Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Zimbabwe, serves as the Principal Recipient (PR) of the 3-year Global Fund HIV Grant (2018-2020) and provides Fund Administrator support services to the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), the PR for TB and Malaria grants. As part of its PR role, UNDP implements capacity development (CD) activities to strengthen the systems for health and national institutions. Such capacity development responses are designed based on the needs and priorities of national implementing partners, national stakeholders and aligned to national strategies.

The National AIDS Council (NAC) is one of the Sub-Recipients (SR) for the Global Fund supported HIV Grant specifically managing AGYW and KP programs. In this regard, NAC collaborates with UNDP on capacity development initiatives, to effectively respond to changing landscape of the HIV epidemic. With more than 20 years in existence, NAC’s main mandate is to coordinate the multi-sectorial response to HIV/AIDS. Specifically, and among other responsibilities, NAC performs the following functions; -

• Ensure the development of strategies and policies to respond to HIV/AIDS
• Mobilisation of resources in support of the National response to HIV/AIDS
• Enhance the capacity of the various sectors of the community to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to coordinate their response.

As one of the Sub-Recipients (SRs) to the HIV Global Fund grant (2018-2020), NAC is working with various stakeholders in promoting access to HIV services by selected Key Populations (KP) groups in the country. In addition, NAC is also coordinating the Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) grant on prevention programmes for adolescents and youths in and out of school across 30 Districts in Zimbabwe. The programmes include Sista2Sista, Modified DREAMS, SASA!, One Stop Centres and Male Engagement.

The Government of Zimbabwe and UNFPA launched the National Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH) Strategy II (2016-2020), supported by the Integrated Support Programme (ISP), under the Health Development Fund.  The five-year national ASRH strategy, focuses on sustained healthy behaviour uptake by young people, and ensuring quality multi-sectoral ASRH services are available supported by a protective legal and policy environment. ASRH strategy also encourages multi-sectoral evidence-based interventions with close linkages and integration, emphasizing the essential role of education, protection and sustainable livelihoods for young people and the need for greater investment in young people as a key driver in reaping the demographic dividend in the future.

It is noted that this strategy is silent on the ASRH needs of young Key Populations (KPs) and Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW). The exclusion of these two important population groups in the National strategic document that guides programming on ASRH issues in the country negates on the ability of various national programmes to adequately address ASRH demands of the population. For the attainment of holistic ASRH programming it is therefore important to develop a comprehensive addendum to the current ASRH strategy and foster its incorporation in the sector-wide design of National ASRH programmes and their implementation.

 Purpose of Consultancy, Scope of Work and Timelines:

The purpose of this consultancy is to develop an addendum to the existing strategic plan to include KPs and AGYW, the current national strategy on Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH), 2016-2020 is silent on KPs and AGYW. The consultant is expected to closely work with National stakeholders and local partners implementing these programmes so as to better understand the current gaps and come up with an addendum that adequately addresses the ASHR needs of KPs and AGYW. The addendum will address the needs of a selected group of Key Populations to include Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), Transgender (TG), Sex Workers (SW) both male and female, as well as for Adolescent Girls and Young Women. The addendum should be developed in the context of the country’s poor ASRH outcomes that include; High risk sexual activity involving paid sex; Sex with an older partner (as is the case with MSM); Increase in STI transmission; Low uptake of HIV testing and barriers to accessing youth friendly services. Issues to do with stigma and discrimination particularly among Key Populations should be clearly addressed. Also the limited access to youth centres by girls and young women particularly in the rural areas should be adequately interrogated. This consultancy is national in nature and is planned for 30 days over a period of no more than two calendar months. It is important to note partners in this grant have entered an acceleration mode as the grant enters its final year of implementation in 2020, hence the need to deliver the guidelines within the stipulated timelines.

          
Overall Objective                                                                                                                                   

The overall objective of the consultancy is to broaden ASRH programming in the country to facilitate the inclusion of KPs and AGYW’s participation with a focus on improving the various ASRH outcomes that are being measured under the current National ASHR strategy.

The specific objectives of this consultancy are:

•         To review the current ASRH national strategy II (2016-2020) and document the extent of the exclusion of issues that affect KPs and AGYW.
•       To identify barriers to accessing of ASRH services by adolescents, youths and special targeted groups such as KPs and AGYW and how these could be addressed to improve programme outcomes.
•     To develop an addendum to the current ASRH strategy document that adequately addresses the needs of KPs and AGYW with the aim of creating positive impact on the ASRH outcomes that are being measured in the programme.
•      To facilitate a stakeholder meeting to discuss, finalise and adopt the addendum and motivate for its wider use in the implementation of ASRH programmes in the country.
•       To facilitate a sensitisation workshop to key national stakeholders and sub-national programme implementers on the addendum and how it will impact on the ASRH outcomes as currently measured.

Proposed Methodology:

The consultant is expected to use a mixed method approach whereby available information will be reviewed and this will focus on policy, advocacy and coordination in the current programme. The following documents should be reviewed to establish the current gaps that impact negatively on the exclusion of KPs and AGYW; i.e. National Reproductive Health Policy; Zimbabwe National HIV and AIDS Strategic plans, National Health Strategy and the Education Policy. The latter is particularly important as the majority of the ASRH age groups Adolescents: 10-19 years and Youths: 15 -24 Years are predominantly in schools and colleges.

Stakeholder consultations on the various ASRH needs of the KPs groups and AGYW will also be conducted. Face to face meetings with policy makers at the national level and programme implementers at the sub-national levels (Provinces and districts) would be arranged as well as more focused group discussions involving various interest groups by way of convening meetings. It is also important to involve representations of Key population groups and AGYW in these discussions to ensure that their voices are heard and that their needs are adequately addressed in the addendum. During this process the consultant will also engage stakeholders on the draft ASRH addendum before their final presentation and adoption. A formal presentation of the Addendum that involves key stakeholders will also form the basis of this methodology. A sensitisation workshop for key stakeholders involved with the implementation of the ASRH programme at all levels is also planned to foster wider implementation of the issues outlined in the addendum, Records of such meetings or engagements with stakeholders should be kept and presented as part of the consultant’s deliverables for this work.

Duties and Responsibilities

Specific Tasks:

The Consultant will:

• Conduct desk review on the existing National ASRH strategy II (2016-2020) and document gaps with particular focus on programming needs of KPs and AGYW in general and more specifically in the context of the current GF supported grant.
• Undertake stakeholder consultations through face to face interactions with policy makers, programme implementers, focal persons of CSOs and representatives of KPs and AGYW as appropriate conduct reference group discussion.
• Convene a meeting to discuss the draft ASRH addendum and take further input from stakeholders
• Facilitate a meeting to present the guidelines for adoption by stakeholders
• Facilitate a sensitisation workshop on the ASRH addendum and motivate for its wider implementation with the aim of improving programme outcomes for these key groups.
• Proper packaging of the ASRH addendum and their delivery to UNDP and NAC.

Expected Outputs / Deliverables:

•       Inception meeting report including a detailed work plan and timelines
•       Reports on stakeholder engagements and draft ASRH addendum
•      Report on the addendum finalisation meeting
•      ASRH addendum finalised and duly signed off by NAC with formal endorsement from the stakeholders’ meeting.
•      Sensitisation workshop report on the addendum and how it will impact on the delivery of programme outcomes.

Schedule of Deliverables and Payments:

 Deliverable                                                     No. of Days                        Payment

Inception report and a detailed work plan                       5                                   20%    

Desk review and consultations                                       8                                  0%

Presentation of draft addendum                                     8                                  20%

Submission of final addendum                                       2                                  20%

Sensitisation workshop on the addendum                      2                                  0%

Submission of final report/addendum                             5                                  40%

Total Number of Days                                                 30

Reporting and Institutional Arrangements:

UNDP hires and manages the contract to ensure that the assignment is delivered in line with UN values, whilst NAC, through the M&E Director’s office shall provide overall supervision in line with the core objective of the assignment. The consultant will report to the UNDP Capacity Development Officer, and will work closely with NAC and MOHCC focal persons, as well as the AGYW and KPs implementing partners.

Competencies

Corporate:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional:

• Strong analytical, research and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality, practical and user-friendly guidelines.
• Professional and/or academic experience in one or more of the areas of international development, public health or related field.

Project and Resource Management:

• Ability to produce high quality outputs in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating the evolving client needs.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Ability to work independently, produce high quality outputs.

Communications and Advocacy:

• Strong ability to write clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences and speak clearly and convincingly.
• Strong analytical, research and writing skills with demonstrated ability to think strategically.
• Strong inter-personal, negotiation and liaison skills.
• Strong training and facilitation skills

Partnership building and team work:

• Excellent negotiating and networking skills.
• Demonstrated flexibility to excel in a multi-cultural environment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree in Social Sciences,  Law, Development Studies, International Relations, Strategic Planning and ManagementA
• PhD in any of the above qualifications is an added advantage.

Experience

• Minimum of 10 years of proven practical experience in strategic planning; 
• Strategic vision and strong technical and analytical capabilities in the area of KPs and AGYW 
• Excellent organizational and management skills and ability to negotiate at decision-making level.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Experience of Global Fund, UN and / or UNDP policies and procedures highly desirable;
• Strong experience of programme partnership and collaboration with national institutions is highly desirable.

Language:

• Fluency in English and a local language is a prerequisite

Evaluation:
Candidates will be evaluated using a combined scoring method with the qualifications and methodology weighted at 70% and the price offer weighted at 30%. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49% (out of 70%) points on the technical qualifications part will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Criteria for evaluation of qualifications and methodology (70 points maximum):

• Relevance of education to the consultancy (10 points)
• At least 8 years professional experience (10 points)
• Relevant experience in developing similar guidelines in high-pressure environments (15 points)
• Solid experience in Key Populations and AGYW programming and research (20 points)
• Experience of GF, UN and / or UNDP policies and procedures highly desirable (15 points)

Criteria for financial evaluation (30 points maximum):

• p = y (µ/z), where, p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Payment Method:

• Payment: All-inclusive Daily Fee
• Payments will be based on the Certificate of Payments that will be submitted at each milestone;
• Final payment upon performance evaluation from the direct supervisor.

Security: 

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to
certain parts of the country, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://trip.dss.un.org All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. In general, UNDP does not accept travel costs
exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel.

Application Submission Process:

Step 1: Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications in UNDP job shop (Please note that only 1 (one) file can be uploaded therefore please include all docs in one file):

• Personal History Form (P11), indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references (the template can be downloaded from this link:

http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc

• Technical Proposal indicating prosed approach to the assignment

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal

• Applicants are instructed to upload their financial proposals using the Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability indicating an all-inclusive daily rate in USD using the financial proposal template available here: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_ 
• The Candidate must provide a link to a website that they have been actively involved in the development and management of together with a description of their role. The term ‘all-inclusive” implies that all costs (monthly professional fees, travel related expenses if applicable, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the financial proposal

ANNEX 2 - INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS is provided here:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf