Back National Individual Consultant for Conducting Assessment of Inclusive Education in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts

Background

1. Background Information on the Project:

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been active and present in eastern Ukraine for the past decade, prior to the conflict, with a focus on community development, civil society development, and environmental protection. Work on addressing the specific conflict-related development challenges built on this earlier engagement, established partnerships, and started in 2015 through the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP). The UN RPP is a multi-donor funded framework programme formulated and led by the UNDP in collaboration with the Government of Ukraine and in cooperation with a number of partnering UN agencies (UN Women, FAO, UNFPA). The RPP was designed to respond to, and mitigate, the causes and effects of the conflict in the east of Ukraine. It is an integral component of the UNDP Country Programme and is therefore fully aligned with the United Nations Partnership Framework (UNPF).

In October 2018, four UN agencies (UNDP, UN Women, FAO and the UNFPA) have countersigned a new joint project document, funded by the EU. The overall objective of the project is to restore effective governance, support economic recovery and promote reconciliation in the crisis-affected communities of Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts in Ukraine, thereby enhancing the credibility and legitimacy of local governments in the government-controlled areas of the regions. It will contribute to peacebuilding and prevent further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine through effective and accountable decentralization, gender-responsive recovery planning and equal access to services, as well as enhanced economic recovery and development.

Component ??? of RPP “Community Security and Social Cohesion” aims to reach some of its goals through small grants and mini-initiatives fund establishment. This includes implementation support of the projects strengthening community security and social cohesion through testing innovative legal aid, access to justice, conflict resolution and peacebuilding mechanisms at local level.

The UN RPP recognizes the importance of inclusive education for children with disabilities for overall social cohesion in the region and thus aims to conduct an assessment of the needs of educational institutions in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts providing services and inclusive education for this category of citizens.

2. Main objectives of the assignment 

The overall objective of this assignment is: 

Conduct an assessment of the state of affairs of inclusive education in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts which would include:

• overview of the inclusive education system in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts;
• SWOT-analysis of the inclusive education system;
• analysis of regional policy documents;
• assessment of institutional capacity of inclusive education stakeholders;
• recommendations for the UN RPP on points of intervention

Duties and Responsibilities

3. Description of Responsibilities/Scope of work

The Individual Consultant for Conducting Assessment of Inclusive Education in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, under the supervision of the Social Cohesion Associate, will be responsible for:

Developing methodology for the assessment:

• Selecting relevant groups of stakeholders for the assessment. At least the following groups shall be included: oblast/city/raion departments of education, inclusive-resource centers, active parents of children with special educational needs, thematic NGOs from the regions and schools with groups for children with special educational needs.
• Developing a questionnaire to conduct in-depth face-to-face interviews with the selected stakeholders to highlight strong and weak points, needs and potential points of intervention.

• Preparing information request forms to relevant oblast authorities to collect necessary statistical data on the subject.

Conducting the assessment in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts:

• Collecting statistical data on the inclusive education in the regions from secondary and primary sources of information (number of children with special education needs; most widespread disorders among children; number of children visiting inclusive educational groups at kindergartens, schools or inclusive-resource centers; number of pre-school educational institutions and kindergartens for such children; number of staff members, their key functional responsibilities in pre-school inclusive education and school, services provided, costs and accessibility for remote families and other relevant information);
• Conducting face-to-face interviews with the selected groups, at least 15 in-depth interviews with stakeholders from Donetsk oblast and 15 in-depth interviews with stakeholders from Luhansk oblast. Assess areas of greatest needs based on these field visits;
• Analyzing relevant regional policy documents to identify possible gaps. Ensure policies are promoting more integrated services, have incorporated goals and interventions to effectively address cross-cutting areas;
• Assessing institutional capacity of inclusive education stakeholders, including SWOT analysis of the inclusive education system. Analyze systemic issues affecting inclusive education system and provide recommendations on the UN RPP actions, possible reforms and advocacy targets. Analyze personnel capacity and required skills.
• Preparing an analytical report which would present general overview of the inclusive education system in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, identified issues, regional policy documents, institutional capacity assessment and possible interventions for the UN RPP on local and oblast levels.

Reporting on a regular basis on the implementation of the workplan to the Social Cohesion Associate, and advise of any constraints or changes required.

4. Deliverables

The timeframe is spanning about 2 months, from February 2019 to April 2019. The requested services will be provided according to the agreed workplan and paid in lump sums according to the following schedule.

#

Tasks description

Due date

Deliverable #1

Methodology of the assessment developed, relevant groups of stakeholders selected, questionnaire developed and agreed with the Supervisor

By the end of 2nd week of the assignment

Deliverable #2

Statistical data on the subject collected, face-to-face interviews with at least 30 stakeholders in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (at least 8 communities) conducted, the analytical report with recomendations prepared and submitted to Supervisor for approval.

By the end of 8th week of the assignment

5. Proposed payment schedule

Payments will be made in three stages according to the proposed payment schedule below:

30% - upon submission and approval of report according to Deliverable 1

70% - upon submission and approval of report according to Deliverable 2

The payments will be paid out upon the full completion and acceptance of deliverables in accordance with certificate of payments provided by the Social Cohesion Associate.

6. Monitoring/Reporting requirements

The Consultant will work under supervision and directly report to the Social Cohesion Associate according to the abovementioned schedule.  All reports and materials shall be prepared and transmitted electronically (Formats of: * .docx, * .xlsx, * .pdf, etc.) to the electronic device or in the form of electronic communication with the final product. The materials/reports should be prepared in Ukrainian.

Competencies

7. Required Skills and Experience

Competencies

• Excellent communication and organization skills;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Profound knowledge of the Ukrainian inclusive educational system;
• Excellent computer skills (including, MS Word);
• Ability to set priorities, meet specific objectives, use political judgment and knowledge;
• Good interpersonal skills, diligence, open mindedness, and dedication;
• Excellent team and networking skills;
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment

8. Documents to be Included when Submitting the Proposals

Applicants shall submit the following documents:

Personal CV or P11-form including information about previous experience in similar projects / assignments and contact details for referees.

Financial proposal.

Letter of interest, explaining why the applicant considers him- or herself the most suitable for the work (in Ukrainian Language).

At least 2 positive references from previous customers

Required Skills and Experience

9. Financial Proposal

 Lump sum contract.

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount. Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR, according to the abovementioned schedule. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including number of anticipated working days, logistical expenses, etc).  

The IC will be responsible for all administrative expenses associated with undertaking this assignment including office accommodation, printing, stationary, telephone and electronic communications, and report copies incurred in this assignment.

Travel costs

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel in a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

10. Evaluation criteria

1. Relevant education – 10 points max

{7 pts. – at least Specialist’s/Master’s degree in Humanities, Pedagogics, Economics, Social Sciences or other related field; 10 pts. – PhD in one of the relevant areas};

2. Minimum 3 years of proved experience working with persons with disabilities – 20 points max

{13 pts. – 3-4 years of relevant experience; 17 pts. – 5-7 years of relevant experience; 20 pts. – more than 7 years of relevant experience};

3. Minimum 3 projects in capacity-building of national and regional stakeholders working with inclusive education implemented – 20 points max

{12 pts. – 3 projects implemented; 15 pts. – more than 3 projects implemented};

4. Proved experience of conducting assessments on educational topics and preparing analytical reports, example of at least 1 report provided for review – 15 points max;

 {12 pts. – 1 report provided for review; 15 pts. – more than 1 report provided for review};

5. Professional fluency in Ukrainian and Russian, both written and oral – 5 points max

   {5 pts. – professional fluence in Ukrainian and Russian, both written and oral}.

11.  Evaluation method:

 Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.