Consultancy, ICT Accessibility Assessment for Disability Inclusion Project, Windhoek, Namibia

Contract

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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, equal opportunity

This advert is published on behalf of the Office of the Resident Coordinator

Background

The United Nations is committed to fostering diversity and inclusion and is taking concrete steps to create a culture and environment that is open, inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities and staff with dependents with disabilities. This is being addressed in accordance with the general principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) launched in 2019. UNDIS is a system-wide mechanism for sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion through all pillars of the UN's work. Together, these efforts are also central to achieving the promise set forth in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind.

ICT/Digital accessibility is the key to ensuring respect for the right to communicate in this interconnected world, as it ensures digital inclusion and enables across-the-board discourse for all people, regardless of their gender, age, ability, or location.

When working on inclusion topics, it is important to understand that ICT/Disability accessibility is a key and imperative factor. To achieve digital accessibility, ICTs should not only be available and affordable but also accessible, meaning that they are designed to meet the needs and abilities of as many people as possible, including persons with disabilities.

How can you make a difference?

Objectives

The objective of this consultancy is to do the ICT accessibility assessment among some of the resident UN Agencies in Namibia, namely: WHO, UNFPA, WFP, UNDP, UNHCR and Resident Coordinator Office (RCO).

The assessment will be closely coordinated by the Resident Coordinator Office (RCO) and the UN ICT OMT Subgroup.

Expected outputs, Scope of Work and Working Arrangement

The output of this exercise is a report of the current situation of the ICT accessibility of the below listed UN Agencies in Namibia, which also include a list of recommendations on how to improve the accessibility in short-term (<2 years), medium-term (2-5 years) and long term (>5 years).

Working Arrangement: Consultant is expected to work under the guidance of the Operations Management Team (OMT) ICT working group and the UN RCO.

Scope of Work:

A focus group discussion [FGD] with the OMT ICT is expected at the beginning of the assessment, using the initial assessment template in this document: ICT-Digital Accessibility-BOS-Additional Resources-20210303.pdf (un.org)

The assessment shall provide a baseline of the following ICT accessibility, using manual and automatic accessibility checking methods:

• Mainstream software used in the day-to-day office work, including external websites and social media platforms, as well as internal digital portals / platforms, virtual meeting platforms, external and internal electronic communication, ICT equipment used for meetings / in meeting venues, commonly procured ICT products, software and services to ensure they are accessible and have embedded accessibility features (e.g. live closed captioning in video conference platforms, the possibility to put alternative texts in the images, etc.) to allow co-workers with disability to fully participate in the office tasks.

• Content created or procured in digital formats and published in the country website or social media platforms by the UNCT (e.g., video content with closed captioning and available transcript, images charts and photos with alternative texts, complex images or infographics with descriptions, accessible PDF, etc.).

The assessment shall also: • Comply with existing standards and practices related to accessibility in the respective domain, for example: country's websites developed or procured by the UNCT must be accessible and comply with the WCAG 2.1 for an AA compliance level. • Test and assess the level of accessibility and interaction between assistive technology tools and operating systems/web browsers and the day-to-day work for employees with disabilities. • Provide clear guidelines/explanations to OMT ICT Working Group about the necessary accessibility measures they should adhere to based on the baseline assessment reports, and in conformance with the WCAG 2.1 standards • Prove design of capacity building/training activities for UNCT staff and IT/web development/ communication teams about disability and accessibility, striving to increase the level of existing knowledge about creating accessible digital systems/tools. • Design a UAT surveys to assist the level of users’ acceptance/satisfaction with the existing digital tools. • Provide recommendations for future improvements to the existing digital tools.

The consultant/expert who will do the assessment should also have extensive information about the different types of disabilities, which is important to select the appropriate accessibility accommodation for each disability. For instance, users with total loss of vision require a different set of accommodations other than users with low vision and color blindness, users with physical/motor disabilities that affects movement and dexterity will require the application of certain navigation features and accommodations in addition to those required by screen reader users.

The assessment will also consider additional resources from the UN on disability inclusion: BOS-Disability Inclusion-ICT Accessibility-Practice Note-20210303_F01.pdf (un.org), and other resource such as CBM Digital Accessibility Toolkit

Service provider is still required to submit detail methodology by accommodating the existing scope of work as specified above.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum Qualifications Required

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required

• Bachelor’s degree with 2 years relevant experience OR certification in IT is required.
• An advanced university degree (master’s) in a relevant field such as IT, web design, software development, programming will be added advantage.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in the field of IT.
• Knowledge of international, regional, and national standards on ICT and digital accessibility.
• Have experience working in the fields of assistive technology/information access/ designing accessible digital tools/platforms.
• Knowledge of assistive technologies used by persons with disabilities, particularly around ICT accessibility.
• Have a proven experience in conducting automated/manual ICT accessibility audit/ assessment using different assistive technology/operating systems/web browsers on both computer and mobile platforms.
• Able to convert inaccessible materials/documents into alternative file formats, accessible epub/E braille, etc.
• Able to self-learn new technologies/tools/platforms.
• Being passionate about/motivated to make transformative change in achieving information access for all.
• Previous working experience with/for persons with disabilities.
• Excellent command of written report and spoken in English.
• Excellent skills to conduct ICT accessibility assessment and provide recommendations for improvements.
• Excellent teamwork.
• Excellent analytical /problem solving skills to come up with innovative solutions to any information access related issue.
• Able to provide comprehensive, universally design solution that could accommodate for a wide range of users with different capabilities and needs.

Work Assignment Overview

Key Activities and Tasks

Deliverables/Outputs

Timeline

Payment Schedule

Inception report on how work will be done and the work plan, schedule and present to the OMT ICT Working Group

Workplan & initial FGD with OMT ICT Working Group

2 days 1st week of April 2023

100% will be done upon completion of all deliverables.

Present the findings and recommendations from the assessment to the OMT ICT Working Group

Actual assessment

5 days 3rd week of April 2023

Develop and submit a final report to the OMT ICT Working Group.

ICT accessibility assessment report, including list of recommendation for improvements (short, medium, and long term)

5 days 4th week of April 2023

Administrative issues

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. RCO reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

RCO offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

How to Apply Qualified and interested candidates are encouraged to submit an online application before the closing date. Please submit expression of interest together with:

• A cover letter, no longer than 1 page, and curriculum vitae showing how the consultant meets the required qualifications, experience, and expertise. • Technical Proposal demonstrating the consultant’s understanding of the Terms of Reference (ToR), the proposed methodology/approach and timelines for the respective deliverables; and • A financial proposal/budget, which must include all expenses related to the assignment (including technical fee, living allowance and travel costs). RCO will not cover any costs of the consultancy not included in the financial proposal (excludes costs of meetings for attendees). • Copies of certified academic qualifications.

Incomplete applications e.g., without financial/budget proposal will not be considered. If you have not been contacted within 2 months of the closing date, please accept that your application was unsuccessful. Regret emails will be sent only to shortlisted/contacted candidates

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.