Background

The project “Achieving Kuwait 2035 Vision Towards Persons with Disability” supports PADA to enhance its human capacities and organizational effectiveness towards achieving its mandate. It supports its efforts at integration of PWDs in schools, employment, and social life in partnership with CSOs working for disabilities and supports it to ensure an inclusive physical environment for PWDs. The project will continue until December 2018. It seeks to achieve three outputs:

• Output 1.1: Enhanced human capacities and institutional effectiveness for prevention, early detection, diagnosis and rehabilitation of disabilities.
• Output 1.2: Coordinated and well organized efficient efforts towards removal of barriers to social, economic and educational inclusion of persons with disability.
• Output 1.3: Increased technical expertise and organizational capacities for implementation of Universal Design and country wide use of technology enablers.

The Public Authority for Disabled Affairs (PADA)

The Public Authority for Disabled Affairs (PADA)[1] of Kuwait is responsible for all matters related to care and rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities. Its mandate includes, inter alia, setting the disability policy; setting regulations and procedures for education, care and rehabilitation of PWDs and developing and overseeing an integrated action plan responsible for all aspects of Persons with Disabilities’ welfare in coordination with relevant government entities. PADA was established as per law no.8 for 2010[2] as a governmental entity. The law is concerned with protecting the rights of Persons with Disabilities in Kuwait and covers their inclusion in society, rehabilitation, education and employment in addition to care and other government services and entitlements. PADA developed a five-year strategy 2014 – 2019, which includes 15 themes and goals and provides a guiding framework for implementation and has an annual development plan. One of these themes is inclusive education that aims to support access of person with disabilities to good inclusive educational services in coordination with Ministry of Education.

Educational Support for Children with disabilities

Part of the financial support PADA provides for the PWD is the fees for special education.  Currently, PADA provides educational support for around 7500 students in 68 private schools. These schools provide special education programs for a different type of disability and follow either the official national curriculum (Arabic schools) or international curriculum (foreign language schools). Moreover, PADA provides financial support for students in preschool and after school institutions.  In addition to financial support, PADA oversees the services provided to PWD in the schools and evaluates and monitors these schools to ensure proper educational services provided.   The school fees are currently estimated by the school owner, they submit annually the cost for the student with the overhead school budget for approval from PADA evaluation and approval.  The Education Sector at PADA review and evaluate the school fees submitted by schools, and negotiate the fees until PADA and school reach an agreement. 

Based on the current rules and procedures, PADA cannot control either stop the request for increasing the schools’ fees, and the current procedure exhausts the resources of PADA in evaluating school fees instead of monitoring the progress of students.

Guideline and criteria for Educational Support for Children with disabilities

Within the framework of the project and output 1.2, the project aims to remove barriers to social, economic and educational inclusion of individuals with disabilities in Kuwait, to empower individuals with disabilities in Kuwait to achieve their full potential, and enable them to fully contribute to the society they live in. One approach to achieving its aims is by support access to all types and degrees of disabilities at all levels of education or vocational training. This TOR focus on the educational support currently provided by PADA for students with disabilities, It aims to review the current situation related to evaluating the quality of education and determining the school fees, develop criteria and evaluation process to ensure quality of education and availability of special need requirements, and develop a comprehensive framework and guideline for educational support program based on the analysis of current situation.

[1] http://www.pada.gov.kw

[2] The law no.10 for 2010 on Disability available at http://www.pada.gov.kw:8000/MainLaw.aspx

Duties and Responsibilities

The purpose of this assignment is to enhance PADA capabilities to provide educational support for persons with disability. It will provide a comprehensive model for funding educational services at private schools. The consultant is expected to develop a mechanism, guidelines, and criteria that qualifying private schools to the program including determining the school tuition calculation based on clear measures. The Consultant is expected to work closely with PADA to achieve the above role. The assignment will contribute to Output 1.2.

Specific tasks include:

• Develop a methodology and Work Plan for the assignment in consultation with PADA and UNDP including proposed activities and timeframe.
  1. In response to the terms of reference and in line with the initial proposal, the consultant should submit an inception report, along with a brief description of how the work will be conducted and finalize it through discussion with PADA management and UNDP.
• Conduct a participatory assessment of current educational support within PADA including identifying the strengths, challenges, gaps, and areas of improvements for the current system.
  1. To review current practices and understanding of educational support mechanisms including schools’ accreditation, tuition calculation, school evaluation process, and mechanism of applying current criteria on different schools and people with disabilities within PADA. In addition to the cooperation with Ministry of Education.
  2. Analysis of the current Kuwait and PADA legal, administrative and financial framework that regulate the provision of the educational services and support for people with disabilities.
  3. Review current classification and distribution of both students and schools within educational support including the type of disabilities, curriculum, facilities, teachers, and available special educational needs requirements for each disability type.
  4. Develop good practices report that includes best-recommended practices in similar international education support program targeting person with disabilities
  5. Based on the above, produce situation analysis that includes gaps analysis, areas of strength and areas for improvement in consultation with relevant PADA staff at management and technical levels, beneficiaries, and any other stakeholders.
• Share and present the main findings and recommendations with PADA senior management and education department and propose methodology aimed at improvement and addressing existing gaps.
• Development of a comprehensive framework and guidelines for educational support program based on the analysis of current situation.  The proposed system should include but not limited to:
  1. Basic characteristics for qualifying schools for the educational support program.
  2. Criteria for school evaluation mechanisms
  3. Cost -based Standard for calculating the school tuition and fees
  4. Student funding schemes
  5. Mechanism for auditing the schools
  6. Classification of children with disabilities qualified to educational support program based on disability types, educational needs, age, and gender.
  7. Administrative framework to educational support program
  8. The internal PADA organizational change necessary to implement the above (this will be in coordination with current process of organizational development at PADA)
• Capacity building of relevant PADA staff at management and technical levels
  1. The consultant should develop training plan and conduct training for PADA staff on the proposed framework and guidelines for educational support program
  2. Support and follow-up pilot implementation of the framework and guidelines including on-job training and practical application of the proposed system.
  3. Support PADA staff to design and conduct public awareness sessions outlining the advantages, transparency, and fairness of the new system.

Indicative Approaches:

• Gender approach: the consultant should ensure gender analysis is conducted based on the differentiated needs of girls and boys, men and women and it should be taken into account and explicit in all the components, especially the situation analysis and proposal.
• Participation and ownership: the consultant should ensure participation of PADA staff in the process of analysis and ensure their views and feedback is incorporated.
• Capacity Development approach: the consultant should work closely with project staff to enable the transfer of know-how as well as through the direct training component of the assignment
• Innovation change management: the assignment should identify innovative approaches to change management techniques to manage and control the implementation of the new system and utilize innovative and culturally sensitive techniques to build a solid team, a positive work environment and enhance motivation throughout the process.  
• Innovation and cultural sensitivity: the consultants should select messages and utilize techniques that are innovative and culturally appropriate and effective. Sufficient understanding of the societal culture in Kuwait is key to a successful campaign.

Expected Outputs:

All final deliverables must be in Arabic language and submitted in hard copy and electronic format.

Scope of price proposal and schedule of payments 

Institutional Arrangement:

The Consultant will:

• The consultant will report on a day to day basis to the UNDP Project Manager.
• All submitted deliverables, reports, developed papers (framework, guidelines, training plan, etc) are subject to PADA and GSSCPD focal points and authorized UNDP Programme Analyst.
• Regular meetings will be set for updates on progress in line with the agreed work plan

Duration of the Work:

The duration of this consultancy is expected to be 12 weeks.  Expected start date of the assignment is 8th October 2017.

Duty Station:

The consultant is expected to be in Kuwait for the duration of the assignment and will be based at PADA office.

Competencies

Competencies:

• Flexibility and adaptability to uncertain environments
• Ability to work independently and find solutions
• Political and cultural sensitivity
• Promoting ethics and integrity
• Gender sensitivity
• Team work and cooperation with colleagues
• Creating and promoting an enabling environment for open communication;
• Sharing knowledge and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.
• Conviction of the full rights of Persons with Disabilities and alignment with the values of human rights

Cumulative analysis:

Total score=Technical Score + Financial Score.

Technical Criteria weight - 70%, 700 scores maximum 

Financial Criteria weight - 30%. 300 scores maximum

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 490 from 700 points in the Technical part of evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The selection of candidates will be done in 3 stages:

1st stage: Prior to detailed evaluation, all applications will be thoroughly screened against eligibility criteria (minimum qualification requirements) as set in the TOR in order to determine whether they are compliant/non-compliant.

2nd  stage: Evaluation of technical proposals

Short-listed candidates will be evaluated based on the following criteria. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 490 points (70%) at the Technical Evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

3rd stage: Financial evaluation

The cumulative analysis will be used based on the following methodology: All the offers of individual consultants who scored 490 (70% from 700) and more points during the desk review are acceptable for financial evaluation. The lowest financial qualified proposal receives 300 points and all the other technically qualified proposals receive points in inverse proportion per the formula:

The candidate achieving the highest cumulative score for both Technical and Financial evaluations will be recommended by the Evaluation Committee for contracting.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master degree in Education, Special Education, Education Quality, Education Policy and Management, Inclusion or related fields

or  Bachelor degree in the mentioned fields with additional 5 years of experience in the same fields.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in special education management, delivery, and support of education services, quality of education, inclusion or in related fields.
• Demonstrated experience in student funding schemes, education financing, budgeting and educational accreditation.
• Fluency in English (speaking, writing, reading) required. Knowledge of Arabic is desirable.
• International experience in the above-mentioned areas (at least one country)

Note:   Kuwaiti nationals whose qualifications are assessed equivalently with another offer based on the required criteria will be given priority over the other.

Offerors are requested to compile in one PDF document and submit the following to be considered for this assignment:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP http://www.kw.undp.org/content/kuwait/en/home/operations/procurement.html;
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects that show how the candidate meets the above requirements, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional referees;
3. Technical Proposal includes: Proposed Methodology, Approach and Implementation Plan – this section should demonstrate the Proposer’s response to the Terms of Reference by identifying the specific components proposed, how the requirements shall be addressed, as specified, point by point; providing a detailed description of the essential performance characteristics proposed; and demonstrating how the proposed methodology meets or exceeds the specifications.
4. Financial Proposal that indicates an all-inclusive Lump Sum Amount with a fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided.  If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP, the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.  Consultant should be aware that the contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components http://www.kw.undp.org/content/kuwait/en/home/operations/procurement.html.