TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INSTITUTIONAL CONTRACT

Title of the assignment

Mapping for services for children with disabilities together with legal and budget analysis for policy and programme recommendations.

Purpose

To identify public and private sector service provision availability and gaps in budget allocation, legal framework and quality of services in order to provide recommendations to the relevant Ministries of the Government for effectively serving children with disabilities and enable effective referral pathways by the social service workforce and frontline workers for children with disabilities.

Location

Bangladesh-National and field level involvement for data collection from UNDAF districts and Upazillas.

Estimated Duration

6 months and the estimated start date is 1st of June 2021.

Reporting to Technical Supervisor of this assignment

Child Protection Specialist, Child Protection Section, UNICEF Bangladesh.

1. Background

Bangladesh was among the first few countries to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007, which demonstrates the government's strong commitment to fulfilling the rights of persons with disabilities, including children. As a signatory to the Convention, the government made a paradigm shift from a welfare to a rights-based approach. Enactment of the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act 2013 demonstrates the promptness of the government in addressing the issue in the country.

The country is also appreciated for its sharp progress in the economic and social sectors. It has made significant gains in reducing poverty, maternal mortality, child mortality, and malnutrition, increasing enrolment in primary education, and achieving gender parity in education and access to safe water. Despite this progress, children with disabilities are still facing barriers that are limiting their access to the needed support and services. For example, while enrolment to school is 97 percent, only 11 percent of children with disabilities have access to any form of education in the country.

Children with disabilities are the least likely to receive health care, education (special or inclusive) and protection services at home or in institutions and mostly neglected by the families. They are among the most vulnerable to harmful practices, violence, abuse, exploitation, and neglect particularly if they are hidden or put in institutions –because of social stigma or the economic cost of raising them. Children living in poverty are among the least likely to attend their local school or clinic but those who live in poverty and have a disability are even less likely to do so. Gender is a key factor, as girls with disabilities are less likely than boys to receive food and care.

About 6.8 percent of 2-17 years of children are found to have functional difficulties in Bangladesh. Children with disabilities are categorized as dependent generally and seen as unable to individually taken care of themselves and that results in not creating an inclusive and accessible environment for them within the family. The Government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are working to increase support to families caring for children with disabilities, through policy development, training, provide health and relevant special services and social protection mechanisms. However, social protection does not yet reach many of these families, and procedures to access these services are often not family-friendly or disability-friendly. Most initiatives for children with disabilities are also specialized and separated rather than addressed within mainstream programmes and services and expensive as well.

Families of children with disabilities and children with disabilities themselves have little knowledge about and accessibility to government, non-government and private services available for them. Social Workers and Health Workers who are close to communities and first responders to the need of children and families have also little knowledge and skills about disability and services available for those who are with disabilities.

With this backdrop, UNICEF would like to support the Ministry of Social Welfare and Department of Social Services, as well as other key Ministries and actors, to strengthen referral linkages for the frontline workforce (community level workforce of the government and NGOs) with appropriate service providers across healthcare, education, rehabilitation, and protection services. Therefore, a mapping of services available for children with disabilities needs to be conducted, which will recommend  possible referral mechanism options for DSS to implement.

This mapping is jointly funded by UNICEF and European Union under the “Fostering Rights and Empowerment among Most Marginalized Adolescents and Children with Disabilities in Bangladesh” project. The mapping tools will be developed in a way so that the frontline workers in social services can use the tools periodically and update the service providers list to be able to refer and link children with disabilities to appropriate service at the local level.

In addition to the mapping of services, the contracting agency will also analyze the allocation of budget for children with disabilities to identify the legal framework available for ensuring rights and protection of children with disabilities, identify challenges in this process as well as provide recommendations to improve the situation of children with disabilities. Besides this, the analysis report should provide details on the professional and financial capacities of central and local level institutions providing services for children with disabilities. 

2. Purpose, Objectives and Expected Results

The overall purpose of the study is to identify public and private sector service provision availability and gaps in budget allocation, legal framework and quality of services.

The specific objectives of the mapping are as follows:

• To map all the national and local level stakeholders with a given role regarding children with disabilities and their roles and responsibilities;
• To assess the legal and policy architecture related to children with disabilities;
• To identify and map mainstream and specific available services and status of minimum standards of these services at national, divisional, district and upazilla level for children with disabilities within the public and private sectors;
• To assess the status of the coordination and accountability mechanism defined by the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act 2013;
• To identify the capacity gaps of relevant key service providers and recommend a feasible capacity building plan, with particular focus on development of appropriate gender-responsive care plan for children with disabilities; and
• To assess the budget allocation and expenditure against legal and policy implementation needs, including the level of transparency in the expenditure.
• To understand the extent of the abilities of the service providers to advocate and influence policy decision-making as well as influence the design, planning, implementation and evaluation of programmes and services.

This study will include recommendations for developing or adapting policies, strategies, and inclusive services. Ultimately, the expected results of the mapping will be used for advocating and influencing policymakers and decision-makers for strong policy implementation and adequate allocation of budget for children with disabilities, as well as for ensuring effective care and referral pathways to appropriate service provision for children with disabilities.

3. Description of Assignment

In 2019, UNICEF Bangladesh and the Department of Social Services (under Ministry of Social Services) through Child Sensitive Social Protection in Bangladesh project-II conducted mapping of services with ICDDR,B and Faith Bangladesh (with technical support provided by Shuchona Foundation). The mapping was conducted on a pilot basis in Rangpur City Corporation and Fulchori Upazilla of Gaibandha District. This mapping study employed quantitative methods along with Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) among cross-sectoral key stakeholders using snowball sampling in the selected areas. The quantitative part was a cross-sectoral survey among the listed facilities of organizations/service providers. The contracting agency will review the questionnaire from the pilot study for the mapping and will design the national mapping with the appropriate questionnaire and other additional data collection tools accordingly. The questionnairs and report of the mapping can be found by clicking on this link : https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1csIHejBeG9AR7Hkx9E3yD1dqHCPAkdEm

Scope

The mapping will be conducted at the national level, in 8 Divisions, 26 selected (UNSDCF) Districts, 52 selected upazillas (within the UNSDCF districts), and 11 selected City Corporations where the Child Sensitive Social Protection in Bangladesh project is being implemented.

The services to be identified are including but not limited to examples given below:

• Medical or Health/Therapies/ Early identification and intervention services
• School or Education/learning centers (including ECD centers e.g. SBK, day care centers/Preschool services)
• Technical Vocational Education and Skills
• Non-formal Education
• Housing/Shelter/residential care/day care and respite care
• Social Services
• Leisure/sport/cultural/recreational opportunities
• Information/communication services

All these services will be mapped out in terms of their availability, accessibility, coverage, minimum standards and capacity in terms of skills and cost-effectiveness.  Any service currently being provided is in scope, with recorded notes for any upcoming services for 2021/2022.

Methodology

The methodology should be mixed methods, but primarily qualitative with both observational methods as well as key informant and in-depth interviews with service providers and key community leaders. This study should build on the pilot conducted in 2019 but the methodology should be expanded and improved to achieve all listed objectives. The contracting agency will be required to propose a detailed methodology, including sampling strategy for all methods, target groups, and expected limitations.

Ethical and other considerations:

This study will be held to the highest standards employed by UNICEF. This means, the agency will abide by the following:

• UNICEF Procedure for Ethical Standards in Research, Evaluation, Data Collection and Analysis
• UNICEF Strategic Guidance Note on Institutionalizing Ethical Practice for UNICEF Research
• The agency is expected to explain ethical considerations for the study, specifically spelling out how these above guidelines will be followed/met including training of all data collectors and supervisors in terms of guidance on ethics and communication skills.
• Special focus should include ethical considerations/ strategies to prevent or avoid COVID-19 infection and spread. 
• Ethical clearance letter should be attached in the annexure of the final report.
• Any sensitive issues or ethical concerns arising during implementation should be raised with UNICEF right away. 
• The final report should include a section that describes the exact way ethical considerations were identified and addressed as part of design, implementation, and analysis/writing.
• All data collected through this study as well as reports and dissemination materials are the intellectual properties of UNICEF and shall not be used for purposes other than those approved by the registered Institutional Review Board during the ethical clearance. 
• Additionally, the study should be human rights-based (including child rights) and gender sensitive. All applicable data will be disaggregated by sex, age, and ability level.

4. Deliverables

• Inception report including methodology, and all mapping and data collection tools
• Draft and final legal framework and budget analysis report
• Service provider capacity building plan
• Draft and final mapping report inclusive of findings answering all objectives and policy recommendations.
• Validation workshop to present key findings from deliverables and recommendations from mapping and legal and budgetary analysis

5. Reporting requirements

The reports should be submitted to UNICEF. They will be accepted only after the Department of Social Services and Child Sensitive Social Protection in Bangladesh  (CSPB) project-phase II reviews and approves as well. The agency will have to maintain close liaisoning with the National Project Director of CSPB project and the Director General of Department of Social Services for field missions to access information with service providers.

Child Protection Specialist of UNICEF Child Protection Section will be the main focal person for maintaining the coordination between UNICEF and DSS or CSPB Project. All deliverables have to be submitted to UNICEF focal person who will facilitate approval and acceptance of deliverables from DSS and CSPB project. UNICEF will facilitate approval of the reports within two weeks of submission of each draft report.

Reports & deadlines are given below:

• Inception Report with timeline, milestone and methodology of the studies within 2 weeks of signing the contract;
• Progress Reports by end of every month, once inception stage begins;
• Minutes of Meetings within 2 days after the meetings;
• Field Mission Reports within 10 days of each field mission;
• Training/presentation material before 2 weeks of the date of the training/presentation
• Workshop/training evaluation report within 2 weeks of completion of the workshop;
• Two draft reports-i) mapping of services (including service provider capacity building plan) and ii) legal framework and budgetary analysis report within 2 weeks before the expiry of the contract;
• Validation workshop within 2 weeks of receiving comments from UNICEF on the draft reports;
• Two final reports within 2 weeks of receipt of comments by UNICEF technical supervisor;
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Examples of content to be incorporated in the final mapping report:

• Table of contents, list of annexes/figures/tables, etc.
• List of Acronyms
• Executive Summary (2 – 5 pages)
• Introduction & Background
• Methodology, including ethical considerations and limitations
• Findings
• Conclusion and recommendations
• Annex (including data collection tools, IRB approval letter, etc.)

Examples of content to be incorporated in the final budget/expenditure and legal analysis report:

• Table of contents, list of annexes/figures/tables, etc.
• List of Acronyms
• Executive Summary (2 – 5 pages)
• Introduction & Background
• Methodology, including ethical considerations and limitations
• Findings
• Conclusion and Recommendations
• Annex (including list of documents reviewed, analysis tools, questionnaire, IRB approval letter, etc.)

6. Payment Schedule

• 30% of total fee upon submission and approval of the inception report;
• 20% on submission and approval of draft legal/policy framework and budget analysis report;
• 20% of total fee on submission and approval of draft mapping report;
• 30% of total fee on completion of dissemination workshop and approval of the final mapping report, including all final data collection tools and raw and analyzed data files

7. Qualification requirement of the company/institution/organization

Qualification of the agency: 

• National firm with experience in conducting social science research in Bangladesh, including large scale quantitative social/economic surveys as well as rigorous qualitative data collection, including high quality data collection tool design;
• Extensive knowledge and expertise in legal and national-level financial gap and expenditure analysis;
• Extensive experience and expertise in mapping services and situational analyses in South Asia
• Extensive knowledge and experience with statistical data analysis, and demonstrated competency in analysis using statistical software; Extensive knowledge and experience in qualitative data analysis techniques;
• Prior experience in conducting evidence generation on sensitive issues with vulnerable or hard-to-reach populations;
• Proven experience in the area of programming and research regarding children with disabilities;
• Strong experience working with social service providers in South Asia (preferably Bangladesh), with specific expertise in developing capacity building plans for the workforce;
• Strong report writing skills in English;
• Demonstrated ability to network within national government partners, National Statistical Offices, NGOs and the academic and development community in Bangladesh;
• Familiarity with UN systems and procedures, management and monitoring tools is desirable;
• Prior work experience in Bangladesh on similar mapping/survey.

7a. Qualification requirement of the team (optional)

Professional requirements of the individual(s) and/or team(s) for the assignment including required experience, skills and qualifications are required as given below:

• Team members with postgraduate degrees in social science, social work, child development, anthropology, sociology, law, finance and other relevant disciplines
• At least one team members with legal expertise in the area of  human rights, children rights, rights and protection of children with disabilities
• At least one team member with 8+ years working in service provision or programming with children with disabilities, in South Asia or preferably Bangladesh
• At least one team member with 5+ years of experience in conducting financial and budget expenditure analyses
• At least one team members with 5+ years in monitoring, evaluation, and research (quantitative and qualitative) of programmes related to vulnerable children