Bibliotherapy Methodological Guide

Who are we?

Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (BSF) works to strengthen the capacity to act and the autonomy of populations through access to information, education and culture. To do this, it takes the library where it does not exist, to make it accessible to the most vulnerable populations.

Since its creation in 2007, BSF has deployed information dissemination strategies based on tools and content carefully selected for the needs of each public, and on support for actors in the field.

1. Background and presentation of the project

BSF is recruiting a consultant to produce a bibliotherapy methodological guide for children aged about 6–17 in Ukraine, with a smaller set of sessions for adults, such as peer sessions among teachers, usable both onsite and online, ahead of the partner training in February 2027.

Project. “Ensuring Access to Protective Education for War-Affected Children and Teachers in Ukraine” (NRC-BSF, CDCS funding, phase 2 “180-EiE CDC”, July 2026 –August 2027). The project is led by NRC with BSF and two local partners, SpivDiia and Fishermen Club of Ukraine (FCU), in Kharkivska, Dnipropetrovska and Donetska oblasts.

Activity 1.3 – Psychosocial support to children in education spaces. BSF trains school teachers directly in bibliotherapy, as well as FCU staff, who deliver the sessions to children themselves. Each trained teacher or FCU facilitator then delivers at least 4 bibliotherapy sessions to children in a standardised format. The methodology and activity sheets must work onsite and remotely and suit high-stress environments.

Existing work. BSF’s bibliotherapy approach builds on LOE for Good, the methodology developed within the Creative Europe project Libraries of Emotions for Good under the lead of Love for Livres. BSF, a project partner, piloted it with Ukrainian public libraries, with mixed audiences including children and teenagers. Several resources from this project already exist (Annex 2): the Love for livres methodology, a session script template, the LOE book collections (a common core list built by the project partners, and five Ukrainian library collections of about 100 titles each, selected under BSF coordination), and training materials (Paris seminar 2025, December 2025 training report, June 2026 training deck).

2. Objectives of the consultancy

Overall objective: give teachers and local partners a field-ready bibliotherapy methodological guide to run safe, structured sessions with war-affected children, and with adults, in particular teachers among themselves, onsite and online.

Specific objectives:

1. Adapt the LOE for Good methodology to children, with scripted sessions for each age band (about 6–17); children are the priority audience, and the guide also offers one scripted session cycle for adults, such as peer sessions among teachers.
2. Provide two delivery versions of the guide: onsite (in class or in a shelter learning space) and online (synchronous remote session).
3. Make the guide safe for high-stress settings, with clear safeguarding rules and a referral route based on the services available in the project areas.
4. Build in the children’s voice: simple tools to collect children’s feedback during the sessions.
5. Equip BSF teams to train partners and to keep adapting the guide after the consultancy (transfer of competences).

3. Expected results and deliverables

The methodological guide (D1) is the core deliverable and takes about 70% of the workload. All deliverables are written in English, in plain language ready for translation into Ukrainian, and delivered as editable files and PDF. D1 and D3 are drafted directly in the BSF Canva template, shared at kick-off.

# Deliverable

D0 Inception report : Workplan, review of existing materials, proposed answers to the open design choices (Section 4), one prototype session (ages 10–13) in onsite and online versions (8 h)

D1 Bibliotherapy methodological guide for children, onsite and online : See structure below (85 h)

D2 Transfer of competences to BSF teams : One remote training day for BSF trainers (pedagogical cell, Ukraine team), run as a rehearsal of the partner training, plus a short note “How to adapt or write a new session” (10 h)

D3 Partner training kit : Programme, trainer’s notes and slides for training school teachers and FCU staff; pre/post assessment (12 h)

D4 Final report : Short note with recommendations for scale-up and future adaptations (1 h)

Structure of D1, the methodological guide

1. Common core (all audiences, both modes): what bibliotherapy is and is not; the facilitator’s role; the four LOE phases (Understand, Connect, Engage, Closing) adapted for children and adults; preparing a session; choosing a text, with a screening checklist; a proposed list of texts for each session cycle, drawn primarily from the LOE book collections, with a short card for each text; an age table.
2. Onsite version: a cycle of at least 4 fully scripted sessions per age band, plus one cycle of at least 4 scripted sessions for adults (e.g. teachers among themselves), in one fixed layout (duration, objective, set-up, facilitator’s words written out, prompts, tips and watch-outs).
3. Online version: a delivery protocol (group size, shared reading on screen, camera and chat rules, low-bandwidth and audio-only fallback, online safety) and the online variant of each session.
4. Safety and referral: do-no-harm and child-protection rules, signs of distress, what to do in the moment, referral route based on the services available in the project areas, checked with NRC where feasible.
5. Children’s voice and monitoring: an age-appropriate feedback tool for children, a session register and an observation grid for supervisors, linked to project indicators.

Out of scope: translation into Ukrainian, graphic design beyond the BSF Canva template, delivery of the February 2027 partner training, and book procurement. The consultant may be asked to co-facilitate the training under a separate agreement.

4. Methodology and coordination

This is an adaptation and production assignment, not a new research exercise: the consultant builds on BSF’s existing materials (Annex 2) and works iteratively with the project team and partners.

Requirements for the guide

• Method. The four LOE phases are the fixed backbone of every session. Shared reading of a literary text stays at the heart of the approach.
• Child-centred. Difficult feelings are approached through characters and metaphor, never by asking children about their own experiences. Activities are participatory and playful, adapted to each age band.
• Adults. Children are the priority audience. The adult cycle is designed first for teachers among themselves (peer sessions supporting their own wellbeing) and can be used with other adults (librarians, facilitators, caregivers). It keeps the same LOE backbone and shared reading, with themes and texts suited to adults working in high-stress settings, and specifies who facilitates these sessions (e.g. a trained teacher or an FCU facilitator). It is a light adaptation within the same guide, not a separate guide; its online variant can be limited to delivery notes.
• Field-ready form. Short sentences, practitioner voice, no academic references in the guide itself.
• One common core. Content valid for all ages and both modes is written once; age and mode differences are handled in the session cycles and the online chapter.
• Inclusion. Inclusion is a cross-cutting approach, not a separate chapter: the common core and every session make sure all participant can take part, whatever their age, reading level, language, disability or displacement situation.

Design choices to settle at inception (decided by the BSF pedagogical cell on the consultant’s proposal):

• Age bands (two or three) and session length per band
• Who reads the text in each band (facilitator, children or both)
• What “online” covers in the project (same classes switching online, or other groups of children)
• Open or closed groups

Coordination

• Kick-off meeting at the start, then a short progress call every two weeks.
• Supervision: Leyre Gil Pedromingo, Deputy Director of Pedagogy, BSF (day-to-day contact, review of all deliverables).
• Pedagogical validation: BSF pedagogical cell.
• Safeguarding review (optional): NRC may review the safety and referral chapter if this is feasible without delaying the timeline; otherwise the BSF pedagogical cell validates it alone.
• Field review (optional): SpivDiia and FCU may comment on the drafts, under the same condition.
• Restitution: the BSF training day (D2) rehearses the partner training on the draft kit, which is then finalised (D3).

5. Monitoring, quality assurance and evaluation

The consultancy is judged on whether a teacher can run a safe, complete session with children using the guide alone, onsite and online.

Quality criteria: relevance and fidelity to the LOE methodology; fit with each age band; usability by non-specialist teachers; safety and child protection; inclusion and gender sensitivity; readiness for translation.

Indicators:

• Deliverables submitted on time and validated after one revision round.
• Satisfaction of partners and BSF trainers with the guide and the training kit.
• BSF trainers’ confidence to deliver the partner training, measured before and after the training day (D2).

6. Tentative timeline

The consultancy runs for about 9 weeks, from mid-November 2026 to mid-January 2027, including the end-of-year break. Dates will be confirmed in the inception report.

Kick-off meeting, start of assignment 16 Nov 2026

D0 inception report and prototype session (onsite and online) 25 Nov 2026

D1 draft, part 1: common core and onsite version _ 4 Dec 2026

D1 draft, part 2: online version, safety, monitoring; D3 draft (partner training kit) _ 16 Dec 2026

Final D1 _ 8 Jan 2027

D2 training day (transfer of competences), rehearsal of the partner training on the draft kit _ by 11 Jan 2027

Final D3 partner training kit (integrating the rehearsal feedback) and D4 short note _15 Jan 2027

The Ukrainian translation (outside this assignment) starts from the final guide on 8 January, before the partner training in February 2027.

7. Consultant profile

The consultant or team should demonstrate:

• Proven experience designing pedagogical tools for teachers and/or facilitators (guides, scripted activity sheets, training of trainers).
• Expertise in bibliotherapy, reading promotion or psychosocial support for children; experience in education in emergencies is an asset.
• Experience designing activities for children of different ages, and for online or remote delivery.
• Sound knowledge of child safeguarding and do-no-harm principles.
• Excellent written English; Ukrainian or Russian is a strong asset.
• Ability to work remotely with diverse stakeholders (BSF, NRC, local partners).

8. Budget and payment modalities

The assignment is paid at BSF’s reference rate of 42 EUR incl. VAT per hour (35 EUR excl. VAT), up to a ceiling of 119 hours, all costs included. The work is fully remote; no travel is planned.

Candidates are compared on their technical proposal and on the number of hours they propose per deliverable, not on their rate. The ceiling is written into the contract; a reasonable overrun may be covered by an amendment if budget allows.

Payment schedule:

• 30% upon submission of the complete draft of the guide (D1, parts 1 and 2).
• 70% upon approval of the final guide, training kit, training day and final report (D1–D4).