Measuring Separation in Emergencies Project (Phase 2)
Country Pilots: Call for Expressions of Interest
Project Background
The Measuring Separation in Emergencies (MSiE) project is an interagency initiative
funded by the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and is coordinated by
Save the Children in partnership with Columbia University in New York. The project is
steered by an interagency Advisory Panel including members of the Inter Agency
Working Group on Unaccompanied and Separated Children (IAWG UASC) and the
Assessment and Measurement Task Force (A&MTF) of the Global Child Protection
Working Group (CPWG). Its overall aim is to strengthen emergency response
programmes for unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) through the
development of practical, field-tested methods to enhance the assessment of the scale
and nature of separation in emergencies.
Nature of Call
This is a call for initial expressions of interest from country offices to host a pilot
for the Measuring Separation in Emergencies Project (Phase 2). The pilots will
involve working with members of the MSiE team to field-test new methods for
measuring family separation. The MSiE project will work with OFDA and the Global
CPWG to identify the most appropriate country contexts / emergency settings and host
organisations for the pilots. Initial expressions of interest must be received by
Friday August 12th.
Country Pilots and Methods
Two country pilots are planned for Phase 2 of the MSiE project:
1. Field-test the community-based surveillance method either in a rapid onset
emergency followed by a prolonged period of secondary separation or in a
protracted emergency context.
2. Field-test both the population-based estimation method and a method for
measuring separation in residential care settings in a rapid-onset, acute
emergency context, ideally a natural disaster setting.
NB: Piloting must take place with IDP and not refugee populations for donor
compliance.
Community-based surveillance method: This method incorporates a community-based
surveillance system capable of continuous, on-going measurement of trends in the
frequency and basic characteristics of UASC in defined areas over time. It has been
piloted once in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This Phase 2 pilot will involve
recruiting and training up adult community ‘focal points’ across a network of sites to
report on new cases of UASC using numerically-coded text messages from mobile
phones. A Co-ordinator post will be established and supported in a local partner
organization to receive, collate and verify information received on UASC. Changes in
patterns and trends are uploaded to and monitored on a web-based programme. This
pilot is expected to track changes in separation over 6-9 months with hosting of two
field visits from project staff of 4-6 weeks.
Population-based estimation method: This method aims to provide a population-based
estimation of the prevalence, number and basic characteristics of UASC in a defined
area, affected by the same emergency, at any given point in time. This method has been
piloted once in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This pilot will involve data collection
using household surveys at a set of randomly sampled sites representative of the
emergency affected area. Survey respondents report on the composition of their own
household and that of their most proximate neighbour. Key informant interviews with
adults and Focus Group Discussions with UASC will also be conducted at sites. The pilot
(orientation, contextualization of data collection tools, recruitment and training of data
collectors, data collection in the field, data analysis and pilot review in context etc.) will
take a period of 6-8 weeks.
Residential care settings method: The exact nature of this method and pilot is still to be
determined. The aim is to measure the existence of and scale of movement into
residential settings as part of the ‘picture’ of separation. The pilot is expected to involve
key informant interviews to provide a ‘snapshot’ of what is happening in context’ then
building up a sample frame of all residential care settings in the emergency affected
area. Data will then be collected (most appropriate method to be confirmed) from a
sample of these settings to provide an estimation of children arriving since the
emergency. This pilot is expected to run alongside the population-based estimation
pilot and similarly last 6-8 weeks in duration.
Selection Criteria
The type of population, emergency setting and time commitment required for the two
pilots is outlined above. Additional important criteria include:
 Displacement / movement related to the recent emergency (the current or
recent emergency ‘event’ does not have to be happening / have happened in the
country in which we are running the pilot if the other criteria hold).
 UASC / family separation identified as an ‘issue’ in context and a programmatic
response to separation exists which the pilots can connect up with.
 Security levels that permit access for measurement.

A diverse context, for example one where there is a combination of camp and
non-camp settings.
Hosting Pilots
Pilot 1 is planned to start late 2015 (October onwards) and Pilot 2 to start early
2016 (Jan/Feb onwards). Each pilot has an allocated budget and ‘team’ of support
staff from Columbia University and Save the Children who will work with the
organization(s) most appropriate in context to host the pilot.
For further information and to send expressions of interest please
contact:
Anna Skeels, MSiE Project Manager
a.skeels@savethechildren.org.uk