Consultant to support the project on the economic inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Arab region

Result of ServiceThe deliverables of the Consultant will include, but are not limited to, contributing to the preparation of survey questionnaires; carrying out interviews and documenting their transcription; preparing survey reports, including the use of graphs; and developing technical papers, reports, and policy briefs in line with the project workplan. The Consultant will also prepare concept notes and presentations for side events, regional and national consultation workshops, capacity-building sessions, and policy dialogues. Additional responsibilities include contributing to ESCWA’s programme of work, coordinating within ESCWA’s disability-related projects and overlapping thematic areas, mainstreaming disability inclusion across ESCWA’s programmes and operations, supporting resource mobilization initiatives, and performing other tasks as needed. Work LocationUN-House, ESCWA Expected duration5 months Duties and ResponsibilitiesBackground and Objective In Arab countries, the available data indicates that employment rates of individuals with disabilities are much lower than those without disabilities. The situation is even worse for women with disability, as they face the dual disadvantages within the labour market based on both their gender and their disability status. This discrepancy cannot be explained by the inability or unwillingness to work. Despite the presence of national legislations and policies that protect the employment right of persons with disabilities, however, employment of persons with disabilities still lags far behind that of persons without disabilities. This current reality indicates the presence of several barriers that prevent the economic empowerment of individuals with disabilities, which include attitudinal, organizational as well as the inaccessibility of the labour market. Persons with disabilities and women face barriers to start their own business, scale up their existing small and medium enterprise, and access opportunities for training, networking and funding. As many traditional job opportunities are not accessible for persons with disabilities, starting a business in many cases is a need. Entrepreneurship remains one of the key pillars that can support youth, women and persons with disabilities achieve economic empowerment and independent living within the community. It can also have a snowball effect and create jobs for other persons with disabilities. However, this pillar has not been explored and supported to its fullest potential. In this context ESCWA is implementing a project on “The Economic Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in the Arab region” aiming at increasing the economic participation for persons with disabilities in the Arab Region by addressing policy and technology barriers. The project focuses on supporting ESCWA Member States to create inclusive employment policies. This involves developing knowledge products highlighting best practices, using the ESCWA Skills Monitor to identify skills gaps, and creating a \"Regional Road Map\" for implementation. Thus, the main objective of this consultancy is to provide substantive contribution to the activities of this project, mainly through carrying out substantive research, contributing to consultations, expert group meetings, policy dialogues and regional consultations, and the writing of policy briefs, technical papers and reports and other relevant products, in addition to other tasks. Duties and Responsibilities In this context, ESCWA is seeking to recruit a consultant on disability inclusion to carry out the following tasks: • Carrying out substantive research to assist in the production of needs assessment reports. • Contributing to the development of technical papers, policy briefs, and advocacy material on disability and the economic ecosystem, specifically, and social inclusion topics, in general. • Providing substantial support to ad-hoc events, meetings, conferences, and webinars. This includes the development of relevant background papers, relevant content for presentations, documentation and meeting reports, and an analysis of the main outcomes of the meeting. • Supporting the provision of capacity-building workshops and/or policy dialogue for policymakers and relevant stakeholders on various disability-related topics, including inclusive labor market and doing business policies and economic empowerment of persons with disabilities, physical and digital accessibility, independent living, and community inclusion. • Map existing ESCWA platforms and material and compile substantive content of relevance to the needs of women and persons with disabilities to be made accessible for persons with disabilities using available tools or by specialized staff at ESCWA. • Support in developing / updating training material on disability for multiple stakeholders (e.g. government institutions – CSOs working on disability - private sector companies – entrepreneurs – banks, etc). • Compiling and documenting lessons learned and best practices of different disability-inclusive projects to disseminate them in the region and maximize the benefits. • Supporting the implementation of the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy, including leading some of its activities (provision of training to staff, development of internal related policies and procedures to ensure the inclusion of persons with disability...etc.) • Performing other duties as requested. Qualifications/special skillsA Master’s degree in Social Science, economics, public policy, or other related areas is required. A Master’s degree in Applied Economics is desirable. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. At least five 5 years of experience in collecting and researching data across various areas of social and economic development or related area is required. Proficiency in statistical software particularly STATA is required. Strong Econometric modeling to identify key factors influencing labor market outcomes for population and target groups is required. Knowledge in forecasting methods and support scenario analysis and simulation modeling to inform policy design is required. Relevant experience in the Arab region is required. 1 year or more of experience in data analytics or related area is desirable. LanguagesEnglish 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 and Arabic is required. 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. Additional InformationNot available. No FeeTHE 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.