Overview of the Project 

EmProtect+ is designed as a regionally anchored systems-change model for protecting children from sexual exploitation along high-risk transport corridors in East Africa, with Kenya as the first priority country. The project responds to evidence that the Mombasa-Malaba transport corridor, while economically strategic, is also a corridor of vulnerability where poverty, weak protection systems, harmful gender and social norms, limited access to youth-friendly services, and poor coordination among formal and informal actors combine to heighten risks of sexual exploitation of children. Forms of exploitation identified include survival sex, child sexual exploitation linked to travel and tourism, adult-facilitated exploitation, and technology-facilitated trafficking and abuse.

The project builds on learning from previous TdH NL interventions, including EmProtect Kenya, Reigniting Dreams, and the K-NOTE project in Naivasha and Gilgil, which showed that integrated approaches combining child empowerment, family resilience, community norm change, institutional strengthening, and advocacy can produce strong results in addressing sexual exploitation risks. EmProtect+ therefore expands from isolated programming into a broader corridor-based model that links community action, services, systems and influencing.

Objectives of the Baseline Study 

The purpose of the baseline assessment is to collect information that will form the basis of project progress measurement but also inform the prioritisation and phasing of project activity implementation. The study will serve as a reference point against
which progress can be measured and evaluated throughout the project cycle. 

Specifically, the baseline study will serve to; 

1. Establish a baseline data for project indicators. The baseline study will collect
data that will be the starting point for change measurement, confirming
baseline values for all outcome indicators. 

2. Provides an opportunity to refine indicators. The baseline study will help to
refine indicators to track progress towards achieving desired outcomes. This
may be through determining the extent to which certain indicators can be easily
measured. 

3. Inform intervention phasing. The baseline study provides data that guides the
phasing and targeting of project interventions. 

The specific objectives include: 

1. To assess children’s exposure to sexual exploitation risks (including OCSE), their knowledge and perceptions of these risks, confidence and help-seeking behaviour, and access to safe spaces and participation mechanisms. 
2. To assess household economic vulnerability, caregiver capacity for protection and positive parenting, and community-level norms, attitudes and practices that influence children’s risk or protection from sexual exploitation.
3. To assess the availability, accessibility and effectiveness of existing economic resilience mechanisms, including savings groups, livelihood opportunities and linkages to government youth and social protection programmes, particularly for vulnerable households. 
4. To assess the availability, accessibility, quality and coordination of services and institutional mechanisms for prevention, protection and response to sexual exploitation of children, including referral pathways, trauma-informed care, SRHR services, and multi-stakeholder coordination in the project hotspots. 
5. To generate baseline values for project indicators and recommend refinements to the results framework, data collection tools, implementation priorities and learning agenda. 

Baseline Study Scope 

The baseline study will cover all selected implementation sites in Kenya under the EmProtect+ project and include a comprehensive range of stakeholders aligned with the project design. These will include children aged 9 to 17 years, both in-school and out-of-school, as well as those at heightened risk such as children with disabilities, adolescent mothers, and those from economically vulnerable, child-headed, or single-parent households. Where relevant, youth will also be included, particularly in relation to vulnerability and service access pathways. The study will further engage parents and caregivers, community-based structures and resource persons including village elders, nyumba kumi representatives, community health promoters, and child protection committees, as well as service providers across health, psychosocial support, justice, and child protection systems. In addition, county and sub-county government actors, private sector and transport-related stakeholders, implementing partners, and key civil society actors will be consulted.

The baseline study will be conducted in the following locations:

• Changamwe-Miritini, Mombasa County
• Emali and Makindu, Makueni County
• Machakos Junction/Kyumbi, Machakos County
• Salgaa, Nakuru County

The proposed evaluation time frame is 45 days between 01/06/2026  and 16/07/2026  This will be done in accordance with the OECD Development Assistance Committee (OECD – DAC) evaluation criteria with an intersectionality approach including but not limited to child participation and gender.

How to Apply 

Qualified and interested applicants to review the TOR and submit Technical and Financial proposals electronically in PDF formats by clicking on the link provided on or before 15/05/2026 at 1700 hrs(EAT)  with the aim to select the evaluator by 26/05/2026 and starting the assignment by 01/06/2026.