Research Consultant: Legal Mapping (O)SEC Netherlands

1. General Information

Terre des Hommes Netherlands (TdH NL) is an international child rights NGO dedicated to preventing and stopping child exploitation while empowering children to make their voices count. Driven by five core principles – Children at the Centre, Safety and Well-being, Intersectionality, Power Awareness, and Sustainability – TdH NL addresses systemic root causes to design scalable, evidence-based protection interventions.

2. Background & Rationale

Under our Global Strategy (2023–2030), TdH NL committed to a strategic programme focusing on the prevention of sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in the Netherlands. The programme aims to establish TdH NL’s niche in the Dutch child rights landscape, build expertise, hold duty-bearers and key stakeholders accountable, and engage children, parents, and professionals directly. To guide our national and EU advocacy strategies, TdH NL requires a clear, comprehensive understanding of existing Dutch legislation on child sexual exploitation, its sufficiency, enforcement levels, and current legal gaps. To that effect, Terre des Hommes Netherlands (TdH NL) is seeking to contract a Legal Mapping Consultant who is experienced in Dutch law, child protection, and legal research to advise us on the legal framework surrounding the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in the Netherlands, including online SEC (OSEC) and offline forms of exploitation.

3. Objectives of the Consultancy

TdH NL is seeking professional advice and legal research support to review Dutch legislation relating to SEC and to enable TdH NL to identify key gaps and opportunities. 

The specific objectives include providing legal expertise and delivering actionable research across sexual exploitation of children generally, with a focus on both online and offline risks.

Advice / support :

• Study relevant organisational documentation underpinning the SEC NL programme.  
• Provide expert input to the SEC thematic team and Influencing colleagues to define TdH NL’s priority advocacy focus.  
• Discuss draft findings with key internal stakeholders (SEC Technical Specialist, Influencing Team, Programme staff) and integrate their input and advice. 
• Present the final legal overview to the SEC team to highlight critical gaps and priority focus areas.

4. Consultant Scope of Work & Deliverables

• A comprehensive overview report written in Dutch detailing current Dutch legislation and policies related to sexual exploitation of children.  
• A legal analysis statement evaluating the sufficiency of the current legal framework and the actual levels of enforcement.  
• A detailed mapping of legal and enforcement gaps accompanied by tailored strategic recommendations for TdH NL’s advocacy efforts.  
• An executive summary translated into English for internal cross-departmental alignment. 

5. Indicative Timeline

Execution is scheduled across Q4 2026 with final deliverables due by mid January 2027.

Phase	Core Consultant Responsibility	Key Milestone
Phase 1: Design & Prep	Report reading, methodology adaptation, mapping design	Approved mapping design
Phase 2: Legal mapping	Legal research, report writing and internal dissemination	Overview of legal framework, analysis statement on enforcement, presentation and advice

6. Budget & Financial Guidelines

The budget for this consultancy assignment will be 500 EUR per day for 8 – 10 working days over a 3-month period. Applicants must submit an itemized financial proposal, breaking down daily fees and within the EUR 5.000 – 6.000 range.

7. Profile & Submission Requirements

Desired Expertise:

• Relevant academic background in Dutch Law, Criminology, Human Rights, or a related discipline.
• Proven experience in legal mapping, child protection legislation, and conducting qualitative legal research.
• In-depth knowledge of Dutch legal frameworks, policies on child rights, and child sexual exploitation regulations.
• Strong analytical, report writing, and critical thinking skills.  
• Native or near-native written and spoken proficiency in Dutch, with fluent professional proficiency in English.  
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams.

Integrity & Safeguarding: The consultant must adhere strictly to TdH NL’s Safeguarding Policies, Code of Conduct, and Ethical Content Policy.

8. How to Apply:

Please submit your application package via email with the subject line “Consultancy Proposal – Legal Mapping Consultant” to Abby Roberts, Technical Expert – SEC, at a.roberts@tdh.nl.

The deadline for submission is 09 October 2026 (inclusive).

Your application must include:

1. CV / Technical Portfolio: Highlighting relevant experience in Dutch Law and Child Protection.
2. Technical Proposal: A brief paper outlining your proposed methodological approach, analytical framework, ethical standards, and work plan.
3. Financial Proposal: Itemized breakdown of daily fees up to a maximum of €6,000 (incl. VAT).

Our Commitment to Diversity, Integrity and Child Safeguarding 

We are not looking for just one type of person – we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas and challenge our thinking. We are especially interested in people whose lived experiences help us to see things we might otherwise miss, and enable us to do better work with and for children. Whether or not you meet 100% of the criteria, we want to hear from you, because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable us to better the lives of children around the world. 

TdH NL is committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation. We continue to learn about intersectional considerations and power distribution within our organisation and our work. We are dedicated to preventing and eradicating any type of misconduct including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, any other type of misuse of power, lack of integrity or financial misconduct. 

Note: We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us, this includes a commitment to diversity and inclusion at all levels of our work. All offers of employment will therefore be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which include a valid criminal record check, terrorism finance checks, and/or integrity screenings/references relating to misconduct and disciplinary actions in prior employment. 

TdH NL is particularly committed to keeping children and vulnerable individuals safe, and has zero tolerance on (child) abuse. Every TdH NL employee is bound by the TdH NL Code of Conduct that describes the expected behaviour by staff, in particular with regards to Safeguarding children and (young) adults in our programmes. Child safeguarding measures are part of our selection and recruitment process. By submitting your application you accept that TdH NL will conduct such pre-employment screening for successful candidates. TdH NL participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.