Foreign economic-aid-related services

Tender description

A lack of attention and funding has contributed to a severely limited evidence base on what works to deliver inclusion in international development for approximately 1 billion people with disabilities. The Disability Inclusive Development (DID) Programme is a brand new innovation and evidence programme which will deliver a set of interventions to support people with disabilities in a number of developing countries. The programme will deliver tangible outcomes for people with disabilities including access to education, jobs, healthcare and reduced stigma and discrimination, and encourage global actors to prioritise the issue. The programme will test innovative approaches to disability inclusion and generate high quality research to fill gaps and discover what works in this under-resourced area. Interventions that work will be scaled up, widening their reach, and new learning and evidence shared across the global development community and national governments. The total Budget for this programme is up to a maximum of 29 250 000 GBP, this figure includes all applicable taxes. The DID programme will: — deliver tangible outcomes to improve the lives of people with disabilities – this includes improved educational attainment and health outcomes, productive jobs and livelihoods and reduced stigma and discrimination for people with disabilities of all ages. This includes within conflict and humanitarian settings, — generate a significant, and rigorous, evidence base on ‘what works’ to deliver results for people with disabilities, — ensure data and evidence is used by the global community and governments to increase action and investment. DFID is seeking a Supplier, who will be contracted using an NEC Professional Services Contract, to deliver the six year programme (2018-2023) via three main components: a) Innovation component: The Supplier will allocate approximately 25-30 % of the available funding to design and implement interventions in contexts that test new approaches to support people with disabilities, focusing on thematic areas where evidence is particularly weak. This should work closely in collaboration with an additional and complimentary Disability Research Programme which will be commissioned separately by DFID’s Research and Evidence Department (RED). The Supplier will co-ordinate a consortium of providers from the existing market consisting of Suppliers/NGOs/CSOs and Disabled People’s Organisations to design and deliver interventions based on the best understanding of the needs and opportunities in this field; b) Scale component: The Supplier will allocate approximately 65-70 % of the available funding to identifying promising small-scale interventions and taking them to scale (including in different contexts). The Supplier will be expected to make informed decisions based on the best available evidence, and using emerging findings from the innovation component and ‘best-in-class’ research. This will generate a rigorous body of evidence of ‘what works’ in particular contexts and deliver significant outcomes for people with disabilities. The Supplier will co-ordinate a consortium of providers from the existing market consisting of Suppliers/NGOs/CSOs and Disabled People’s Organisations to design and deliver interventions based on the best understanding of the needs and opportunities in this field; c) Research uptake component: The Supplier will allocate approximately 5-7 % of the available funding to ensuring programme learning, new evidence and technical support is embedded in DFID and across the global development community and by national governments. This should be implemented by a global expert in evidence and research uptake. This will ensure that the evidence and learning generated is used and catalyses global action and investment. This component should also deliver a disability inclusive development helpdesk which will support the Innovation and Scale components by ensuring that programme learning and other latest evidence on effective approaches to disability inclusion are embedded in DFID, HMG and across the global development community, including through mainstream development and humanitarian programmes. This will be an on demand service for HMG and DFID staff, with scope for external partners to request advice in partnership with HMG/DFID staff. Services will include on-demand advice, evidence reviews and policy mapping; quarterly evidence digests; country assignments/practical support; and capacity building support.