Coordination Officer – Disability Inclusion

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

The UN Country Team (UNCT) Nepal with the leadership of the Resident Coordinator’s Office has been a early roll-out country for the UNCT Accountability Scorecard on Disability Inclusion in 2020. As part of this initiative, the UNCT has carried out a number of activities in relation to disability inclusion in the past two years including strengthening accessibility of UN Common premises; awareness raising and capacity development initiatives of UN personnel; conduct-ing a digital accessibility assessment and improving accessibility of our UN website and social media platforms. Based on our strong commitment and leadership in this area, in 2022, UNCT Nepal was chosen as a pilot country for the Global Partnership on Disability Inclusion, which aims to strengthen our efforts on the inclusion of persons with disabilities with a particular fo-cus on inclusive common services. The common services focus on three areas of UN Opera-tions to support the implementation of disability inclusion—Physical Premises, Digital and Web Accessibility, and Inclusive HR. The UN RCO together with a Disability Inclusion Task Team, with representation from seven agencies and across the three areas of work are taking this pilot initiative forward in Q1-Q2 of 2022. The UN Volunteer will play a leading role in coor-dinating this pilot initiative on behalf of UNCT Nepal.

In addition to UN Agencies having taken a strong lead on disability inclusion programming and advocacy for example through the UNPRPD project (UNFPA, UNDP, UN Women, WHO), the UN Country Team (UNCT) Nepal with the leadership of the Resident Coordinator’s Office has been a early roll-out country for the UNCT Accountability Scorecard on Disability Inclusion in 2020. As part of this initiative, the UNCT has carried out a number of activities in relation to disability inclusion in the past two years including strengthening accessibility of UN Common premises; awareness raising and capacity development initiatives of UN personnel; conducting a digital accessibility assessment and improving accessibility of our UN website and social media platforms. In 2021, a training on disability inclusive HR and procurement was organised for the relevant Operations Management Task force members. Based on our strong commitment and leadership in this area, UNCT Nepal has been chosen for the second phase of support from headquarters and is currently rolling out a pilot on disability inclusive common services covering areas of common premises accessibility (physical and ICT/Digital) as well as inclusive human resources management.

Under the direct supervision of the Special Assistant to the Resident Coordinator (Inclusion Focal point of RCO), the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Strengthen inter-agency coordination on disability inclusion across the pillars of work of the UN. • Together with the team, conduct overall coordination of the Disability Inclusion Pilot programme working together with the Pilot Lead and Disability Inclusion Officer (UNDP) • Organise consultation and validation sessions with organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) throughout the process of the pilot. • Together with HR Task Force and DI Pilot Coordinator, organize sessions with UN personnel with disabilities and personnel with dependents with disabilities to identify the best practices, gaps and challenges they have experiences while working with the UN. • Coordinate the organization of joint learning sessions for UN Personnel on disability inclusion including accessible communications and digital accessibility.
• With close coordination of the Operation Management Team’s Inter-agency IT task force (OMT-IAITTF) prepare a digital accessibility checklist for materials to be uploaded to the UN Websites based on the Digital Accessibility Assessment carried out in 2021. • Write a blog post/social media post on the experiences of the disability inclusion pilot • Compile lessons learned and best practices from the DI pilot • Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.

Accountability, Adaptability and Flexibility, Building Trust, Client Orientation, Communication, Creativity, Ethics and Values, Integrity, Leadership, Planning and Organizing, Respect for Diversity

creating inclusive workplaces including in relation to human re-sources management and accessibility; Experience working with organisations of persons with disabilities; Knowledge of UN Strategy on Disability Inclusion is an asset; Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills; Accuracy and professionalism in document production and editing; Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners; Excellent coordination skills; Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel; Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various MS Office applications (Excel, Word, etc.) and email/internet; familiarity with database management; and of-fice technology equipment; Self-motivated; Have affinity with or interest in work place inclusion and diversity volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System

The UNV would work within the UN RCO located in the UN Common Premises in Kathmandu. An accessibility assessment of the common premises has been conducted in 2019 and will be revisited in 2022 as a number of recommendations have since then been implemented. As part of the pilot programme, further improvements will be made in terms of accessibility of restrooms, common spaces and the conference halls. The UNRCO workspace is accessible, it is on the second floor of the main building and has elevator access. The hallways in the office are wide enough for wheelchair access and modifications to the workstation can be made as needed. Unfortunately however the changes to the restrooms in this main building are only being made in 2022 and thus there is restricted access for wheelchair users. An emergency wheelchair is being purchased based on the previous assessment and changes are planned to ensure visual cues in cases of emergency. Braille printing can be arranged if required. Several sign language interpreters are on Long-term agreements with UN agencies and are thus available as and when needed. Close captioning capacities are limited in Nepal; however through connections with OPDs persons can be identified to support the UNV when needed.

REASONABLE ACCOMODATION

The UN system wishes to create an inclusive workplace and commits to taking appropriate measures to enable persons with disabilities to access and benefit equally from employment and other engagement opportunities such as volunteering, by providing reasonable accommodation. In this context, “reasonable accommodation” means necessary and appropriate modifications and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.[Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 2]