Georgia: Augmentative therapy skills for CDC and specialized schools’ staff

Terms of Reference: Augmentative therapy skills for CDC and specialized schools’ staff

1.Program Context in Abkhazia

The situation of children in Abkhazia is heavily affected by the consequences of the 1992-93 war and the protracted conflict, including the more than 20 years of international isolation of the region. Due to dilapidated infrastructure, inadequate capacities of professional staff and lack of budget means, children in Abkhazia today receive basic services considerably inferior to those enjoyed by their parents’ generation a few decades ago.

Over the last years, UNICEF and its partners have been working with local communities in Abkhazia to improve access to basic health, education and other social services for the most vulnerable populations in returnee and remote rural areas. As a result of this initiative, medical, pre-school, youth and other basic social services for children and women were strengthened in the 48 chosen communities and for an estimated half of Abkhazia’s registered children with disabilities.

In July 2015, UNICEF and World Vision got funding for the “Strengthening and Developing Basic Social Services for Children in Abkhazia” project which will last for 30 months. The project is implemented as collaborative effort of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Vision International, funded by the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (Sida). Within this project UNICEF and World Vision continue efforts on improving quality of the basic social services for children, on strengthening social work in Abkhazia and in general on supporting the positive social change in Abkhazia.

Based on the fact that services were inexistent for children with disabilities (CWD), WV supported the set-up of three Children Development Centres (CDCs) to ensure an access to the services for CWD (aged 1-18 years old). All the three CDCs have multi-disciplinary teams proposing a comprehensive set of rehabilitation services to children living with disabilities and to their families. The CDCs’ specialists received a capacity building support from the project (via engagement of international experts) to enhance their technical knowledge and counselling skills.

The Child Development Centers (CDCs) became the main service providers for children with disabilities in Abkhazia. They have not only raised their own awareness about all aspects of disability and services for children with disabilities, but have also significantly increased their technical knowledge and skills. The quality of the CDC services has been strengthened over the years through the introduction of new concepts. Furthermore, the centers have started to enhance their coordination and put in place a common vision and a joint strategic plan for the coming years with regular technical and coordination meetings.

All the three Centers are composed of a variety of specialists ensuring that a comprehensive set of services is provided to children living with disabilities including physical, psycho-social, speech therapy as well as education and life skills classes (computer). On average 10 staff working in each of the Centers.

Acknowledging the work of the project target CDCs and existing needs for this kind of services, the Ministry of Health opened a new similar Center in Sukhum. In order to ensure that the new Center renders not only a medical approach (providing medical services to children with disabilities) but a social one that aims for a social integration of children with disabilities, WV organized a series of capacity building workshops for the personnel of the Sukhum CDC and representatives of the df Ministry of Social Affairs.

Moreover, as a result of a joint advocacy campaign organized by the Child Development Centers and involving other various actors, the three project target CDCs have been shifted under a supervision by the df Ministry of Social Affairs and inclusion of the CDCs’ running costs into the state budget coverage.

Under the previous engaged consultancies which took place throughout 2014 – 2017, the following major achievements were done:

• The project target three Child Development Centers (CDCs) developed a joint StrategicDevelopmentPlan to ensure a promotion of concept of social integration, a greater visibility of the Centers’ work, and including a three year sustainability plan;

• A detailed three year WorkPlan is developed individually for each of the three CDCs;

• Specialists from the three target CDCs were trained on the Portage support model for children and families including knowledge and skills for early disability identification and intervention;

• The project target three CDCs trained on how to develop IndividualDevelopmentPlans for the children they serve;

• Training on Psycho-social approaches and support techniques for the CDCs’ staff to deliver a proper psychological and social support to the target CWD and their families;

2.Objective of the Consultancy

Speech therapy is one of the services that CDCs and special school staff offer to CDWs, that is why it is important to enhance their skills on the most updated techniques and ways for alternative communication. Children with disabilities such as autism, mental impairments or cerebral palsy suffer from inability to express themselves verbally to their families, peers and caretakers and that can result in frustration, decreased social participation and inappropriate behavioral patterns.

To support language development alongside with the regular speech therapy, the CDC and special school staff need to get trained in Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Depending on the needs of the CWDs the Consultant will suggest whether AAC will be used for a short-term intervention to support verbal communication skills or AAC systems will be used throughout the life. Upon the training delivery CDC staff should be equipped with the knowledge and skills to identify the particular need for AAC with CWDs and make appropriate recommendation to best match child’s needs.

CWDs attending CDCs and special schools that have severe speech or language problems will be able to use AAC to supplement existing speech or replace speech that is not functional. This will be achieved through quality support from CDC and special schools’ staff using available augmentative aids (e.g. picture and symbol communication boards, etc.) and will contribute to increase CWDs’ social interaction, school performance, and feelings of self-worth.

3.Key Outputs and Methodology

ØBased on capacity building plan and recommendations provided by the consultants, to design a Training Program for 4 CDC staff, staff of specialized school and representatives of the df Ministry of Social Affairs on augmentative therapy to implement AAC in the daily activities with special focus on children with disabilities (including those having autistic spectrum and cerebral palsy). The consultant will also develop pre- & posttests, monitoring tools, relevant guidelines on AAC (summarized presentations & handouts) and hand them over to the project team.

ØTo conduct a 4 day training on AAC to the target group of 20 people (staff of the four CDCs, staff of specialized school and representatives of the Ministry of Social Affairs) considering following deliverables:

· Upon the training completion the trainees will be able to identify the AAC need with their clients and advise on the best solution for each particular case.

· The trainees will be able to suggest and use aided/unaided communication systems for their clients.

· The trainees will be able to conduct peer training in case of need on the basics of AAC.

ØUpon completion of the training course the consultant will provide recommendations on any further capacity building on AAC for the same target group.

ØTo produce a Visit Report reflecting on the main achievements, challenges, recommendations in relation to the capacity building of the two target groups of trainees.

In terms of the Methodology of the consultancy related assignments, the consultant shall:

· Work with WV Regional Office to agree on any technical issues related to development of the Training Program and approaches to be used that take into considerations the specific operating context of Abkhazia.

3.Qualifications and Experience Required

The consultant shall have:

Ø Strong technical experience in augmentative therapy and alternative communication

Ø Awareness on disability and how to interact with parents of children with disabilities

Ø Strong experience in conducting training including the ToT component

Ø Relevant university degree

Ø Ability to work independently with little direction

Ø Strong English communication (oral and written), Russian knowledge preferable

Ø Cross-cultural sensitivity, flexible world view and emotional maturity

Ø Willingness and ability to travel to Abkhazia, interact with staff, community and primary/secondary stakeholders

Ø Relevant computer skills necessary to execute well-designed, professional documents

Timeframe: The consultancy is expected to be conducted in November, 2017 for six and a half days in total.

Approximate Time Commitment

Design of the Training Program - 1 Day – Home-based

On-site preparations to the training - 0.5 Day – In Country

Training delivery for the target group –4 days -In country

Development and provision of Final Report on the consultancy visit - 1 day - Home based

TOTAL TRAVEL DAYS - 4 DAYS

TOTAL DAYS IN-COUNTRY - 4 DAYS

TOTAL DAYS CONSULTANCY FROM HOME BASE - 2

DAYSTOTAL DAYS CONSULTANCY OVERALL - 6,5 DAYS

Consultancy Cost Coverage: The consultancy has a lump sum budget in USD and any incurring expenses should be covered by it. The consultant is responsible for budget breakdown for particular activities within the submitted offer. Abkhazia Program Team will provide only logistical support and transportation for field work within Abkhazia

Required Documents for Bid:

· Legal registration/certification (if available)

· CV (Curriculum Vita)with Business questionnaire (attached)

· Proposed budget Breakdown with Work Timeline

Submission Guidelines:

· All costs should be input in USD

· Bid Submission is due by 30 October 2017

· Questions should be emailed directly to: Khanifa_Otyrba@wvi.org, Micheline_ekmekjian@@wvi.org,

· Final submission should be emailed directly to: Khanifa_Otyrba@wvi.org, Micheline_ekmekjian@@wvi.org,