NATIONAL SOCIAL SAFETY NETS COORDINATING OFFICE
Terms of Reference for Conducting Disability Assessment for NASSP
1. Background
The Government of Nigeria has prioritized social protection interventions as a key strategy towards reducing poverty and socio-economic vulnerabilities in the country and has partnered with the World Bank under a National Social Safety Nets Project (NASSP) to expand safety nets to poor and vulnerable populations. The Project Development Objective (PDO) of NASSP provides access to targeted transfers to poor and vulnerable households under an expanded national social safety nets system. NASSP involves two components: (i) establishing systems for social safety nets that would serve as a robust platform for effectively targeting and delivering social assistance; and (ii) implementing cash transfers to targeted poor and vulnerable households. The program has national coverage, with all states eligible to participate.
To implement NASSP, the Government has established a National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO), under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHDSD); to consolidate existing social safety net programs at the Federal level and build the National Social Register (NSR), a database of poor and vulnerable households (PVHHs), which will be used across the country’s different safety net programs, irrespective of funding source or targeted beneficiary group. Different stakeholders, such as governments, development partners, and or civil society will be able to use the systems for delivering social assistance programs in Nigeria. As of 31st May 2021, the NSR contains a total of 8,304,209 PVHHs comprising of 35,267,966 individuals.
One of NASSP’s key priorities is to ensure that a robust social inclusion approach is mainstreamed into its design and implementation strategy, and the project has been intensifying efforts to achieve this. The NSR captures information on economic social demographics and health (such as poverty, gender, age, disability, and literacy), amongst others, of everyone in every identified and registered household. The project team is also in the process of finalizing a gender mainstreaming and social inclusion strategy, as well as a training manual to guide the training of staff on mainstreaming social inclusion at the grassroot level.
2. Rationale
Gender and social inclusion are cross-cutting topics affecting all components of NASSP, given the size of the project and the importance of the activities within its scope and targets. NASSCO through its CBT identification process is improving the coverage of vulnerable groups in the targeting of PVHHs. However, there seems to be programmatic gaps as identified by monitoring visits report, process reports and data from the Social Register, which needs to be addressed.
Estimates vary on the number of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Nigeria. The World Report on Disability, published in 2011, said about 25 million Nigerians had at least one disability, while 3.6Million of these had very significant difficulties in functioning. The 2006 Nigerian census reported 3,253,169 people with disabilities, or 2.32% of the total population of 140,431,790 in that year, indicating the five most common types of disabilities in Nigeria, in descending order: visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical impairment, intellectual impairment, and communication impairment. However, the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, a Nigerian NGO, claims the census did not capture the full extent of disability in Nigeria, and has called on Nigeria’s National Population Commission to cooperate with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development for the 2016 census in order to measure disability more accurately. As of 2020, there are reportedly over 27 million Nigerians with disabilities .
Currently, the NSR contains 664,160 Persons With Disability, which is equivalent to 3.7% of the total Register. This is arguably the largest single database of Persons With Disabilty in the country. Nevertheless, considering the total estimate of Persons With Disability in the country, this number is relatively low. Moreover, the NSR contains information about individuals with different types of disabilities, including sensory, physical, intellectual, and psychosocial disabilities etc. However, it remains unclear whether this information on the types of disability is correct. For example, it not clear whether disabilities such as autism have been captured due to different testing modalities.
These identified gaps could be attributed to the lack of training for state designated staff on disability mainstreaming and the level of literacy of the group of beneficiaries, which could prevent them from identifying specific types of disabilities.
Additionally, the project also realizes the barriers persons With Disability may experience in the targeting and payment processes, leading to the exclusion and access to benefits.
Consequently, based on lessons and experiences from the field, it has become imperative to make deliberate and concerted efforts to promote social inclusion in the workstreams of the project.
NASSCO with this seeks to commission a disability assessment and barrier study to conduct a deep dive analysis of Persons With Disability data in the NSR, validate the information of Persons With Disability as contained in the NSR, streamline the Persons With Disability data and data collection tools to align with the Washington Group Disability standard and assess the barriers of Persons With Disability in the targeting and payment processes.
3. Objectives
The main objective of the proposed project/activity is to assess the NSR’s suitability in delivering targeted support to Persons With Disability which would invariably improve data for persons with disabilities as a gateway to implementing effective and sustainable disability-specific interventions.
The specific objectives are as follows:
i. Promote and ensure equitable access and management of benefits among all vulnerable groups; to encourage and provide full access and participation throughout the phase of NASSP.
ii. Build a reliable database of Persons With Disability as a gateway to implementing effective and sustainable disability specific interventions.
iii. Reinforce knowledge and capacity to implement project activities that are sensitive and responsive to social and environmental safeguard issues.
iv. Enhance the capacity of relevant staff and stakeholders on data collection, analysis, and use of data of Persons With Disability.
4. Approach and Methodology
NASSCO will engage the services of an external consultancy firm with technical expertise in social inclusion, social safeguard, and systems strengthening; to support the project team to complete the below-proposed tasks and activities:
4.1. A Desk Review of Similar Assessments by other Partners and CSOs will be conducted to provide a broader overview that could enhance knowledge around Persons With Disability programming. This would include a Situation Analysis for PWDs commissioned by other development partners, including UK-FCDO, Sight Savers, Christian Blind Mission etc. and a brief review of similar registries implemented in other countries to ascertain any good practices, to understand the gaps in implementing programmes for Persons With Disability, as well as the obstacles and challenges to obtaining a database for PWDs and types of services needed. This activity will also help to identify best practices from other programmes.
4.2. Assess and Streamline Data of Persons With Disability in the NSR: The Firm will develop a framework to validate and streamline the data of Persons With Disability registered in the NSR. This framework will incorporate Citizen Engagement approaches and, using the Washington Group Disability Questions. to assess how communities define disabilities, which can be used to conduct an in-depth analysis (documentation and recommendation) of good practices within States that have higher representations (above national average of 3.7%) of Persons With Disability in the NSR e.g., Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Rivers, Zamfara and subsequently, to appropriately disaggregate and define the type of disability data to be collected and then modify the disability variables in the NSR.
The National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPWD) was established in 2019 to:
– Ensure the monitoring, evaluation and realization of government policy objectives on persons with disabilities.
– Receive complaints of persons with disabilities on the violation of their rights.
– Ensure research, development and education on disability issues and disables persons.
– Liaise with the public and private sectors and other bodies to ensure that the peculiar interest of persons with disabilities are taken into consideration in every government policy, programme and activity.
Recognizing these roles of the NCPWD in carrying forward the disability discourse in the country, NASSCO intends to collaborate with the commission in conducting this assessment, while also building their capacity in collecting disability disaggregated data that will enable them to build a more comprehensive national database of Persons With Disability in the country. NCPWD enumerators will also be trained to support the validation exercise.
Following from this assessment, a comparative analysis of Persons With Disability captured in the NSR in similar contexts will be added to identify good practices and case studies from other countries.
1.1. Conduct In-Depth Interviews: Relevant stakeholders will also be engaged through IDIs to understand the gaps in implementing programmes for Persons With Disability, as well as the obstacles and challenges to obtaining a database for Persons With Disability and types of services needed.
4.3. Conduct an Assessment on the Barriers to Benefits by Persons With Disabilities on the Project:
Working in close collaboration with the operations team of both NASSCO and NCTO, the Firm will specifically carry out a gap assessment of the project coverage and access of Persons With Disability across the NASSP project, focusing on the targeting, enrollment and payments processes (including mobile/digital payments), GRM and trainings; to understand where Persons With Disability are being or might be left behind and how this can be addressed. A selection of states with high and low representation of Persons With Disability will be purposely selected for this assessment to ensure comparative analysis.
The Firm will also review the procedure and process manuals (targeting, enrolment, payment, beneficiary training, GRM) used for project implementation and make recommendations on improving inclusion of vulnerable groups.
Using the CE approaches developed above (4.2.), the gaps identified in this assessment will be analyzed and the findings will inform the development of the tools to collect disability-specific data on the project, including specific guidance on how it will be implemented across all the project components.
4.4. Develop Tools and Practical “How-to-Guide” (and possibly Framework) for Disability Specific Data Collection: Based on the findings from the assessment and validation exercise, data collection tools and practical “How-to-guide” for implementation will be developed. To ensure standardization, these tools will align with the Washington Group on Disability and will incorporate elements for monitoring activities.
Additionally, this framework will set goals, which could possibly be used to retrofit the current NSR Persons With Disability data collection methodology as well as for the future, including a quality incremental plan that sets target indicators. For instance, a set of actions that will increase the Persons With Disability representation from 3.7-10% over a two-year period, to 15% over a 5-year period, etc.
4.5. A Validation Exercise(s) will be included to further strengthen the findings and recommendations as well as sensitize relevant stakeholders from the disability communities including Organizations of People with Disabilities (OPDs), researchers, and media.
Facilitate Capacity Building: The Firm will be expected to provide capacity building to relevant designated staff of NASSCO, NCTO, SOCU, SCTU and the NCPWD on how to use the developed tools, to ensure effective institutionalization and sustainability of social inclusion and safeguard on the project and within government structures for long-term purposes.
5. Deliverables:
– Inception Report containing the Firm’s understanding of the assignment, CE approaches, methodology and timeline for completing the exercise.
– Assessment Report detailing the gaps identified in the database and barriers to Persons With Disability’s access to project services and recommendations to mitigate and improve disability inclusion in the project activities. This report will include a Citizens Defined Bucket List of Disabilities (Not later than September 10, 2021).
– Developed standardized tools and practical “how-to-guide” for disability disaggregated data collection, in line with the Washington Group questions (Not later than September 24, 2021).
– Quality Improvement Action Plan for Persons With Disability data in the NSR, with set targets and indicators (Not later than October 15, 2021)
– Final consultancy report, including the report of capacity building activities (Not later than November 5, 201).
6. Expected Outcomes of Activity
At the end of this activity:
1. The project will have a validated and globally standardized list of Persons With Disability.
2. The project will have a data base and better understanding of the barriers faced by Persons With Disability in accessing project services and develop mitigation strategies.
3. Increased capacity of staff and relevant stakeholders on collecting and disseminating disability disaggregated data.
4. The validated data will be used to update the data of Persons With Disability contained in the NSR.
5. The outcome of this exercise will be used to design a pilot disability project for the Government, to test cost-effective and sustainable mechanisms to support Persons With Disability in the country.
6. Need to be clear that the scope of this study includes a review of the Rapid Response Register and how disability is (and will be) captured within shock responsive mechanisms during emergencies.
7. Desired Consultant Profile
The selected consultant should have the following profile.
a. Qualification
The Consultant should have the following qualifications:
a. Well-recognized expertise and experience in social development, disability inclusion, and social protectiondisability data disaggregation.
b. Experience of the disability context in Nigeria and strong networks among disability stakeholders.
c. Experience inthe development of training manuals and building capacity through trainings and system strengthening especially on disability inclusion .
d. Knowledge of the policies, functions, structures and decision-making processes of key disability inclusive issues.
e. Proven experience in designing, implementing and evaluating social and behaviour change communication interventions on disability inclusion.
f. Experience in engaging with multiple stakeholders and generating consensus.
b. Technical Team Composition
At minimum, the technical team will consist of the following persons:
– Team Lead (1): A minimum of MSc. in Social Sciences with academic training in social development or a relevant field. At least 8 years’ work experience in the development sector, and particularly with global experience in disability programming for international organizations. Experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis.
– Context Lead (1): A minimum of MSc. in Social Sciences with academic training in social development or a relevant field. At least 8 years’ work experience in the development sector, with Nigeria specific experience in disability inclusion, community-based engagement, citizen engagement.
– Field Supervisors (1 per geo-political zone): A minimum of BSC. in Social Sciences or relevant field. At least 5 years’ work experience in social inclusion mainstreaming programmes, particularly in disability. Experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection.
8. Timeline/Duration of Assignment
The assignment is expected to be completed over six weeks across three months but will be determined and agreed upon with Firm based on the scope of work. (Consultancy to end not later than November 19, 2021).
9. Payment Schedule
Submission of satisfactory Inception Report 10%
Submission of Satisfactory Assessment Reports- Gaps Analysis, Recommendations, Citizens Defined Bucket List of Disabilities 20%
Development of Persons With Disability Data Collection Tools and “How-to-Guide”, including Quality Improvement Action Plan for Persons With Disability data in the NSR, with set targets and indicators.Submission of satisfactory Assessment Report, with data collection tools and “how-to-guide.” 30%
Training and Capacity Building 20%
Submission and Approval of Final Consultancy Report 20%
10. Method of Selection
Consultant Qualification Selection Method (CQS)
11. Application Specifications
Firms interested in this assignment should submit a detailed Expression of Interest (EOI). This should include but not limited to the following:
• Details on understanding of the ToR, scope of work, expected outputs to be used and key selection criteria
• Understanding of the subject area and the recent development on the topic in Nigeria
• Timeline, with specific dates from commencement to final submission of deliverables
• CV/Profiles of the specific team members.
• Samples of previous work/report of previous work.
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