Terms of references

Contextualization of the Blue schools Toolkit

IRAQ DELEGATION

1. Presentation of Terre des Hommes Iraq

Terre des hommes (Tdh) is a prominent Swiss organization dedicated to child rights. Since its inception in 1960, Tdh has been committed to improving the future for children and youth, particularly those facing significant risks. With a presence in over 30 countries, Tdh leverages innovative and sustainable solutions to make a meaningful impact.

Tdh initiated its operations in Iraq in December 2014, focusing on the urgent needs of children and youth aged 9 to 22 who were affected by the ISIL crisis from 2014 to 2017. Since then, Tdh has been actively engaged in Child Protection (CP), WASH and Education activities in Ninewa, Baghdad, and Anbar. The organization has also conducted Access to Justice (A2J) initiatives in Kirkuk, Salah al-Din, and Baghdad. Tdh's comprehensive response includes a variety of services such as awareness-raising, case management, referrals, psychosocial support, specialized mental health services, catch-up classes, and teacher training.

2. Background and rationale

Under the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP), Tdh Iraq is currently implementing activities to ensure inclusive quality education for vulnerable IDP, returnee, and host communities children. During the second phase of the MYRP with a particular emphasis in the final phase on climate-resilient and environmentally informed approaches.

Under the 2025–2028 Strategy, Tdh Iraq is committed to integrating climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability across its programmatic interventions. This commitment is informed by the findings of the 2025 Climate Change Context Analysis, which highlighted that school-aged children are among the most vulnerable to the compounded effects of climate change—such as extreme heat, water scarcity, environmental degradation, and displacement. Many schools in climate-affected areas face significant challenges, including limited or damaged WASH infrastructure, poor ventilation, inadequate classroom conditions, and a lack of greenery or shading. These factors exacerbate the impact of rising temperatures and poor air quality on learning outcomes, potentially contributing to increased dropout rates. In response to these findings, Tdh Iraq plans to pilot the Blue Schools approach in ECW-supported schools. This initiative will align with the project’s objectives and Tdh’s Iraq strategy (2025-2028) to integrate climate action within child-focused programming.

The Blue Schools approach was developed by Swiss Water and Sanitation Consortium supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Its designed to provide a framework for linking environmental education, WASH, and climate-resilient practices among students and educational personnel. The approach consists of a toolkit with interactive lesson plans, low-cost environmental technologies, and student-centered activities covering eight thematic areas, including water cycle, solid waste management, watershed health, and sanitation.

Tdh Iraq aims to adapt this toolkit for use in Iraqi schools supported under the ECW programme. The goal is to ensure the materials are culturally, and contextually appropriate and can be piloted effectively in the final year of the ECW MYRP (2024–2025). Indeed, given the diversity of environmental conditions, linguistic needs, and pedagogical approaches in which the Blue Schools approach is currently implemented, contextualizing the Blue Schools approach and toolkit is essential to ensure that its content is relevant, culturally appropriate, and effectively implementable within local school settings in Iraq.

The contextualization process will contribute to:

• Integrating climate-resilient education into the Iraqi school environment.
• Enabling teachers and staff to deliver interactive and child-friendly environmental education.
• Contributing to behaviour change and improved environmental outcomes in targeted schools and communities.

3. Objective of the Contextualization

General Objective:
To contextualize and prepare the Blue Schools approach and toolkit for piloting in Iraq through adaptation, translation, capacity building, and planning support.

Specific Objectives:

• Review and adapt the existing Blue Schools Toolkit to the Iraqi environmental and educational context in English.
• Translate the adapted materials into Arabic.
• Deliver a training workshop to Tdh ECW programme staff on the Blue Schools methodology, including WASH-education linkages and climate-relevant pedagogy.
• Develop an actionable implementation plan for piloting the adapted toolkit in ECW-supported schools.

4. Methodology

The consultant is expected to:

• Conduct a desk review of the Blue Schools toolkit materials and relevant Iraqi educational and environmental context (including the Tdh Iraq Climate Change Situation Analysis).
• As part of the contextualization process, the consultant will review existing education policies and national curricula in Iraq (both at federal and KRI levels) to ensure alignment and synergy with the Blue Schools approach. This review should help identify opportunities for integration, potential gaps or contradictions, and specific challenges that may affect the implementation of climate-resilient, WASH-integrated, and environmental education in schools.
• Consult with Tdh Iraq technical Focal Points in CP, MEAL, and WASH.
• Consult with key stakeholders like represent informant interviews, focus group discussions, or validation workshops, depending on the consultant’s proposed methodology and available timeframe.
• Translate core Blue Schools materials to Arabic (using simple using appropriate terminology and language), respectively the blueschool facilitator guide (20 pages), the blueschool catalogue of technologies (77 pages) and the blueschool catalogue pf practical example (104 pages)
• Propose other relevant methodological approaches that fit in with the purpose of this exercise and agreed up with Tdh Iraq team.

5. Audience and use of finding

The outputs of this assignment will be used internally by Terre des hommes Iraq and ECW project team to inform the piloting of the Blue Schools approach in the final year of the MYRP. The contextualized toolkit and training materials will enhance the technical capacity of Project and MEAL teams to implement school-based, climate-resilient, and WASH-integrated activities in a child-friendly and participatory manner.

6. Key sources – target groups and people to be consulted

The consultant is expected to engage with key stakeholders during the contextualization process to ensure cultural and technical relevance of the adapted Blue Schools Toolkit. This includes stakeholders at both the national (GOI) and regional (KRI) levels. Target groups for consultation may include:

• Tdh Iraq Project team and Technical staff for WASH an MEAL
• Ministry/Directorate of Education representatives
• Students, teachers and school management from selected ECW-supported schools
• Any other stakeholder groups identified with the Tdh team.

7. Ethical considerations

The consultant is obliged to respect the following ethical and child protection requirements:

• Conflict of interest: The consultant must demonstrate the necessary independence and declare any conflict of interest and potential biases, including bias towards any of the stakeholders, target groups, types of methodologies or approaches, social, political, or religious prejudice.
• Based on rights and ethics: The consultant must respect the rights and dignity of participants as well as comply with relevant ethical standards and Tdh’s Child Safeguarding Policy. The analysis must ensure age-appropriate, safe, non‐discriminatory participation, a process of free and un‐coerced consent and withdrawal and confidentiality of participants. The informed consent of each person (including children) participating in data collection should be documented.
• Respect ‐ The consultant will respect the variety of children’s experiences, cultural backgrounds, and perspectives.
• Beneficence ‐ The consultant will promote the wellbeing and interests of children and ensure that the study benefits them.
• +Non‐maleficence ‐ The consultant will ensure that the study does no harm, either through action or omission, and puts in place measures to mitigate any possible harm to all participants, but children.
• Justice ‐ The consultant will balance the burden of participating in the study and its benefits to ensure there is justice for children.

8. Time frame

The expected starting date for the consultancy is the 3^rd of September 2025. The below suggested time frame is to clarify the milestones of the consultancy:

9. Deliverables

During and by the end of this consultancy, the below deliverables should be met:

• Inception Report – outlining the refined methodology, workplan, and data collection tools, including a stakeholder engagement plan.
• Desk Review Summary – consolidating key findings from the Blue Schools toolkit, Iraqi education policies, curricula, and climate/WASH context analyses, highlighting gaps and adaptation needs.
• Contextualized Blue Schools Toolkit (English) – adapted to Iraq’s environmental, cultural, and educational context, integrating WASH, climate resilience, and child-friendly pedagogical approaches.
• Arabic Translation of Adapted Toolkit – full translation of the contextualized materials (Facilitator’s Guide, Catalogue of Technologies, Catalogue of Practical Exercises) using accurate and accessible terminology.
• Final Report – summarizing the contextualization process, key adaptations, lessons learned, and recommendations for scale-up and including:
• Implementation Plan for Pilot – a practical roadmap for introducing the contextualized toolkit in ECW-supported schools, including timelines, roles, and recommended resources.
• Training Package – including trainers ‘session plans, Training materials, and visual materials to deliver a capacity-building workshop for Tdh Iraq ECW staff and key partners by the consultant.
• Stakeholder Consultation Summary – documentation of engagement with key informants, focus groups, and validation meetings, including feedback and how it was integrated.
• PowerPoint Presentation – highlighting main findings, adaptations, and next steps for internal and partner dissemination.
• Data and Supporting Materials – including all raw data, interview/focus group notes, and translated materials, in agreed formats.

10. Profile of the consultant (team): qualifications and experience

The lead consultant and the core research team should be collectively meeting the below criteria:

• Academic and/or professional background in education sciences, with a specialization or strong focus on environmental or agricultural education.
• Solid understanding of pedagogy and curriculum development, particularly in the context of school-based environmental education.
• Strong interest in and commitment to biodiversity, nature-based solutions, natural resource conservation, environmental protection, and climate change mitigation.
• Experience working on environmental education programmes led by government or civil society organizations.
• Experience in teaching or training in agricultural or environmental sciences with children or youth is highly desirable.
• Experience in designing and facilitating environmental education sessions is an added asset.
• Prior involvement in WASH in Schools initiatives is a strong asset.
• Experience in waste management and valorization projects is considered an asset.
• Excellent command of both English and Arabic, written and spoken.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Word and PowerPoint.

11. Application procedures

Local and international firms/individuals that are interested in implementing this assignment are Invited to submit a proposal. Applicant to ensure all the required permissions such as Visa, and right to work in Iraq. The proposal submission should include each of the following sections in the specific order listed below to be considered for this consultancy:

• A technical offer comprising:

1. Understanding of the specific objective of the exercise and the Terms of Reference (ToR).
2. Methodology and tools proposed.

• A Financial offer with a budget detailed by item (fees, other costs).
• An updated and detailed CV of the consultant/firm and the team involved.
• Registration is needed for registered Firms or Associations.
• Sign & Stamp Terms of Reference.
• An example of a similar analysis carried out.
• Contacts of 3 references.

Please send all questions and the submission documents to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Each proposal should be typed in 12‐point font and submitted no later than 5:00 pm Iraq Time on August 27^th,  2025.

12. Payment Terms & Method: 

Payment will be made through several installments:

1. The first installment is 50% upon the submission and approval of the draft toolkit.
2. The second and final installment is 50% upon the submission and satisfaction of:

• The final toolkit in English and Arabic.
• A final report in English.
• PowerPoint presentation with the main findings of the analysis in English.
• Data collection tools and related materials.
• All raw data and databases from primary data collection.

Payment Method: exclusively will be Paid through Cheque or Bank transfer or Hawala.

13. proposal evaluation and selection criteria:

The evaluation of the proposals will be based on the following criteria:

Tender's File

689c50417d7c4-tor-blue-school-contextualization-draft-01.pdf