Job Description

Consultancy for School-Based Screening of Children with Disabilities and Assessment of Assistive Device and Learning
Support Needs
ECW MYRP II | Galkayo District, Galmudug State, Somalia
1. Background
Concern Worldwide, through the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP II) in Somalia,
promotes inclusive and equitable access to education for children with disabilities. The programme is implemented by a
consortium led by ADRA Somalia, with Save the Children, Concern Worldwide and FENPS, in partnership with the Ministry
of Education, Culture and Higher Education (MoECHE) and the respective federal member states including Galmudug
Ministry of Education.
Children with disabilities continue to face significant barriers to accessing and participating in education. Displacement,
drought, flooding and conflict can compound these barriers. Limited data on learners with disabilities, together with
reliance on visible impairment or informal identification, may mean that children with less visible functional difficulties
are overlooked or do not receive appropriate support. Teachers may also have limited access to tools and guidance to
identify functional difficulties and adapt classroom practices.
Under MYRP II, Concern Worldwide intends to engage a qualified consultant or consultancy firm to conduct school-based
functional screening in 20 programme-supported schools in Galkayo. The programme target is 1,591 children with
disabilities. The screening will identify children with disabilities or functional difficulties, including those not previously
identified, and assess their likely educational support needs. Findings will inform programme planning, referrals and future
decisions on assistive devices and learning aids.
2. Rationale
A structured, functional screening process is required to improve identification and ensure that recommendations for
assistive devices, learning aids, classroom adaptations and referrals are based on individual needs rather than
assumptions. The process should generate reliable, disaggregated information, support appropriate referrals to
specialized services and provide practical tools that Concern W and its partners can use in future inclusive education
programming.
Screening is not a clinical diagnosis and must never be used to deny, restrict or condition a child’s access to education.
Any suspected clinical or specialist need must be documented as a referral recommendation, not presented as a confirmed
diagnosis.
3. Objectives
The overall object is to identify children with disabilities and functional difficulties in 20 MYRP II-supported schools in
Galkayo, assess their educational support needs and establish a verified evidence base for appropriate assistive device
recommendations, classroom support and referrals.
Specific objectives are to:
• Conduct school-based screening using appropriate tools.
• Screen children identified as having, or potentially having, disabilities or functional difficulties in the 20 schools,
using informed parent/caregiver consent and age-appropriate child assent.
• Document functional difficulties by relevant domain, including vision, hearing, mobility, communication, cognition
and learning, psychosocial functioning and behaviour, without making unsupported clinical diagnoses.
Concern Worldwide | ECW MYRP II | Consultancy ToR
• Identify individual needs for assistive devices, accessible learning materials, classroom adaptations and reasonable
accommodations.
• Identify children who may require specialized health, rehabilitation or psychosocial services and map relevant
services available in Galkayo.
• Produce a secure, clean and disaggregated learner-level database and a report with practical recommendations for
programme planning, procurement and MYRP II reporting.

Experiences and Qualifications

9.1 Team leader
• Advanced degree in special needs or inclusive education, educational psychology, rehabilitation sciences, public
health or a related field.
• At least five years of relevant experience in disability inclusion in education, including designing or conducting
learner screening or functional assessment.
• Demonstrated experience using the Washington Group/UNICEF Child Functioning Module or comparable tools.
• Experience managing multi-team data collection within tight timelines in education-in-emergencies or fragile
contexts; Somalia or Horn of Africa experience is an advantage.
• Strong training, data-analysis and English report-writing skills.
9.2 Specialist and field team members
• A qualified optometrist or ophthalmic clinical officer for the vision component.
• An audiologist, ear and hearing care professional, or appropriately trained hearing-screening professional for the
hearing component.
• A physiotherapist and/or occupational therapist for mobility and functional-support considerations.
• A special needs education specialist or educational psychologist for learning and classroom-support considerations.
• Somali-speaking field screeners and data recorders, including female team members, with at least three years of
experience working with children and communities and experience using mobile data-collection tools.
All proposed specialists must hold recognized qualifications relevant to their assigned roles. The team must demonstrate
knowledge of child safeguarding, informed consent, ethical data management and school/community engagement. The
participation of qualified persons with disabilities and representatives of organizations of persons with disabilities is
strongly encouraged.

Skills Required

Attachment

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