RESEARCH CONSULTANT FOR INNOVATING CHILD HELPLINE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 

About Our Organisation 

Child Helpline International (CHI) is a global network of child helplines, with over 150 members in 130+ countries and territories around the world. We coordinate information, viewpoints, knowledge and data from our child helpline members, and from partners and other external sources. The data we collect from our members is used to help and support child protection systems globally, regionally and nationally, to help our members advocate for the rights of children and amplify their voices. 

About the Role and the Project 

Child helplines generate large volumes of data through their day-to-day contacts with children and young people. Making better use of this data to better understand their issues and to effectively promote their rights and wellbeing is a strategic priority for CHI and its members. Improving the usability of the data will require addressing data governance, privacy, and ethical concerns.  

Through the activity “Innovating child helpline data collection and analysis for lasting impact”, CHI is exploring current data management practices across the network, including how members share data with other organisations, and the potential of automating some aspects to data collection. The activity involves identifying barriers (ethical, technological, or otherwise) to adopting new technologies for data collection and analysis, and of identifying realistic paths to overcome them. 

As part of this activity, CHI aims to develop more robust data-sharing agreements with its members. CHI's existing agreements need to be revised to reflect current developments in the field and, in particular, to properly address the sharing of disaggregated (individual/case-level) data, which carries greater sensitivity and risk than aggregate data and therefore requires stricter safeguards. To do this credibly, CHI also needs to strengthen its own knowledge of data governance as it applies specifically to child protection. 

Work already completed 

Preparatory work for this activity is already underway. CHI has mapped current data-sharing practices among its members and has identified preconditions that CHI will have to meet before receiving disaggregated data. These preconditions broadly concern: de-identification; storage and access; formal agreements; and a clearer understanding of members' internal constraints. 

This consultancy builds directly on that mapping. CHI will facilitate Focus Group Discussions with the members to further unpack the identified preconditions and prepare a report of the findings. The consultant's role is to bring specialist data governance and legal expertise to that process, and to translate its findings into new data-sharing agreements, a supporting risk assessment, and contribute to the design of a compliant pipeline for receiving, storing, and analysing data. 

Purpose and scope of the consultancy 

The consultant will: 

• Be briefed by CHI on the existing mapping, the wider activity, and CHI's internal Focus Group Discussion process (onboarding). 

• Sit in, as an expert resource, on CHI-led Focus Group Discussions with responding members. 

• Review CHI's internal findings report and provide recommendations from a data governance and legal perspective. 

• Conduct independent research and/or a Data Protection Impact Assessment covering the legal basis for processing, cross-border data transfer mechanisms, and risks specific to children's data. 

• Draft new data-sharing agreement templates for governmental and non-governmental child helpline members, covering both aggregate and disaggregated data, in compliance with data protection and child-safeguarding principles. 

• Participate in meetings with the CHI team and incorporate feedback through iterative revisions. 

Deliverables 

• Written recommendations on CHI's internal findings report, from a data governance and legal perspective. 

• New data-sharing agreement templates, one adapted for governmental child helplines and one for non-governmental child helplines, covering aggregate and disaggregated data sharing. 

• Data Protection Impact Assessment (or equivalent risk assessment), covering legal basis, cross-border transfer mechanisms, and retention and deletion protocols. 

Timeline and indicative level of effort 

The assignment is estimated at 15 working days, over a period of approximately 2 months from contract signing. The consultant should be available to sit in on CHI-led Focus Group Discussions in late September, and to finalise the agreement templates and DPIA by 15 November. 

Expertise and Skills 

Required: 

• Solid, demonstrated expertise in data governance and data protection law/principles (e.g. GDPR or equivalent), including practical experience drafting data-sharing agreements or MoUs. 

• Experience working in international or multi-country contexts, with an understanding that data protection and governance requirements vary significantly by region and legal system (i.e., this is not solely a GDPR exercise), and sensitivity to the cultural and institutional differences between members. 

• Experience conducting Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) or equivalent risk assessments, including legal basis for processing, cross-border data transfers, and retention/deletion protocols. 

• Practical understanding of data protection considerations specific to children's data, or another sensitive-data context. 

• Ability to translate legal and governance analysis into practical, usable templates and recommendations. 

• Ability to work independently, engage efficiently in a small number of structured meetings, and deliver quality outputs within a fixed timeframe and budget. 

• Excellent written English, particularly for legal and technical drafting. 

Desired: 

• Prior experience working with or within child helplines, child protection systems, or membership-based NGO networks. 

• Fluency in additional languages relevant to CHI's membership base (French, Spanish, Arabic, or others). 

What We Offer 

• A gross remuneration of €400.00 per day, for eight working hours per day, for a maximum of 15 working days to be invoiced (total contract value not to exceed €6,000, inclusive of all fees, taxes and expenses). 

• Flexible, home-based working arrangements. 

• Access to CHI's network of members and partners for the purposes of the assignment. 

• The meaningful purpose of our work. 

How to apply 
 
To express your interest in this opportunity, please fill out application form 
 
in the form, you will be asked to upload the following: 

• An up-to-date CV of maximum 2 pages, in PDF format, in English, detailing relevant experience.  

• A brief technical proposal outlining proposed methodology and timeline against the scope of work and deliverables, along with financial information outlining the proposed daily rate and number of days to deliver the assignment, in Euros. 

• Share contacts of two professional references. 

 
The deadline for the applications is 23rd August 2026, at 11:59PM CET. We will contact only those selected for further consideration. If you haven’t heard from us by 28th August, your application has not been successful on this occasion. We sincerely regret that we are unable to respond personally to every applicant 

Application process 

We reserve the right to adjust the recruitment process as needed. If interview outcomes are too similar, we may conduct additional round to ensure a thorough evaluation.  

We understand that the interview process can be stressful, so we’ve created this guide to help you prepare. By providing a clear overview of our process, we aim to make your experience more comfortable and less anxiety-inducing. This guide will walk you through what to expect, allowing you to focus on showcasing your skills and personality.  

We want to ensure you have every chance to showcase your talents and shine brightly. We’re committed to accommodating any reasonable adjustments necessary to ensure the assessment process is accessible for you.  

Reach out to us via email people@childhelplineinternational.org.   

Staff recruited by Child Helpline International will be asked to comply with our child safeguarding policy and PSEA policy.  

At Child Helpline International, we are committed to JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) principles. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.  

We value your feedback: If you’ve reviewed this job posting and decided not to apply, we’d greatly appreciate hearing your reasons. Your insights can help us improve our recruitment process and job descriptions. Please consider sharing your thoughts through our brief, anonymous survey.