National Consultancy position for Personal attendant for an UNICEF employee

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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.

Background & Rationale

UNICEF is committed to promote equity and inclusion for all and to comply with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Article 9 of the CRPD recognizes the importance of accessibility, specifically referring to accessibility of buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces.

The Sustainable Development Goals have explicit references to children and adults with disabilities across the SDG framework, in particular to accessibility of the built environment in goals on Education and on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements. UNICEF has also endorsed the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, launched at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, thereby committing to make humanitarian action inclusive to children with disabilities.

Accessibility helps children and adults with disabilities to enjoy their rights as outlined in Human Rights instruments and development frameworks. Accessibility is a precondition for children and adults with disabilities to live independently and participate fully and equally in society.

While committed to promoting equity and inclusion at the global level, UNICEF has also made efforts to build an inclusive organisation and working environment.

In 2011, UNICEF issued an Executive Directive on Disability (CF/EXD/2011-005) which articulated the organisation’s commitment to employment of persons with disabilities and protecting the rights of staff in terms of opportunities, remuneration and safe working environment; ensuring non-discrimination during recruitment and selection, training and career advancement as well as retention; providing reasonable accommodation for employment; ensuring confidentiality of information shared with the Organisation; and training and awareness raising on disability for all staff.

The Division of Human resources created a Reasonable Accommodation Fund, a dedicated budget line which provides staff with reasonable accommodation in terms of access to buildings, flexible working arrangement, special work equipment of travel arrangements and additional time allocations when required. An HR procedure (PROCEDURE/DHR/2020/009) and reasonable accommodation guide ensure employees with disabilities can request the supports they need to work productively.

Employee with disability at UNICEF may need a short-term or on-going personal attendant to support him to work at their full capacity.

Purpose

The personal attendant will work closely with, and directly under the supervision of Jurabek Kakharov, Disability Inclusion Specialist, who has visual impairments, for the delivery of outputs of the work plan of this employee. In particular, the consultant will support UNICEF’s work on:

• Supporting inter-agency coordination and UNICEF’s leadership on disability inclusion.
• Supporting UNICEF’s programmes on gender mainstreaming through targeted interventions to support girls and women with disabilities.
• Ensuring disability inclusion architecture is enhanced through contribution in strategic planning and reporting.

The scope of work is the following:

1. Support the mobility/orientation of the person during external visits and field visits (including setting up an enabling environment for the UNICEF employee they are supporting).
2. To support the organization of knowledge documentation and drafting of reports.
3. To support programme activities such as setting up meetings, conducting learning sessions, organizing interviews and focus group meetings and following up on agreed action points with relevant partners.
4. Support with note-taking during field visits as instructed by UNICEF employee
5. Support with formatting documents and inserting comments/ feedback, graphics and pictures.
6. Support with reading documents and describing graphics and illustrations which are not accessible to screen reader software.
7. Provide Support to review and fill up forms related to agreements and contracts that may not be accessible for the employee.
8. Facilitate the employees collaboration with other Sections, Divisions, and internal partners on accessibility and assistive technology.
9. To perform other duties assigned by the Supervisor.

Expected results: (measurable results)

• Support for mobility and orientation in new environments, external meetings, and field visits
• Documents edited, proof reviewed and finalized
• Edited text to be delivered to the supervisor in Microsoft Word with tracked changes.
• Power Points
• Support in organizing workshops and meetings in external environments

Duty Station

Tashkent/ Uzbekistan and provision of support for mobility and orientation during the field trips in the regions of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Timeframe: December 2022 – September 2023

Note: the work arrangement is flexible and will include both work on site at UNICEF offices, partner offices, in field location and remotely.

Deliverables and Duration:

1. Support for mobility/orientation in external environments - 5 days a month
2. Support for meetings and workshops - 5 days a month
3. PowerPoints - 2 day a month
4. Documents edited and finalised - 3 days a month
5. Other duties assigned by Supervisor - 2 days a month
6. Programme activities - 3 days a month

Total: 20 days a month

This contract will run for the duration of 10 months. Starting 01 December 2022 until 30 September 2023

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

• At least secondary education in social sciences, or a related technical field;
• Patient, focused person, who can anticipate the needs of others and identify barriers in a physical or virtual environment
• Ideally has had experience working with persons with disabilities/low vision
• Be able to accompany on a trip abroad as well as in the regions Uzbekistan;
• Good editing, writing and computer skills
• English (high level);
• Knowledge of disability and accessibility
• Ideally good understanding of issues relating to children’s rights, especially the rights of children with disabilities.
• Ability to work in a team, in an international environment.

UNICEF 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. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

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.