Accessibility consultant (remote)

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Result of Service

• By 1 March 2024: o Output 1: Detailed workplan with key outputs and timelines, o Output 2: Report related to work assignments as outlined in this ToR, including the mapping of stakeholders, and preliminary findings of the desk research

• By 1 April 2024: o Output 3: Report including the findings of the desk research, and summary of meetings conducted with relevant stakeholders

• By 1 May 2024: o Output 4: Report on work carried out under consultancy, including meetings with partners and data producers o Output 5: Draft of the guidance document, including key elements.

• By 30 May 2024: o Output 6: Final draft of the guidance document following feedback from relevant partners o Output 7: Report on all work carried out under the consultancy, including results achieved and lessons learned

Work Location

The consultancy is home-based with regular phone and web conference meetings with UNSD, and other partners. Travel or commute time, as well as related expenses, are not part of the consultancy.

Expected duration

The initial consultancy is for a period of 1 February 2024 to 30 May 2024, with a possibility for extension.

Duties and Responsibilities

Background and Objective

Established by the UN Statistical Commission in 2015, the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Household Surveys (ISWGHS) aims to foster improvement in the scope and quality of social and economic statistics as delivered through national, regional and international household survey programmes. Three major objectives of ISWGHS are (a) fostering coordination; (b) promoting advancement and harmonization of survey methodologies; and (c) communicating the importance of household surveys.

As a collaborative group, ISWGHS is a platform to support the exchange of knowledge and experience among international agencies, national statistical offices, academic experts, the private sector and other key players. Such exchange will improve the flow of knowledge and experience among countries and assist in the scaling up of innovative approaches in countries with lower statistical capacity.

In guiding its support to countries in adopting innovative approaches and becoming more resilient to crises such as the COVID pandemic, ISWGHS prepared a paper on Positioning Household Surveys for the Next Decade (Position Paper). The Position Paper identified eight technical priorities including: (1) enhancing the interoperability and integration of household surveys; (2) designing and implementing more inclusive, respondent-centric surveys; (3) improving sampling efficiency and coverage; (4) scaling up the use of objective measurement technologies, (5) building capacity for CAPI, phone, web, and mixed-mode surveys; (6) systematizing the collection, storage, and use of paradata and metadata; (7) incorporating machine learning and artificial intelligence for data quality control and analysis; and (8) improving data access, discoverability, and dissemination.

Under the technical priority 2 on Designing and implementing more inclusive, respondent-centric surveys, the Group initiated its work to guide countries on making household surveys more accessible and inclusive, especially for surveys that are carried out through mobile phone and web. This initiative will improve the inclusiveness of the survey instrument.

The objective of this consultancy is to develop a guidance on making household surveys more accessible and inclusive, especially for surveys that are carried out through mobile phone and web. The consultant will conduct desk research to gather existing resources, have consultative meetings with relevant stakeholders, and develop a document in consultation with relevant stakeholders that will serve as a guidance for countries for making surveys more accessible and inclusive for all persons with disabilities and other population groups that may be excluded from surveys. The consultant will work closely with the UNSD and ISWGHS team.

Work assignment Under the supervision of the coordinator at UNSD, the consultant’s work assignment will involve the following: - Preparing a detailed plan of activities, specifying key outputs and timelines, in close consultation with the UNSD team. - Mapping of key organizations, including organizations of persons with disabilities and countries undertaking efforts to make surveys more accessible and inclusive, especially through the use of mobile phone and web-based surveys and/or electronic surveys. - Carrying out desk research on existing resources available for making surveys accessible and inclusive, especially for all persons with disabilities, and other population groups that might be excluded from surveys (people with injuries, older persons, minority language users). - Conducting meetings and/or interviews with organizations/countries to document good practices. - Arranging reasonable accommodation, such as captions and sign language interpretation, for interview with stakeholders with disabilities. - Organizing documents under the ISWGHS UNSD shared folder. - Organizing regular meetings with the key partners and members from the ISWGHS and the UNSD. For the meetings, a. Preparing concept note/agenda b. Identifying and inviting speakers c. Managing recording/minutes and sharing the minutes - Developing the guidance document to making surveys accessible. Elements include but not limited to: a. Purpose of making surveys accessible b. Common definitions and concepts c. Planning for accessible surveys d. Designing the questionnaire e. Tools for digitizing surveys for improved accessibility f. Communication and outreach for awareness - Obtaining feedback and inputs from relevant stakeholders, including members of the ISWGHS in the development and finalization of the guidance document.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in statistics, economics, development studies, international relations, public administration, disability studies, or a related field with five (5) years of experience. A Bachelor’s degree in combination with seven (7) years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.

• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in social sciences, including statistics or economics, is required. • Solid knowledge of accessibility-related issues and/or experience working on issues related to accessibility and/or working with persons with disabilities is required. • Experience drafting concept notes, guidance documents and materials for accessibility is required. • Experience working with diverse partners, including, international organizations is desired. • Experience in project or programme management is desirable. • Knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals and national efforts to implement them is desirable.

Languages

Full command of spoken and written English is required, knowledge of other UN languages is an advantage.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.