Result of Service

The deliverables of the consultant will include, but will not be limited to:
• A literature review of available policy toolkits for inclusive employment.
• A draft outline of the proposed toolkit
• A first draft of the toolkit in a Microsoft Word document format.
• The final draft of the toolkit in a Microsoft Word document format.
• A template to convert the toolkit from its published format on Word into an online and interactive tool.

Work Location

Remotely

Expected duration

2 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Persons with disabilities are at a higher risk of exposure to challenging living and working conditions. Employment provides them with an opportunity for financial autonomy and plays a key role in their well-being and quality of life. Arab countries have put recognized efforts in establishing policies to further the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the labour market, aligning their legislations with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). These include minimum quota for public as well as private employers. Results, however, are slow to materialize as enforcement sometimes runs into inconsistencies in legislation and sector policies.

Better inclusion of persons with disabilities in the labour market, in line with Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and Goal 8 of the SDGs, is core to the achievement of social inclusion goals in the Arab World, and elsewhere. This equally concerns the right to social protection (CRPD Art.28), which is closely related to labour market inclusion and is also an indicator of the SDGs (1.3). The CRPD has been ratified or acceded by all ESCWA member countries. However, employment rates of persons with disabilities in the region are far below those without. Especially women with disabilities have the highest rates of unemployment.

Under the “Labour Market Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities” project, ESCWA, in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), is working to identify policy gaps, remove barriers and work out solutions that help governments to support the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the labour market.

In this context, ESCWA is seeking the service of a consultant to develop a Policy Toolkit on Labour Market Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities.

This toolkit would be geared towards the public sector, focusing on remedying national policy and legal gaps for inclusive employment in the Arab region. The toolkit would build on existing resources and diagnostic tools developed by ESCWA and ILO to produce a comprehensive product that would assist policymakers in enhancing the existing national policies for employment of persons with disabilities.
During the assignment, the consultant is expected to prepare and submit background documents related to the toolkit, and also submit a template for converting the final published toolkit into an online and interactive tool.
Under the guidance of the program manager of Disability Program, the expert will be responsible for the following tasks:

¿ Carry out literature review available policy toolkits for inclusive employment.
¿ Conduct consultation meetings with focused groups to discuss further the existence policy gaps and inconsistencies on inclusive employment in coordination with ESCWA and ILO
¿ Provide a draft structure of the toolkit.
¿ Provide a draft structure of the template of the interactive tool of the toolkit.

Qualifications/special skills

A master’s degree or equivalent in social science, economics, public policy, or related area is required.
All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
A minimum of seven years of experience in economics, public policy or social science is required.
Knowledge of disability inclusion is required.

Languages

Languages English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA.

For this position, fluency in English is required, Knowledge of Arabic is desirable.

Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.