Rationale Persons with disabilities (PWDs) in general experience stigma and discrimination driven by various attitudinal, environmental, and institutional barriers, prejudice, and stereotypes, that are amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Persons with disabilities face discrimination and other barriers in accessing livelihood and income support, participating in online forms of education, and seeking protection from violence. Women and girls with disabilities experience double discrimination, which places them at higher risk of gender-based violence, sexual abuse, neglect, maltreatment, and exploitation. Women and girls with disabilities are far more likely to be victims of violence, and particularly of domestic and sexual exploitation, and estimates show that women with disabilities are 1.5 to 10 times more likely to be abused than non-disabled women.[1] Tools to identify and quantify stigma and discrimination, its causes, manifestations, and impacts, are critical to ensure targeted and evidence-based approaches to addressing stigma and discrimination. Such tools have been well developed and standardized by the UN in other sectors such as HIV/AIDS. In relation to persons with disabilities there is scope for consolidating the lessons learned from these and for developing global tools which can be used by Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) and others to advocate for more effective policies and interventions to address stigma and discrimination. PWDs in Moldova[2] face multiple challenges in exercising their rights and experience difficulties in accessing essential services. Disability is largely perceived in Moldova as a health condition. Thus, the current system for disability assessment and referral does not contribute to the empowerment of PWDs to advance the enjoyment of rights, access to services and prevention of all forms of discrimination. The perceptions and stereotypes regarding disability vary greatly depending on whether a person interacts with people with disabilities in everyday life. PWDs are accepted by the community as ‘a neighbour’ (persons with mental or intellectual disabilities) or as ‘a friend’ (person with a physical disability). The social distance index (0 to 6, the lower, the better), measured based on the Bogardus social distance scale, places the people with mental and intellectual disabilities (2.6) above the average social distance (2.4), while people with physical disabilities (1.7) are below the average. At the same time, 16% of respondents-people with disabilities associate the disability with ‘discrimination’.[3] As per the Equality Council practice, gender and disability accounts for circa 39% of discrimination complaints solved in 2019. 54% of disability related discrimination cases refers to the access to public goods and services.[4] In the Republic of Moldova as in other countries, key drivers of stigma and discrimination against persons with disabilities (PWD) include environmental and attitudinal barriers. Stigma and discriminatory practices have a substantial impact on the lives of PWD – whose number has tended to increase overtime, as they are faced with important difficulties in accessing services – including education – and employment. This is only compounded by environmental obstacles brought about by the protracted humanitarian and occupation context, which tend to disproportionately affect women. According to the data of sociological study conducted by CSOs on the impact of the pandemic on the rights of persons with disabilities, more than 50% of households with persons with disabilities were economically and socially affected. Reductions of already low incomes and higher spending caused by the pandemic, led to greater impoverishment of persons with disabilities, especially women with disabilities, due to the pre-existing gender inequalities. In this context, UN Women intends to engage a team of two international consultants to support the customization and piloting phase of the diagnostic tool and conduct capacity building for reducing prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviour towards women and girls with disabilities in pilot communities in the light of the launch of the diagnostic tool At the country level in Moldova, the joint initiative will be closely implemented with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and CSOs invested on this front. Scope of work Under the supervision of the UN Women Moldova Programme Analyst on EVAW, the international consultants will be responsible to provide technical and expertise support to country programme team and to relevant stakeholders and CSO’s involved in the process, in particular duty bearers and right holders, to enhance the knowledge and skills to apply social innovative tools in the light of the launch of the diagnostic tool. The activity of the group of international consultants will consist of providing transformative capacity building activities/workshops to up to 50 representatives (duty bearers and right holders) on applying innovative tools such as: design thinking, user journey etc. on accessing VAW services and based on the developed diagnostic tool. More specifically, the team of international consultants will be responsible for the following tasks: - Analyse all relevant information on the project and on the global diagnostic tool;
- Develop the methodology, work plan and training materials for training programme and capacity building activities (including pre-post questionaries for knowledge assessment, evaluation forms) with applying innovation;
- Provide support to national consultants and stakeholders in identification of key gaps and challenges in accessing VAW essential services by women with disabilities;
- Provide design thinking workshops/ capacity building activities/workshops to up to 50 representatives (duty bearers and right holders) on applying innovative tools, such as design thinking, user journey on accessing VAW services;
- Together with national consultants selected under the programme, conduct capacity building sessions for at least 20 women with disabilities to enhance their knowledge and skills in accessing VAW Essential Services in the light of the launch of the diagnostic tool submitted;
- Organize a training session of up to 2 hours for UN Women staff on application of innovative tools in the area of development and human rights;
- Ensure collection of feedback and assessment of participants increase in knowledge;
- Provide where necessary support to country project team, consultants, stakeholders in the customization and piloting phase of the tool (through share of experience, expertise, revision of documents, etc);
- Participate at relevant meetings and activities related to the project with national, global team and stakeholders;
- Draft the final report based on collected feedback, lessons learned.
Deliverables and timeframe During the implementation of this assignment, the team of international consultants shall be responsible for the delivery of the following outputs, within the set deadline: S/N | Deliverables | Estimated Duration to Complete the tasks | Tentative Due Date | % of the Payment | 1 | Methodology, work plan and training materials for training programme developed and approved | Up to 5 working days (w.d) | Mid-June 2022 | 10 % | 2 | Report on: - capacity building activities/workshops for up to 50 representatives (duty bearers and right holders) organized on applying innovative tools, in Chisinau - capacity building for at least 20 women with disabilities to enhance their knowledge and skills in accessing VAW Essential Services in the light of the launch of the diagnostic tool - capacity building for at least 20 women with disabilities to enhance their knowledge and skills in accessing VAW Essential Services in the light of the launch of the diagnostic tool submitted - training session organized with UN Women staff | Up to 20 w.d, including 2 missions to Moldova (10 days in Moldova, 10 days home-based) | 30 September 2022 | 40 % | 3 | Report on other support provided to national consultants and stakeholders as per the tasks indicated above. | 20 w.d | 15 October 2022 | 40 % | 4 | Final report on the assignment, with insights, evaluation, lessons learnt, and recommendations, elaborated and submitted | 5 w.d | 15 November 2022 | 10 % |
All deliverables should be coordinated and approved with UN Women and be provided electronically in English. Duration The total duration of this assignment is tentatively planned for up to 50 days, within a 8-month period, starting from May 2022 with all tasks being accomplished by the end of December 2022 in conformity with the timeframe described under “Deliverables and Time frame” section. Management Arrangements The team of two international consultants will be working under the supervision of the UN Women Programme Analyst and in coordination with UNDP Programme Analyst. UN Women and UNDP will provide all the necessary materials for a better understanding of the context and for the successful fulfilment of the engagement. The Consultants will not be in the premises of UN Women or UNDP and will have to work remotely. However, the consultants are expected to have coordination meetings with the Programme Analysts and participate in relevant UN Women, UNDP thematic meetings. Separate contracts will be signed with each consultant, members of the team, and UN Women. The cost of the consultancy will be under UN Women accountability. Travel UN Women will provide an airline ticket for the mission in Moldova, or if not, the consultant will be entitled to reimbursement of airfare for Un Women authorized travel, upon presentation of used airline stubs in an amount not to exceed the economy class fare or excursion fare, if applicable. For UN Women authorized travel, the consultant will receive a daily subsistence allowance at United Nations authorized rates when traveling. Throughout the assignment, the International Consultants are expected to have 2 missions to Moldova up to 5 working days. Performance Evaluation Consultants’ performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. Financial Arrangements Payment will be disbursed in 4 instalments, upon successful submission and approval of the reports on deliverables and certification by UN Women that the services have been satisfactorily performed. _______________________________________________ [1] Human Rights Watch: Human Rights for Women and Children with Disabilities (2012) [2] About 176K persons with disabilities (or circa 6.6% of the population) live in Moldova. Women and girls with disabilities represent circa 49%. https://statistica.gov.md/newsview.php?l=ro&idc=168&id=6516 [3] Equality Council, Study on perceptions and attitudes towards equality (2018), http://egalitate.md/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Studiu-privind-percep--iile.pdf [4] http://egalitate.md/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Raport_CPEDAE_2019_-English-1.pdf
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