Terms of Reference (TOR) for facilitator of Capacity Building Training on Important Aspects of Child Protectio

Background

1. The Ethiopian Lawyers’ Association (ELA) is more than a half century old non-governmental non-profit professional association established in 1965 and currently re-registered at Authority for Civil Society Organizations with License no. 1422. ELA is a founding member of the Pan African Lawyers Association (PALU), the International Bar Association (IBA), African Center of Excellence in Access to Justice (ACEAJ) and other national, regional, and international organizations, contributing for the solidarity and fraternity of the legal community at both national and international levels. 

2. ELA works for the interest of lawyers, integrity of legal profession and provision of community free legal service through promoting:

• Rule of law, good governance, human rights and democracy.

• Enhancing the right to access to justice through strategic advocacy and providing free legal aid service for the poor, vulnerable host communities, refugees, migrants and IDPs in Addis Ababa and Regional states;

• Undertakes Research and Publication activities and has its own law journal known as "Journal of ELA " for this purpose;

• Organizes continuous legal education workshops on various legal agendas to build the capacity of its members and stakeholders;

• Works with government and other stakeholders in the legal and judicial reform.

1.        ELA in collaboration with its partner has planned to organize a capacity building training for lawyers on Important Aspects of Child Protection in Cases Involving Child Victims including early marriage and the emerging threat of online sexual abuse (CSA).  

   ELA would like to invite two resource persons to prepare and present a background discussion paper on key aspects of child protection—one consultant focusing on civil justice system and another on the criminal justice system. The papers will focus on combating harmful traditional practices, establishing robust judicial precedents for digital-age crimes against children, implementing child protection frameworks in the digital era, and addressing the emerging threat of online Child Sexual Abuse (CSA).

    

Objectives

• The goal of the intervention is to enhance the legal protection of children and ensure their access to justice through popularizing child-friendly procedures.

1. The specific objective is to provide targeted training for advocates, prosecutors, judges, and public defenders focusing on child marriage, child trafficking, and child sexual abuse—including online abuse and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Additionally, it aims to train these professionals in digital forensics for online abuse cases and the implementation of trauma-informed, child-friendly court procedures.

2. Targets of the Training 

   The capacity building training will involve 40 lawyers including the organizing team from the legal community including advocates, judges, prosecutors, human rights defenders and CSO actors that work on child rights protection.

Methodology

• The training will employ an interactive and participatory methodology designed to actively engage adult learners and leverage their valuable knowledge and experience, with trainees actively participating through group exercises, discussion sessions, and organizational and individual experience-sharing modalities.

The trainer must use experiential and problem-solving methodologies, such as brainstorming, case studies, and experiential sharing, in the discussions.

Expected Outcome

The legal community will demonstrate improved technical expertise on child protection, with a specific focus on child marriage, trafficking, sexual abuse, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Equipped to handle digital evidence effectively, professionals will consistently apply trauma-informed, child-friendly procedures that reduce the risk of re-traumatizing victims during legal proceedings. Ultimately, these capacity-building efforts will foster a robust legal response to online exploitation, creating safer digital platforms and ensuring greater accountability for perpetrators of online CSA.