| Project name: | Reimagined Boxes of Wonder for Well-being of Children |
| Duration of assignment: | 8.5 months (15 March 2024 – 30th November 2025) |
| Partners in project implementation: | Save the Children North West Balkan, Save the Children Kosovo, Save the Children Sweden , Centre for Youth Integration |
| Donor: | Swedish Institute |
- BACKGROUND ON SAVE THE CHILDREN
Save the Children is the leading global independent organisation for children. Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. Around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.
| Our vision | A world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. |
| Our mission | To inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. |
| Our values | Accountability, ambition, collaboration, creativity and integrity. |
We are committed to ensuring our resources are used as efficiently as possible and on achieving maximum impact for children.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION/CONTEXT
The increasing use of new technologies among children and young people has reduced in-person peer interactions, impacting their ability to engage socially. It is evident that children and youth in NWB (Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Montenegro) and Kosovo need opportunities for meaningful participation, self-expression, and engagement in creative activities with their peers. Professionals working with young people need to adapt the available services, utilizing new tools, including technological ones, to successfully support youth with developing self-esteem and socio-emotional skills. Professionals working with children and youth are tasked with understanding the role that technology plays in the lives of young people today, while identifying adaptions to use, including technology, to foster interactions that are meaningful, educational and that help equip young people with the skills needed to develop a stronger and happier sense of self.
This project aims to promote engagement and learning through the implementation and upgrading of the Boxes of Wonder (BoW) methodology, originally designed in 2016 to provide meaningful structured activities for children on the move – refugee and migrant children traveling the Western Balkans Route. The Boxes of Wonder methodology (available at https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/boxes-wonder-creation-program-children-move/) offers activities for children divided into thematic areas. The Boxes of Wonder methodology includes Mental Health Psychosocial Support activitiesaimingtoenable children to engage in social interactions, learn, develop socio-emotional skills, explore personal interests, fostering a sense of participation, creativity, and self-expression.
Given the increasing use of new technology among children and youth, the project will have two tasks:
- revitalizing and adapting the BoW methodology for use with different groups of children,
- developing a prototype for a child-friendly digital application based on the Boxes of Wonder methodology (the prototype will not include all activities presented in the handbook).
- Testing the prototype, including by training professionals working with children to use the child-friendly digital application and test it in their work with children
The project aims to test the potential for the digital application of the methodology that could add value to our work with children. The revised methodology would be used in activities with children in vulnerable situations in Serbia, BiH, Montenegro and Kosovo. Children in vulnerable situations include children involved in street work, children living in informal Roma settlements, children affected by poverty, disabilities, or at risk of school dropout or violence. We meet and work with these children in our drop-in centers, in schools, or child-friendly spaces in refugee centers.
To bring our vision to life, we’re seeking IT companies or providers to provide Mobile App Development and Business Analysis that would guide us through the entire process, from translating our ideas into a comprehensive and feasible concept to building and launching a prototype which we can use for further development of our methodology in digital environment.
Save the Children reserves the right to expand the functionality of digital prototype in future, transitioning it into a more complex, game-like platform.
This call for proposals seeks experienced IT companies or developers with expertise in the development of digital tools and platforms, mobile application design, child-friendly interfaces, and robust data security practices.
Please download Terms of Reference and required documents at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16CAXDUFRSGgtXEIhvNzuOGswLKORSauM?usp=sharing
Candidates interested in the engagement should send their bids to Procurement.NWB@savethechildren.org no later than March 6, 2025. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.