Consultant for the Development of a Diagnostic Tool for Ending Stigma and Discrimination against Women and Girls with Disabilities

Persons with disabilities (PWDs) experience stigma and discrimination universally, driven by multiple attitudinal barriers, prejudice and stereotypes, which limit both the full exercise of rights of PWDs and sustainable development.  Women and girls with disabilities are particularly impacted from intersectional stigma and discrimination based on gender and disability.  COVID-19 has further exacerbated stigma and discrimination and their impacts. 

Tackling stigma was one of four pillars of the Global Disability Summit of 2018, co-hosted by the Governments of the United Kingdom and Kenya and the International Disability Alliance, which resulted in 170 commitments across the globe to take action on stigma and discrimination against persons with disabilities. In addition, the Summit highlighted the importance of tackling stigma and discrimination alongside measures to increase political will to develop CRPD compliant policies, legislation, and administrative practices; collect disaggregated data and evidence to drive scaled up action; and ensure that persons with disabilities fully and effectively participate as equal members of society to lead, shape, and influence decisions that affect them. 

Tools to identify and quantify stigma and discrimination, its causes, manifestations and impacts, are critical to ensure targeted and evidence-based approaches to addressing stigma and discrimination.   Such tools have been well developed and standardized by the UN in other sectors such as HIV/AIDS.  In relation to persons with disabilities, some initiatives have been undertaken at country level but there is scope for consolidating the lessons learned from these and for developing global tools which can be used by Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) and others to advocate for more effective policies and interventions to address stigma and discrimination.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with UN Women is launching a global initiative to respond to the growing intersectional inequalities faced by women and girls with disabilities. Taking a whole-of-society approach, engaging OPDs and other civil society actors, relevant government institutions, national human rights institutions and women influencers, the initiative aims to address key concerns of employment, economic empowerment, social protection and protection from SGBV. The project will be implemented in the following pilot countries: Palestine, Moldova, Bhutan, Cambodia, Pakistan and Samoa. The project will also include the design and piloting of behavioural insights-informed interventions aimed at changing mindsets and behaviour rooted in stigma and discrimination against women and girls with disabilities

UNDP seeks an international consultant to develop a diagnostic tool aimed at addressing stigma and discrimination faced by women with disabilities and to guide the participating pilot countries to customize and pilot the tool under the leadership of OPDs in country. This work will be carried out in coordination with the behavioural insights element of the project.

The Consultant will conduct the following activities under the overall supervision of the UNDP RBAS Governance and Peacebuilding Team Leader with support and in close collaboration with the Regional Advisors for Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights in the UNDP Bangkok and Istanbul Regional Hubs and with relevant focal points from UN Women:

• Conduct a desk-review of existing tools that identify, assess and/or measure stigma and discrimination (particularly against women and girls with disabilities) and provide recommendations for the design of a tool to be piloted through the project;
• On the basis of this review and incorporating feedback from UNDP, UN Women and other stakeholders, develop a diagnostic tool to assess and address stigma and discrimination for women and girls with disabilities with a focus on employment, economic empowerment, social protection and protection from SGBV, which will be piloted and refined in the participating countries;
• Support the UNDP and UN Women country offices in each participating pilot country to develop country- and context-specific workplans, and the piloting of the diagnostic tool to address stigma and discrimination against women and girls with disabilities;
• On the basis of experiences and lessons from the pilot countries in testing the diagnostic tool, provide recommendations for the refinement of the tool.

OUTPUT AND DELIVERABLES:           

The consultant will be responsible to deliver:

• Desk-review of diagnostic tools similar in scope (global, regional and national) in particular, but not limited to, tools addressing stigma and discrimination against women and girls with disabilities, with recommendations for the design of a tool to be piloted through the project;
• On the basis of the review and feedback received, design a concept for a diagnostic tool which can be contextualized and piloted in the participating countries;
• Consult virtually with relevant stakeholders on the draft diagnostic tool and finalise the tool reflecting feedback received;
• Support (virtually, and – to the extent feasible in the light of COVID-19 – through in-country missions) respective UNDP and UN Women country offices, OPDs and other stakeholders in participating countries to develop pilot rollouts of the diagnostic tool in those countries and report on the results and lessons learned;
• Design and conduct webinars following initial pilots of the tool to disseminate and share experiences and lessons from the development of the tool and the outcomes of the pilots. Webinars will be open to participating countries and to other interested stakeholders at global, regional and national levels;
• End-of-mission report summarizing the rollout and results of the pilots including a revised tool reflecting lessons learned from pilots.

Intellectual Property:

In terms of the Intellectual Property Rights related to this assignment, kindly refer to Clause 3 under the attached IC General Terms and Conditions.

Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards;

• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Ability to work in multicultural environment.

Education and Experience

• Master’s Degree in law, social sciences, international development or a related field;
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in conducting research and/or implementing development interventions addressing stigma and discrimination, preferably in the fields of disability and/or gender equality;
• Demonstrated experience of developing and field-testing diagnostic tools and assessing results to inform programming, preferably in the fields of disability and/or gender equality;
• Previous Experience working on projects aimed at empowering persons with disabilities (PwDs) and/or on gender equality, particularly in the areas of women’s economic empowerment, employment, social protection and/or response to SGBV is highly desirable;
• Previous Experience working in developing countries in Arab States, Eastern Europe and/or Asia-Pacific is desirable.

Language :

• Fluency of English language is essential

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT

The contractor will work under the overall guidance and supervision of UNDP RBAS Governance and Peacebuilding Team Leader but will also liaise closely with the Regional Advisors for Rule of Law and Human Rights in UNDP Bangkok and Istanbul Regional Hubs and relevant UN Women focal points, with UNDP and UN Women focal points in participating countries, and with OPDs and other relevant stakeholders in those countries

DURATION OF THE WORK AND DUTY STATION

Duration

The assignment shall be completed within a maximum of (60) working days over a period of (11) months . It is estimated to commence on 15 December 2020 and the assignment will be completed by 31 October 2021 at the latest.

Duty Station

Duty Station: Home-based.   By agreement with UNDP and UN Women, missions to support participating countries may be conducted to the extent feasible in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.  UNDP and/or UN Women will be responsible for the travel-related costs of such missions.

If any unforeseen travel outside the individual home-based city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the individual shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

SCOPE OF PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

Interested candidates should provide lump sum fees for requested services with detailed breakdown. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. Also, please note that the contract price will be Deliverables/Outputs based – not fixed – subject to change in the cost components.

The contractor will be paid an all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based lump sum amounts over the assignment period, subject to the submission of Certification of Payment (CoP) duly certified or an invoice and confirmation of satisfactory performance of achieved work (deliverables/outputs) in line with the schedule of payments table hereunder:

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.

Candidates wishing to be considered for this assignment are required to submit the following documents interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

a) Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;

b) Curriculum Vitae or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;

c) Brief statement of proposed methodology and approach to the assignment;

d) Financial Proposal that indicates the daily rate/fee of the candidate, in US dollars; Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

All necessary information including: Complete Procurement Notice, the Selection Criteria, and Annexes are found on the following link under Procurement http://procurement-notices.undp.org/

Interested individual consultants must submit the abovementioned documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications to Job advertisement website https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm not later than 14  November 2020 , Candidates that fail to submit the required information on or before the set deadline will not be considered. 

Please do not submit financial proposal in this stage. Financial proposal shall be requested from Candidates who are considered technically responsive

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF THE BEST OFFERS

This selection criteria will follow the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30% ; using the following evaluation criteria. 

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum requirements will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Master’s Degree in law, social sciences, international development or a related field;
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in conducting research and/or implementing development interventions addressing stigma and discrimination, preferably in the fields of disability and/or gender equality;
• Fluency of English language

Step II : Technical Review:

Shortlisted candidates will undergo a technical evaluation and a submission of a proposal to tackle the assignment. 

Technical Evaluation Criteria max 100 points (Weighted 70):

This selection criteria will follow the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%; using the following evaluation criteria

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 100 points)

• Criteria 1: Master’s Degree in law, social sciences, international development, or a related field – Max 10 points;

• Criteria 2: At least 5 years of relevant experience in conducting research and/or implementing development interventions addressing stigma and discrimination, preferably in the fields of disability and/or gender equality – Max.);– Max 30 points;
• Criteria 3: Demonstrated experience of developing tools to assess stigma and discrimination (particularly in the fields of disability and/or gender equality) – Max 15 points;
• Criteria 4: Experience working on projects aimed at empowering persons with disabilities (PwDs) and/or focusing on gender equality, – Max 20 points;
• Criteria 5: Experience working in developing countries in Arab States, Eastern Europe and/or Asia-Pacific – Max 10 points.
• Criteria 6: Methodology and approach to the assignment; Max.  15 points

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total technical points would be considered for the

Financial Evaluation.

Financial Criteria – 30% of total evaluation

For those offers considered in the financial evaluation, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula: (PI / Pn) * 30 where Pn is the financial offer being evaluated and Pl is the lowest financial offer received.

Step III: Final Evaluation

The final evaluation will combine the scores of the desk review and the financial proposal with the following weights assigned to each:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: [70%]

Financial Criteria weight: [30%]

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.