Historique

Project Title

Business Unusual Fund - UN Joint Plan on AIDS

Project Description

The HIV situation in the Philippines can be described as hidden and growing. Based on the HIV/AIDS & ART Registry of the Philippines (HARP) published by the Epidemiology Bureau of the Department of Health (DOH-EB) in March 20211, the number of HIV-positive reported cases in the country has reached a total of 85, 651 since January 1984. Additionally, for the month of March 2021, 1,041 newly diagnosed cases were recorded.  

The country is also far from reaching the 95-95-95 targets of UNAIDS2. Among the estimated 115,100 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the Philippines, only around 68% are diagnosed. Among those diagnosed, only around 61% are enrolled to treatment. Viral load suppression remains, reaching only 17%, compared to the 95% target. It is also significant to note that adolescents are catching the impact of the disease. It is reported that the proportion of HIV-positive cases in the 15-24 year age group increased in the past ten years from 22% (2001 to 2010) to 29% (2011 to 2020). HIV-related stigma and discrimination (S&D) are recognized as major barriers to the delivery of quality services3 to PLHIV. HIV S&D cause PLHIV to avoid or delay medical consultation and in effect, their condition worsens and even affect their sexual partners.  HIV S&D occur in different settings such as health-care settings, education settings, workplace settings and even in household settings – communities and families. There is a need to strengthen the country’s age-appropriate, gender-responsive and high-quality intervention and ensure that our young people can access health care services without the fear of S&D.  

The government provides health services in the Adolescent Friendly Health Facilities (AFHF) responsive to the needs of the adolescents. These are facilities in the Local Government Unit (LGU) that provide equitable, accessible, acceptable, appropriate, effective and quality comprehensive health care and services in an adolescent-friendly environment4, and since they are situated in the LGUs, the services they provide are crucial for PLHIV especially the affected young people. 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is working with partners to reduce inequalities and social exclusion that drive HIV and poor heath and promoting effective and inclusive governance for health. UNDP is founding co-sponsor of UNAIDS and a cosponsor of several other international health partnerships. With this, UNDP, UNAIDS and other UN agencies involved in HIV response initiate the acceleration of achievement of the 2020 Fast-Track target through Business Unusual Fund.  

UNDP Philippines requires the services of an Individual Consultant who will (1) develop standards and tools for Quality Improvement (QI) applicable for the AFHF specifically in the area of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) through participatory approach; (2) conduct a pilot test to five (5) AFHF; and (3) develop guidelines to implementing the QI tool for AFHF.  

The QI program shall provide data to determine the challenges in providing high quality care for young PLHIV in the primary health care setting (i.e., AFHF) that includes S&D in participatory approach, and with the collated data, policies and guidelines will be developed to improve the overall HIV/AIDS response in the said setting.  

Institutional Arrangements

The IC shall work in collaboration with UNDP Institutions and Partnerships Team and UNDP HIV, Health and Development Team, Bangkok Regional Hub, UNAIDS, UN Joint Team on AIDS and Government partners (i.e., DOH and LGU). The consultant will be under the supervision of the HIV Response Officer, UNDP Philippines under the overall guidance of the Programme Analyst and Programme Team Leader of Institutions and Partnerships Programme Team, UNDP Philippines. 

Duration of Work

The expected duration of engagement is 72 working days, spread over from October to December 2021. 

Duty Station

This is STRICTLY a HOME-BASED assignment; NO TRAVEL IS REQUIRED for the Consultant to complete the above-mentioned tasks.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The Individual Consultant must send a financial proposal based on an all-inclusive lump-sum amount for the delivery of the outputs below. The total amount quoted shall include all cost components required to deliver the services identified above, including professional daily fees X number of person-days and any other applicable costs (e.g., software and online tool/platform subscriptions) to be incurred by the Individual Consultant in completing the assignment.

Medical/health insurance must be purchased by the Individual Consultant at his/her own expense, and upon award of contract, the Individual Consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during contract duration.

Payments will be made upon satisfactory completion of the deliverables by target due dates. Outputs will be certified by the Programme Analyst of Institutions and Partnerships prior to payments.

The Consultant shall consider at least five (5) working days lead time for UNDP to review outputs, give comments and certify approval/acceptance of outputs.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Scope of Work

To ensure successful implementation of the project, it is proposed that a Technical Expert on HIV QI programs in primary HIV health care facilities shall be engaged as Individual Consultant. The scope of work includes: 

1. Review and assess different QI methods and tools especially related to adolescent HIV S&D, Child Friendly Local Governance Audit (CFLGA) and other relevant documents in coordination with other organizations (i.e., UNAIDS, UNJTA, TLF Share, and other CSOs) implementing HIV QI programs, and provide mapping of all AFHF and scoping of all SRH services in AFHF; 
2. Develop/enhance QI Standards and Tools for AFHF through participatory approach involving stakeholders (i.e., Government partners such as DOH and LGU, communities and clients);  
3. Pilot test the QI standards and tools in at least five (5) AFHF in the National Capital Region; and 
4. Develop guidelines for the implementation of QI Standards and Tools in the AFHF, in close coordination with National AIDS & STI Prevention and Control Program and Adolescent Health and Development Program and present the guidelines to DOH and LGU.

The consultant will work with the Programme Analyst and HIV Response Officer (Institutions and Partnerships Programme Team, UNDP Philippines) with guidance from the Institutions and Partnerships Programme Team Leader, the Health and Development Team of UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub, and UNAIDS in the Philippines, and coordination with government partners (i.e., DOH and LGU). 

Expected Output and Deliverables

The Individual Contractor is expected to accomplish the following activities with corresponding deliverables:

Compétences

Competencies

• Must have strong leadership, project, and change management skills;
• Advanced understanding of change management frameworks in organizations;
• Advanced understanding of resilience and its intersection with DRR, climate, and inclusive development;
• A keen eye for details;
• Excellent analytic skills, especially in understanding complex information and managing multiple data sets

Other Competencies:

• Ability to work in close collaboration with a group of national and international experts, to meet strict deadlines and plan the work according to priorities;
• Demonstrates capacity to plan, organize, and execute effectively;
• The initiative, good analytical skills, mature judgment, and ability to work under tight schedule while respecting deadlines achievement, ethics, and honesty;
• Ability to establish effective working relations in a diverse environment
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Builds strong relationships with internal and external clients;
• Demonstrated ability to function in a team environment and to deal with a complex multi-stakeholder environment
• Good ability to use information and communication technologies as tools and resources;
• Excellent written communication and presentation/public speaking skills focus on results, ability to interact productively in a teamwork environment

Qualifications et expériences requises

Offers will be evaluated based on the combined scoring method :

• Technical qualifications = 70%
• Financial Proposal = 30%

The technical proposal will have a total of 70 points and shall include the following criteria:

Only offerors who will obtain a minimum of 49 out of 70 obtainable points  will be shortlisted and considered eligible for evaluation of the financial proposal

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Interested applicants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload of a maximum of one document.

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. Personal CV or P11 (using template of UNDP), indicating work history as well as competencies related to this engagement, contact details of the proponent and at least three (3) professional references; and,
3. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive lump-sum amount commensurate to the scope of work, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.
4. At least one (1) refereed research article published in a journal on data analysis, statistics, or public health is required. Link to a personal website or online file storage containing the research articles should be included in the CV. 

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Interested applicants to note that personal Medical/health insurance (to be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense) is mandatory for the issuance of contracts. Upon award of the contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during the contract duration.

The following templates / Annexes and IC General Terms & Conditions can be downloaded from http://gofile.me/6xdJm/bE9TCw8fU:

• General Terms and Conditions for Individual Contract
• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability
• P-11 form

In view of the volume of applications, UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.