Term of Reference (TOR) For Conduct accessibility and safety audit of selected Local Government Units (LGU)

Term of Reference (TOR)

For

Conduct accessibility and safety audit of selected Local Government Units (LGU)

1. Project Overview:

The project title on “Capacity development support to organizations of persons with disabilities to promote disability rights and inclusion in the governance and development process of Nepal” is a consortium project where KOSHISH is the lead organization and FWDN is the consortium partner. The overall objective of this project is to support women with disabilities from marginalized and underrepresented groups, and their Organization of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), to strengthen their voice and agency to advocate for inclusion and meaningful participation, gender and disability responsive planning, programming and budgeting in line with SDGs at all levels, at the local level in Madhesh, Karnali and Sudurpaschim Province.

Persons with disabilities are one of the most marginalized groups in Nepal despite positive provisions in the Constitution of Nepal and the Act Relating to Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2017 to ensure disability inclusion. Ratification of UNCRPD by Nepal has instigated hopes among persons with disabilities that they would be provided with the opportunities to enjoy rights on an equal basis with others. But there exist numerous challenges in realizing these rights including insufficient inclusive education, lack of awareness among key stakeholders, pervasive social stigma, inaccessible services and infrastructure, competing priorities within the government, tokenistic representation, and inadequate funding.

Women with disabilities face additional layers of discrimination due to gender, further complicating their situation. Persons with disabilities belonging to underrepresented disability groups are even marginalized within the disability momentum. Their participation in decision-making processes remains minimal, restricted by various barriers including environmental, attitudinal, communicational, and institutional challenges. Article 12 of the CRPD outlines that persons with disabilities have the same legal capacity as other persons. Article 18 of the Constitution of Nepal highlights right to equality for all citizens as a fundamental right, stating that all citizens are equal. However, in Nepal, persons with underrepresented disability groups have not been able to enjoy rights on an equal basis with others due to lack of supported decision-making mechanisms.

Therefore, there is a need to sensitize local government authorities that they are obligated to protect the rights of women with disability, including women belonging to underrepresented and marginalized disability groups and demand for rights to be protected by them as well as including them in these processes which include gender and disability responsive planning, programming and budgeting. There is also the need for technical support to establish and strengthen local organizations of persons with disabilities, self-help groups and connect them to larger networks to strengthen the advocacy for inclusion and meaningful participation. This need can be reflected by this project and meet these gaps.

2. Project Objectives:

Specifically, this assignment will obtain following objectives:-

• To strengthen capacities of Elected Representatives and government officials (duty bearers) on rights of person with disabilities at the local level 
• To strengthen the capacity of the women organizations focusing on disabilities to organize and advocate for inclusion and meaningful participation, disability responsive planning, and budgeting in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs)
• To advocate for gender and disability responsive planning, programming, and budgeting with the government in line with SDGs.

3. Purpose:

The purpose of this project is to support women with disabilities from marginalized and underrepresented groups, and their OPDs, to strengthen their voice and agency to advocate for inclusion and meaningful participation, gender and disability responsive planning, programming and budgeting in line with SDGs at the local level of selected provinces.

As part of the project led by KOSHISH and in partnership with FWDN, the accessibility and safety audits will be conducted in five municipalities of Madesh Provinces. The purpose of these audits is to assess the accessibility and safety conditions for women, particularly women with disabilities, in public spaces and key facilities. The audit will focus on one Municipal Building, one Health Facility, and one School within each five municipality. The audits will aim to identify barriers and safety issues that hinder women, especially women with disabilities, from accessing and safely using these facilities, and provide actionable recommendations for improvements.

4. Objectives of assignment

• Assess the accessibility and safety of public infrastructure (Municipal Building, Health Facilities, and Government School) to ensure that they are inclusive and accessible to person with disabilities and other marginalized groups.
• Evaluate safety concerns related to women, especially in terms of their security and protection in public spaces and within the aforementioned facilities.
• Provide actionable recommendations to local governments for improving accessibility and safety in municipal buildings, health facilities and schools to align with gender and disability-responsive principles.
• Strengthen local capacity to address these issues by providing data that can inform local planning, programming, and budgeting, ensuring inclusivity and protection of women's rights.

5. Scope of Work

• The consultant need to prepare a detailed checklist for carrying out safety and accessibility audit at five municipalities for three physical infrastructures (one municipal building, one government school and one health facilities) at Janakpur Sub-Metropolitan city-Dhanusa, Chandrapur Municipality- Rautaha, Gujara Municipality-Rautahat, Birjung Metropolitan city-Parsha, Pakaha Mainpur Rual Municipality-Parsha of Madesh Province.
• Upon the approval of checklist from organization, the same will be used to conduct the audit to assess the current situation of inclusive and accessibility in this infrastructure. 
• To conclude the assignment, a detailed formal report of major finding and actionable recommendation to be submitted.
• To conduct this assignment, two experts one from the field of Engineering and another from disability right social expert are essential.

6. Responsibility of  FWDN 

The responsibility of FWDN in this assignment will be:

• Conduct project introduction meeting with the consultant.
• Make linkage of consultant with Team Lead and  District Project Coordinators of one of provinces to provide needful coordination  in project implementation site
• Providing feedback and inputs on the report or in the process as necessary
• Monitor for quality of work and timely completion of work.
• Facilitating financial process along with administrative support as whenever required.

7. Deliverables

The key deliverable of the assignment will be

• Development of audit tools and checklist, to assess accessibility and safety in municipal buildings, health facilities and schools. Ensure that these tools are very sensitive to the needs of persons with disabilities/women/girls with disabilities.
• A formal presentation and report of audit findings should be submit to FWDN.

Further, The Report should outlined the following points

• The current status of accessibility and safety for each facility detail description with drawing features and picture capture of the specific places.
• Identified barriers to accessibility for persons with disabilities and safety for women/girls with disabilities.
• Recommendations for improvements in those infrastructure for safety measures, and services through,
  • Immediate corrective action
  • Improvements that can be done in a short period of time
  • Improvements that can take a long time to complete

8. Desired profile of consultant

• A PAN/VAT registered consultancy firm/Company
• The consultant should be familiar with, Local government, UNCRPD, Disability Rights, and related to accessibility.
• Have solid understanding and knowledge of accessibility standards and guideline on base of universal design and local regulations for persons with disabilities, including women with disabilities. Strong analytical skills to interpret audit data and provide meaningful conclusion.
• Understanding of urban/remote infrastructure, planning, and other relevant policies. Ability to integrate gender perspectives in evaluating public infrastructure, focusing on safety and needs of women and girls with disabilities.
• Ability to create clear, comprehensive, and actionable reports, with findings, recommendations, and a structured action plan. Capable of managing multiple tasks and ensuring the audit process is completed on time.
• Relevant experience in conducting accessibility and safety audits particularly with a focus on disability inclusion and women’s safety.

9. Required documents for proposal submission:

The interested firm or company need to submit the below mentioned details in their application:

• Cover Letter
• Technical and financial proposal
• Profile of consultant including resume of team leader and members
• Content framework of three different access audits.
• Methodological design including work plan and quality assurance mechanism.
• Copy of Company/firm registration certificate & latest renewal and tax clearance certificate
• Copy of VAT registration certificate

10. Expected duration of consultancy service:

The successful consultant will be provided working 15 days to complete the assignment. The number of days is effective from the date this MOU gets signed.

11. Budget and release of payment

FWDN will evaluate the proposals as per the procurement guidelines of the organization. The technically and financially responsive proposal will be accepted for the consultancy service. The payment will be made in following three following installments:

12. Application procedure

All the eligible consultants, companies/firms are requested to submit EOI in an envelope or subject of email and mark it EOI for implementing accessibility and safety audit of selected LGUs–PRO DI G to Human Resource unit of  FWDN central office located in Dillibazar, Kathmandu or through email address recruitmentprocessfwdn@gmail.com The deadline for submission of proposal is April 30, 2025  before 5:00 PM. Interested party may obtain additional information upon enquiry on +977 9768445170 or email address sushen.joshi@koshish.org.np