Consultancy - Developing Framework, Guidance and Tools for the secondary prevention of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

November 2025 to February 2026 (estimated total: 30 working days)

Organisational Context

ECPAT International is a global network of organisations working together for the elimination of the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in all its manifestations i.e., exploitation of children in prostitution, online child sexual exploitation, sale and trafficking of children for sexual purposes, sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism and some forms of child, early and forced marriage. The ECPAT Network currently consists of 142 member organisations working at national and local levels in 115 countries.

The ECPAT International Secretariat coordinates the global work of the organisation and is based in Bangkok, Thailand. The Secretariat designs and implements global and regional level programmes, and undertakes programming, advocacy and research and facilitates a range of network initiatives.

Background of the Project

Despite growing global awareness of child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE), prevention efforts have largely focused on primary prevention (addressing root causes and vulnerabilities) and tertiary prevention (responding after abuse has occurred). However, secondary prevention—interventions aimed at identifying and disrupting potential offending or risky situations before abuse occurs—remains largely underdeveloped and poorly operationalized across sectors and actors, as documented in the ECPAT’s Down to Zero Scoping Review of International Approaches to Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention Interventions by Law Enforcement.

Emerging evidence on situational and environmental crime prevention and epidemiological criminology suggests that modifying environments, behaviors, and systems can effectively reduce opportunities for sexual offending against children. Yet, practical frameworks and tools to guide such approaches are limited.

To address this gap, ECPAT International seeks to commission a consultancy to develop a framework and operational guidance accompanied by practical and adaptable tools that will strengthen the capacity of diverse actors to prevent CSAE through secondary prevention approaches.

Consultancy Objectives

This consultancy is expected to develop an evidence-based comprehensive framework and operational guidance with practical accompanying resources for advocating for and implementing secondary prevention interventions—with a focus on situational and environmental crime prevention in collaboration with private sector actors (such as tourism, short-term rental accommodation, tech companies, etc) and law enforcement agencies——to disrupt sexual offending against children. The framework, guidance and tools are planned to be used by civil society actors in their advocacy for CSEA prevention and to engage with different stakeholders in promoting system-changes towards more effective secondary prevention of CSEA. The outcomes of the above will be turned into didactic materials, in a language for a broad target. These materials should include a finalised combination of written briefs, videos, checklists and others that can be used with various target audiences.

More specifically the consultancy aims to

• Design an evidence-based framework to guide and support advocacy promoting the inclusion of secondary prevention in CSAE prevention policies, systems, and multi-stakeholder collaborations.
• Develop an operational guidance for CSOs and policy makers to design evidence-based and contextually adaptable secondary prevention interventions, grounded in situational and environmental crime prevention principles, identifying and outlining roles of key actors in particular
  • Private sector actors, such as tourism companies, hotels and private rentals, online platforms, technology and gaming companies, and informal sector actors.
  • Law enforcement agencies’ roles—in detecting, disrupting, and preventing potential offending
• Produce practical tools and resources, including:
  • A checklist of risks, signs, and behaviours that may indicate emerging or potential sexual offending against children, especially for situational offenders.
  • Adaptable tools and training aids for use by private sector actors, law enforcement, and other frontline partners.

Scope of Work and Expected Outputs

1. An evidence-based Framework for secondary prevention of CSEA

This activity aims to draft an evidence-based framework outlining key components, mechanisms, and enabling conditions for effective secondary prevention of CSAE, outlining practical examples, typologies of risks, and intervention entry points for both private and public sectors.

The Framework would be expected to include

• Brief concepts and definitions – emphasizing secondary prevention distinctions, early detection and disruption of potential offending or risk situations, anchored in crime prevention theories and brief typology of offenders focusing on situational or opportunistic offenders who may be more likely deterred or disrupted through environmental measures
• Principles and evidence-informed practice and interventions based on behavioral science and crime prevention evidence and particularly multi-actor accountability: government, private sector, civil society, and law enforcement and how each have defined roles to play.
• Examples of effective evidence-based secondary prevention intervention strategies with specific focus on actionable measures for private sector actors, including community actors of the informal sector, and law enforcement. This may include for instance strengthening community awareness and vigilance, codes of conduct and awareness about offending consequences, positive norms promotion, monitoring of spaces, etc
• Mapping of roles and responsibilities of key actors with a focus on what can be done to disrupt offending in physical and online environments
• Strategies for advocacy and policy integration of secondary prevention into national action plans, child protection systems, and sectoral policies.
• Monitoring and evidence-building, identifying indicators to track effectiveness of secondary prevention interventions (e.g., reduction in risky opportunities).
• Messaging and communication tools to persuade decision-makers and professionals that prevention before harm is both feasible and essential.

2. Operational guidance for multi-stakeholder engagement and coordination should include practical guidance for

• Risks mapping
• Stakeholders mapping, identification and engagement
• Identifying and designing appropriate interventions for the context
• Developing capacities of staff
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Communication and learning to share lessons across sectors to sustain engagement and advocacy.

3. Tools and practical resources: which should include adaptable, ready-to-use resources such as:

• Risks and red flag checklist for 1-physical environments (hotels, transport hubs, tourist sites);
  2- Digital environments (social media, gaming, streaming platforms) including behavioral and environmental cues
• Quick reference guides for private companies, community actors: “What to do if you notice…” scenarios.
• Self-assessment tools: for companies or institutions to evaluate their own risks and prevention measures.
• Sector-specific adaptations: short toolkits for tourism, tech, transport, or gaming.
• Slide decks for training to support internal rollouts.
• Monitoring templates: to track outcomes of risk interventions.

The selected consultant(s) will be expected to:

• Conduct a brief and targeted desk review of existing literature, global and regional good practices, and frameworks on secondary, situational, and environmental prevention of CSAE.
• Participate in at least 1 online targeted consultations with key stakeholders (private sector, law enforcement, experts, child protection organizations).
• Incorporate 2 rounds of feedback

Timeline

The assignment will be carried out between November and February 2026. A detailed plan and timeline will be defined and agreed with the Consultant at the start of the assignment. The work is expected to take approximately 30 working days.

• Inception Report with methodology, workplan and preliminary literature review Week 2
• Draft framework for secondary prevention Week 8
• Guidance for multi-partnership engagement Week 10
• Practical tools and resources Week 12

Consultant’s Profile

The expected outcomes are expected to be delivered by professionals with a different set of skills between them. For this reason, consortiums, consultancy firms, research centres, etc are encouraged to apply. Individuals are eligible, if they provide evidence of previous work evidencing both academic and communications skills.

The ideal team of professionals will include a combination of profiles meeting the following criteria:

• Advanced degree in criminology, child protection, psychology, sociology, public policy, or related field.
• At least 7–10 years of experience in child protection, prevention of CSAE, or related behavioural crime prevention fields.
• Proven experience in situational/environmental crime prevention, secondary prevention, or offender behaviour research.
• Familiarity with multi-stakeholder collaboration, particularly with private sector and law enforcement.
• Demonstrated ability to develop practical tools and frameworks and translate complex concepts into actionable guidance.
• Strong analytical and writing skills.
• Proven experience in translating specialised documents to reach a broad range audience.
• Proven experience in producing didactic materials (ie. Infographics, videos, quick reference materials, etc.) to reach different target segments with evidence-based produced information.

Additional Information

• This is a home-based position using own equipment and communication tools.
• The consultants should be available for online calls in Americas and Europe time zones.
• The Consultants are expected to act at all times in a manner consistent with the values of ECPAT International and in compliance with the organisation’s policies and procedures including Child Safeguarding Policy and the Code of Conduct.

Our Commitment

• As ECPAT’s International Secretariat we recognise that our strength lies in the diversity of the people who make up our global network, staff, volunteers and consultants. We are committed to being an inclusive workplace where people of all backgrounds and cultures can strive and be themselves. This means we will challenge ourselves to do better and to continue learning, to create and maintain a working environment steeped in respect, tolerance, safety, and where all parties are valued equally.
• As a child-focused organisation, ECPAT has a strong commitment to child safeguarding and rigorous
• procedures, and the successful candidate will be required to sign our 2 codes of conduct.

How to apply

Please submit an email to vacancy@ecpat.org, with the subject line: Consultant’s name/company name and “CSEA Prevention”. Kindly include the following documents:

• A brief proposal including methodology and timeline (max 2 pages)
• A brief Portfolio/examples of similar work
• Financial proposal in United States Dollars (USD), specifying daily rate and broken-down operational costs, if any. If VAT applies, please indicate this (invoice address is Thailand).
• Summary of CVs of key team members, indicating the role each team member will have and/or the value they will add to the consultancy.

Note: The following will be considered reasons for not being considered for assessment:

1. Not addressing any of the abovementioned items.
2. Exceeding the indicated page number.
3. Missing a financial proposal, indicating total and broken-down costs.
4. Proposals with an unreasonable total cost.
5. Files in a format different than PDF or damaged files.

Due to the high volume of applications, we receive, we are not able to respond to every application. If you have not heard back from us within 3 weeks from the deadline, it means that your application has not been successful.

Submission Deadline

All proposals must be submitted by 12th November 2025

https://ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025-11-RfP-CSEA-Prevention.pdf