UNICEF Mongolia is looking for a National Consultant will provide technical assistance to renew the “List of diseases and injuries of older persons and persons with disabilities requiring permanent care,” and the “Assessment Criteria and Indicators for Evaluating Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities Requiring Permanent Care.
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For every child, the right to protect.
The Mongolia Country Office Country Programme is committed to protecting children's rights in line with international obligations. The programme priorities were selected based on consultations with national counterparts, United Nations agencies, and development partners to focus on areas that need action to achieve child-related national priorities and reduce equity gaps. The programme priorities, which include Health, Education, WASH and Climate Change, Child Protection, and Social Policy, aims to promote funding, policies, and address geographic disparities across the country.
Mongolia has taken formal legislative and policy steps to protect the rights and welfare of persons with disabilities, including ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and adopting the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2016. However, implementation gaps remain due to limited resources and capacity challenges in frontline service delivery.
As of 2024–2025, Mongolia has an estimated 111,000–115,000 persons with disabilities, the majority of whom are of working age. Despite the existence of formal legal protections, labour market inclusion remains limited, with only around 15,300 persons with disabilities employed, indicating persistent structural and accessibility barriers. In terms of social protection coverage, as of 2024, approximately 36,623 persons with disabilities receive a disability pension, while 17,166 persons with disabilities and 15,064 children with disabilities are assessed as requiring permanent care and receiving a care allowance.
Mongolia’s social protection system provides cash benefits, including disability pensions and care allowances for adults and children requiring constant care, as well as annual assistance for utility, heating costs, and assistive devises in accordance with national legislation governing social benefits and subsidies. Eligibility for these benefits relies primarily on clinical disability assessment methods. Disability status for adults is determined by the Health Assessment Committee (HAC) operating under the General Office for Social Insurance, while eligibility for permanent care allowances persons with disabilities is defined by the Hospital Monitoring Committee based on the capacity loss (percentage) assessed by the HAC.
In order to accurately identify services that respond to the specific characteristics and needs of children/adults with disabilities, harmonize terminology with international treaties and conventions, and align services provided to adults/children with disabilities with international practice and disability classification systems, there is a growing need to review and revise relevant regulations and documentation. The current lists contains shortcomings such as absence of international disease coding, inaccuracies in localizing terminologies and definition and the exclusion of certain conditions that clearly require permanent care, which complicates implementation and inclusive support
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How can you make a difference?
The consultant will provide technical assistance to renew the “List of diseases and injuries of older persons and persons with disabilities requiring permanent care,” and the “Assessment Criteria and Indicators for Evaluating Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities Requiring Permanent Care which approved by the joint order of the Minister’s of Health and Minister of Labour and social protection on “Approving list, criteria and form” issued on 28th of December 2021, А/807, А/21. Also, prepare proposal on the revision for “List of Diseases Used as a Basis for Certifying the Degree, Duration and Cause of Loss of Work Capacity of an Insured Person, and for Making Work-Related Adjustments” used at the General Authority (GASI) for Social Insurance.
The consultant will provide support in 2 Phases:
1. Update the list of diseases and injuries of older persons and persons with disabilities requiring permanent care, its criteria.
• Assess the current process for identifying individuals in need of care, including the use of disease lists and assessment criteria applied in this process and will evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.
• Review international practices and present 3–4 good examples.
• Ensure and support coordination the participation of working group members and relevant stakeholders in the technical work to update the disease lists and assessment criteria.
• Align disease classifications with relevant international treaties and conventions, International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD) as well as the “List of Diseases Used as a Basis for Certifying the Degree, Duration and Cause of Loss of Work Capacity of an Insured Person and for Making Work-Related Adjustments” as references.
• Carry out capacity building training (including knowledge product) and awareness raising activities for relevant stakeholders on revised list assessment criteria to support the implementation.
2. Provide technical support in incorporating International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health(ICF) to into the structure and system defining permanent care.
• carry out feasibility of applying and introducing the ICF, human resource capacity needs, gaps and opportunities by referencing the “ICF Roadmap” developed by working group led by a Parliament member and current progress made by stakeholders.
• Rollout roadmap/plan for introducing or incorporating the ICF for the defining permanent care system and the proposed approach should be presented to the stakeholders for validation.
• Support the MFLSP and UNICEF in programming and systems strengthening expansion and inclusion of social protection to people with disabilities and children with disabilities by providing evidence and preparing policy notes for policy dialogues.
Contract duration: 5 months
Project Management:
Technical supervision will be provided by Chief of Social Policy of UNICEF Mongolia, while counterpart coordination will be ensured through the Director General of the Social Welfare Policy Department Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Protection.
Type of engagement: Deliverable based
If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: 
Updating ICD list_ToR_National Consultant_VA.pdf
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum requirements:
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- Advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Public Health, Medicine, Disability Studies or a related field.
- Minimum 10 years of experience in health policy and programming, health and disability assessment systems, care needs assessment for children, older persons, or persons with disabilities
- Proven experience in formulation and revision of list of diseases, classifications and application in relevant processes required.
- Proven experience of reviewing or revising regulatory frameworks, assessment tools, disease lists, or eligibility criteria related to disability or long-term care;
- Strong knowledge of international approaches related to disability assessments is an asset.
- Proficient level in English is required.
For every Child, you demonstrate...
UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
(1) Builds and maintains partnerships
(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
(3) Drive to achieve results for impact
(4) Innovates and embraces change
(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity
(6) Thinks and acts strategically
(7) Works collaboratively with others
Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.
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