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. There are however capacity gaps when it comes to research and generation of data on KPs hence the need to research and identify the specific needs of Key Populations sub-groups to inform programming.

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose of Consultancy, Scope of Work and Timelines:

The purpose of this consultancy is to conduct research to identify the needs of Key Populations sub groups and use this information to improve programming. This research is operational in nature and it should actively involve all stakeholders who are already implementing this portion of the HIV grant under the funding period, 2018 -2020. The Key Population sub groups that will be targeted by this action are; Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), Women who have Sex with Women (WSW), Transgender (TG) and Male and Female Sex Workers (SW) both male and female. The consultancy will take a holistic approach to programming and should propose a total package for HIV Prevention Treatment Care and Support for the Key Population groups as well as their other needs necessary for them to continue receiving these services in a dignified manner. Access to HIV services in the public sector, quality of care of clinical services, access to prevention services and community awareness on the specific needs of KPs could be interrogated in this research among other important variables as would be determined by the consultant.

The consultant is expected to closely work with partners implementing these programmes so as to better understand their current gaps and come up with recommendations that can adequately address the identified needs within the resource capacity of the current grant or from future funding opportunities. The research must be of a national level nature and should include both urban and rural constituents.

This consultancy is planned for 30 days over a period of no more than two calendar months that will involve inception meetings with NAC, stakeholder engagement meetings, desktop reviews, key informant interviews and KP representatives. It is noted that 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 strategy review findings and recommendations within the stipulated timelines.

Overall Objective:

The overall objective of the assignment is to provide comprehensive HIV services to the Key Populations sub-groups, and improve their access to health care services in cognisant of their increased vulnerability to HIV infection.

The specific objectives of this consultancy are:

  1. To identify the specific needs of MSM, WSW, Transgender and Male and Female Sex Workers across a broad spectrum of a service package that includes Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support.
  2. To identify programmatic barriers to accessing HIV prevention and treatment services by these Key Population sub groups be it in the private or public health sectors.
  3. To identify structural barriers that negatively impact on the provision of adequate services to Key Population groups
  4. To interrogate other non-health related dimensions that have a bearing on the ability of Key Population enjoy their rights and guarantee a dignified life.

Proposed Methodology:

This is a national coverage needs assessment, whose findings and recommendations should be generalised to represent each of the Key Population sub groups involved in the study namely Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), Women who have Sex with Women (WSW), Transgender (TG) and Male and Female Sex Workers (SW) both male and female. The consultant shall propose a sampling method and sample size that will satisfy this expectation. If need be, purposeful sampling could be considered to ensure that both urban and rural areas are adequately represented in the study. We also propose that a mixed approach should be used for purposes of data collection across the study and this entails the use of Individual survey questionnaires, Key Informant interviews, Focus Group discussions among others as part of the data collection protocol. This will facilitate triangulation and allow for the generalisation of findings. The use of digital data collection instruments or platforms is strongly encouraged as it also guarantees interviewee security considering the sensitivity of Key Populations.

Specific Tasks:

The Consultant will:

  1. During inception, develop a comprehensive scientific research protocol which can generate results with an ability to be generalised.
  2. Develop data collection tools and arrange for pre-testing before the actual survey is conducted.
  3. Outline how the security of participants and their stakeholders will be guaranteed as well as how backlash could be managed.
  4. Recruit survey enumerators and organise their training to facilitate data collection. Care should be taken to involve Key populations themselves as enumerators in the survey while at the same time putting in place measures to exclude bias.
  5. Manage all aspects of data collection in the field.
  6. Develop a sound data management plan which enhances data security, data quality, data analysis, statistical interpretation and inferences.
  7. Facilitate meetings to discuss the preliminary findings from the study and take inputs from stakeholders.
  8. Share final survey results and recommendation in a feedback meeting
  9. Package the final research report and submit to UNDP and NAC for further dissemination.

Expected Outputs / Deliverables:

  1. Inception report including the research protocol complete with a convincing methodology and sampling proposal, data collection tools and data management plans and timelines.
  2. A detailed field report
  3. Facilitate a meeting to discuss final survey results, findings and recommendations and take final inputs from stakeholders
  4. Present a well packaged final research report to UNDP and NAC for further dissemination,

Schedule of Deliverables:

Deliverable                                                            No. of Days                                              Payment

Inception report with research protocol                        2                                                                20%     

Training of data collectors                                           5                                                                0%

Data collection                                                            10                                                              0%

A detailed field report                                                  3                                                                40%

Stakeholder feedback meeting                                   2                                                                0%

Final research report                                                  8                                                                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.

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

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: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=65747
  • 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

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 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 in Public Health, Development Studies, Gender or any equivalent Social Science qualification.
  •  A qualification in Social Research Methods is an added advantage.

Experience

  • Should have proven minimum 5 years’ experience conducting research on Key Populations and/or marginalised communities.
  • Should have proven experience and expertise on Key Populations programme research and implementation.
  • Knowledge and experience of participatory assessment/development approaches for Key Populations in their diversity will be required.
  • Solid experience in data analytics and report writing
  • Strong IT 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

The evaluation will be based on cumulative analysis (i.e. technical qualifications and price proposal). The weight of the technical criteria is 70%; the weight of the financial proposal is 30%. Candidates that obtain a minimum of 70 pts out of a maximum 100 pts will be considered for the financial evaluation. Candidates that do not meet the minimum requirements will be disqualified.

NB: Only successful candidates will be contacted as a result of the overall evaluation.