Background

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is the main UN agency in the fight against illicit drugs, crime, corruption, and terrorism in virtue of the UN Conventions and Universal Instruments in this regard. The UNODC Regional Office for South Asia (UNODC ROSA) is in New Delhi and covers six countries of the region: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Under its Regional Programme for South Asia for the period 2018-2022, UNODC is delivering technical assistance to South Asia under the following five sub-programmes: (1) countering transnational organized crime; (2) a comprehensive response to the drug problem (drug trafficking & drugs and health); (3) countering corruption; (4) terrorism prevention; (5) criminal justice and crime prevention.

Currently, under its ongoing sub programme on drugs and health, UNODC is implementing a joint programme with UNAIDS under the Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF). This joint United Nations HIV/AIDS plan of action for 2021 aims at changing the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Gujarat State by impacting on key areas to fast tract the Gujarat State’s HIV/AIDS response.

Under the UBRAF/India project, UNODC is supporting the Gujarat State AIDS Control Society (GSACS) and Gujarat Prisons to strengthen HIV prevention, treatment and care in prisons and other closed settings and on harm reduction services by supporting inter-state learning.  Therefore, to expedite the activities under the same, UNODC seeks to engage the services of the consultant based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Overall objective of assignment: under the overall supervision of the Representative/Deputy Representative the consultant will assist the Criminal Justice expert at UNODC ROSA to deliver activities in Gujarat.

Duties and Responsibilities

As a part of the project activities, the consultant will provide technical support to GSACS, Department of Prisons and other partners that include Police Dept., Women’s homes, the OST Centres and the PWID TIs located at Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat; for planning, designing and implementation of interventions/ initiatives related to prevention of HIV, HIV Counseling and testing and linkages for treatment services. The emphasis will be to strengthen health systems for effectively responding to HIV/AIDS, build partnerships and create awareness for preventing HIV transmission tor PWID population, prisons and for women in closed settings.

Competencies

Competences:

• Professionalism: Demonstrated ability to provide effective specialized advice in a broad range of development assistance issues in particular as it relates to drugs and HIV; ability to ensure adequate preparation of reports or rationale with respect to key technical assistance decisions.
• Planning and organizing: Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan and those under his/her supervision. Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required.
• Accountability: Takes ownership of all responsibility and honors commitments; delivers outputs in line with agreed schedules, budgets and quality standards in line with prevailing rules, regulations and procedures.
• Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailored language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.
• Creativity: Actively seeks to improve programmes or services; offers new and different options to solve problems or meet client needs; promotes and persuades others to consider new ideas; takes calculated risks on new and unusual ideas; thinks “outside the box”; takes an interest in new ideas and new ways of doing things; is not bound by current thinking or traditional approaches.
• Teamwork - Proven interpersonal skills and the ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity. Shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

Required Skills and Experience

Experience and qualifications required:

• Post graduate degree in social sciences, psychology, social work, or a related field.
• At least 5 years of professional experience in working on HIV, injecting drug use issues and in-depth understanding of the National AIDS Control Programme architecture and the Targeted Intervention model for injecting drug users.
• Experience managing projects within government facility/programme setting, especially experience on HIV/AIDS
• At least 2 years of working in association with the National AIDS Control Programme/ State AIDS Control Societies on HIV interventions in community and Prison settings.
• Demonstrable experience of quality programme- planning health interventions, conducting training sessions
• Excellent representation and advocacy skills and the ability to negotiate effectively
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Gujarati and the ability to write clear analytical reports in English
• Ability to demonstrate a high degree of self-motivation and strategic thinking
• Ability to work on own initiative and organising time effectively within a range of often conflicting deadlines.
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team
• Proficiency in MS word. MS excel Languages:  

Time frame:

The contract will be for a period of 3 and half months from 15th September- 31 December 2021.

Reporting and communication:

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Representative/Deputy Representative UNODC Regional Office for South Asia and the direct supervision of the Criminal Justice Expert based at New Delhi.

Specific deliverables:  

The Consultant will carry out the following activities under the UBRAF workplan: -

Deliverables:

A completion report of the deliverables, to be submitted as per timeline mentioned above

Travel

• The Consultant will be based at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Travel is required within the districts in the state as per the programme priorities. The consultant is expected to make own arrangements for travel and stay.

Payments:

Payment will be made upon submission of completion report in line with the tasks completed as per deliverables and to the satisfaction of UNODC’s project team.

Documents to be submitted:

• Updated CV / P-11 form with contact details of 3 references.
• Technical proposal outlining the approach to implementation of the activities outlined in the scope of work.

Award of the contract:

The contract shall be awarded to the individual whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive to the criteria outlined in the ToR.
• Having received the highest score of a pre-determined set of technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation and based on cumulative criteria.

Technical criteria weight - 70 marks

• Educational Qualification - 20 points.
• Experience in working with National AIDS control organization/ State AIDS Control Societies/ Technical Support Unit - 35 points.
• Experience in the harm reduction, prison interventions field - 15 points.

Financial Criteria weight - 30 marks

• Technically qualified consultants will be requested to submit their Consultancy fee rate i.e. consultants who score morethan 70% i.e. 49 marks with respect to the above-mentioned evaluation criteria. Consultant should not specify theirconsultancy fee on their CV or with the submission. The CV will not be evaluated further in case the consultant submitsthe same.

Note:

• If the consultant anticipates some absolutely necessary field travel, it should be budgeted in the proposal;
• Any kind of miscellaneous charges i.e. Internet, phone etc. would not be reimbursed;
• Please note proposals without the financial proposal will not be considered.

Contact information for queries related to the Request for Proposals:

For any clarification please contact:

seema.arya@un.org