TERMS OF REFERENCE

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Name of Project: Strengthening Inclusive Education in Nepal (SIKAI)

Title of Action: Design inclusive prototype teaching learning materials along with its guideline 

1.  CONTEXT

Handicap International Federation (HI), a not-for-profit association governed by the French Act of July 1st, 1901, domiciled at “138, Avenue des frères Lumière, 69008, Lyon, France”, represented by Mr. Willy BERGOGNE in his capacity as Country Director in Nepal office, located at Maharajgunj, Kathmandu-Nepal, contact no. +977-1-4378482 hereinafter referred to as “HI”. 

HI Nepal STRATOP for 2018-2020 has following three main pillars:

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

HI is implementing different inclusive education projects among which Strengthening Inclusive Education in Nepal (SIKAI) project is one. HI in partnership with World Vision International Nepal (WVIN) and World Education (WE) has been implementing SIKAI project. SIKAI aims to improve standards in schools that directly impact inclusive education whilst parallelly sensitizing communities to change behaviours and practices that barricade children from attending school and participating in society. Along the same lines, the project evaluates local government capacity, policies and their implementation and looks to imbue an acceptable standard thereby promoting inclusive education at municipal level.

To achieve above goal, the project will work in schools, homes and communities, and at municipal system strengthening level. At school, project interventions will contribute to creating a safe, inclusive education environment that is a place of tolerance and peace for all children. Likewise, the project will contribute to build families and communities to be more supportive of children’s education; learning conducive climates will be introduced in homes and villages via setting up of community based learning centres for out-of-school children and children who require additional learning assistance. In addition, recognizing there are gaps in municipalities to promote inclusive education, SIKAI interventions will contribute to improve policies and procedures relating to IE and child protection.

2.  DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUIRED SERVICE PROVISION AND SCOPE OF WORK

2.1 Background

Research shows that negative social/attitudinal and inaccessible physical, economic and information factors lead multiple levels of barriers to people with disabilities to accessing education, more than gender, caste, ethnicity, economic status or geographic location. Children with disabilities are by far the most marginalized groups in terms of access groups in terms of access, participation and learning achievements. Studies on educational outcomes for children with disabilities in Nepal point to high drop-outs of children with disabilities and comparatively lower achievements for them in rural areas and for girls with disabilities. Mild disabilities such as visual impairment, hearing issues and learning disorders (such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) are significant obstacles for reading/learning achievements in school in Nepal. Due to our traditional ways of identifying disability particularly the medical model impairment based methods, albeit ill-diagnosed and ill-addressed, these mild disabilities simply go unreported and unaddressed but add significantly to the number of children who end up dropping out of school.

In addition, the “Consolidated Equity Strategy” and “National Education Policy 2076” by Ministry of Education attempt to address the existing status-quo of an under-resourced, under-monitored integrated approach to schooling. In addition, it seems that the capacity to do so within education stakeholders in Nepal is also limited and needs strengthening for better educational outcomes for children with mild disabilities and special educational needs. 

Hence, considering the above scenario of Nepal, SIKAI project is designing inclusive prototype learning materialsfollowing the principle of universal design learning (UDL) to address the need of diverse children including children with disabilities (especially children with hearing, visual, intellectual and learning disability), to increase their learning achievement and retain them in school considering children from grade one to eight (basic level education). 

2.2 Scope of Work

Based on the background mentioned above, the consultant is expected to provide following services.

• Desk review of global and national documents (textbook, teaching and learning materials) related to inclusive learning material/ universal design learning.
• Review existing inclusive teaching and learning materials developed by HI and other institutions.
• Field visit to Sarlahidistrict (if circumstances allow) to understand the local context and need (at least two Palikas).
• Develop sample set of inclusive teaching and learning materials.
• Facilitate a consultation with wider stakeholders to share and get feedback on set of draft learning materials.
• Finalize the set of inclusive learning materials that are accessible for diverse learners/students based on the principle of universal design for learning
• Develop some specific learning materials for children with hearing, visual, intellectual, developmental and learning disability.
• Develop a technical guideline on how to use and develop similar materials at local level using locally available resources.
• Deliver Orientation to HI and partner staff on the designed prototype learning materials and developed technical guideline.

3.  CONSULTANT’S PROFILE

Individual consultant is preferred for this assignment. Expected qualifications and competencies required include:

• Minimum Master degree in Education/Inclusive Education/Disability or social science
• Minimum five years’ experience in the field of inclusive education and disability, particularly experience in designing learning materials for children with disabilities (children with hearing, visual, intellectual and learning disability)
• Skills and experience on development and implementation of inclusive learning materials dealing with children with disabilities
• Excellent facilitation skill (i.e. organizing consultation workshop, meeting with wider stakeholders including government authorities) is highly preferred

4.  SERVICE DURATION AND LOCATION

The consultant will be working in close coordination with HI team in Kathmandu. The consultant might also need to go on a field visit to Sarlahi to understand the local needs and requirements. The consultant shall be engaged on a daily basis for a maximum of 20 working days including a consultation workshop with experts to collect feedback on the draft design of learning materials. The assignment is expected to start by 2nd week of April 2020, upon signing of the contract between the consultant and HI, and will finish by last week of May 2020.

5.  WORK SCHEDULE

The assignment is expected to start by 2nd week of April 2020, upon signing of the contract between the consultant and HI.

The Consultant should set up a work schedule for the performance of the service in coordination with HI. The tentative timeline for each work are as follows:

6.  DELIVERABLE

• Design Prototype learning materials that are accessible for visual, hearing, intellectual, learning and developmental disabilities
• Develop a technical guideline on how to use and how to develop similar materials at local level

7.  CONTACT PERSON FROM HI

Within the framework of the service provision, the point of contact for the consultant will be the Senior Project Officer of SIKAI Project. 

8.  BUDGET

• Cost of service provision: Consultant should propose the required budget for this assignment including all government applicable taxes.
• Payment terms and conditions: as per the suitability of the consultant and also in line with HI’s policy 
• All other costs for accommodation, per diem, airfare and local travel incurred for the training delivery will be borne by HI as per its rules and regulations. 

9.  REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSAL

• Proposal (Technical and Financial)
• The document should have annexed bio-data of the assignment team member/s
• PAN/VAT Registration Certificate

Please send technical and financial proposal and required documents to e-mail: b.hitang@hi.org  last date for submitting the application is by 1st April, 2020. Please indicate the consultancy title while applying for on the subject of your cover letter.