UNDP Kenya
Consultancy Service to Prepare the 1st Kenya Country Report on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPWDs)
Short Term Consultancy
Background Information
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPWD) and its Optional Protocol was adopted on 13th December 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and was opened for signature on 30th March 2007. Currently, there are 44 signatories to the Optional Protocol and 85 ratifications of the Convention.
This is the highest number of ratifications in the history to a UN Convention on its opening day. It is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st centaury and is the first human rights convention to be open for signature by regional integration organizations.
The Convention marks a “paradigm shift” in attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities. It takes to a new height the movement from viewing persons with disabilities as “objects” of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing persons with disabilities as “subjects” with rights, who are capable of claiming those rights and making decisions for their lives based on their free, and informed consent as well as being active members of society.
The Convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit social development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It clarifies and qualifies how all categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities and identifies areas where adaptations have to be made for persons with disabilities to effectively exercise their rights and areas where their rights have been violated and where protection of rights must be reinforced.
The Convention was negotiated during eight sessions of an Ad Hoc Committee of the General Assembly from 2002-2006, making it the fastest negotiated treaty. Kenya is a party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities having signed the Convention on 30th March 2007 and ratified it on 19th May 2008.
Article 35 of the Convention obligates each State Party to prepare and submit a report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities outlining the steps it has undertaken to implement the Convention. Kenya is scheduled to submit its initial report to the Committee in May 2011.
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development which is mandated to coordinate issues of Persons with Disabilities works in partnership with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) which is mandated to act as the chief legal advisor to Government on compliance with its obligations under international human rights treaties and conventions and other stakeholders in the disability field.
In view of the above, the MGC&SD wishes to recruit a consultant to coordinate relevant State and non-state agencies to begin preparing the Kenya report under Article 35 of the CRPWD which requires member states to present periodic reports on the convention.
General Objective of the Consultancy
· To develop the 1st Kenya country report on the implementation of the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPWDs) through a consultative process
Specific Terms
1. The consultant will be expected to familiarize him/herself with the following documents:
· UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
· Persons with Disabilities Act 2003
· Draft National Disability Policy
· Other status reports already submitted by the Government to the UN
· Relevant human rights instruments
· Other relevant documents
2. Present an inception report to the Ministry, NCPWDs and UNDP for approval before commencement of assignment
3. Provide guidance to the drafting teams
4. Lead the drafting teams in preparing the initial draft report
5. Facilitation of a 5-day report writing workshop
6. Presentation of draft report to the Ministry, NCPWDS & UNDP
7. Present the report for validation in a one day workshop
Finalize report & forward to the ministry in both soft and hard copies with enough copies for the NCPWDs and UNDP
Duration of Assignment
· The assignment is for a period of 20 Working days
Application Process
Applications including CVs for the position should be emailed to: consultants.ken@undp.org and additional information regarding the position can be accessed through the link www.ke.undp.org/index.php/procurement on the UNDP Kenya website.
Applications received after the deadline, 4 January 2011 at 12.00 noon shall not be considered.You can also visit www.kenyanvacancies.com for more jobs
