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Background

The Kingdom of Eswatini faces challenges in ensuring that social protection mechanisms are inclusive and adequately address the needs of all citizens, particularly those living with disabilities. The disability grant under development is intended to provide financial support across all age groups, ensuring that individuals with disabilities receive the assistance they need to overcome barriers to education, healthcare, and social participation.

Children with disabilities, who represent approximately 17% of the population aged 5-19, face particularly acute challenges.1 These children often encounter significant barriers, including limited access to services and high costs associated with their care. In response to these challenges, UNICEF, in partnership with key stakeholders, has initiated a project to finalize the design of a comprehensive disability grant. While the grant is designed to serve all age groups, there is a specific need to conduct a detailed costing analysis to accurately estimate the additional financial burdens faced by households with children with disabilities. This will ensure that the grant is not only inclusive but also responsive to the unique needs of these households.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The purpose of the assignment is to finalise the design of a comprehensive disability grant and conduct a detailed costing analysis to accurately estimate the additional financial burdens faced by households with children with disabilities, ensuring that the grant is not only inclusive but also responsive to the unique needs of these households, particularly addressing the needs of children with disabilities.

Scope of Work:

The assignment focuses on developing and validating policy recommendations of the disability grant through finalization of the disability grant design for all age groups, as well as from conducting the analysis of expenditure burden for households with children with disabilities to inform evidence-based programming for vulnerable groups.

(a) Work scope:

1. Finalize the Disability Grant Design for All Age Groups:

1.1 Refine the existing grant design to ensure it comprehensively addresses the needs of individuals with disabilities across all age groups in Eswatini.

1.2 Incorporate insights and feedback from a wide range of stakeholders, including government agencies, non- governmental organizations (NGOs), and disability advocacy groups.

1.3 Align the final design with international best practices and Eswatini’s national policies on disability and social protection.

2. Conduct a Comprehensive Costing Analysis for Children with Disabilities:

2.1 Perform an in-depth analysis to estimate the additional costs incurred by households raising children with
disabilities in Eswatini.

2.2 Utilize both quantitative and qualitative data to capture the full spectrum of disability-related expenses specific to children, including healthcare, education, assistive devices, transportation, and other essential services.

2.3 Compare these costs with the standard cost of living in Eswatini to provide a clear picture of the economic impact on affected households.

3. Develop and Validate Policy Recommendations:

3.1 Based on the findings from the costing analysis, develop actionable recommendations for integrating these child-specific costs into broader social protection frameworks.

3.2 Facilitate stakeholder workshops to present preliminary findings, solicit feedback, and refine recommendations to ensure they are practical, feasible, and aligned with the needs of children with disabilities and their families.

(b) Activities and tasks

Under the general supervision of the UNICEF Social Policy Specialist, with support from the Education Specialist, the consultant will:

1. Review and Refinement of the Existing Grant Design:

1.1 Conduct a thorough review of the current research report and identify gaps, inconsistencies, or areas that require further detail, particularly concerning different age groups.

1.2 Engage with key stakeholders through interviews, focus groups, and consultations to gather additional
insights and validate proposed changes to the grant design.

1.3 Update the grant design document to reflect these inputs, ensuring that it addresses the needs of individuals with disabilities across all age groups.

2. Costing Analysis Methodology and Data Collection Specific to Children with Disability:

2.1 Develop a robust methodology for the costing analysis focused on children with disabilities, including the identification of cost elements, data sources, and collection techniques.

2.2 Design data collection tools tailored to capture the unique financial challenges faced by households with children with disabilities. This may include surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions.

2.3 Conduct data collection across a representative sample of households with children with disabilities, ensuring the inclusion of diverse types of disabilities and varying levels of household income.

3. Data Analysis and Report Writing:

3.1 Analyze Collected Data for the additional cost incurred by households with children with disabilities: Utilize established costing formulas and methodologies to analyze the data collected, ensuring it is contextualized to the specific socio-economic environment of Eswatini. This analysis will focus on estimating the additional cost incurred by households with children with disabilities, considering factors such as disability type, severity, social mobility, and geographical location.

3.2 Refine Disability Grant Value: Based on the findings, assess, and refine the proposed value of the disability grant. This refinement will ensure that the grant adequately reflects the true costs faced by households, addressing both direct and indirect expenses associated with raising a child with a disability in Eswatini.

3.3 Detailed Economic Burden Analysis: Prepare a costing analysis report that presents a detailed analysis of the economic burdens on households with children with disabilities. This report will include a breakdown of costs by disability type and severity, providing comparisons with the general population’s cost of living. The analysis will highlight the often overlooked or underestimated financial challenges these households face, ensuring that the full scope of their economic hardship is clearly understood.

3.4 Actionable Recommendations: Draft clear and actionable recommendations for policymakers. These recommendations will emphasize the importance of incorporating the specific costs associated with raising children with disabilities into both existing and future social protection programs. The aim is to ensure that these programs are fully responsive to the financial realities of these households, enabling more equitable and effective support.

4. Stakeholder Engagement and Validation:

4.1 Facilitate Stakeholder Validation Workshop: Organize and lead a stakeholder workshop to present the preliminary findings of the costing analysis and the updated disability grant design. The workshop will provide a platform for open dialogue, ensuring that all relevant stakeholders, including government officials, NGOs, and representatives from the disability community, are fully engaged in the process, to share their feedback on the reports.

4.2 Collect and Integrate Feedback: Actively gather feedback from participants during the workshop to ensure that the proposed recommendations are robust, well-grounded, and reflective of the diverse perspectives of all stakeholders. This feedback is crucial for refining the grant design and ensuring that the costing analysis accurately captures the realities faced by households with children with disabilities.

4.3 Incorporate Feedback into Final Reports: Meticulously incorporate stakeholder feedback into the final report, ensuring that the disability grant design and associated recommendations are comprehensive, practical, and aligned with the needs of the community. This process will enhance the credibility and effectiveness of the final deliverables.

5. Finalize Report and Dissemination:

5.1 Prepare the Final Disability Grant Design and Costing Analysis Reports:
Finalize the comprehensive report that integrates the refined disability grant design and the detailed costing analysis specific to households with children with disabilities.

The report will include an executive summary, detailed methodology, comprehensive analysis, and actionable recommendations to guide policy and program development.

5.2 Develop a Communicative Slide Deck: Create a professional slide deck that effectively distills the key findings and recommendations from the final report.

This presentation will be tailored for a broad audience, including policymakers, donors, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders, ensuring that the message is clear and impactful.

5.3 Present Final Analysis and Recommendations: Deliver the final analysis and recommendations at a formal event, which may be conducted in-person or virtually. This event will serve as the official launch of the finalized disability grant design and costing analysis reports, ensuring widespread dissemination and engagement with key stakeholders to facilitate implementation.

(c). Expected Deliverables:

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum Qualifications required:

 A master’s degree in economics, social policy, public administration, or a related field.
 A minimum of five years of experience in public finance and public policy design, with specific expertise in disability inclusion and social protection programs.
 Demonstrated ability to conduct complex data analysis and produce high-quality reports and recommendations.
 Previous working experience in Africa is a plus.
 Demonstrated experience in stakeholder engagement and leading discussions.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

 Proven experience designing public policy and/or monitoring and evaluating programmes focused on persons with disabilities will be considered an asset.
 Strong coordination skills, with ability to work with multi- sector stakeholders.
 Traceable examples of professional work in assignments of similar magnitude.
 Strong research skills and experience developing knowledge products from data, will be an added advantage.

Schedule of activities:

The project will be conducted over a period of three months, commencing in October 2024, and ending in January 2025.

Budget and Funding:

The total estimated budget for the project will cover all consultancy fees, data collection activities, analysis, and travel costs if necessary.

Working Relationships:

The consultant will report directly to the UNICEF Social Policy Specialist, with support from the Education team particularly the Education Specialist, Regular progress updates will be required, and the consultant will ensure that all deliverables are submitted on time and meet the high standards expected by UNICEF.

Payment Schedule

As per UNICEF policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary. The consultant may not publish or disseminate report, data collection tools, collected data or any other documents produced from this consultancy without the express permission of and acknowledgement of UNICEF.

The consultancy fee payment will be triggered by the submission of the following key deliverables.
• 1st payment: Inception report delivery
• 2nd payment: Draft grant design report and costing analysis report
• 3rd payment: Final reports including slide deck presented to stakeholders

The final remuneration will be negotiated by HR. The consultancy fee may be reduced if deliverables are not fulfilled to the required standard.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit  here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks: 

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.