National consultancy: Documentation of “Support enhancement of the access of Children with Disabilities living in rural and hard-to-reach areas to inclusive schools and rehabilitation servic

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National Consultancy: Documentation of “Support enhancement of the access of Children With Disabilities living in rural and hard-to-reach areas to inclusive schools and rehabilitation services” programme and assessment of its quality - open for Iranian only

BACKGROUND

Based on the latest census (2017) the population of people living in rural areas in Iran is 20,730,625 (26 percent of country's population) of which 25 percent are children. Considering that the rate of out-of-school children in rural areas is twice the rate of out-of-school children in urban areas, and according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Cooperation, Labour and State Welfare (MCLSW), one of the most important reasons for students dropping out of primary school has been the issue of children with special needs. SWO is currently implementing CBR programmes across the country through capacity building and training of civil society social workers in urban areas where families have access to rehabilitation and special education services, however, resources are more limited in rural and hard-to-reach areas. Thus, providing access to education and rehabilitation programmes for CWD/Special Needs living in the rural and hard-to-reach areas is a big step in achieving inclusive education and services in Iran. In this regard, UNICEF ICO is supporting a pilot programme to enhancement the access of CWD living in rural and hard-to-reach areas to inclusive schools and rehabilitation services, by establishing the training and support system in Khorasan Razavi and South Khorasan provinces. Studying the effectiveness of this intervention would provide the evidence base for potential improvements and scale-up of the programme to the national level. The results can also be used as an advocacy tool for increasing public finance in this area.

How can you make a difference?

OBJECTIVE / SCOPE OF WORK

This consultancy is in line with UNICEF’s efforts to support the enhancement of the access of CWD living in rural and hard-to-reach areas to inclusive schools and rehabilitation services and will contribute to UNICEF’s support to the provision of access to education.

The “Support enhancement of the access of CWD living in rural and hard-to-reach areas to inclusive schools and rehabilitation services” programme will be implemented in Khorasan Razavi (Quchan and Torbat-e-Jam) and South Khorasan (Sarbisheh and Zirkuh) in winter and spring of 2023.

The program begins with a one-month training course for facilitators, followed by 6 months of work with children. The training of facilitators started on the 24th of December 2022 and will be finished on the 26th of January 2023, after that the second phase of the activity will start and will be held until mid-June 2023. In the first month, the facilitators will receive training related to the education and rehabilitation of CWD/SN and how to engage families and the community in the education and rehabilitation of CWD/SN. After receiving the training each facilitator will be responsible for 3 to 5 children in an area and will provide educational and rehabilitation services for those children each week for 6 months. 20 facilitators will be trained and hired in South Khorasan and 40 in Khorasan Razavi, and around 70 children in South Khorasan and 200 children in Khorasan Razavi will receive education and rehabilitation services over the course of the program.

The consultant will design, coordinate and assist in the study and documentation of the implementation and, the effectiveness of the abovementioned program and develop recommendations for improvement based on identified strengths and weaknesses.

This consultancy will contribute to achieving the following key objectives with a view to producing a quality report which includes reliable data on the implementation, effectiveness, and ways to improve the programme:

a) Documentation of global and regional? best practices on rehabilitation and education of CWD in rural areas.

b) Documentation of the implementation of the programme.

c) Assessing the effectiveness and quality of the component of the development of skills and expertise of facilitators who have participated in the workshops

d) Assessing the effectiveness and quality of the rehabilitation component of the programme for children with disabilities

e) Assessing the effectiveness and quality of the educational component of the programme for children with disabilities

f) Assess the effectiveness and quality of the program on family and community attitudes towards participation of CWD/SN in school and social life.

g) Preparing a report covering the above-mentioned four areas along with recommendations on ways to improve the programme (through the identification of strengths and weaknesses).

METHODOLOGY

The study will use a mixed-method approach to collect data, and both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used and triangulated to ensure the soundness of analysis. Data and information collection methods will include but are not limited to: (1) structured document review and content analysis of key documents (such as programme documents, progress reports, etc.); (2) semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with informed individuals; (3) observation; (4) pretests and posttest assessments.

The analysis and the presentation of data and information will, to the extent possible, be gender-disaggregated and take into consideration how the specific needs of girls and boys and other vulnerable groups are addressed. Data collection is expected to take place at the individual level. The analysis unit is expected to be on an individual level regarding the educational and rehabilitation improvement of CWD/SN throughout the programme and, the development of skills and expertise of facilitators. But it is expected to be at the group level regarding the environmental conditions (family and neighborhood) for the participation of CWD/SN in social life.

The inception report must include an explanation of how the data collection instruments relate to the research questions, and how the data is going to be triangulated. Research findings must be relevant, useful, and presented concisely.

ACTIVITIES, DELIVERABLES AND TIMELINES, PLUS BUDGET PER DELIVERABLE

ACTIVITY #1: Documentation of global and regional best practices on rehabilitation and education of CWD in rural areas.

DELIVERABLES: Receiving the report on global and regional best practices. Receiving the proposal.

ESTIMATED TIME: 20 days

PAYMENT 10%

ACTIVITY #2: Development of monitoring framework and tools including pre-test and post-test for facilitators, children and families.

DELIVERABLES: Receiving the framework and tools

ESTIMATED TIME: 20 days with act#1

PAYMENT: 10%

ACTIVITY#3: Assessing the effectiveness and quality of the component of the development of skills and expertise of facilitators who have participated in the workshops

DELIVERABLES: Report the assessment of effectiveness and quality of the component of the development of skills and expertise of facilitators.

ESTIMATED TIME: 15 days

PAYMENT: 10%

ACTIVITY #4: Report on pre-intervention assessment of the status of children engaged in the program and their environment

DELIVERABLES: Report the assessment of the status quo of CWD/SN and their environmental conditions before the start of the programme.

ESTIMATED TIME: 15 days

PAYMENT: 10%

ACTIVITY #5: Report on assessment of the effectiveness and quality of rehabilitation and educational components of the programme for CWD/SN and on family and community attitudes towards participation of CWD/SN in school and social life.

DELIVERABLES: Report the assessment of CWD/SN and their environmental conditions after fully receiving services.

ESTIMATED TIME: 90 days

PAYMENT: 40%

ACTIVITY #6: Final report including all the components of the program along with recommendations on ways to improve the programme (through the identification of strengths and weaknesses).

DELIVERABLES: Receiving the final report.

ESTIMATED TIME: 30 days

PAYMENT: 20%

Total: 180 days

CONDITIONS OF WORK

The consultant shall use her/his own facilities to manage the work, but, where circumstances demand otherwise, shall be allowed to make use of available UNICEF office space, computer, and internet facilities with prior notification and arrangement with the supervisor and UNICEF Admin/ICT. The provision of these facilities by UNICEF shall be subject to their availability.

NOTE FOR CONSULTANTS AND INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTORS:

All the products developed during this consultancy must comply with UNICEF's ethical norms and standards, which include but are not limited to obtaining ethical clearance where and as necessitated.

The Consultant should submit a technical proposal including a plan and a timeline for conducting the consultancy and an overview of the subject to demonstrate his/her knowledge.

Please submit a financial offer along with your proposal, which contains the following information:

• Fee for services to be provided – based on the deliverables in the Terms of Reference
• Wherever possible, indicate the itemized cost of the travel (air tickets etc.) if an international consultation, and daily living costs for your stay in the country.

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

The consultant should possess the following qualifications:

• PhD. degree in the fields of Psychology and Education of Exceptional Children or related disciplines.
• Minimum 5 years of working and research experience in the field of Children with Disabilities or Special Needs.
• Proven experience and knowledge in statistical analysis and methods.
• Proven experience and knowledge in evaluating family and community attitudes towards participation of CWD/SN in school and social life.

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.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors 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.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

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Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org