Antecedentes
In June 2019, the United Nations Secretary-General launched the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) to make the United Nations an inclusive organization for all. The Strategy establishes the foundation for systemic and sustainable change on disability inclusion across all three pillars of the UN. The Strategy also plays a key role in enabling the UN system to support Member States in their achievement of the 2030 Agenda, the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as well as a range of other development and humanitarian commitments.
The UNDIS consists of a system-wide policy and an accountability framework with two inter-linked components — an Entity Accountability Framework for individual entities, and a UN Country Team (UNCT) Accountability Scorecard. Through its policy and accountability framework, the wide-ranging Strategy provides a comprehensive and practical roadmap for ensuring that the UN system is translating disability inclusion not just at the policy level, but at the programmatic and operational levels. Both the entity accountability framework and the UNCT scorecard have been designed to monitor progress and address challenges and gaps, both at headquarters and at the country level. It has concrete benchmarks and focuses on critical areas such as leadership, strategic planning, accessibility, participation, programming, communications, human resources, and procurement.
The UNCT in Zimbabwe rolled out the implementation of the UNCT Accountability Scorecard in 2020 and submits reports to the UN Secretary General annually. Currently UNCT Zimbabwe is implementing the UNCT Action Plan for the UNDIS Scorecard for 2022, and one of the planned actions is to develop the UNCT Guidelines for increased accessibility/ reasonable accommodation in line with UNDIS Indicator 6. This is also an important follow-up action of the recommendations from the UNDIS Comprehensive Assessment conducted by UNCT Zimbabwe in 2021.
Accessibility is a prerequisite for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in society. If buildings, goods, and services are not accessible, persons with disabilities cannot live independently or participate fully and equally in society. Accessibility is relevant to the UN staff and all users of UN goods, services, and premises among others. It is important for the UNCT in Zimbabwe to strengthen measures for increased accessibility and reasonable accommodation through practical and easy to use checklists and or guidelines for staff.
On the Records of reasonable accommodation requests and the responses, the UNCT seeks to strengthen efforts to collect and maintain records on applicants and UN employees with disabilities who requested or received reasonable accommodation. The template is maintained for the purpose of processing, deciding, and implementing requests for reasonable accommodation by the UN employees and applicants. The template/ system is useful for tracking and reporting the processing/response of requests for reasonable accommodation in line with the UNDIS indicator 6 and the UN Convention of the Right of Persons with Disabilities. This is an important measure of accountability and data generation on tracking requests and responses for reasonable accommodation by the UN System.
Deberes y responsabilidades
Description of Assignment:
The Consultant, under the guidance of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO), OMT, and UN Disability Inclusion Focal Persons will develop the tools to guide UN Staff and accelerate implementation of the UNDIS Indicator 6 on accessibility. The consultant is expected to develop accessibility Checklist/s in line with international accessibility standards. The Consultant will also develop a template for Records of reasonable accommodation requests/response for use by OMT / UN Agencies.
This Assignment will build on the 2021 UNCT UNDIS Comprehensive Baseline Assessment that provided clear recommendations for all UNDIS Scorecard Indicators and in particular Indicator 6 on Accessibility. It is expected that a clear set of tools and guidelines be available for application on a day to day by the UN on accessibility for common services/buildings, ICT, equipment, website-on-line documents/applications, human resources, external venues, accommodation, transport, security equipment, emergency evacuation among others.
The Contracted Party will also develop a template of Records of reasonable accommodation requests and the response for use by OMT and UN Agencies. This template will be standard for all Agencies to provide OMT/UNCT with more information and progress made on reasonable accommodation. Measures will be put in place for regular reporting on progress.
Scope of Work
The Scope of Work for the Consultant will cover the following tasks:
- Develop and submit an Inception Report,
- Develop UNCT accessibility Checklist in line with international accessibility standards,.
- Develop a Template of Records of reasonable accommodation requests and the responses for use by OMT and UN Agencies.
Responsibilities
To ensure the consultant has full understanding of the assignment, the Consultant will develop and submit an inception report for approval. The Consultant will be responsible for the development of UNCT Accessibility SOPs/Checklist as guided by the recommendations of the UNDIS Assessment. A user-friendly template for Records of reasonable accommodation requests and the response will also be developed to support tracking of progress by members of the UNCT.
The assignment will be led by OMT, and supported by RCO, in close collaboration with the UN Disability Inclusion Focal Persons. Throughout the process, it is expected that persons with different types of disabilities are involved to ensure the full spectrum of disabilities is taken into consideration in the assessments.
The responsibilities of the Consultant are as follows:
- UNCT Accessibility Checklist/s (10days)
In consultation with OMT Chair relevant team members, develop a UNCT accessibility Checklist in line with international accessibility standards. The Checklist must be relevant to the UN Zimbabwe context and address issues as they arise in areas such as Human Resources, buildings, ICT, security, venues/accommodation, adverts, transport, among others. The Checklist must serve as a guide with clear areas of consideration to ensure at least minimum standards for accessibility requirements. This should include pre-testing and demonstration of use with OMT members.
- Records of reasonable accommodation requests and responses (5 days)
Develop a template of records of reasonable accommodation requests and the responses for use by OMT /and UN Agencies. This should include pre-testing and demonstration of use with OMT members.
Expected Deliverables
The deliverables of this assignment are as follows:
- Inception Report,
- UNCT accessibility Checklist/s in line with international accessibility standards,
- Template of Records of reasonable accommodation requests and the responses for use by OMT and Agencies.
Management of the Assignment
- Overall Supervision: RCO, OMT r, UNPRPD Team and UN Disability Inclusion Focal Persons will provide overall backstopping, and technical support to the Assignment,
- Review Meetings: The Consultant will present progress to OMT, RCO and UNPRPD every fortnight to present progress made on the assignment,
- Validation Meeting: The Consultant will present the final deliverables to OMT and RCO through a half day Validation Workshop/Meeting,
- Virtual Working Arrangements: The Consultant will be operating virtually through Zoom and email communication.
Competencias
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards,
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability,
- Treats all people fairly without favoritism.
Functional Competencies:
- Judgement/Decision-making
- Strong technical skills and analytical capacities, sound judgment;
- Strong technical problem-solving skills;
- Ability to understand and establish priorities and work by objectives.
Teamwork
- Ability to work in a team and establish effective working relationships with people from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds;
Ability to work under stress and work overtime when required.
- Excellent knowledge of the UN system and UN joint country programming processes (CCA/UNDAF),
- Good knowledge and experience with the national development frameworks, especially Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) PRSP, SWAP, key legislation, etc.
- Specialised technical knowledge, including in conducting external programme evaluations, data collection and analytical skills, mainstreaming the HRBA to programming and gender equality and women’s empowerment considerations, and transition contexts,
- Excellent communication, interpersonal skills, teamwork and adept at working with people of diverse cultural and social backgrounds,
- An understanding of and ability to abide by the core values of the United Nations.
Habilidades y experiencia requeridas
Education
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in disability inclusion, social development, or related field.
Experience
- Knowledge and experience working in Zimbabwe or the region.
- Demonstrated background in disability inclusion work, including development of tools and checklists for disability inclusions.
- 3-5years of strong experience of carrying out accessibility assessments of communications including digital communications.
- Experience in assessing accessibility of ICT, emergency communications and security, transport/fleet
- Experience in development of Accessibility SOPs/ Checklists and guidelines
- Persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.
Language
- Excellent written and spoken English.
Duration of Assignment
- This assignment will be conducted over 15 working days.
Payment Terms
All payments shall be made only after satisfactory submission of the deliverables,
Payment schedules will be made in two parts- 30 % upon development and submission of Inception Report and 70% upon completion of the assignment.
Application procedure:
Applicants are requested to upload copies of:
Latest CV highlighting the relevant experience;
Updated P11 Form template of which can be downloaded from this website http://www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.
- A detailed technical proposal on undertaking the tasks and evidence of previous work;
- Financial proposal (All-inclusive daily fee): Interested individuals are kindly requested to submit an all-inclusive daily consultancy fee using the template which can be downloaded from: https://www.dropbox.com/s/789q1hvdrdgwqqc/PPG_Cons_Letter%20of%20Interest%20and%20Availability.docx?dl=0
Please group all your documents (CV, P11, Technical Proposal, Financial Proposal and Certificates) into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document. Incomplete applications will not be given consideration.
Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application
Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted
Evaluation criteria:
The Consultant will be evaluated based on qualifications and the years of experience, as outlined in the qualifications/requirements section of the ToR.In addition, the Consultant will also be evaluated on the following methodology:
Technical Criteria weight: 70%;
Financial Criteria weight: 30%;
The award of the contract shall be made to the Consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the Terms of Reference
“UNDP is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff, and equal opportunities for people with disabilities. Well qualified candidates, particularly women and people with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply.