Antecedentes

Liberia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2012, but its progress towards its implementation has been very limited. Persons with disabilities are among the most vulnerable groups within the Liberian society. While the official statistics severely under-estimate the prevalence of disability, the approximation given in the World Report on Disability (WHO & World Bank, 2011) of 15% to 20% of adult population living with disabilities is likely to be the best estimate, although in post-conflict countries the prevalence may be even higher. Available data from a UNICEF study from 1997 shows that 16% of the population have a disability.

The most important national development plan, Agenda for Transformation 2013-2017, notes that: “Disability is a special concern to Liberia as a post-conflict country. The civil war caused not only deaths, but also led to impairments such as loss of limbs, loss of sight and trauma”. Persons with disabilities are being stigmatized by the wider population, and their rights are being violated in various ways. Discrimination is a structural problem, caused by stereotypes, negative and hostile attitudes. Persons with disabilities are denied their civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights, which include the right to access the general school system, be employed, live independently in the community, move freely, vote, participate in sports and cultural activities, enjoy social protection, access justice, choose medical treatment, and enter freely into legal commitments such as buying and selling property.

The National Human Rights Action Plan for five (5) years (2013-2018) acknowledges that persons with disabilities are facing “discrimination, segregation from society, economic marginalization and lack of participation in social, political and economic decision-making processes. This substantial group has often been left out of development.” Similarly, the Agenda for Transformation 2013 - 2017 acknowledges that “their views are not reflected in national policies and there is a lack of adequate data on them.”

In the Universal Periodic Review Process of 2015, Liberia accepted recommendation 100.72 “Implement provisions in the National Human Rights Action Plan for the protection of vulnerable individuals, including children, persons with disabilities, persons with albinism, LGBT persons, and persons diagnosed with HIV/AIDS”, and recommendation 100.186 “Strengthen the national bodies responsible for ensuring the protection of persons with disability against all forms of violations that they may be subjected to and promote their full integration into society”. In addition to these, the Government has also accepted to strengthen support and protection measures to vulnerable persons, and to submit overdue reports to the relevant United Nations treaty bodies. One of these is the report to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was due in 2014.

The disability community in Liberia is vibrant. National DPOs have been established, and the National Union of the Disabled (NUOD) even has recently opened chapters in all of the 15 counties. NUOD has also recently become a full member of the African Disability Forum. Nevertheless, the DPOs remain weak in terms of technical capacity, membership base, and they are largely excluded from decision-making and consultations. Persons with intellectual or psycho-social disabilities are not adequately represented within the DPO movement. There is a great need to build the DPOs’ capacity, amplify the voices of persons with disabilities, and to ensure that the key duty-bearers have the sufficient data, expertise and political will to respond to their demands in meaningful and appropriate ways.

UNDP in recent time has supported initiatives of NUOD on a very low scale as a means of raising the banner for persons living with disabilities. A recent mission to Liberia to assist UNDP in the development of a programme framework for persons living with disabilities strongly recommended targeted support to the development of a National Plan of Action that will elaborate the Convention on the Rights of Persons living with Disability (CRPD). To fulfill this commitment, UNDP through its programme on gender, HIV and AIDS and Persons Living with Disability is inviting interested international consultant to apply for carrying out this assignment.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Under the guidance of the UNDP Deputy Country Director for Programme), and the direct supervision of the Governance and Public Institutions (GPI) Team Leader, a.i., the international consultant, supported by a national consultant, will perform, to the required standard of quality and within the specified constraints of time and cost, the following tasks:

• Become familiar with the Liberia legal, policy and institutional framework related to disability issues;
• Play the role of team leader for the national consultant by guiding him/her in describing the context of the Action Plan as well as by assigning to him/her other tasks in relation to the formulation and consultation of the main output;
• Guide the national consultant in studying the National Strategy on Persons with Disabilities and other related materials (if any) and carry out a rapid assessment of their implementation in the country. The methodology for this assessment should include analysis of primary and secondary data and make as much as possible reference to existing research works on quantitative and qualitative data.  The findings of this review, jointly with those mentioned under task 2, shall help to describe the context for the new Action Plan on Persons with Disabilities;
• Guide the national consultant: in studying the in-force and upcoming national strategies and associated action plans covering social inclusion, social protection, employment and skills, education, health, housing and other social areas as well as available monitoring reports to analyse and assess, as appropriate, their implementation or envisaged results with regard to persons with disabilities; and in identifying challenges and lessons learned;
• Support the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection on Social Inclusion to develop the draft Action Plan on Persons with Disabilities in Liberia. The Plan should outline a way towards the progressive realization of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Liberia.  Particular consideration should be given to other elements that may exacerbate problems related to disability, such as gender, age, ethnic background, economic status, etc. The action plan should include vision, goals, objectives, measures, targets, achievement indicators, responsible institutions for implementation and monitoring, timeframe, and cost implications;
• Ensure coherence of the new draft action plan with the disability-related parts of existing strategies and action plans. Assess and comment on the consistency and feasibility of disability-related actions planned in existing policy or action documents and make recommendations aiming at updating them. Identify the measures that can be considered as already effectively incorporated in the in-force strategies, i.e. in terms of content, timeframe and funding, and integrate them in the new Action Plan. Provide technical inputs related to integration of measures from the new action plan on persons with disabilities into the line-Ministries sectoral action plans and budgets;
• Estimate as accurately as possible the costs necessary for the implementation of the newly designed action plan, including breakdowns per year. Efforts should be made with a view to ensure not only appropriate costing of actions, but also an appropriate share of their benefits to various categories of populations with disabilities. Referring to the above estimates, suggest which could be for each measure or group of measures the most appropriate funding resources, for instance, state budget, private sector, donors, international cooperation, etc. This shall help the Government to make the appropriate yearly budget forecasts for disability issues;
• Conduct consultation meetings for government and non-government relevant stakeholders including line-ministries, local government institutions, civil society organizations, business, etc. on the draft action plan. The consultation meetings shall aim at enabling the participants to discuss the draft action plan, its priority measures, cost estimations, funding resources, and implementation & monitoring & evaluation & reporting framework;
• Taking into account the feedback/comments gathered from the consultation process of the action plan with national and international partners, submit an advanced version of the action plan, and, for the main actions, write in an explanatory note  their purpose, scope and interconnection of measures;
• Following further consultations with Liberian partners, revise the advanced draft action plan with budget provisions as well as the narrative/ explanatory note in order to finalize them.

Deliverables:

• An Inception Report including the methodology on how the consultant will approach and conduct the work and the suggested work plan and timeline. The Work Plan shall take the form of a detailed description of the steps to be followed. This plan will indicate the sequencing and staging of tasks, key decision points, the expected completion date for each task and the interrelationship between the completion of the tasks and the preparation of the outputs;
• A summary (as part of the Context and Situation Analysis chapter of the Action Plan) on to date progress on implementation and monitoring of current policies on persons with disabilities;
• Outline of the Action Plan document incorporating vision, goals, objectives, measures with cost estimates and potential sources of funding, targets, achievement indicators, responsible parties for implementation and monitoring at national and local level, and timeline;
• Consultation meetings  with government and non-government stakeholders at central and local level to get agreement on the proposed Action Plan;
• Advisory notes on the consistency and feasibility of disability-related actions planned in other existing policy or action documents and on integrating the action plan on persons with disabilities in the in-line Ministries sectoral action plans and budgets;
• Presentation of the draft Action Plan on Persons with Disabilities at a two-day validation workshop;
• Final draft of the Action Plan on Persons with Disabilities including, for the main actions, an explanatory note on their purpose, scope and interconnection of measures and incorporating feedback/comments gathered during the consultation process;
• An expert’s assignment report highlighting the expert’s work, outputs, achievements, lessons learned and the proceeding of the consultations, including recommendations for follow-up interventions.

Timeline/Remuneration schedule:

The work is expected to be completed within 30 working days over a period of 2 months from the contract signature date. The inception report shall be submitted within two weeks from the contract signature.

Competencias

Corporate 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 favouritism.

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Excellent understanding of human rights and disability rights, of the CRPD in particular;
• Excellent understanding of social economy, public finance, planning and prognosis;
• Analytical thinking and strategic planning skills, ability to facilitate, consult and negotiate with a broad range of government and non-government partners;
• Excellent research, writing and presentation skills;
• Creativity skills;
• Strong inter-personal and communication skills;
• Ability to work and adapt to a dynamic working environment.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Master’s degree in public policies, social sciences, economics or closely related field of studies, but PhD in any of the above discipline is an added advantage.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 (ten) years of professional experience in social policy/public policy advisory functions;
• Experience in research and strategic studies related to socio-economic affairs, preferably with relevance to disabilities and social inclusion;
• Substantial experience in strategy formulation and in drafting documents based on extensive consultations;
• Experience in providing expertise to governments on promoting human/disability rights;
• Relevant experience with UN Agencies or other international organizations  would be appreciated;
• Relevant experience working in Liberia would be highly appreciated.

Language skills:

• Excellent writing, editing, and oral communication skills in English.

Evaluation criteria:

Shortlisting: Education = 4 points : Experience = 6 points; 7 points required for pass to the desk review process

Only shortlisted candidates will be forwarded the UNDP Procurement Notice

Technical proposal (desk review)

• Technical skills, given by qualifications and training record & from statement of suitablity (20 points);
• Overall experience in the provision with the services given above & methodology (50 points);
• Adequacy of competencies & skills responding to the Terms of Reference (30 points).

To be qualified candidate should obtain minimum 70% of the total 70 points.

Contract Award

Contract will be awarded to highest scored candidate (technical score + financial scores)/100
Rating will be as follow:

Rating the Technical Proposal (TP):
TP Rating = (Total Score Obtained by the Offer / Max. Obtainable Score for TP) x 100

Rating the Financial Proposal (FP):
FP Rating = (Lowest Priced Offer / Price of the Offer Being Reviewed) x 100

Total Combined Score:
(TP rating) x (Weight of TP, e.g. 70%) + (FP Rating) x (Weight of FP, e.g., 30%)
Total Combined and Final Rating of the Proposal: The higher combined score will be recommended.

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.

Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.