levels to discharge the duty of protecting/promoting child rights as well as gender equality?

· What organizations have a major influence on children’s rights and equality for girls, and their major priorities and interests/power dynamics?

· What has been the performance of the duty bearers on protecting/promoting child rights and gender equality?

· Are there any bottlenecks for the duty bearers in protecting/promoting children, adolescent and young people’s

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rights (age 0-24) and gender equality? What is preventing them from fulfilling their obligations?

· How does the government consult children at all levels (national/state/local) while making and reviewing laws, policies and programs that affect their lives? What is the strategy adopted? What institutional mechanisms are in place to ensure child participation, especially girls?

· How effectively are national and sub-national governments integrating climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction into child-focused policies, programmes, and services.

Interventions

· How are other organizations (local and international civil society organizations) working towards the realization of children’s rights and equality for girls?

· Where are the key gaps in the work being done to realize children, adolescent and young people’s rights and equality for girls?

· What are the opportunities to collaborate with other likeminded organizations to enhance the impact of Plan International Cambodia?

Trends

· How have child rights and equality for girls been realized / not realized over time? (Include a brief description of historical trends in achievement or deterioration).

· What are emerging positive and negative trends in policy and practice that will affect the realization of child rights and equality for girls locally, provincially and nationally? (e.g. digitalisation, climate change, role of new and emerging donors, etc)

· What are anticipated risks (e.g. risk of natural disaster, climate change, conflict, and effects of funding cuts on society) that may hinder the fulfilment of child rights and equality for girls and what is being done by the duty bearers to reduce these risks?

· What is the total amount and percentage of annual state budget under each section of Health, Education, TVET, WASH, Climate Change, Gender and protection sectors allocated to children?

Research methodologies The Situation Analysis and Horizon Scan is a qualitive study. It will be conducted based on the United Nations Child Rights Convention (UNCRC). The Situation Analysis will also consider other human rights instruments, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography; Convention on Rights of Person with Disabilities; and the SDGs.

The Situation Analysis process will be organized in three phases. This is outlined below

Data collection Methods Phase 1: Secondary Data Review

• UNCRC documents (e.g. state party reports, alternative reports, reports from children’s consultations, national plans of actions). And UNCRC’s Optional Protocols such as Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography and Optional Protocol in the Investment of Children in Arm Conflict.
• Concluding observations made by the UN Committee (including their recommendations on priority actions).
• CEDAW (e.g. state party reports, alternative reports, reports from children’s consultations, national plans of actions)
• National frameworks, strategies; laws, policies; national action plan relevant to children, Adolescent and Young People’s rights
• National Statistics, National research and reports from governments, the UN, universities, research institutes, other (I)NGOs
• Planning and budget information from government (e.g. Annual state budget from Ministry of Economic and Finance; include Budget laws as well as national, sub-national; and key relevant Ministries include MoWA; MoEYS; MoSVY; MoI; MoH, MRD; MoE; MLVT..etc)
• ASEAN’s Royal Government of Cambodia’s obligation/treaties/framework on promoting and protection children, adolescent and young people’s rights; gender equality
• Plan International Cambodia’s own research/study reports and data including relevant project evaluation reports and regional reports

As part of the assignment, the external consultant will conduct the desk review, including all required supporting documents outlined in Phase 1. The consultant is required to present the secondary data findings to PIC and facilitate a discussion to identify gaps that will require primary data collection with relevant rights holders and duty bearers. Phase 2: Primary data collection and analysis Following the desk review, the consultant, will send a full 10-page report from desk review on secondary data to inform Plan International Cambodia on areas for which available secondary data is not sufficient or reliable enough to capture the full extent of the issues involved. This will include a focus on those groups who may be marginalized and excluded, particularly girls. The consultant will design a data collection and an analysis framework for the study. Data collection teams will be set up to conduct primary data collection in these areas, with tools developed by the consultant, who will also be responsible for orienting the teams and collating and analysing the findings. In selected geographical areas this data will be collected by the consultant team with the support from Plan Cambodia staff and its partners. Primary data will be collected through consultations with children, adolescent and young people (girls and boys especially from marginalized groups), parents and caregivers (female and male), staffs, local organizations, selected INGOs, UNs, key Government ministry counterparts.

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Description

Method

Remarks

Consultation with boys aged 13-17 years

Focus Group Discussion (FGD)

3 sessions (in Siem Reap (SRP), Ratanak Kiri (RTK), and Stung Treng (STG))

Consultation with girls aged 13- 17 years

FGD

3 sessions (in SRP, RTK, and STG)

Consultation with young men aged 18-24 years

FGD

3 sessions (in SRP, RTK, and STG)

Consultation with young women aged 18-24 years

FGD

3 sessions (in SRP, RTK, and STG)

Consultation with parents/caregivers of the children aged 0-11 years

FGD

3 sessions (in SRP, RTK, and STG)

Consultation with parents/caregivers of the children aged 12-24 years

FGD

3 sessions (in SRP, RTK, and STG)

Consultation workshop with INGOs, UNs, and government ministry counterpart.

Consultation workshop

Approximately 50 participants

Phase 3: Validation of analysis The consultant will synthesize and analyze the findings from both the secondary data review and the primary data collection, and present these results during a validation workshop. The purpose of the

workshop is to confirm that the Situation Analysis report provides an accurate and reliable basis for developing the strategy. The consultant will be responsible for organizing and facilitating the validation workshop. PIC will support the process by coordinating the invitation of key stakeholders, including government representatives, children, adolescents and young people, and civil society organizations (CSOs), to participate in the workshop. Sampling methodology The consultant will propose sampling methodology and sample size for primary data collection, interviews and consultations with key stakeholders.

Ethics and Safeguarding Plan International is committed to ensuring that the rights of those participating in data collection or analysis are respected and protected, in accordance with Ethical MERL Framework and our Child and Youth Safeguarding Policy. All consultant(s) should include details in their proposal on how they will ensure ethics and child protection in the data collection process to do no harm. Specifically, the consultant(s) shall explain how appropriate, safe, non-discriminatory participation of all stakeholders will be ensured and how special attention will be paid to the needs of children and other vulnerable groups. The consultant(s) shall also explain how confidentiality and anonymity of participants will be guaranteed.

Deliverables and Timeline The Situation Analysis and Horizon Scanning ideally will be conducted in May-August 2026. The date submission of the final report will be determined with the selected consultant.

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No.

Activities

Working Day

Due Date

Responsible Person

Individuals Involved

1

A detailed plan for undertaking the Situation Analysis and Horizon Scan in line with the methodology broadly defined above.

2

May 2026

Consultant

2

Report on secondary data review, with identified gaps for primary data collection

6

May-June 2026

Consultant

Plan’s team

3

Tools and methodology for the Situation Analysis, including primary data collection tools for children and communities, as well as other stakeholders.

3

June, 2026

Consultant

5

Orientation to staff (taskforces) on undertaking primary data collection

2

June, 2026

Consultant

6

Data collection and presentation of primary and secondary data review and draft report for validation

10

June-July, 2026

Consultant

7

Leading the validation workshop

1

July, 2026

Consultant

Plan’s team

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8

Producing a draft final report which

encapsulates

· Executive Summary (2 pages)

· Introduction, background, methodology/Situation Analysis process

· Country facts (descriptive) important as a background to understanding rights

progress

· Geography, economy, environment, climate, demography, security;

· Treaties ratified: international and regional (ASEAN) and implementation, gaps/challenges

· Nature and status of national legal system/s, political system

· Analysis of situation on the implementation UNCRC, CEDAW; UNCRC’s optional protocol in addressing rights of children, adolescent and young people

· Gender analysis

· Analysis of cross-cutting factors and actors

o Key factors important to the realization of rights (e.g., governance factors, citizenship, investment in children, disaster preparedness, etc)

o Key actors in rights and gender equality, nature of, and relationships between state, civil society and private sectors and role of other key actors

o Key barriers to realizing children's rights and gender equality

· Civil society context, opportunities and strengths.

· Opportunities and Challenges

· Recommendations to the Country Strategy and Transformation process

· References

· Annexure (Data collection tools, case studies)

4

July, 2026

Consultant

Finalize report which incorporating all comments from Plan Cambodia team

2

August, 2026

Consultant

Total

30 Days

Research Support Team from Plan International The consultant shall directly report to the country director. The consultant will work very closely with CMT members, Head of Program, Influencing and Partnership and Technical Program Specialists; MERL Manager and other relevant staff in developing approach, design of tools, analysis of data and preparing the final report.

Budget

For the process of payment, the instalment is divided into three stages as described below and will be charged to budget code

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Milestone

Detail

Amount to be Paid (%)

Expected Timeframe

Stage 1 – First instalment

First instalment will be made when the inception report is approved by Plan International Cambodia.

35 % out of the total consultancy budget

Within 5 working days after approval of inception report

Stage 2 – Second instalment

Second instalment will be made when Plan’s team received first draft research report from consultant.

35 % out of the total consultancy budget

Within 5 working days after approval of first draft research report

Stage 3 – Third instalment

Last instalment will be made when Plan Cambodia receive final research report from consultant.

30% out of the total consultancy budget

Within 5 working days after the receipt of final report from consultant

Remarks: The consultant(s) is responsible for their own VAT/taxes, travel cost, insurance and visa cost, expenses and per diems. However, Plan International Cambodia can keep withholding tax if consultant is not able to do VAT/Tax by their own.

Expected Qualifications

• Advanced Degree in social sciences and/or related field.
• Previous professional experience in the area of child rights, child protection, human rights, rights-based approach to programming, preferably experience with preparation of a Child Rights Situation Analysis
• Previous professional experience and strong knowledge in the area of gender equality.
• Excellent knowledge of UNCRC, UNCRC’s optional protocols; and its principle and human rights standards and practices, international legal instruments, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ASEAN’s instruments
• Very good research capacity in the areas of social sciences, legislation and rights-based development
• Ability to design or recognize effective tools to use, as well as orient others on their use
• Ability to synthesize large amounts of information combining quantitative and qualitative data
• Excellent knowledge on and understanding of the roles and functions of civil society in various fields
• Knowledge of Cambodia context and good cooperation with and experience in working with the Government and International organizations are required
• Excellent written English, Khmer language is an advantage.

Please send CV and cover letter to Email: [email protected]

Phone

Website: https://jobs.plan-international.org

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