Child Sex Trafficking Navigator, Argentina

Child Sex Trafficking Navigator, ArgentinaIndependent Contractor Services Issuing Organization: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)Program: U.S. Department of State–funded Child Protection Compact Partnership in ArgentinaPlace of Performance: Buenos Aires, Argentina, with travel throughout Argentina and periodic international travelEngagement Type: Independent contractor (individual consultant). This is not an employment position.Period of Performance: Base period from December 2027 through September 30, 2027, with up to four (4) one-year option periods. If all options are exercised, the engagement ends September 30, 2031.Announcement Date: November 4, 2026NCMEC Contract Point of Contact: John Shehan, Senior Vice President, jshehan@ncmec.org 1. Background NCMEC is implementing the Child Protection Compact Partnership in Argentina, a five-year program funded by the U.S. Department of State that ends September 30, 2031. The program aims to strengthen prevention, victim protection, and the investigation, prosecution, and conviction of offenders, using trauma-informed, victim-centered practices. NCMEC wants to engage one qualified Argentine professional as an independent contractor to serve as Child Sex Trafficking (CST) Navigator. The Contractor will focus on CST service mapping, professional training, multidisciplinary collaboration, and recovery planning. The Contractor will coordinate with NCMEC's Director, Argentina Child Protection & Strategic Engagement (the "NCMEC Program Director"), NCMEC subject-matter experts, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Program Manager, and Argentine implementing partners.     2. Objective The objective is to strengthen Argentina's national and provincial capacity to prevent child sex trafficking, identify and protect child victims, plan for the recovery of children missing from alternative care, and support the investigation and prosecution of offenders.     3. Scope of Work The Contractor will perform the following tasks under work plans approved by the NCMEC Program Director. The Contractor decides how, when, and by what methods the work is done, consistent with the approved work plan, the deliverable schedule, and the contract terms.   Task 1: Prevention and Public Awareness Identify opportunities to strengthen Argentina's capacity to prevent CST, protect vulnerable children and survivors, and support prosecution of offenders. Work with local nongovernmental organizations to use NCMEC prevention resources to raise public awareness of the risk factors and vulnerabilities traffickers exploit, including online recruitment. Translate, localize, and promote NCMEC's "Guide for Parents & Guardians," "Guide for Child Welfare Professionals," and other relevant NCMEC CST resources, reflecting Argentine law, trends, and referral pathways. Liaise with provincial lead agencies and the Federal Council for Human Trafficking to improve victim identification, referrals, and sustained, child-focused prevention that addresses online recruitment. Strengthen coordination among civil society, technology platforms, educators, frontline personnel, and at-risk communities.   Task 2: Regional Resource Review and Response Mapping Review regional CST resources and response capabilities with authorities, civil-society organizations, and victim service providers. Map services, shelters, referral pathways, and agency responsibilities for children affected by or at risk of CST. This includes children missing from alternative care settings and children trafficked by parents or family members. Document service gaps, access barriers, coordination challenges, and regional differences. Use findings to inform CST and recovery-planning curricula for child-welfare professionals, law enforcement, and prosecutors.   Task 3: Professional Training and Technical Assistance Coordinate and oversee trauma-informed, victim-centered CST and recovery-planning training for judges, prosecutors, police, social workers, child-welfare staff, foster parents, mental health professionals, teachers, civil-society organizations, and family advocates, including multidisciplinary team members. Adapt training and resources, with NCMEC experts and implementing partners, to Argentina's language, culture, institutional structures, localized trends, and referral procedures. Deliver or co-facilitate training on CST indicators, online exploitation, running behavior, safeguarding, victim identification, recovery planning, and investigation and prosecution. Coordinate specialized instruction with NCMEC and Argentine experts. Help partners apply training to coordinated response, referrals, prevention of revictimization, and trauma-informed support for victims, families, and professionals.   Task 4: Recovery Planning for Children Missing from Alternative Care Provide technical assistance to strengthen Argentina's national CST recovery-planning framework for children missing from alternative care settings. Serve as NCMEC's liaison to child-welfare professionals and social workers whose caseloads include children who have run away, and connect them with resources and training on running behavior and response. Engage national, provincial, and regional leaders to review policies, plans, and practices for children missing from alternative care who are believed to be CST victims. Help partners clarify responsibilities, communication, referrals, and coordination before, during, and after a child's recovery, with emphasis on safety, continuity of care, and prevention of further exploitation.   Task 5: Multidisciplinary Teams and Specialized Investigative Units Share strategies, materials, and promising practices for effective CST multidisciplinary teams. Convene or take part in provincial and regional leadership meetings on team development, roles, referrals, appropriate information sharing, and coordinated victim support. Advise, with the NCMEC Program Director and NCMEC experts, national and regional law-enforcement agencies that are establishing or strengthening specialized child sexual exploitation and CST investigative units. Connect specialized units, child-welfare agencies, prosecutors, and victim service providers across Argentina's 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires with one another, with national structures, and with NCMEC CST analytical and recovery-planning resources.   Task 6: Investigative and Prosecutorial Liaison Serve as NCMEC's liaison to Argentine law-enforcement agencies and prosecutors that do not currently receive CyberTipline reports but could use NCMEC analytical resources to identify CST victims and hold offenders accountable. Connect justice-sector partners with NCMEC resources, technical assistance, and expertise to support victim-centered investigations, prosecutions, and convictions. Liaise with PROTEX on support for CST investigations, prosecutions, and case integration across jurisdictions. Identify opportunities for collaboration between NCMEC experts and Argentine law enforcement on the role of gangs and organized criminal networks in domestic and international CST. Synthesize findings into recommendations on emerging trends, service gaps, coordination, and recovery planning, and escalate unresolved systemic barriers to the NCMEC Program Director. Maintain partner relationships, follow up on agreed actions, and contribute tools, documented practices, and knowledge transfer that will sustain the program's results.   Task 7: Work Planning, Monitoring, and Reporting Prepare and carry out annual CST work plans that define priorities, milestones, partner responsibilities, and implementation needs. Recommend adjustments as needed. Maintain timely records of regional reviews, trainings and participants, technical assistance requests and completions, meetings, recommendations, and follow-up actions. Collect supporting documentation and disaggregated data required by the program's Results Monitoring Plan, such as region, agency or sector, training topic, and audience. Provide verified activity data, attendance records, and supporting materials to the NCMEC Program Director and M&E Program Manager for quarterly reporting.   Task 8: Representation and Coordination Represent NCMEC at assigned meetings, trainings, working groups, and events, and deliver presentations on CST response, recovery planning, and project activities. Coordinate with relevant NCMEC divisions, including Analytical Services, Exploited Children, Family and Survivor Services, and Missing Children, to connect partners with appropriate expertise. Direct all media inquiries and public communications to NCMEC's Communications and Brand team. The Contractor will not speak publicly on NCMEC's behalf without prior written approval.   4. Required: Argentine citizen/ legally authorized to work in Argentina. Must successfully complete NCMEC's background screening. Bachelor's degree in social work, psychology, criminal justice, human services, child protection, or a related field. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered. At least five years of progressively responsible experience in child protection, child welfare, victim services, human trafficking response, or a related field, including substantive work with children affected by sexual exploitation or trafficking. Demonstrated experience coordinating multidisciplinary responses, service referrals, recovery planning, or related support for vulnerable children and families. Experience working with Argentine child-protection or child-welfare systems, government agencies, law enforcement, prosecutors, civil-society organizations, or victim service providers. Experience developing and delivering professional training, facilitating interagency meetings, and providing technical assistance. Experience in service mapping, regional resource assessment, or response-procedure review, and in turning identified gaps into practical recommendations. Demonstrated experience working and collaborating internationally. Full professional fluency in written and spoken Spanish and English. Able and willing to travel frequently throughout Argentina and periodically abroad. Registered with Argentina's tax authority (ARCA) and able to issue electronic invoices for professional services.   5. Preferred: Advanced degree in a related field. Experience with children missing from alternative care settings. Experience with grant-funded programs, particularly U.S. government–funded programs, and performance reporting.   6. Knowledge and Skills Expected: Strong knowledge of child sex trafficking, child sexual exploitation, associated vulnerabilities, and the needs of child victims and survivors. Practical understanding of trauma-informed, victim-centered, survivor-informed, and culturally responsive approaches. Knowledge of Argentina's national and provincial child-welfare, child-protection, victim service, law-enforcement, and prosecutorial structures. Ability to build credibility with agency leaders and frontline professionals and to facilitate collaboration across institutions. Strong training, facilitation, public-speaking, and written communication skills. Strong organizational, documentation, and time-management skills. Integrity, discretion, cultural competence, and sound judgment. Proficiency with Microsoft Office and with collaboration, training, reporting, and data-management tools.   7. Contract Terms: Independent contractor status. The Contractor is an independent contractor, not an employee of NCMEC, and is not entitled to employee wages, benefits, or protections. The Contractor is solely responsible for all taxes, social security contributions, insurance, and registrations required under Argentine law. Schedule. The Contractor sets their own working hours. They must be available for scheduled coordination meetings, partner engagements, and time-sensitive matters, including meetings with U.S.-based NCMEC staff across time zones. Compensation. Will be discussed during the interview process. Travel. NCMEC must approve all travel in advance. Approved travel costs will be reimbursed at actual, reasonable cost under NCMEC's travel policy and applicable U.S. federal cost principles. Equipment. The Contractor provides their own standard office equipment. NCMEC will provide secure systems or devices for specific program functions. Option periods. NCMEC may exercise each annual option at its sole discretion, based on satisfactory performance, continued program need, and availability of U.S. Department of State funding. Funding contingency. This engagement is funded by a U.S. Department of State award and depends on the continued availability of those funds. NCMEC may modify or end the contract if the award is reduced, changed, or terminated. Termination. Either party may end the contract with 30 days' written notice. NCMEC may end it immediately for cause. Federal requirements. The contract will include the clauses required by NCMEC's federal award. These include anti–trafficking in persons requirements, debarment and suspension certification, conflict-of-interest disclosure, records retention, and access to records for audit. Confidentiality and safeguarding. The Contractor must protect the privacy, security, and confidentiality of children, survivors, families, and partners; apply child-safeguarding, trauma-informed, survivor-informed, and victim-centered practices throughout the work and sign NCMEC's confidentiality agreement. Sensitive content. The work may involve exposure to written, visual, or audio content about crimes against children, including child sexual abuse material, sex trafficking, other forms of child sexual exploitation and violence. The Contractor may access such material only through NCMEC-approved secure systems and procedures, and must maintain appropriate professional boundaries and wellness practices. Intellectual property. NCMEC owns all work products, translations, and materials produced under the contract, subject to the terms of the federal award. Media. The Contractor will not engage with the media or make public statements about the program without prior written approval from NCMEC.   8. Proposal Submission Requirements: Interested candidates must submit the following in English, in a single PDF by December 11, 2026, Cover letter (up to 3 pages) describing relevant experience and a proposed approach to the first 90 days. Cover letter (up to 2 pages) describing relevant experience and approach to the scope of work. Curriculum vitae showing education, relevant experience, and training delivered. Writing sample in Spanish (up to 3 pages), such as a report excerpt, training material, resource map or assessment, or policy memo. Three professional references, including at least one from an Argentine child-protection, child-welfare, or justice-sector institution. Fee proposal stating the proposed fixed monthly fee in [U.S. dollars / Argentine pesos], excluding reimbursable travel. Confirmation of eligibility, including Argentine citizenship and current or planned ARCA registration. Conflict-of-interest disclosure listing any current employment, contracts, or affiliations with Argentine government agencies or implementing partners. NCMEC will not reimburse any costs incurred in preparing a proposal.   9. General Conditions This announcement is not an offer of employment or a commitment to award a contract. NCMEC may cancel this solicitation, reject any or all proposals, negotiate with one or more offerors, or award without negotiation. NCMEC does not discriminate on any basis protected by applicable law and will provide reasonable accommodation in the selection process on request.