UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups, and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

UNDP seeks the services of a qualified Consultant to develop a unified methodology for monitoring state-sponsored web-based service providers’ accessibility. While any sort of standards or well-established operational procedures for designing, building, and assessing websites or applications have not yet been established for state-developed resources, the Consultant shall elaborate comprehensive, understandable, and easy-to-follow instructions that may be efficiently utilized by public authorities with an aim to revise the content and services accessibility, and thus – to enhance digital inclusion standards in Ukraine.

Based on the proposed methodology, the Consultant will also conduct the accessibility monitoring of the government-sponsored online resources to enable UNDP, MDT, and other counterparts to mitigate the inconsistency and digital barriers for people with disabilities.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of the assignment is to produce comprehensive methodological guidelines in terms of web accessibility monitoring with the possibility of being further used widely by all interested parties. Complementary, the newly formulated methodology will be applied for monitoring approximately 100 currently functioning state-owned online service providers with follow-on recommendations on their technical improvement. The Consultant is also expected to provide necessary clarifications, furnish explanatory notes, and perform other works that may be necessary to achieve the expected end results.

It is expected that the Consultant will be engaged in the following types of activities:

• Participate in working meetings of UNDP, MDT, and other stakeholders to finalize the assessment requirements and discuss the proposed structure of the guidelines indicating its volume and other technical criteria;
• Based on the results of those meetings, the draft methodology guidelines should be submitted to UNDP and UNDP for commenting and approval;
• Develop a concise methodology of web accessibility monitoring of government-sponsored websites including both automated and manual monitoring approaches;
• Conduct monitoring of about 100 websites managed by central authority bodies. The list of the websites will be timely provided by UNDP and MDT;

Prepare complex recommendations on improving the accessibility of the monitored web resources.

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s / Specialist’s degree in Public Policy / Administration, IT or other relevant social sciences / information technology field;
• At least 2 years of experience in issues of accessibility of information technology (web-based resources, software, mobile-based accessible software);
• Demonstrated track record in academic research, civil society advocacy, or advice to international organizations / national government institutions / CSOs on issues of accessibility of public services and ICT products. First-hand experience in problems with the accessibility of government online resources considered as an asset;
• Demonstrated experience in producing advisory notes and reports in the past. Experience of working with international technical development projects would be an asset;
• Fluent Ukrainian, working-level English.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposal:

• Personal CV as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references;
• Financial proposal in line with the information presented in Section 4. Measurable outputs of the work assignment/deliverables;
• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability (template may be found at https://cutt.ly/Bzs6D4A);
• Brief methodology proposed for approaching the work;
• Writing sample (in DOC or PDF) of a previously commissioned advisory note, report, or publication similar in its topic to the one requested under this assignment produced by the incumbent in Ukrainian or English. The sample may have up to 10 pages in length and should be authored by the incumbent.

The application deadline is 5 October 2021.

For more information on deliverables, requirements, and an application process, please visit: https://cutt.ly/XW9xks3