Consulting for Handicap International (HI)

Name of Project: Empowering a New Generation of Adolescent Girls with Education (ENGAGE)

Title of action: Preparatory Course Contents and Packages Development for the Bridge Class of ENGAGE Project

1. CONTEXT

Handicap International (HI), operating name Humanity & Inclusion is an independent and impartial not for profit organization working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster.  Since 2000, HI has been working in Nepal with Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and vulnerable populations, focusing on their essential needs, improvement of their living conditions and promotion of their dignity and fundamental rights. HI Nepal has built its STRATOP for 2018-2020 on three main pillars which are as follows:

1. a)Rehabilitation and Health: Physical rehabilitation, provision and accessibility of rehabilitation services and sustainability of rehabilitation service
2. b)Inclusive Education: Implement projects related to inclusive education, with much focus on girls and children with disabilities
3. c)Resilience: Support people with disability and vulnerable communities to adapt to both their environment and their socio-economic situation and provide livelihood opportunities.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUIRED SERVICE PROVISION

HI in coordination with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) is implementing Empowering a New Generation of Adolescent Girls with Education (ENGAGE) project. ENGAGE envisions a world where even severely marginalized out of school girls and girls with disabilities are empowered through education to make informed life choices, contribute to family decisions and confidently pursue their own economic opportunities. Despite long odds and facing many challenges, 2,343 girls in one of the disadvantaged districts of Nepal’s Terai region – Banke will be bolstered by a newly supportive community, equipped with new skills for learning and employability, experience new-found confidence and self-esteem, and become able to influence and control their own sexual and reproductive health.

To enable this, ENGAGE proposes a holistic programme to strengthen stakeholder engagement in inclusive education for marginalized out of school girls and girls with disabilities at household, school and system levels. Each girl will benefit directly from innovations in mentoring, personalized social support, community awareness and data collection, with many more girls (and some boys) indirectly benefiting from an improved environment and increased capacity for inclusive education. Importantly, ENGAGE is designed to link its grassroots-level interventions with the Government of Nepal’s national-level policy development process.

ENGAGE will achieve these outcomes through an approach to girls’ education in Nepal that has already been implemented at scale, most relevantly on VSO’s GEC-1 and GEC-T Sisters for Sisters project. ENGAGE refines this for the needs of the most marginalized out of school girls and girls with disabilities through the additional expertise of Handicap International, whose Personalised Social Support (PSS) model is now used globally to ensure that families with severely marginalized children with disability are identified, supported, and referred to appropriate support services. Three local implementing partners with substantial experience supporting marginalized groups in the Terai round out the consortium, ensuring reach, local knowledge, and efficient implementation.

ENGAGE addresses critical factors of marginalization identified during participatory stakeholder consultations, including: socio-cultural norms that place a low priority on girls’ education; lack of awareness and support services for girls with disabilities or functional impairments; poorly equipped teachers/educators and educational institutions to support the needs of out-of-school girls and girls with disabilities; and poor implementation of inclusive policies by local service providers and duty-bearers. Through a people-centered approach, ENGAGE enlists and empowers a support system of 600 peer girls, 100 teachers/educators, 90 BE/d and ME/d student teachers, and 30 International Volunteer Experts (IVEs) to play key roles within the intervention and become champions for girls’ education.

Peer mentoring, PSS, community awareness and behavior change communication will help to shift negative attitudes against girls’ education and employment. Training, coaching and mentoring educators in inclusive pedagogy and practice, and supporting institutions to adopt inclusive and resilient school improvement plans (SIPs) will create ideal environments for girls to learn. The establishment and strengthening of joint monitoring systems to generate data for inclusive policy implementation, dissemination of key learning, and development of national guidelines and tools in consultation with the Ministry of Education, will embed improved practices system-wide.

The major outputs of the project are as follows:

Output 1: Parents of out of school and marginalized girls actively support girls’ education

Output 2: Out of school marginalized girls have increased knowledge of appropriate life skills

Output 3: Out of school marginalized girls enroll in and attend formal or non-formal education after graduating from bridge literacy and numeracy classes

Output 4: Out of school marginalized girls find safe employment after graduating from non-formal education

Output 5: Educators use inclusive, gender-responsive and child-safeguarding pedagogy

Output 6: Education service providers and duty bearers uphold inclusive, gender-responsive and child-safeguarding standards.

3. CONSULTANT’S PROFILE

Based on the above mentioned objectives, the main purpose of this assignment is to develop course contents and course packages for the preparatory course for the Bridge Class of ENGAGE project. Since the project aims to mainstream out of school marginalized girls into formal or non-formal education after graduating from bridge literacy and numeracy classes, the major responsibilities of the assignment will be to develop altogether four types of course contents and course packages – three types designed for children with visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical disability and the fourth one for the parents and caregivers of the children with developmental delay.

The consultant or consultant team can be from an academic institution, research firm or individual consultant.  A research consultant will be responsible for ensuring all deliverables are provided timely and according to the standards set in this Terms of Reference (ToR). This person will also ensure all communication with HI Nepal office and will be solely responsible for fulfilling all the tasks as specified in the ToR. The expected qualifications and competencies required for the lead consultant include:

1. a)Master’s degree in Education, Social Sciences or related discipline with minimum seven years’ experience in developing similar course content and package;
2. b)Prior knowledge and experience in developing course content on disability and gender and inclusion issues with intersectional analysis;
3. c)Extensive experience in the field of IE and disability is highly preferred.

4. SERVICE DURATION AND LOCATION

The consultant shall be recruited on a daily basis for maximum of 25 days. The assignment is expected to start by 28th February 2019, upon signing of the contract between the consultant and HI.

5. WORK SCHEDULE

The Consultant should set up a work schedule for the performance of the service and share with HI team. The timeline for each assignment are as follows:

– Course content for children with visual and hearing impairment to be completed by 4th March 2019.

– Course package for children with hearing impairment to be completed by 12th March 2019.

– Course package for children with visual impairment to be completed by 20th March 2019.

– Course content and course package for children with developmental delay and physicaldisability to      be completed by 10th April 2019.

– A brief report on the completion of assignment to be submitted by 15th April 2019.

6. REPORT

Deliverable 1: Four types of course contents and course packages designed for children with visual impairment, hearing impairment, developmental delay and physical disability. The course content and course package for children with developmental delay will be focused on their parents or caregivers.

Deliverable 2: A brief report on the completion of assignment.

7. RESOURCE PERSON

Within the framework of the service provision, the Consultant will be asked to collaborate with Handicap International’s teams and in particular with Mrs. Sanju Nepali who will be the point of contact.

8. BUDGET

Ø  Cost of service provision: Please propose per day cost in NPR. including all taxes (applicable TDS will be deducted as per the Government tax policy)

Ø  Payment terms and conditions: 20% of the total proposed budget will be paid at signing the contract and remaining will be paid at the end of the assignment by bank transfer or Cheque.

9. REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

Firms:

• Cover Letter.
• Financial proposal
• A brief concept note highlighting the methodological design including work plan, and quality assurance mechanisms.
• The document should have annexed bio-data of the assignment team member/s.
• Copy of VAT Registration Certificate
• Latest Tax clearance certificate

Individuals:

• Cover Letter
• Financial proposal
• A brief concept note highlighting the methodological design including work plan, and quality assurance mechanisms.
• The proposal should have annexed bio-data of the assignment team member/s.
• PAN Registration Certificate.

Please send a cover letter and required documents to e-mail: m.bhatta@hi.orgThe last date for submitting the application isby February 26, 2019. Please indicate the consultancy title while applying for on the subject of your cover letter.