National Consulting firm for Care Geo Referencing

The assignment encompasses five interconnected work streams, broadly aligned with the CGT implementation phases:

A. Data Collection and Mapping of Care Supply

The firm shall identify, request, collect, and process data on the supply of care services from national and subnational institutions, including but not limited to:

1.      Early childhood care and education centers including but not limited to workplace creches, public, private, and community based.

2.      Elderly care facilities (residential, day-care, and community-based)

3.      Services and centers for persons with disabilities (specialized, rehabilitative, inclusive education)

4.      Community-based and municipal care services

5.      The firm shall also conduct qualitative and quantitative surveys to complement existing data.

Data collection activities shall include:

1.      Compiling and dispatching formal data requests to relevant ministries, agencies, local governments, and regulatory bodies, guided by the CGT Data Sources Checklist.

2.      Conducting technical meetings with data custodians to clarify variable definitions, coverage, and limitations.

3.      Obtaining official administrative boundaries and geospatial files (shapefiles, GeoJSON, or Geo Package format) from the national mapping agency or statistics office at all relevant administrative levels.

4.      Geocoding service addresses and harmonizing variables across datasets (type of center, ownership, target group, capacity, operating hours, services offered).

5.      Complementing administrative records with alternative data sources, including web scraping, API queries (e.g. Google Maps, OpenStreetMap/Overpass Turbo), and collaborative field mapping or crowd-mapping to capture community initiatives absent from official registries.

6.      Merging, cleaning, deduplicating, and classifying data to build a unified, documented supply database.

B. Data Collection and Mapping of Care Demand

The firm shall secure access to, process, and analyze data on the territorial distribution of populations that require care, including:

1.      Developing key parameters for care demand, including priority groups.

2.      Census microdata with relevant sociodemographic variables (age, sex, disability status, household composition) at the census tract level or the smallest viable geographic unit available.

3.      Population projections and estimates disaggregated by age group, sex, and territory.

4.      Microdata from relevant household surveys (disability surveys, time-use surveys, labor force surveys) where applicable.

5.      Beneficiary registries from social protection programs, georeferenced or territorially disaggregated.

6.      Birth registries or similar administrative datasets with territorial detail.

The firm shall calculate care-relevant demand indicators by territory and, where needed, apply small-area estimation techniques to generate high-resolution population estimates for relevant groups.

C. Accessibility and Gap Analysis

The firm shall conduct a GIS-based accessibility and gap analysis to identify care deserts — territories where the demand for care is high but services are not effectively reachable. This shall include:

1.      Compiling data on transport networks, road infrastructure, and mobility conditions (public transport routes, road networks, travel modes).

2.      Defining accessibility scenarios in consultation with the UNDP Country Office and government counterparts, including maximum travel time thresholds (e.g., 15, 30, and 45 minutes) and relevant travel modes (walking, public transport, mixed).

3.      Applying routing algorithms to calculate travel times from population locations to the nearest care services, estimating service coverage areas, and identifying geographic gaps.

4.      Disaggregating accessibility findings by population group, urban/rural context, and relevant vulnerability dimensions (gender, disability status, poverty).

5.      Documenting the methodology, assumptions, and limitations of the accessibility analysis.

D. Development of the Interactive Care Map and Care Map Platform

The firm shall design, develop, and deploy an open-source, interactive Digital Care Map Platform—a geospatial decision-support tool integrating supply, demand, and accessibility data to inform care-related policy and infrastructure:

1.      Consulting with the UNDP Country Office and government counterparts on the structure, layers, filters, and functionalities of the viewer (including population group filters, service type filters, public/private distinction, export options, and basic analytics).

2.      Developing the visualization using open-source software, following accessibility standards and adapting where possible to the needs of persons with disabilities.

3.      Supporting a decision on hosting options of the Platform (national servers or UNDP platforms such as Geohub) in coordination with government IT counterparts.

4.      Testing the tool with end users, including policymakers, technical staff, and civil society, and refining based on feedback.

5.      Preparing technical documentation and a user guide for the Care Map.

E. Capacity Building and Knowledge Transfer

The firm shall support a structured process of capacity building and knowledge transfer to ensure the long-term sustainability of the CGT outputs. This includes:

1.      Designing and delivering training sessions for designated government technical teams, covering CGT methodology, dataset management and updating, and administration of the visualization tool.

2.      Preparing all documentation required for government teams to independently maintain and update the tool.

3.      Supporting the integration of CGT findings into relevant policy and planning processes, as guided by the UNDP Country Office.

F. Development of Innovative and Sustainable Model for Care Services

The firm shall identify a sustainable and innovative model for care services in Bhutan. This includes:

1.      Review of past and ongoing initiatives on care services including challenges and opportunities

2.      Refer to international and regional best practices

3.      Consult relevant care service providers including relevant CSOs and private sector

4.      Develop an innovative and sustainable option for care services in Bhutan