Consultancy to document case studies and success stories

Organization Name: Stars of Hope Society (SHS)

Project Name: “Internships for women with disabilities” Daikonia

Assignment title/ Name: Consultancy to document case studies and success stories

Assignment duration: Tow months

GENERAL Background

Persons with disabilities are among the most marginalized and disadvantaged social segments in the world, where they are socially isolated and deprived of active participation in their communities.  Most of PWDs are denied their basic rights; employment; freedom of movement; voting; participating in sports and cultural activities; enjoying social protection; accessing justice; choosing medical treatment; and entering freely into legal commitments. Impediments may include, but are not limited to, the lack of awareness about disability needs and disability rights to education, employment, and legal representation, both among the disabled persons themselves and among their caretakers and the general public. In Palestine, many (PWDs) are denied their basic economic, social, and cultural rights by default; they are frequently severely marginalized and commonly live in extreme poverty, a situation that creates a fertile environment for abuse, ill-treatment, violations, and renders PWDs extremely vulnerable. According to the latest survey conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in 2017, PWDs constitute 5% of the Palestinian population. There is a general lack of specialized healthcare services, financial resources, sufficient and/or accurate data on disability, and efficient and effective policies and legislations to protect them.

Moreover, family life in Palestine continues to be influenced, by a centuries-old patriarchal kinship system. A system that is institutionalized in law and organizational procedures, and social attitudes all increase women’s marginalization and vulnerability. Up to now, Palestinian women still face many challenges in the field of gender equality, where they face challenges resulting from discriminatory laws, regulations, and policies in force, including a lack of effective representation in the state and non-state structure and fragile participation in the process of the state building following the semi- disconnection from the occupation. In such male-dominated societies, women and girls with disabilities (WGWDs) face double discrimination based on gender and disability where men with disabilities and non-disabled women have a greater chance to be educated, protected, employed, or even socialize. 

Moreover, women and girls with disabilities, who make up about 5.3% of the Palestinian population, face significant barriers to access justice, due to discrimination on the basis of both gender and disability.  Justice accessibility barriers put at risk WWD enjoyment of rights and increase the risks of violence against them in the public and private spheres. Few of the barriers were defined through previous research -conducted by SHS- including movement related barriers, discriminatory stereotypes related barriers as questioning WWD credibility, legal frameworks that limit WWD practice of justice such as providing testimonies, and the capacity of justice service providers, including protection providers, in dealing with WWD and WWD related cases, beside the awareness of WWD on available protection services.  A SHS survey on WWD violence in Jenin revealed that 70% of WWD are not aware of violence definitions, 90% of the sample did not know of any legislations and conventions related to their rights, and 90% of the sample did not know about protection services available, compared to 10% who knew of protection service providers but did not trust them

Stars of Hope Society:

The Stars of Hope Society for the empowerment of women with disabilities (SHS) is the only organization in Palestine that has been established in response to the high levels of discrimination against women and girls with disabilities (WGWDs) combined with the lack of relevant organizations. SHS was found in 2007 to address the needs of women and girls with disabilities and to abolish disability and gender discrimination; and empowering WWD to achieve equality; access to integration; and claiming their rights through implementing and rights-based development programs and projects; and advocating for the implementing, monitoring and evaluating laws, by-laws and policies.

Project background

Women with disabilities in Palestine are one of the most vulnerable among people with disabilities, yet the least protected. Many women with disabilities are hidden and silent, their concerns are unknown and their voices remain unheard. SHS believes that achieving financial independence for women with disabilities is a very important step towards seeking fundamental rights for women with disabilities, and promoting their participation in the work market.  Accordingly, Stars of Hope Society is implementing a project titled “Internships for women with disabilities” that shall last over three years and we will target a total of 22 number of women with disabilities (WWDs) from different areas of the West Bank, Gaza strip and Jerusalem.  Through the project the 22 WWDs will be capacitated, coached, start their own micro-small projects and employed in different positions in which to become role models and mentors for other women with disabilities.

Additionally, this project will mainstream the notion of accessible work places and offices. Through this project, SHS creates good practices to promote for mainstreaming and prove that adaptations of offices and work stations to ensure accessibility to disabled staff is doable and is a good practice.

CONSULTANCY Objectives:

Overall objective:

SHS is seeking the services of a consultant (s) to produce a final Case-Studies report to summarize and evaluate the entire model of intervention and demonstrate the limitations, opportunities and produce a set of recommendations and guidelines

The case studies/success stories will be used to showcase the interventions SHS is implementing in the Westbank and Gaza strip for the purpose of enhancing the omen with Disabilities’ right to decent work and participation in the labor market.  

Consultancy details:

The specific objectives of this consultancy are to:

Activity 1: Document and draft at least 25 case studies (employment and self-employment) that highlight some of the impacts of the program at community level as well as document the current direction, goals, strategies, and policies of employers for employment the People with disabilities. These case studies will be used to market the successes of the program.

Activity 2: Capture photographs that will accompany the case studies and document the program’s achievements.

The consultant(s) will be expected to travel to 25 sites in Palestine (all governorates of Westbank and Gaza strip) to carry out interviews with beneficiaries, SHS staff, partners, and other

DELIVERABLES

Written case studies

Document and produce - 25 cases studies in Arabic

Present the draft case studies to SHS for review

Finalize case studies based on feedback received – please add the time frame. Check the Sample attached TOR

Photography

50 high-resolution photographs, edited and captioned.

Report

Copy of all interview recordings and/or transcripts

A detailed report in Arabic on all photography, including names and contact details of all individuals interviewed and original copies of signed consent forms filled out by each interviewee.

CONSULTANCY PERIOD

The consultancy will entail up to 1 month of fieldwork & Photographer and 1 month for Reporting. The consultancy is planned to start in early September 2022. The selected consultants are required to quote days required for preparation, fieldwork, analysis of data collected, and final editing and reporting. This assignment is a time-bound assignment; delivery is required by 1st November 2022.

v. Skills and Expertise

For Activity 1:

Outstanding writing skills in particular case studies/success stories;

Excellent experiences in collecting case studies, success stories, etc.

Good understanding of the political, economic, and social sectors in Palestine;

A demonstrated ability (through previous similar assignments) to analyze, compile and synthesize information in coherent and succinct formats

For Activity 2:

Outstanding photography skills;

Outstanding photo and video editing skills;

Experience working in remote areas, experience in Palestine preferred;

Proven ability to work in multicultural environment.

Language Requirements:

Excellent communication and written skills in Arabic and English is required;

VI. Quotations Submissions 

Applicants must submit a comprehensive technical proposal and financial offers either in Arabic or English as follow:

Technical proposal: the technical proposal should clearly include the followings:

Consultants’ experience, educational background and technical skills in response to the TOR

CV of consultant

A sample of recently written report for a similar assignment.

Financial Proposal

A financial offer in Euro shall be submitted to SHS, inclusive of any relevant taxes, transport costs

Deadline:

Quotations in response to this TOR must be received no later than September 07th, 2022.

Please send your proposals to the following email address:

To:  [email protected] and Cc to: [email protected] 

 Telfax: +972 2 2963454

VII. Quotations Evaluation 

The evaluation of proposals will be quality –cost based, where 70% of the evaluation criteria will be on the technical offer, and 30% on the financial offer.

Evaluation Criteria will be as follows Evaluation of technical proposals

The quality of each technical proposal will be evaluated in accordance with the award criteria and the associated weighting as follows:

Applicant’s education and qualifications (15%)

Applicant’s relevant experience for the assignment (35%)

Quality and relevance of the provided samples (20%)

Note: This bid is divisible

 “Stars of Hope Society” is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence”