Consultant at Help child

 

 

INCLUSION OF PEOPLE AND CHILDREN LIVING WITH DISABILITY

WITHIN CHILD CENTERED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

1. Introduction

Help a Child (HaC) is a Christian international NGO specialized in participatory community development with its headquarters in the Netherlands. Founded in 1968, HaC’s mission is to improve the well bein2 of children through empowerment of children themselves as well as their families and communities. Our main sources of income are child & family sponsorship, grants from institutional donors and foundations. Our priority sectors are: Early childhood development, youth and work and group community empowerment.

HaC’s strategy is to empower Children & Youth, Parents, and the broader Community to grow out of poverty. This is also reflected in the anticipated changes as a result of our programs that we have described in our Theory of Change:

1. Children are able to overcome barriers to participate successfully in life.
2. Parents are able to take care of themselves and their children.
3. Youth are self-reliant and ready for work.
4. Communities are able to link to make use of economic opportunities and services, and gradually take full ownership of their own development.

Help A Child has implemented child focused community development programs in Burundi since 2009 through our local partner organizations.

2. Background of the assignment

People with Disability (PLWD) are still facing a variety of societal barriers in many societies today contributing to several challenges. These barriers include limited accessibility, inadequate educational structures, and poverty, and negatively impact the quality of life for people with disabilities. Such factors often lead to undesirable consequences for people with disabilities such as social exclusion, negative

stereotypes and perceptions, financial hardship, and challenges in the areas of both physical and mental health.

In September 2015, United Nations Member States unanimously adopted the new global development agenda, transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (General Assembly resolution 70/1), which puts the imperative to “leave no one behind” and to “reach the furthest behind first” at its heart.

In Burundi, despite the good will of the Government to promote disability inclusion, there is still a long way to go for effective and impactful change for PLWD. They are struggling to access basic needs due to environmental barriers. Particularly, children with disability are facing a broad range of needs that affect their growth in dignity, with consequences on their families.

That’s why Help a Child is planning to mainstream inclusion of people and children with disability in its community-based projects. Help a child aims at training the project staffs and the community facilitators on understanding disability and how to integrate people living with disabilities into its programs.  We would like to gain a better understanding on the situation of children with disabilities in our intervention’s areas, the capacity development need of our partner organization with regards to mainstreaming disability and to receive programmatic advice on how to ensure our programs are inclusive for children with disabilities.

Overall Objectives of the Assignment

1. understanding the situation of people and children living with disabilities in the intervention’s areas.
2. Identify key capacity development needs of the partner organization with regards to mainstreaming disability inclusion.
3. Make recommendations on key programmatic and sponsorship interventions, strategies, and implications of disability inclusion in our programs.
4. Training project staffs and community key stakeholders on understanding disability and inclusion
5. Tasks of the consultant

A. Context assessment

As a first step, a desk research and overview of people and children with disability in the current intervention areas will be undertaken providing information on the following:

• Prevalence and types of disability at commune/provincial level of Kibago-Makamba, Murwi-Cibitoke and Butaganzwa – Ruyigi.
• People’s perceptions regarding children and people with disabilities
• Mapping of Services available for children with disabilities (government and NGO) in the intervention areas
• Mapping of Disabled Persons Organizations (DPO’s) and advocacy platforms
• Information regarding government policy on inclusion of children with disabilities

B. Capacity scan of partner organizations

Help a Child works together with local implementing partners that are in the forefront of implementation of the programs.  The assignment will involve a scan of the current knowledge and practices with regard to inclusion of children and people living with disabilities and the accessibility of Help A Child programs. The assessment will look at organization level (policies etc) as well as the level of disability knowledge and awareness of the staff. The capacity building needs management and field level will be identified.

C. Programmatic Recommendations

Based on the context assessment and the organizational assessment,

Key recommendations will describe:

• How children and people living with disabilities can be mobilized and included in the programs of Help a Child Burundi. (What critical interventions need to be made part of our programs?)
• How HAC and partner organisation can link up with service providers like government and disability organisations.
• How the program can measure impact regarding inclusion of children and people living with disabilities
• The consequences of the selection of children living with disabilities as ambassadors/ representatives: what should be done differently? (To what extent can the child be an ambassador? How large would the group they represent be?)
• Indication of the financial and staff capacity needed per intervention area to be involved in the inclusion of children and people living with a disability.

4. Roles of Help a Child and Partner organizations

Help a child will provide relevant documentation and link the consultant to partner organizations. Partner organizations will be participating in the organizational scan and will facilitate the consultants work at field level with regards to the context assessment.

Available documents:

• Program plans for the 3 Project areas, describing the different program elements.
• Information on CAM Ambassador Model for child sponsorship
• Red een Kind Theory of Change
• Information on partner organizations
• Roles of Consultant

1. Train project staffs and key community stakeholders on understanding disability and inclusion
2. Context assessment: Desk research and data collection: –

• Deskresearch and review (prevalence of disability at national and province level (Ruyigi, Makamba, Cibitoke)
• Administration of key informant questionnaires on available service providers-government and NGO’s, Disabled Persons Organisations (DPO’s) and DPO networks and advocacy in Ruyigi, Makamba and Cibitoke

3. Capacity scan of partner organizations: 

• Development/consolidation of organizational assessment tools
• Execution of organizational assessment in Ruyigi, Makamba and Cibitoke
• Analysis of disability inclusion organizational assessment information at baseline in the three area of project implementation

4. Consolidate findings on context analysis and organizational assessment to describe recommendations at organizational and programmatic level.
5. Key deliverables

• Technical proposal:

• Draft & An overview of the proposed approach/methodology and timeframe.
• Financial proposal/ budget for the assignment.
• Copy of CVs (of the consultant or the team who will undertake the assignment) and contact.
  • Final Inception report detailing the design, methodology, sampling frame, survey tools, agreed budget and work plan.
  • Draft and Final report not exceeding 30 pages (In English):
• Context assessment reports for the three areas
• Organization capacity assessment report for 3 partner organisations regarding disability inclusion in their interventions.
  • A report summary of 2 to 3 pages.
  • Training modules regarding understanding disability and inclusion mechanisms for project staffs (i), Community facilitators and key stakeholders (ii).
  • A PowerPoint presentation for dissemination of the findings, recommendations, and response management plan to guide utilization of the recommendations.

6. Duration

The assignment is to be undertaken between March and May 2024. The consultant is requested to provide a rough planning including the number of days that each of the sub-activities will require. Dates of the field visit and organization assessment will be agreed upon jointly in consultation with the consultant and partner organizations.

 

Interested candidates who meet the conditions required for this position are invited to submit their applications via  https://cvselectie.net/help-a-child-burundi/7663/