UNDP Jobs - 71956- Re-advertisement - Elaboration of Civil Society St

Re-advertisement - Elaboration of Civil Society Strategy in response to PEN IV 2016-2020

Location :

Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

18-Aug-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

37 days

Languages Required :

English Portuguese

Expected Duration of Assignment :

37 Days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

UNDP’s democratic governance practice focuses on fostering inclusive participation, strengthening responsive governing institutions, and promoting democratic principles. UNDP’s commitment to HIV and other major health challenges is based on the principles that health is both a driver and outcome of development and that actions across a wide range of development sectors have a significant impact on health outcomes. UNDP focuses on addressing the social, economic and environmental determinants of health, which are primarily responsible for health inequalities.

The project intends to strengthen the capacity of the Government National AIDS Council in coordination and communication among stakeholders to increase efforts to eliminate the epidemic. This is in line with the Political Declaration adopted by the UN High Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS held in 2011, where the Heads of State agreed “to develop additional measures, where necessary, to strengthen national, regional and global coordination and monitoring mechanisms of HIV and AIDS responses through inclusive and transparent processes with the full involvement of Member States and other relevant stakeholders, with the support of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS”.

The project has 4 specific outputs:
Output 1: The capacity of National AIDS Council at national level, and in selected provinces and districts improved to coordinate planning, implementation and monitoring of the HIV programmes.
Output 2: The HIV law is reviewed, disseminated and implemented.
Output 3: The grant management model is revised.
Output 4: The revised grant management model is adopted and implemented by the Government.

Rationale for activity implementation (Development of CSO Strategy in response to PEN IV)

In Mozambique, HIV and AIDS constitutes a major challenge for the development of the country. The prevalence of HIV among Mozambican adults aged 15-49 is 11.5% (2009 AIDS Indicator Survey). Gaza Province has the highest prevalence rate among adults (25.1%) and Niassa has the lower (3.7%). The INSIDA report also revealed that HIV prevalence is higher in urban areas than in rural areas.

In terms of gender, the INSIDA report reveals an increase in the feminization of HIV with the rate of infection among women higher comparing to men (13.1% and 9.2%, respectively). In Sofala, the prevalence among young women is almost five times higher than men of similar age, and in Gaza it is almost six times higher. Gender inequalities are the basis of both violence against women and increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Unequal power relationships play a role by influencing risky sexual behaviors and help perpetuate violence against women and girls.

The fight against HIV and AIDS will continue to be a priority for the Government of Mozambique, and it is reflected in the 5-year government plan for the period of 2015-2020. The new HIV National Strategic Plan recently approved (NSP- IV) for the period of 2015-2019 and the new the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2016-2020, both reflect the HIV specific country concerns.

Civil Society Organizations have multiple functions in development agenda in general and have role in the HIV/AIDS pandemic and governance at all levels, from the local to the global. There is general agreement that strong CSO’s participation in the response to HIV and Health in general is essential to control the epidemic. In the AIDS response, CSOs have played a critical role since the first NSP. They have been key providers of prevention, treatment, care and support services and have worked to create the social, political, legal and financial environment needed to effectively respond to the epidemic. Although with all these contributions from the CSO, some of them as part of the implementation of three generations of NSP, one of the report statements under the final evaluation of NSP III, was the fact that CSO contribution was not easy or possible to measure. At some point this was also associated with lack or even no CSO’s clear strategy to response to NSP.

To overcome the referred challenge, the NSP IV, integrates for the first time, specific components for CSO intervention, the strengthening of community systems, human rights and justice; issues that require civil society to a greater contribution. In this sense, becomes therefore even more relevant to develop a CSO strategy, that can guide, direct the inclusion of CSO’s and during the monitoring of NSP implementation capture the relevant contribution of civil society in a more coordinated national response from national to local level.

In addition, many CSO’s face other challenges, as chronic resource constraints, capacity building, partnerships, which can limit the extent and scope of the collective important work contribution they do to the NSP’s. A common framework of operations compiled around a CSO strategy, will also play a greater and more consistent technical, material, financial support to policy-makers, donors and multilateral agencies to support the CSO’s.

Description of the assignment:

Development of the Civil Society Strategy for a better response to the National Strategic Plan IV 2016-2020 and the Global Fund.

The deliverable provided by the Consultant Expert(s) will be a detailed Country Strategy for CSO’s interventions that can support the implementation of NSP IV 2016-2020 and/or in the Global Fund.

The document should develop an approach that promotes the development and sustainability of communities and community organizations and actors, and enables them to contribute to the long-term sustainability of health and other interventions at community level.

Duties and Responsibilities

The expert(s), will develop the work in two phases:

Part A

Literature Review to take stock of the existent work already done by CSO’s;
Conduct a field work data collection.

Specific activities will include:

Analysis of existent documents, data and information collected;
Prepare a data collection tool or data collection questionnaire;
Consult with the relevant stakeholders

Part B

Develop the Strategy.
Validation.

The Expert(s) will use as main reference documents the NSP IV and the Global Fund country current concept note on community interventions, as well as other informative documents to be provided by the relevant stakeholders.

A. Expected Outputs / Deliverables

The expert(s) will produce will produce clear measurable deliverables, as follows:

Deliverable 1: Conduct a desk review of key documents;
Deliverable 2: A Data collection tool/ A questionnaire for data collection;
Deliverable 3: Conduct a data collection through a deep interview with key Intervenient (CSO’s, selected government institutions, Private sector, UN);
Deliverable 4: Conduct a data analysis;
Deliverable 5: Deliver the first draft Report;
Deliverable 6: Facilitate the validation session;
Deliverable 7: Deliver the final Report.

Competencies

The Expert(s) is expected to have core competencies:

Promoting Ethics and Integrity/Creating Organizational Precedents;
Building and promoting effective civil society capacity building;
Leveraging PLASOC-M mandate ;
Fair and transparent language.

Additionally, he/she is expected to have functional competencies

Contributing to positive outcomes for the national multisector response in a client based approach that:

Support the development of Data-base of information;
Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider;
Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective;
Keeps the client informed of problems or delays in the provision of services;
Uses discretion and flexibility in interpreting rules in order to meet client needs and achieve organizational goals more effectively;
Solicits feedback on service provision and quality.
Strong interpersonal and written and oral communication skills;
Ability to work well in multi-disciplinary teams.

Required Skills and Experience

For complementarity, a team of 2 consultants is recommended that a mix of skill set be considered for this exercise (knowledge of CSO and HIV and knowledge and facilitation skills of similar process).

The Senior consultant leads all the research and provides guidance to the Junior consultant. The required qualifications for the Senior Consultant are:

Education:

Advanced degree in Sociology, Anthropology, Social Sciences, Development studies, Political Sciences, Public Health, Medicine, Statistics or related fields.

Experience:

Minimum of 10 years of “relevant” work experience in Monitoring and Evaluation of public policies of HIV and AIDS in Mozambique.
Practical experience on writing reports in HIV and AIDS area;
Practical experience in consultations and in the development of M&E Framework;
Extensive experience with CSO’s issues;
Proven facilitation skills (workshops, data collection, etc.).

Language:

Good Knowledge of Portuguese and English.

The Junior consultant works under the total responsibility of the Senior consultant. The required qualifications for the Junior Consultant are:

Degree in Sociology, Anthropology, Social Sciences, Development studies, Political Sciences, Public Health, Medicine, Statistics or related fields;
Minimum of 5 years of “relevant” work experience in such type of exercise
Practical experience on writing reports in HIV and AIDS area;
Practical experience in consultations and in the implementation of mapping exercise;
Extensive experience on civil society issues;
Proven facilitation skills (workshops, data collection, etc.);
Good Knowledge of Portuguese and English.