Terms OF REFERENCE FOR EXTERNAL EVALUATION
SAFEFUTURES: AI-powered Child labour early warning digital solution (prototype) – INDEPENDENT ACADEMIC VALIDATION
- Présentation of Terre des hommes
Terre des hommes Foundation (Tdh) is the leading Swiss organization dedicated to children’s rights. For over 60 years, Tdh has worked globally to protect children, support their wellbeing, and advocate for child rights in fragile, humanitarian, and development contexts. Through integrated programming approaches, Tdh collaborates with governments, civil society, research institutions, and the private sector to strengthen child protection systems and improve outcomes for vulnerable children and youth.
Within its Child Rights and Business (CRB) programming, Tdh works with private sector actors and supply chain stakeholders to promote responsible business conduct, strengthen child protection mechanisms, and prevent child labour and exploitation within agricultural and other commodity value chains.
One of the innovations under the CRB portfolio is safe Futures, an AI-powered predictive child protection and risk intelligence solution designed to identify and prevent child labour risks in agricultural communities and supply chains. safe Futures transforms existing operational, socio-economic, geographic, and community-level data into actionable predictive intelligence that supports early identification of child labour vulnerabilities, strengthens preventive interventions, and enables evidence-based decision-making among implementing partners, companies, and child protection stakeholders.
To strengthen the scientific credibility, technical rigor, ethical compliance, and global positioning of the SafeFutures prototype, Tdh seeks to engage an independent academic institution or qualified academic expert(s) to conduct a comprehensive validation of the SafeFutures predictive model and pilot implementation.
Context
The purpose of this assignment is to conduct an independent, rigorous, and academically grounded validation of the SafeFutures predictive model, analytical framework, ethical safeguards, and pilot implementation.
The assignment aims to:
- Strengthen the scientific and technical credibility of the SafeFutures solution
- Independently validate the predictive methodology and operational effectiveness of the model
- Assess ethical compliance, fairness, proportionality, and safeguarding considerations
- Generate evidence suitable for peer-reviewed academic publication
- Benchmark Safe Futures against comparable predictive and risk assessment systems
Objective of the evaluation
3.1 Technical and Analytical Validation
The evaluator shall assess the technical integrity and analytical performance of the SafeFutures system, including:
- Review of the digital solution and data architecture and technical rigor, data pipeline, and analytical processes
- Assessment of data quality, completeness, consistency, and reliability
- Validation of predictive model methodology and performance, including accuracy, calibration, sensitivity, specificity, robustness, and reproducibility
- Assessment of fairness, bias, explainability, and interpretability of the model
- Evaluation of model resilience under varying operational and contextual conditions
3.2 Comparative and Benchmarking Assessment
The evaluator shall:
- Review comparable predictive analytics, child protection intelligence, and risk assessment systems
- Benchmark SafeFutures against relevant international standards and emerging best practices
- Assess comparative strengths, limitations, and innovation potential
- Identify lessons and recommendations relevant for future improvement and deployment
3.3 Pilot Evaluation and Operational Assessment
The evaluator shall:
- Assess the operational effectiveness and real-world applicability of the pilot
- Evaluate usability, stakeholder adoption, and workflow integration
- Identify implementation bottlenecks, operational challenges, and unintended outcomes
- Document lessons learned and assess institutional readiness for sustainability and expansion
- Scope of the evaluation
The evaluator shall be responsible for producing the following deliverables throughout the assignment period. All deliverables shall be submitted in English and in editable electronic formats.
4.1 Inception Report and Validation Workshop (Weeks 1–2)
The evaluator shall submit an inception report and lead a validation workshop detailing the overall evaluation approach and operational plan for the assignment.
The report and validation workshop shall include:
- Evaluation methodology for the technical and analytical review
- Pilot and academic publications definitions (as per 4.2 above)
- Scope (of comparable predictive and risk assessment models, as well as international standards and emerging best practices taken into account) and methodology for the comparative and benchmarking review
- Methodology for the pilot evaluation and operational assessment
4.2 Pilot Evaluation and Operational Assessment Report (Weeks 3–12)
The evaluator shall prepare a report documenting findings from the pilot and operational assessment of safe Futures.
The report shall include:
- Assessment of operational effectiveness and usability
- Stakeholder adoption and workflow integration findings
- Review of implementation processes and coordination mechanisms
- Identification of operational bottlenecks and technical challenges
- Documentation of lessons learned and unintended outcomes
- Recommendations for sustainability, operational improvement, and scale-up readiness
4.3 Academic Manuscripts and Submission Package (Weeks 13–15)
The evaluator shall prepare two publication-ready academic manuscripts suitable for submission to peer-reviewed journals: 1) the Technical Validation Manuscript, and 2) the Pilot and Operational Evaluation Manuscript.
4.4 Final Presentation and Validation Workshop (Week 16)
The evaluator shall conduct a final presentation and validation session with Terre des hommes Foundation and relevant stakeholders to present key findings, recommendations, and proposed next steps.
Roles and Responsibilities
The successful implementation of the assignment will require close coordination between Terre des hommes Foundation (Tdh) and the selected consultant/team or academic institution. The responsibilities of each party are outlined below.
5.1 Responsibilities of Terre des hommes Foundation (Tdh)
Tdh shall:
- Provide overall oversight and coordination of the assignment through its CRB Digital Solutions Systems Administrator / CP Digital Solutions Specialist
- Facilitate introductory meetings and stakeholder coordination relevant to the evaluation
- Provide access to relevant project documentation, technical materials, pilot documentation, safeguarding frameworks, and available datasets required for the evaluation
- Support coordination with implementing partners, technical teams, and relevant stakeholders involved in the SafeFutures pilot implementation
- Review and provide feedback on submitted deliverables within agreed timelines
- Facilitate logistical coordination for meetings, consultations, and validation sessions where necessary
- Ensure the consultant is informed of applicable safeguarding, ethical, confidentiality, and data protection requirements
- Support the organization of the final validation workshop and dissemination of findings
- Provide strategic guidance throughout the assignment process
5.2 Responsibilities of the Consultant/Team or Academic Institution
The consultant/team or academic institution shall:
- Lead the overall implementation of the evaluation assignment in accordance with the agreed methodology and workplan
- Conduct an independent, objective, and academically rigorous validation of the SafeFutures system and pilot implementation
- Develop and finalize:
- technical validation methodologies
- pilot validation guidelines
- analytical frameworks
- survey and qualitative research tools, including FGDs and KIIs
- Conduct technical reviews, comparative assessments, stakeholder consultations, and pilot evaluations
- Ensure that all evaluation activities comply with safeguarding, ethical, confidentiality, and responsible data use requirements
- Produce all agreed deliverables within the agreed timelines and quality standards
- Prepare publication-ready academic manuscripts and submission packages
- Maintain regular communication and progress updates with Tdh throughout the assignment
- Present findings, recommendations, and lessons learned during validation and dissemination sessions
- Ensure all outputs are evidence-based, technically sound, and suitable for academic and operational use
Profile of the consultant/team or academic institution: qualifications and experience
The assignment requires an independent academic consultant/team or academic institution with strong expertise in research, AI and machine learning tools, predictive systems, innovation, and technical validation of digital solutions within humanitarian, development, or technology-driven contexts.
Qualifications
Advanced university degree (master’s or PhD candidate) in fields such as: Engineering, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology Innovation
Experience and Expertise
The consultant/team or academic institution should demonstrate:
- Strong academic and applied research experience
- Experience conducting technical assessments, evaluations, or validation of digital and analytical systems
- Experience in predictive analytics, innovation systems, or data-driven technologies
- Experience developing research methodologies and analytical frameworks
- Experience in qualitative and quantitative research approaches, including FGDs and KIIs
- Proven experience preparing technical reports, academic papers, and peer-reviewed publications
- Experience working within humanitarian, development, safeguarding, or child protection-related environments is desirable
Skills
The consultant/team or academic institution should possess:
- Strong analytical and technical research skills
- Excellent academic and technical writing skills
- Experience in comparative analysis and evidence-based reporting
- Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills
- Ability to synthesize technical findings into actionable recommendations
Language
- Excellent written and spoken English is required.
How to apply
Application procedures
Interested consultant(s), academic institutions, or multidisciplinary teams are invited to submit a technical and financial proposal for the assignment.
The application package should include the following:
- Technical Proposal outlining:
- understanding of the assignment
- proposed methodology and approach
- workplan and implementation timeline
- team composition and roles
- Financial Proposal detailing the proposed costs for the assignment
- Updated CV(s) of the lead consultant and key team members
- Examples of previous similar assignments, technical reports, or academic publications
- At least two professional references from similar assignments conducted
How to apply
All expressions of interest and questions about this call must be received via email to [email protected] by June 15th, 2026, at 4.00pm
Due to the urgency of this assignment shortlisting and interviews shall be conducted on a rolling basis.
Use the following email subject line: Consultancy Services – SAFEFUTURES: AI-POWERED CHILD LABOUR EARLY WARNING DIGITAL SOLUTION (PROTOTYPE)
More Information
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