Development of training Curriculum & Conduct training for the HI Staffs and Volunteers on Sign Language & Accessible communication (FDMN Context) At Handicap International – Humanity & Inclusion

1. Background and context:

Humanity & Inclusion (HI)- Handicap International, is an independent and impartial aid organization working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. The organization works alongside persons with disabilities and vulnerable populations, acting and bearing witness to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights. HI has been working with the Rohingya community since 2007, and the interventions expanded after the 2017 influx.

In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, more than 969,719 refugees have found shelter after fleeing from Myanmar. Most of these refugees are settled in makeshift camps in the Cox’s Bazar district, making it the largest refugee settlement in the world. [1]The influx has presented significant challenges for both the Bangladeshi government and the international humanitarian community, particularly in ensuring the delivery of basic services, such as health care, education, and protection. According to the REACH Age and Disability Inclusion Assessment, by 2021 around 12% of refugees above 2 years are persons with disabilities and 20% of the adults have different types of disabilities.[2] While all the Rohingya refugees live in challenging conditions, persons with disabilities face even more severe barriers in accessing humanitarian services and participating in the humanitarian response. To ensure disability inclusion in the ongoing Rohingya refugee response need to focus on strengthening sector and other humanitarian actors’ response.

In the humanitarian response of the Rohingya people, HI is currently implementing project on “Improving disability inclusion in the Rohingya and Host Communities Humanitarian Response” funded by DFAT. Individuals with disabilities are at a heightened risk of social exclusion compared to those without disabilities, as they encounter numerous barriers—attitudinal, environmental, and institutional—that hinder their access to essential services and meaningful participation in humanitarian efforts and daily camp life. Recent research by HI and other organizations reveals critical gaps in reaching people with disabilities in humanitarian actions, despite six years of efforts to promote inclusion. These gaps reflect a lack of data on disabilities, insufficient targeting by actors, poor access to service information, and limited communication capacity of service providers.

Among the Rohingya population, there is a significant number, approximately 1500 of individuals who have speech and communication difficulties and approximately 2200 of individuals who have hearing difficulties facing unique barriers to accessing essential services and information. The same need has been identified and discussed in various community project review meetings held by HI on a regular basis. [3]The communication barriers between these individuals and service providers exacerbates their vulnerability. They often struggle to access critical information related to access humanitarian services related to health, protection, WASH, Food security, Education, etc., safety, and their rights. Without effective communication, these individuals are at a higher risk of isolation and exclusion from vital services, including all sectors’ interventions. This is particularly concerning in emergency situations where timely access to accurate information can be lifesaving.

1. Rationale

Recognizing the lack of access to information about the available service provision coupled with limited capacity of service providers to interact and communicate with different types of persons with disabilities further contributes to exclusion of persons with disabilities in accessing essential services. Humanitarian organizations continue facing difficulty (mainly due to limited technical skills and knowledge of staff and lack of data related to persons with disabilities) in ensuring meaningful participation of persons with disabilities (mainly non-visible disabilities like intellectual, hearing, speech impairment) in their ongoing interventions.

Thus, to address this , HI currently identify existing facilities (information hub) in all (33) camps and engage with respective service providers to include Disability Desk in their existing Information hub. Furthermore, HI in collaboration with the ADTWG aims at developing training curriculum, module and carryout the training for information hub staffs on sign language and accessible communication, rehabilitation service mapping in the mainstream service providers in the camps. The proposed sign language training for information hub staff is a critical component of this broader humanitarian response. Through building the capacity of staff in this area, the program aims to enhance the inclusivity and effectiveness of service delivery, ensuring that no one is left behind in the response efforts.

Objective

To enhance the capacity of humanitarian actors including persons with disabilities involved in the Rohingya response by equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge in sign language and accessible communication, service mapping training by developing comprehensive training curriculum.

1. To develop 5-days TOT training curriculum focusing on sign language and accessible communication. (150-200 daily use local words in sign language).

• Identify priority sectors that people with hearing and speech impairment are using on a regular basis and are facing communication barriers through discussion with persons with hearing and speech impairment to define their most frequently used 150-200 words.
• Develop sign language training modules taking into account the defined everyday vocabulary for persons with hearing and speech impairment .
• Prepare handout/PPT that can be used by the targeted trainees including information hub focal points, persons with disabilities and their caregivers, HI staffs and volunteers for their day-to-day activities in the camps.
• Conduct the TOT training for 25 participants including 10 HI staff, HI volunteers-10, Information hub staffs-5.
• Conduct training as a lead facilitator and provide coaching during the cascading of the training by TOT trainees to additional 133 participants including 28 including Information hub staffs, 99 disability focal points (3 from each camp), and 6 additional HI volunteers.

2. Prepare and share the final report with recommendation, feedback analysis of the activity, challenges, further improvement and need after successful completion of training.

1. Duration and location:

• Duration: from October 2024 to March 2025 (Total- 90 days, except Friday, Saturday)
• Location/Place: Ukhiya and Teknaf under Cox’s Bazar District

1. Scope of work:

• Development of 5-days TOT training curriculum focusing on sign language and accessible communication
• Facilitate training with project participants including persons with disabilities, HI staff, volunteers and workshops with sectors & humanitarian actors with the support of HI’s Technical Team.
• Follow-up practice and application of training skills & resources.

For further details please see the Terms of Reference.

How to apply

How to Apply:

The application package must Include:

1. Technical proposal: objective, methodology, work plan, time frame, experience on Training Need Assessment, developing training module and facilitation of training.
2. Financial proposal
3. CV mentioning with your relevant expertise and supporting Documents for the experience that he /she is mentioning on the offer. Score will be given on the weight scale analysis following the supporting experience documents shared from bidder end.

Application process:

• Interested applicant(s) should email Cover letter and CV (maximum 4 pages; with references), NID copy, VAT and TIN Registration Copy, Updated Trade license (If organization) , Last Tax Submission Copy
• Applicants must have to share technical & financial offer technical proposal (maximum 5 pages) including the proposed training methods and proposed training schedule.
• Applicants will have to share documents showing their experience on the filed mentioned above.
• The financial proposal should cover all the necessary costs.
• Quoted price must be including VAT & TAX following the govt rule. If there is any amount which will be excluding vat & tax it should be shown with necessary breakdown.
• Payment Condition should be clearly mentioned on the financial offer as mentioned above.
• Bank details: name of the account, Bank name, branch, swift code etc.
• Proposal must be submitted in BDT.
• Mentor/Consultants that meet the requirements should submit an expression of interest by 29th September 2024 (11.59 PM BGD Time )

Applications that do not meet the minimum technical requirements will be considered technically non-compliant and will not be evaluated further*.*

Physical Bid Submission addresses:

• Proposals to be submitted to Handicap International Cox’s Bazar Site office, Sayeman Heritage Residence, Building-2, Floor-2, Sayeman Road, Cox’s Bazar
• The envelope should clearly indicate the Invitation to reference as: “Development of training Curriculum & Conduction of training for the information hub staff, HI internal staffs, volunteers including persons with disabilities on Sign Language and accessible communication PD-UKHI-01308 ”.
• All documentation submitted should be done in their own clearly labeled envelopes (e.g., technical proposal, financial proposal, Legal Documents etc.), which are submitted in one single envelope as detailed above.

OR

Online Bid Submission addresses:

• Send a digital file in the form of an email* sent to the dedicated email address: log.cox@bangladesh.hi.org ; with the reference “Development of training Curriculum & Conduction of training for the information hub staffs, HI internal staffs, volunteers including persons with disabilities on Sign Language and accessible communication PD-UKHI-01308” in the subject line).

*If the file is too big to fit into 1 email (limit 15MB per email), bidder should split the submission into multiple emails. Please include numbering also in the subject.

HI is committed to protecting children and vulnerable adults from harm. All consultants will be expected to comply with the child Protection and other Policies. Applicants for this position will be assessed regarding their suitability to work with children and person with disabilities.

Humanity & Inclusion encourages qualified Consultants with disabilities or chronic illness and women to apply. HI commits to providing equal opportunities to all qualified applicants, regardless of nationality, gender, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including people with disabilities.