Background

The situation with the rights and services for Persons with Disabilities in Albania requires a special attention. Despite Government’s commitment to the agenda and willingness to implement targeted programmes, the current legal framework was considered insufficient and has failed to successfully implement the employment promotion mechanism for Persons with Disabilities and produce concrete results for such vulnerable categories. The Law “On inclusion of and accessibility for PwD” recognizes the right to independent living, including access to employment and law “On employment promotion” (1995) introduced quota/levies for the employment of people with disabilities by public and private employers. According to the law every company or public institution with over 24 employees must employ a person with disabilities for every 25 employees. Levies in the law against employers who fail to meet these quotas are not enforced, largely because the current law was not implemented and subsequently the envisaged National Employment Fund was never established nor operationalized.

With the support of UNDP, the Ministry of Finance and Economy is reviewing the current law on employment promotion. With the enforcement of the revised law and UNDP support the Government aims to mobilize private/public sector financing for piloting of the Employment and Skills Development Fund for persons with disabilities. The intervention is expected to convene the private sector and catalyze their capital for social and developmental impact with the ultimate aim of raising income of people with disabilities by providing them with opportunities/interventions to acquire productive skills and strive towards independent lives.  

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) recognizes “the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others; this includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labor market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities.” Examples from all over the world show that Persons with Disabilities may successfully work in various industries and has gainful employment. They are either entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, clerical support workers, service workers, trade related workers and skilled workers. Almost all jobs can be performed by someone with disability, given the right environment and assistance. On the other hand, evidences show that the rights the right of PWDs to decent work is frequently neglected and working age persons with disabilities often experience higher rates of unemployment, significantly lower employment rates and limited economic activity leading them into poverty and at greater risk of insufficient social protection.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNDP Albania has a long-standing commitment in promoting and achieving decent work for PwD, considering it as an integral link to the reduction of inequalities and the empowerment of these marginalized categories. An effective placement in employment of job seekers with disabilities involves making the best possible match between their qualifications, interests/expectations and job requirements. This matching process requires detailed analysis and information about job seekers with disabilities to determine experience, skills and related capacities. In this frame, UNDP is aiming to perform a thorough analysis of the available employment mechanisms for people with disabilities in Albania and develop a skills’ matching scheme that would accommodate their capacities. This analysis will provide evidence to all related line institutions such as the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Ministry of Health and Social Protection, National Employment Service, State Social Service, INSTAT etc and has the ultimate goal to inform the by-laws that will accompany the revised law and address the main gaps identified through the Skills and Employment Fund.

Under the overall guidance of the UNDP Programme Specialist and in close collaboration with the project implementing partners and above-mentioned line institutions, the international consultant is expected to provide the following:

i)        Best practices of employment of Persons with Disabilities from the region countries and not limited to. The evidence should consist of the available and most successful employment schemes for Persons with Disabilities and detailed description of roles and responsibilities of relevant institutions;

ii)       Comprehensive overview of disability and employment typology of PwDs in Albania. The analysis shall be based on available evidence on disability categories in Albania and must include data on employability/unemployability of PwDs in Albania, types of disability, impairment and employability factors that can affect a person’s capability to be integrated into the labour market in Albania and other related characteristics. Main sources of information include the available public data produced by the INSTAT, respective line Ministries, National Employment Service, State Social Service etc. The international consultant will be supported by a national expert that will facilitate and coordinate the relations with the concerned institutions/stakeholders and make available current data on PwDs in Albania. Other relevant studies and assessments conducted in the frame of the project will be made available as well; 

iii)     Design a skills’ matching scheme for PwDs that could be adopted to the Albanian context and define the role of each relevant institution in the implementation process. The expert is expected to develop a tailored methodology on skills matching scheme for persons with disabilities in Albania, including analysis of skills and qualifications vis-à-vis labour market needs, as well as analysis of needs for accessibility assistance and support. The scheme shall be informed by evidences generated from the comprehensive overview of disability and employment typology in Albania mentioned above and complemented further with internationally applied models on skills matching;

iv)     Develop at least one Active Labour Market Measure (ALMM) targeting PwDs in Albania;

v)       Recommend policy options that could provide decent and productive employment for PWDs;

Deliverables

i)        Proposed methodology and instruments for this assignment and plan/schedule of activities to be agreed with UNDP;

ii)       Comprehensive review of international best practices on employability of PwDs;

iii)     Analysis of disability and employment typology of PwDs in Albania;

iv)     Skills matching scheme designed and presented to UNDP and partners;

v)       At least one ALMM targeting PwDs in Albania designed, including a brief operationalization scheme;

vi)     Brief policy recommendations that enable an effective placement into the labour market of PwDs;

Time-schedule

The expected deliverables for this consultancy will be spread out as support over 25 working days ( with up to 2 mission of 10 days in Tirana )during the period December 2018 – January 2019.

Competencies

Corporate and Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.
• Communication - Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.
• Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.
• Organizational Awareness - Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
• Teamwork - Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards

Functional Competencies

• Excellent communication skills (written, spoken, composing, presentation) and networking;
• Political, Economic and Cultural sensitivity and commitment to UNDP’s development objectives in the country;
• Ability to generate creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations;
• Strong technical and practical knowledge on issues related to this assignment;
• Ability to work well in multi-disciplinary teams;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and objectivity;

Required Skills and Experience

-          Master’s degree in social sciences, public policy social work, economics, law or any other relevant field;

-          At least 7 years of relevant working experience and demonstrated knowledge on labour markets functions and job matching process;

-          Excellent knowledge of disability issues and good awareness of the needs of PwDs;

-          Demonstrated skills and techniques to assess the needs and requirements of job providers and the needs and capacities of job seekers;

-          Proven organizational capacity to absorb, analyze and synthesize large amounts of complex information;

-          Prior experience and records of cooperation with national/international organizations;

-          Excellent communication and report-writing skills in English;

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their financial proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate whose offer:

Is deemed technically responsive / compliant / acceptable (only technically responsive applications / candidates will be considered for the financial evaluation)

And has obtained the highest combined technical and financial scores.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max points: 70

Criteria A:        Educational background:  -  10 points

Criteria B:         Professional experience and experience in conducting research and analysis in employment profiling, labour market functions and job matching process, particularly on PwDs  - 25 points

Criteria C:         Demonstrated expertise in designing ALMMs targeting PwDs  -  35 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max points: 30 

Interested applicants are advised to carefully study all sections of this ToRs and ensure that they meet the general requirements as well as specific qualifications described. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

The application should contain:

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position and a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work). Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
• Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability-please fill in the attached form... Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability.  
• Latest personal CV, including past experience from similar projects or completed and signed UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SC) and Individual Contracts (IC) – Blank form Download here.
•  Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price and all other travel related costs (such as flight ticket, per diem, etc), supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template attached to the Letter of Confirmation of Interest template.  If an applicant 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 under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the applicant must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP. 
• Copy of Diplomas and copy of Passport.

How to Submit the Application:

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Merge your CV or P11, Financial Proposal Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and cover letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click “Submit Application;”
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Due to a large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process