Background

UNDP has recently been requested by the Global Fund to support the HIV grant, starting July 2021 until December 2023 as Principal recipient. This Global Fund HIV grant will provide the amount of US$ 47,104,249 million to Pakistan over two and a half years. It will contribute to the achievement of the overall, strategic goals of the Pakistan AIDS Strategy IV - PAS-IV on addressing low prevention and testing coverage among key populations by:

Scaling up community-based interventions, improving treatment access for all, and by challenging stigma and discrimination through training for health care workers and others, and to strengthen the national M&E system for improved cascade monitoring.

To reach these goals, UNDP Pakistan aims to support the relevant implementing partners in:

• increasing coverage of the prevention services for MSM by 39% (of Population Size Estimates - PSE) by 2023 from the 2019 baseline;

• increasing coverage of the prevention services for FSW (of PSE) by 44% by 2023 from the 2019 baseline;

• increasing coverage of the prevention services for TG (of PSE) by 56% by 2023 from the 2019 baseline; and increasing coverage of the treatment services for PLHIV by 35% (of the estimated PLHIV) by 2023 from the 2019 baseline

  The small, rural town of Ratodero in Sindh Province became the center of media attention in April 2019 when a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) outbreak was confirmed primarily among children and some women, with most residing in Ratodero or adjoining villages and towns in the area. After receiving media attention, key authorities began working on the response in Ratodero in partnership with the Sindh AIDS Control Program, UN Agencies, Agha Khan University Hospital and Non-governmental organizations. UN partners (WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNFPA) together with academia investigated the causes of the HIV outbreak spending weeks in the field, meeting communities and other local stakeholders. The investigation concluded that pediatric infections may have occurred over several months, iatrogenic transmission via unsafe injection practices and poor infection prevention and control were almost certainly the sources of the outbreak.

  Through a collaborative effort by all stakeholders including the Sindh AIDS Control Program, Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, UN partners and academia developed a comprehensive “Sindh HIV Outbreak Response Plan 2019-2020. It was designed to provide a coherent, concrete plan of action to effectively address the outbreak and mobilize the required resources. Five technical response working groups were established by the Department of Health and the Government of Sindh that included WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF, FELTP, Aga Khan University, UNFPA and CDC to respond to the HIV outbreak.

Duties and Responsibilities

The International Consultant (IC) will be responsible for the overall management of the assignment and will lead the team including communication, coordination and reporting consultant, Costing Consultant for the assignment in consultation with National consultant. Overall the IC will analyze the following seven pillars of the response undertaken by the Department of Health Government of Sindh, Partners, and key stakeholders:

• Surveillance, detection, and early warning

• Diagnosis, case confirmation, patient monitoring and laboratory capacities.

• Case management

• Infection prevention and control (IPC) measures, hospital waste management, and blood & injection safety.

• Risk communication, community engagement, counselling, and stigma reduction

• Response co-ordination, operations management, and resource mobilization

• Pediatrics care, Prevention of parent to child transmission (PPTCT)

Specific scope of work will include:

1. Desk Review and analysis of all existing documentation/ information of the current state of the programme

2. Technically support team in finalizing the questionnaires for key informant interviews (to be developed with UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNDP, WHO, UNFPA, JSI, AKU and other relevant partners)

3. Lead the technical briefings on issues such as the current epidemiological situation, programme interventions undertaken at community level, interventions, achievements, challenges, and future perspectives. The briefing should also expand on specific programme areas immediately relevant to the review.

4. Collecting information verifying the findings of the desk review, seeking explanations for these findings and filling information gaps,

5. Key questions (but not limited to be addressed during the review

• What was in place before the response in terms of HIV response including prevention, treatment-related services?

• What was the level of stigma and discrimination faced by communities? How was it addressed and what needs to be done further? Who were the key opinion makers approached to deepen awareness on HIIV prevention?

• What happened during the response? Who did what?

• What is working well and needs to be continued or expanded?

• What is not working well and needs to be reformulated or discontinued?

• What else can be done or introduced to improve performance?

• Oversight the team for interviews with individuals and groups such as policymakers, programme managers, representatives of affected populations, implementers, and donors), and other key informants.

• Site Visits to observe how HIV services are being delivered and assess the existing capacity to deliver them

• Consultation meetings

• Leading evening debriefings with team, UNDP and other relevant parties

Competencies

• Demonstrated analytical, communication and report writing skills

• Excellent interviewing, public speaking at high levels

• Demonstrated experience of working with development organizations and government counterparts is desirable;

• Previous experience of working with a UN agency is an asset;

• Ability to work effectively as part of a team;

• Fluency in English;

• Urdu and knowledge of other local languages would be a plus.

Required Skills and Experience

Interested individuals for International Consultant should meet the following minimum qualification criteria:

1. Master’s degree in social sciences, public health or related to the area of HIV/AIDS prevention

2. Minimum 7-10 years professional expertise in international development co-operation, HIV/AIDS prevention, in programme reviews, evaluation, impact assessment and strategic recommendations for continued support/development of programming/strategies including strong reporting skills

3. Extensive experience in conducting programmatic reviews, evaluations, strong working knowledge of overall UN Systems, UNDP, Global Fund, the civil society sector and working with government public authorities in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention

Evlauation Criteria: