Background
The greatest global challenge of the 21st century is adapting to the consequences of climate change and associated extreme weather events. In particular, the region of south-eastern Africa is increasingly affected by extreme weather events such as prolonged droughts, heavy rainfall, floods, and cyclones, each of which is increasing in intensity and frequency, due to the intensifying El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. In addition, these countries are in a tense economic and socio-political situation, which in turn exacerbates food and income insecurity (up to recurring hunger crises) for the population in the region, whose livelihoods are largely dependent on subsistence agriculture.
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015), the Paris Agreement (2016) and other internationally recognised guidelines and guidance (see IASC, ECHO) highlight the importance of the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian aid, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
However, there is often a lack of appropriate translation into national guidelines and national action plans as well as their practical implementation. In addition, persons with disabilities and their representative organizations are often not included in the corresponding policy processes at national level and thus do not have the opportunity to adequately address and introduce their concerns. Representative organizations for persons with disabilities often lack the necessary capacities to enter into dialogue with highly technical and scientific disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation institutions and organizations. Bringing these actors together is critical, as it can support to close advocacy gaps both at national and regional level, through exchange and networking.
Introduction
Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD) is a leading disability-focused network engaged in coordination of activities of organizations of Persons with Disabilities in the Southern Africa region. SAFOD plays a huge role in influencing policies at a regional level and also building the capacity of the national OPD’s in advocacy to ensure that they advocate for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in DRR policies in their respective countries.
SAFOD is currently implementing a project in South-Eastern Africa, on Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DiDRR) in collaboration with Christian Blind Mission (CBM), an international Christian development organization, committed to improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities in the poorest communities of the world. The project is implemented with seven local partners, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and Zambia Federation of the disability organisations, (ZAFOD) in Zambia, Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI) and Federation of Organisations of disabled people in Zimbabwe (FODPZ) in Zimbabwe, Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD), and Federation of Disability Organisation in Malawi (FEDOMA) and Malawi Council for Disability Affairs (MACODA) in Malawi. The three countries were selected primarily because of their similar vulnerability profiles to extreme weather events (drought, floods, cyclones) and the long-term consequences of climate change.
The objective of the project is to contribute to reducing the increased risk of persons with disabilities in climate change-related disasters by strengthening inclusive disaster risk reduction processes and climate change adaptation processes.
Persons with disabilities bear the heaviest burden from negative impacts of climate change and disasters. Due to their unique challenges which are heightened by their vulnerabilities. There is a link between poverty and disability that creates a vicious circle. Poor people are more at risk of acquiring a disability because of lack of access to good nutrition, health care and sanitation as well as safe living and working conditions. while persons with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty due to discrimination and barriers to participation in all spheres of society such as accessing education, employment, health care, and transportation. The two-way relationship between poverty and disability increases vulnerability, yet little attention has been given as to whether social safety nets reach persons with disabilities. Safety mechanisms and safety nets play a critical role in addressing increased vulnerabilities and exposure to risks associated with disability and potential related barriers.
Social safety nets would benefit persons with disabilities who cannot participate in the opportunities generated by growth, inclusive employment and/or education policies. These programs can take several forms such as: social insurance schemes, publicly funded transfers (sometimes provided as part of a family allowance), in-kind targeting (assistance devices for example) or livelihood programs. However, a more feasible solution may be to ensure that mainstream social safety nets are “disability inclusive”.
Three national studies were conducted in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia to investigate the possibilities of social safety mechanisms, formal and informal safety nets for persons with disabilities .The studies were led by three implementing partners ADRA, CARD and REPSSI in partnership with ZAFOD, FEDOMA and FODPZ.
Building on this activity, SAFOD is commissioning a consultant to develop a meta-analysis of the three national studies. The consultant will review and analyse the three studies and conduct a meta-analysis of their results and develop regional guidelines for action, that will serve as a framework to inform practitioners and stakeholders on providing inclusive safety mechanisms for persons with disabilities.
Scope of Work
The consultant will:
Prepare a preliminary analysis of the three country reports and produce the Inception Report, including a work plan.
Conduct the meta-analysis using standard robust evaluation techniques.
Develop guidelines that will serve as a framework to inform practitioners and stakeholders on providing inclusive safety mechanisms for persons with disabilities.
Duration of the assignment
The assignment is expected to be conducted over a period of 40 days including weekends
Task | Estimated days | Timeline | |
Sign Contract with SAFOD Receive relevant project documents from SAFOD | 2 Days | 03 -04 March 2025 | |
Submit inception report to SAFOD | 1 day | 10 March 2025 | |
Incorporates feedback from project partners | 2 days | 15 & 16 March 2025 | |
Conduct Meta Analysis | 11 days | 17- 31 March 2025 | |
Submit draft report | 1 day | 1 April 2025 | |
Receive feedback from project partners | 1 day | 09 April 2025 | |
Submit report to SAFOD | 1 Day | 16 April 2025 | |
Conduct validation meeting with Project partners | 1 day | 22 April 2025 | |
Submit final meta-analysis report and a short presentation of the report | 1 day | 25 April 2025 |
Deliverables
The consultant is expected to deliver the following:
Inception report (including a work plan with timelines).
Draft meta-evaluation report.
Presentation of the final meta-evaluation report
Final meta-analysis evaluation report (The report must contain guidelines that will serve as a framework to inform practitioners and stakeholders on providing inclusive safety mechanisms for persons with disabilities.
QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE OF THE CONSULTANT
The consultant should possess the following qualifications and experience:
Advanced degree in social sciences, disability studies, or related fields.
Extensive M&E expertise and experience (at least ten years)
Extensive experience working with international and or regional organisations
Experience working with persons with disabilities, including understanding of disability barriers and inclusion.
Specific to the task:
Extended experience in conducting meta-evaluations and in developing analytical reports as documented in at least two meta-evaluations during the last five years.
Experience in conducting project and programme evaluations in the international and regional levels
Familiarity with disability barriers and disability inclusion.
Other skills:
• Strong analytical skills and ability to work independently.
• Excellent report-writing and editing skills.
• Excellent data presentation and visualization skills.
SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
The consultant will be selected through a competitive selection process. These TORs are published on the SAFOD social media platforms and website. Interested candidates should submit a technical proposal and a financial proposal, with estimated costs. The technical offer should include the following:
• Brief description of the understanding of the assignment.
• Presentation of a proposed approach.
• Presentation of a detailed work plan, including time schedule and tasks.
• Detailed CV and references of similar assignments (as annexes).
SELECTION PROCESS
Applications will be evaluated based on:
Relevant qualifications and experience.
Understanding of the scope of work.
Quality and feasibility of the proposed work plan.
Previous experience and sample work.
Applications should be submitted to procurement@safod.net Cc rmonnakgosi@safod.net by 21st February 2025.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
Copyright © 2022 Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD). All rights reserved.
SAFOD Website
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to
SAFOD Website
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to