On the occasion of international youth day 2022 Blind Youth Association organized all over Nepal inter college competition on 12th August 2022 in Nepal Academy Hall (Parijat Hall), Kamaladi, Kathmandu. For the audition round BYAN call for application through its FB page and sending invitation letters to college. To apply for audition participants had to send a 3 minute speech video in Nepali language by choosing 1 topic among three topics. In the audition round total 93 youths from various district colleges had applied for the competition. Out of 93 applicants 15 applicants were selected by jury members for the final round. Among 15 final contestant were 8 female including 1 pwd female and 7 were male including 3 pwd male). There were 8 contestants from districts of Kathmandu valley and 7 contestants were from outside the valley. The first prize winner of the competition was Miss Kirpa Karuna Pokhrel class 12 student from Kantipur international college Birtanagar. 2nd prize winner was Mr. Sandip Thapa from Kathmandu university school of Law Bachelor level student who is visually impaired. 3rd prize winner was Mr. Sugyani BK class 12 student form Jaya Multiple college Kathmandu respectively consolation winners were Mr. Saugat Mall from National college Kathmandu who is visually impaired and Miss. Binita Mauli Satar from Mahendra Morang Adarsha campus Dharan who is visually impaired.We would like to thank all the young enthusiastic participants for taking part in this speech competitions, colleges and IFES for the support.

Blind Youth Association is an organisation establish by the Blind and Partially Sighted Youth of Nepal. With the vision of 'BPS people of Nepal enjoying dignified life in an inclusive society' BYAN is currently working in the area of policy advocacy, education, employment disaster risk reduction, political participation and SRHR of persons with disabilities in general and BPS in particular.  Blind Youth Association Nepal (BYAN) is a right based organisation established to advocate and promote the rights of blind and partially sighted youth that are scattered across the country of Nepal. Since its establishment, this organisaiton has expanded its organisational network in different parts of the country and has been conducting different programs such as capacity building, leadership development, personality development and skill development related training to the blind and partially sighted youth. Till the date, the organisation has been able to expand its district level branches in Jhapa and Morgang in provience 1, Bara in Provience 2, Kathmandu valley and Chitwan in provience 3, Kaski in Gandaki provinece, Rupandehi and Banke in Provience 5, Surkhet in provience 6 and kailali in far west provience. Inclusive of all these branches more than 500+ blind and partially sighted youth are the members of this organisation with equal numbers of men and women.

BYAN is conducting Systems Based Audit to access the current level of the institutional capacity of the organisation i.e weaknesses and weakness and recommend measures that should be taken for institutaional development of the organisation. So,BYAN announces the call for Expression of Interest (EOI) from the experienced and qualified experts to carry our System based Audit. Interested and Eligible individual or organisation are invited to submit EOI in the following address mentioning "Expression of Interest for System Based Audit" in the subject line in the following Address : [email protected]

Eligibility to submit the EOI ;

• EOI can be submitted by a company or person having the potential eligibility.
• Interested consultants must provide information with their personal Bio data indicating their qualification to perform the services.
• This expression of interest is open to all eligible Consulting Firm and individual consultants. Renewed Company documents should be submitted in case of the companies.
• Individual consultant shall provide at least 1 details of similar assignment experience, their location in the previous 3 years.
• BYAN will select the consultant based on their experience and amount proposed for the task.
• Working experience and knowledge in disability will be an advantage.

Documents to submit along with EOI :

• Cover letter on the official letter head of company or individual consultant duly signed by authorized signatory.
• Include at least 3 years' experience in the field of SBA and disability in the related topics.
• Budget for the completion of System based audit.
• Updated curriculum vitae demonstrating the mentioned knowledge, skill and expertise required, availability in the proposed service period, a brief plan for how to carry out the services.
• Plan of action, expected services, availability within the expected time and duration to carry out the tasks as per the TOR attached.
• Consultancy fees to carry out the overall task

Date of call for the EOI: 14th August, 2022

Deadline for the Submission of EOI: 5 pm, 14th August, 2022. (Nepali Standard Time)

BYAN reserves the right to select or not to select any of the application. BYAN keeps safeguarding as a top priority so, any data or information collected during the task shall be kept confidential and shall not be disseminated without BYAN's prior consent.

• The Scope of Work for carrying out the systems based audit:

Unless otherwise stated, the time frame is one (1) year back in time for the reviews below.

• Review the capacity of organisational governance:
• Review the organisation’s governance capacity:
  • Is the organisations Vision clear and understandable?
  • Is the organisations Mission clear and understandable?
  • Is the strategy for how to reach their vision and mission clear and understandable?
  • Is the institutional operational plan clear and include expected goals/results?
• Review the organisations institutional budget and if it is possible to read out different financial incomes (donors etc.) and different costs?
• Assess the organisational governing documents and structure together with the transparency towards the organisations members (annual meeting etc.) and identify important weaknesses in the organisational governance

• Review the system for delegation and segregation of duties: 
• Review the organisations document for rules of procedure/delegation system
• Review if the organisation has a procedure/system for appointment of board
• Review the organisation document for segregation of duties and if it is linked to the organisations financial management
• Review the how the organisation complies with their internal document for rules of procedure/delegation and segregation of duties
• Review the Boards documentation and following ups of their own decisions (board meeting protocol etc.)
• Review the organisation document for “the right to sign in the organisations name” (bank accounts/cheques, agreements etc.)
• Assess the organisation work regarding delegation and segregation of duties and identify important weaknesses

•  Review Organisational policies and guidelines:
• Review if current policies and guidelines are signed or approved by board and/or Executive Director in line with internal system for decision making
• Review if the organisations has following policies/guidelines/steering documents (or similar):
  • Financial manual
  • Anti-corruption policy
  • Procurement policy
  • Human Recourse policy
• Assess the organisational work with develop, approve, and update policies and guidelines and identify important weaknesses.  

• Review internal control and compliance environment:
• Review the organisation´s compliance with applicable laws/legislation/agreement terms/regulations that are set by authorities/agencies (such as donors, NGOs, Banks, National tax authority, Labour Ministry, etc.)
• Review the organisation system for ensuring compliance with above laws/legislation/agreement.
• Review the routines for follow-up and the management of findings/comments in audit reports
• Review if the organisation has the required insurance in place
• Assess the organisations work with internal control and compliance and identify important weaknesses. 

• Review the anti-corruption system and risk management
• Review the organisation´s whistle blowing system
• Review the organisation´s documentation of detecting and preventing corruption and minimizing risks of corruption
• Review the organisations documentation of risk and risk management
• Assess the organisation´s polices, work and management with corruption and risk and identify important weaknesses

•  Review Internal system for planning, monitoring and reporting
• Review if the organisation’s strategic and operational plans are linked to their vision and mission
• Review if institutional budget is linked to the organisations operational plan or strategy
• Review the organisations system for overall PME (planning, monitoring and evaluation)
• Review if the institutional annual report describing the development within the organisation in a way that is comparable to the different goals/areas etc. that is set in the organisation’s strategic and/or annual operational plan
• Assess the organisations system for planning, monitoring and reporting and identify important weaknesses

•  Review Financial system
• Review the organisations financial management (accounting, reporting etc.)
• Review the organisation’s following up of comments/shortcomings noted in institutional audits/project audit management letter
• Review the organisation´s system of applying of funds and control regarding use of funds when it comes to different donors
• Review the organisation’s system of budgeting, monitoring and reporting at an institutional level (consolidated budget and financial statement)
• Review the system for making changes in approved budgets
• Review the system/routines when staff’s time are apportioned in different projects
• Review the system of management of payment and refund of advances to staff
• Review the organisation strategy for sustainable and long-term budget planning
• Assess the organisation’s financial system/document, management and internal work within the financial area and identify important weaknesses
• Asses the quality of the financial manual

•  Review Archiving system
• Review the organisations system for back-up, archive and safeguarding of accounting records and other important documents (agreements, reports, staff contracts etc.) according to donor’s conditions and national laws.
• Assess the organisational system and work with back-up, archive and safeguarding of documents etc. and identify important weaknesses

•  Review the Human Resource Management (HRM):
• Review if the HR-policy (or similar document) include;  
  • procedure for reviewing of salaries and benefits
  • procedures for capacity building of staff
  • Recruitment of new staff 
  • Working environment (ensuring a healthy work environment)
• Review routines/system for staff attendance/Leave Record/Time Reporting
• Review if the organisation has a code of conduct and if it prohibits members and employees to use organisational funds for personal gain, be involved in irregularities and corruption with funds from the organisation or in its name as well as sexual harassment, threats or violence when representing the organisation in any circumstance
• Assess the Human Resourse Management and identify important weaknesses

• Reporting Guideline for Deliverables
• The draft report, included attached assessment sheet, along with an Executive Summary will be e-mailed by the Consultant to the organisation, to get their feedback before finalization of the report on this Systems Based Audit.
• The organisation’s management response shall respond to all findings and recommendations made by the Consultant. The response shall be merged in the respective parts of the final Systems Based Audit report.
• The Final Report shall be sent by the Consultant both as digital and hard copies. Language of the reports shall be English.
• The organisations shall present a management respond and action plan based on the findings and recommendations made by the Consultant
• Digital copy of the final report will be sent to MyRight, [email protected] and to the head of the organisations (add email). Two sets of hard copy of the report will be submitted to the partner organisations.

• Proposed timeline for carrying out the Systems Based Audit:

The final report shall be sent not later than 31^st of October 2022.

SlNo	Activities	Requirements	Timeline/ Man Days	Deliverables	Practical things, Responsibilities  and Remarks

• Confidentiality and Ownership:

All the documents that will be provided to the Consultant by the organisation for realizing the Systems Based Audit as per these Terms of Reference will remain the property of the organisation. The Consultant will not divulge any information related to the documents to any third party without getting the written consent from the organisation.

“2 days leadership development training to young women with disabilities.”

Date: 25^th -26^th July 2022

Venue: Pension Vasana, Dillibazar, Kathamndu

BYAN seeks to reduce barriers for young women with disabilities to enhance their leadership capacity. Young women with disabilities face double burden in developing nation like Nepal as being a women in the patriarchal country and being a women with disabilities. Hence, BYAN identified the barriers and problems of young women with disabilities and organized 2 days leadership and capacity development training to young women with disabilities from all 10 BYAN chapters of Nepal. 2 young women with disabilities from each chapters were the representatives from their respective chapters. The training was focused on uplifting the leadership qualities of young women with disabilities. Altogether 20 visually impaired young women with disabilities were present as the participant of the program from 10 chapters of BYAN (Kathmandu, Kaski, Kailali, Jhapa, Morang, Rupandehi, Chitwan, Banke, Bara, Surkhet). Hence, the program was very successful and these young women with disabilities build leadership qualities in themselves. We would like to thank MYRIGHT for supporting us.

नेत्रहिन युवा संघ नेपालले अन्तरराष्ट्रिय युवा दिवस १२ अगष्ट २०२२ (२७ साउन २०७९) को अवसरमा अन्तर कलेज वक्तृत्वकला प्रतियोगीता आयोजना गर्न गइरहेको छ ।

प्रतियोगिताको धाँचा र सहभागी हुने प्रकृया ।

१)सहभागीले निम्न उल्लेखित ३ बिषयहरु मध्य एक बिषय छनौंट गरि उक्त बिषयमा नेपाली भाषामा बोल्नु पर्ने छ ।

क) राजनीतिमा युवा

ख) समाबेशीता राजनीति र अपाङ्गता

ग) मेरो भोट मेरो भबिष्य

२) पहिलो छनौट चरणमा प्रतियोगितामा सहभागी हुन चाहाने बिधार्थीले माथी उल्लेखित बिषयहरु मध्य १ छनौट गरि नेपाली भाषामा बोलेको ३ मिनेटको भिडियो निम्न माध्यवाट १८ साउन २०७९ दिउसो १ बजे सम्म पठाउनु पर्ने छ ।

WhatsApp number: 9801048303

Email address: [email protected]

Google form https://forms.gle/voTPyLue5AbNJ5TF8

३) साथै प्रतियोगिले अनिवार्य आफ्नो बिवरण र कलेजको प्रतिनिधीत्व गरेको बिवरण खुल्ने आधिकारीक परिचय पत्र स्क्यान गरि पेश गर्नु पर्छ ।

४) पहिलो चरणका सहभागी प्रतियोगिहरु मध्य १५ जानालाई  निर्णयक मण्डलको निर्णयमा फाइनल चरणमा छनौट गरिनेछ ।

५)  फाइनलमा सहभागी प्रतियोगिहरुलाई ५ मिनेटको समय दिइनेछ र उक्त समय भित्र निर्णायक मण्डल समक्ष आफनो भनाईहरु राख्नु पर्ने छ । ती मध्ये उत्कृष्ट ३ जनालाई निर्णयक मण्डलले पहिलो, दोस्रो र तेस्रोे बिजयी घोषण गर्ने छ । बिजयी प्रतिनिधिहरुलाई निम्न पुरस्कारको व्यवस्था गरिएको छ ।

• पहिलो पुरस्कार सहभागीलाई नगद रु १५,००० र प्रमाण पत्र,  कलेजलाई ट्रफी र प्रमाण पत्र प्रदान गरिनेछ ।
• दास्रो पुरस्कार सहभागीलाई नगद रु १०,००० र प्रमाण पत्र साथै कलेजलाई ट्रफी र प्रमाण पत्र प्रदान गरिनेछ ।
• तेस्रो पुरस्कार सहभागीलाई नगद रु ५,००० र प्रमाण पत्र साथै कलेजलाई ट्रफी र प्रमाण पत्र प्रदान गरिनेछ ।

Blind Youth Association Nepal (BYAN) organized a voter’s registration program for the people with disabilities. The program was conducted by all our district chapters in the seven provinces of Nepal. This program was organized with an aim of registering the people with disabilities in the voter’s name list for the upcoming elections. Along with this, we also hoped to reach a mass group of people with disabilities and encourage them to practice their political rights and participate in the political affairs of our country.

During our advocacy dialogue program, we realized that several people could not participate in the recent local level election because their names were not registered in the voter’s name list.  Hence, we initiated this small step to help the people with disabilities to register themselves in the voter’s name list for the upcoming elections. And thus, we are proud to say that, we were able to register several people with disabilities which included people with physical disability, intellectual disability as well as blind, partially sighted and deaf via the program.

We are very satisfied, as at the end of the program, all the participants expressed their happiness for being registered and now, eagerly await the next elections to cast their vote. However, we faced some challenges during the program due to the inaccessibility of the location for certain people with disabilities such as wheel-chair users. We hope that this problem will be resolved in the near future.,

Blind Youth Association Nepal (BYAN) has developed minimum standards of accessible electoral systems and practical guidelines for accessible voting process. Thus, a validation workshop was conducted on 16^th June, 2022 at Rock House Café, Ratopul, Kathmandu, Bagmati Province to validate the prepared document by the representatives from the government, representatives from various organization of people with disabilities like Prayatna Nepa, Sakchyam Nepal and government agencies. The validation workshop was organized with the objective to build a common understanding of the accessible electoral process for people with disabilities. It was mainly focused on gathering a diverse group of people with disabilities and get their feedback as well as their perception regarding the prepared document and also further, learn their opinions and suggestions regarding the various components that may contribute to make the electoral systems accessible. People with different types of disabilities participated in the workshop which included blind, partially sighted, physical disability, dwarf along with the parents of intellectual disability.

The validation workshop started by welcoming the chief guest, Mr. Surya Prasad Aryal and the participants by Mr. Kaladhar Bhandari, President of BYAN. He further, gave a brief explanation about the objectives of the workshop along with the the current situation of electoral procedures and difficulties faced by the people with disabilities to achieve their political rights. He was followed by Mrs. Nilu Maharjan, Field Officer of Kathmandu who gave a voter’s education where she highlighted the importance of voting and encouraged the participants to register their names in the voter’s list.  In addition to the voter’s education, the accessible electoral systems related materials prepared by BYAN were also distributed to the participants. After that Mr. Vishwo Ram Shrestha gave a brief presentation about the various topics covered in the guidelines.

The program had the presence of the leaders of the various organizations of people with disabilities with the inclusion of all the diverse group of disabilities. Hence, we were able to gather their opinions and suggestions that can help us overcome the shortcomings of the document. Several issues and queries were also raised by the participants such as the inaccessible website of Election Commission Nepal. Mr. Surya Prasad Aryal, who attended the program as chief guest as well as the spokesperson representing the Election Commission Nepal, answered the queries that were raised and promised to try his best to solve the problems faced by the people with disabilities. We are very grateful to Mr.Aryal as he has also been continuously supporting BYAN for making the guidelines by providing his expertise in electoral systems. Furthermore, various real life stories and struggles of people with disabilities were discussed which can later be used as case study and also, to spread awareness among other people with disabilities.

The group discussion was very helpful as at the end of the program, we were able to identify the challenges and the points that should be modified according to the disabilities. The guidelines prepared specifically for the people with disabilities, will be distributed to all the bodies responsible for making the electoral procedure accessible for the upcoming elections.

All our district chapters have conducted a province level advocacy dialogue program with the stakeholders on the topic “Accessible Elections and Political Participation of People with Disabilities” in Biratnagar (Province-1), Janakpur (Province-2), Hetauda (Province-3), Rupandehi (Province-4), Pokhara (Province-5), Surkhet ( Province-6), Dhangadi (Province-7). The program was initiated with the objective of reaching maximum stakeholders as well as the local citizens and aware them about the significance of their participation in elections and letting them know the importance of their vote because every vote matters. The program was mainly focused to encourage people with disabilities to participate in the local level elections and not let their disability be a hindrance. We also had an aim to persuade the authorities to make the upcoming local level elections accessible to the people with disabilities.

Several personnel attended the program as guests which included Election Commission Officers, political leaders of different political parties, media persons, disability rights activists and people with various disabilities. Hence, we can proudly say the program was a huge success since we were heard by a lot of local citizen and were managed to get through them and encourage them to participate in the local level election.

An article was published on the nagarik news portal:

https://nagarikonline.com/content/5092?fbclid=IwAR0CploT8B8gUOdQ-hTZByzND97EG0Ac8jJ0g6IK6bFJVOm8nuy5BfzPe30

Blind Youth Association Nepal (BYAN), conducted a consultation meeting "Guidelines on disability inclusive Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights", with the various group of people with disabilities with the objective of preparing a disability friendly guideline on Safe motherhood and Sexual reproductive health rights with 45 participants on 29 May 2022. In this consultation meeting blind, low-vision, physical disability, dwarf, autism, intellectual disability, deaf were invited as the participants of the meeting. BYAN is in the process of preparing disability friendly guideline for SRHR and the objective of this consultation meeting was to gather the challenges related to SRHR of PWDs. A brief presentation was provided by the consultant, after that a group discussion was done in 5 groups, blind and partially sighted, physical disability, severe physical disability, deaf, parents of autism and intellectual disabilities, where their common challenges were discussed and presented. The recommendation from the group discussion will be properly documented for further finalizing the guideline. We would like to thank the valuable presence of the chief guest Ms. Kabita Aryal, for representing the family welfare division in the program.

Blind Youth Association Nepal (BYAN) is a national NGO established and run by the Blind and Partially Sighted (BPS) youth of Nepal. As a rights-based organisation, BYAN plays a proactive role in the formulation, amendment and implementation of persons with disabilities (PWDS) related legal provisions, and in organising and capacity-building across the country. BYAN works in collaboration with Government, Civil society organisation, Oranisations of persons with disabilities and Persons with disabilities and their networks. BYAN is currently recruiting a qualified and experienced candidate for the position of Project Coordinator for Political participation of Youth with disabilities "Youth initiative for accessible electoral system and Election Access monitoring".

Project Coordinator-1

Duration- 6 months with possible extension

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

• The Project Coordinator will lead and implement the project activity as planned.

• Recruit master trainers from targeted districts and conduct a Training of Trainers (TOT) to the selected master trainers based on the training curriculum.
• Coordinate to conduct district level trainings from Master trainers to the selected youth with disabilities.
• Engage youth with disabilities and explore innovative methods in political processes using social media including print/broadcasting media .
• Manage all the provincial level advocacy dialogues with stakeholders including election authorities, elected leaders, disabled persons organizations (DPO) and the media including door to door campaign
• Design, Develop and Disseminate accessible awareness materials on accessible election systems
• Conduct media advocacy dialogues on issues related to accessible electoral systems 
• Empower and mainstream youth with disabilities to advocate for accessible election processes and reasonable accommodation.
• Ensure the activities are implemented with the organisations plan of action and achieve the goals set within timeline.
• Work closely with media to bring the positive change on disability issue on electoral processes
•  Ensure the proper documentation and timely reporting following the milestones.

 REQUIREMENTS 

• Master's in Social science with at least 1 years of work experience in related field or Bachelor's degree with 3 years of experience.
• Technical knowledge in political processes and sound understanding On Federal/ Provincial and Local Law and policy provision on Electoral processes.
• Familiar with current socio-political context and change process, Disability and issues relating to it.
• Good Understanding on Disability related National and International laws (UNCRPD, SDG,  Disability Right Act, Inclusive Education Policy, Constitution of Nepal)
• Proven Knowledge on project planning and budgeting, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation and Reporting.
• Respect to the diversity in particular to the poor marginalized, vulnerable and disability population.
• Prior experience working with diverse groups including Youth and Disability is an advantage.

• Excellent Excel skills and MS package, English Nepali Typing .
• Strong verbal and written communication skills in both English and Nepali language
• Having two-wheeler License will be an Advantage.

TO APPLY:

Interested candidates fitting above criteria are kindly requested to apply along with their CV and Cover Letter a [email protected] mentioning the position you are applying in the subject line by 10th June, 2022. Telephone enquiry will not be entertained.   

BYAN Promotes inclusion across gender, caste, ethnicity, Dalits and disability where the persons with disabilities are highly encouraged to apply and given special priority.

Only shortlisted candidates will be called for further process. The organization reserves the right to reject any/all applications without assigning any reasons.