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Background

For the past 27 years, UNICEF has been a strategic and trusted partner of Turkmenistan, working closely to support child rights and promote equity. Complementing national development priorities, such as the Social and Economic Development Programme 2019 – 2025 and taking into account the influence of the global COVID19 pandemic on the development of Turkmenistan, data on the most vulnerable people became important as never before. In this regard, in partnership with the State Statistics Committee, Ministry of Labor and social protection of population, Ministry of education and Ministry of health and medical industry as Survey on vulnerabilities on people with disabilities, including children (PwD) is planned.

Turkmenistan was one of the first countries globally to join the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In line with the 2015 recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) for Turkmenistan, the country needs to review and align the national legislation across sectors with the CRPD, develop early intervention and inclusive support services for children with disabilities and their families, and build an inclusive education system. These commitments are a crosscutting issue within the broader 2030 Development Agenda as people and children with disabilities constitute one of the most disadvantaged groups in every society that are likely to have been left behind. Disability is referenced in various parts of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and specifically in parts related to education, growth and employment, inequality, accessibility of human settlements, as well as data collection and monitoring of the SDGs (Goals 4, 8, 10, 11 and 17).

Moreover, there are also numerous international frameworks, that Turkmenistan has ratified and that include standards to support PwD during an emergency and improve accessibility across society. Among them: Sendai Framework, which highlight an inclusive, people-centred approach to emergency management. Turkmenistan supports the implementation of the Sendai Framework through the United Nations. Turkmenistan also ratified United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in which Article 11 asserts the importance of emergency management policies and programs to support persons with disabilities during an emergency.

The objective of the planned Survey is to assess and analyze the volubility aspects of people with disabilities (PwD) in Turkmenistan, according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (WHO). This Survey will provide data for the analysis of barriers and bottlenecks in the provision of quality and inclusive services for PwD.

Survey on vulnerability of PwD, especially children will contribute to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Survey should be guided by UNICEF Guidelines for Disability Situation Analysis, and the New Generation Situation Analysis Core Guidance and Toolkit.

Taking into account, that such type of a survey will be conducted for the first time, government entities lacks capacity and is under-resourced to plan and implement the Survey on their own, while it is broadly acknowledged that the data collection on PwD, especially during pandemic, require specific attention, expertise and support.

With support of UNICEF in 2020 preparatory works have started and draft Questionnaires and Sampling Frame were developed. Continuous support is required to the State Statistics Committee to coordinate and adapt the Survey to the international standards and national needs. In this regards, UNICEF will continue supporting the Committee with the Survey in 2021.

Purpose of the assignment

Overall purpose of the assignment is to provide support to the State Statistics Committee and involved ministries in implementation of the Survey on PwD, including children and contribute to the analysis of the Survey results.
Specific Tasks
Specifically, the National consultant will contribute to the Survey on PwD, as follows:
Plan the field work:
• Support to identify households with the needs of the special assistance to conduct the survey (special translators, etc)
• Support with the piloting of the training materials
• Organise trainings for interviewers
• Participate in the pilot Survey and support with the Listing
• Monitoring of the field work implementation
• Any other support during the field work
Support with data analysis:
• Support with the data processing and development of output tables
• Work with international consultant to develop the structure of the analytical report
• Work with the involved Ministries to draft the analytical report and get their opinion on the potential reasons and agree on the follow-up actions
• Support to the International Consultant to draft the analytical report
Workplan and deliverables
The consultancy will cover the period of 1 February and 1 August 2021 and will be deliverable based. The consultant is expected to work from home and with his own computer/equipment with occasional visits to the State Statistics Commitee. Travel to velayats or outside of the country is expected for this consultancy. Specific tasks for Survey Plan implementation may be adjusted based on current events and corporate priorities.

Reporting requirements

National Survey Consultant will provide monthly reports and final report at the end of the assignment in Russian or English.

Payment schedule

Payments will be made monthly upon submission of agreed deliverable.  All deliverables must be delivered on time and to the satisfaction of the State Statistics Committee and the UNICEF Turkmenistan.

The costs of the travel, if undertaken within the framework of the consultancy, will be added to the contract and reimbursed, as the need arises.

 

Work arrangements

Day to day supervision and guidance will be provided by UNICEF Turkmenistan Child Rights Monitoring Specialist. UNICEF will regularly communicate with the National Survey Consultant and provide UNICEF and UN requirements, guidance on specific questions, feedback on performance and all other necessary support to achieve objectives of the consultancy.

General Terms and Conditions

UNICEF’s general terms and conditions will apply to the contract awarded to the vendor.  Please note that, in the evaluation of the technical merits of each proposal, UNICEF will take into consideration any proposed amendments to the UNICEF General Terms and Conditions. Proposed amendments to the UNICEF general terms and conditions may negatively affect the evaluation of the technical merits of the proposal.  

UNICEF retains the right to patent and intellectual rights, as well as copyright and other similar intellectual property rights for any discoveries, inventions, products or works arising specifically from the implementation of the project in cooperation with UNICEF. The right to reproduce or use materials shall be transferred with a written approval of UNICEF based on the consideration of each separate case. Consultant should always refer to UNICEF Turkmenistan support in developing the materials when publishing the results of the research conducted while in Turkmenistan in academic journals, books and websites.

In the event of unsatisfactory performance, UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the Agreement. In case of partially satisfactory performance, such as serious delays causing the negative impact on meeting the programme objectives, low quality or insufficient depth and/or scope of the assignment completion, UNICEF is entitled to decrease the payment by the range from 30% to 50% of the contract value as decided jointly by the Contract Supervisor and Operations Manager.

Qualifications and Skills Required

• University/advanced degree in statistics, economics, sociology, social sciences, international relations, or other relevant fields;
• Strong experience in statistical analysis and social analytics;
• Statistical software knowledge is an asset
• Good communication and networking skills;
• Knowledge of Turkmenistan’s socio-economic development trends and national aspects of work with the ministries;
• Knowledge of Turkmen and Russian; English is an asset

Technical Proposal

The technical proposal should include

• A cover letter, including
  • Assessment of suitability vis-à-vis the requirements of this ToR;
  • A summary of experience in similar assignments;
  • Links to/attachments of examples of similar work;
• CV of the candidate
• References

Financial Proposal

Candidates are expected to submit a lump sum financial proposal to complete the entire assignment based on the terms of reference.  The lump sum should cover deliverables indicated above.

Evaluation

Each proposal will be assessed first on its technical merits and subsequently on its price. In making the final decision, UNICEF considers both technical and financial aspects to ensure best value for money.  The Evaluation Team first reviews the technical aspects of the offer (on the basis of the qualifications described above), followed by review of the financial offers of the technically compliant candidates.  The proposal obtaining the highest overall score after adding the scores for the technical and financial proposals together, that offers the best value for money will be recommended for award of the contract.

A cumulative analysis will be used to evaluate and award proposals.  The evaluation criteria associated with this TOR is split between technical and financial as follows: 70% Technical, 30% Financial, 100 % Total.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

The proposals will be evaluated against the following criteria:

1.           Technical Evaluation Criteria (70%) with the following weighting

The total amount of points allocated for the technical component is 70.              

Criteria	Points
Educational Background	20
Proven experience and knowledge in development or participation in the Surveys, experience with the Surveys on PwDs is an asset	30
Knowledge of national aspects of work with the ministries	20

             

2.           Price Proposal Evaluation Criteria (30%)

–             Overall cost (unit costs, investments per phase, level of effort, etc.)

The price/cost of each of the technically compliant proposals shall be considered together with the evaluation of technical criteria. 

Technical proposals failing to reach a score of 60 in total will not be considered for the consultancy.

The bidders should ensure that all pricing information is provided in accordance with the following:

–             The currency of the proposal shall be in USD.  Invoicing will be in the currency of the proposal.

–             For the purpose of evaluation, UNICEF shall use US Dollars to evaluate all financial proposals.

 

Both technical and financial proposals should be submitted by 15 January 2021 (by 23.59 pm local time).