Local Consultant to support in mainstreaming gender into NAP of the National AIDS coordinating authorities as part of implementation of the National Program on HIV Prevention for 2021-2025

Contract

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Background

UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has been created to accelerate up the process of meeting the needs of women and girls across the world. As a part of the UN reform agenda, it brings together resources and mandates which will subsequently have a lasting impact on the whole community. Gender inequality contributes to the spread of HIV and increases infection rates and reduces the ability of women and girls to cope with the epidemic. Often, women and girls have less information about HIV and fewer resources to take preventive measures. They face barriers to the negotiation of safer sex, because of unequal power dynamics with men. Sexual violence, a widespread violation of women’s rights, exacerbates the risk of HIV transmission.

According to UNAIDS data, as in all countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the increase in HIV cases in Tajikistan continues and over the past 10 years the number of new cases has increased approximately by 20%. Over the past five years the proportion of women living with HIV in Tajikistan has increased by 17% and has reached 41%. HIV care cascade as of 01.01.2020 demonstrates that only 60% of all PLHIV know their status, about 80% of PLHIV are on ART, and 74% of them are virally suppressed (data of the National AIDS Center, 2020).

National Program on HIV Prevention for the next 5 years has been adopted and the country determined its steps towards achieving the goal of ending AIDS.

Within the framework of UNAIDS Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF) UN Women country office in Tajikistan conduced a National Review to identify key barriers of women’ access to HIV treatment in Tajikistan to determine the gender related gaps in HIV response. The office plans to present the results of the assessment and support the National AIDS coordinating authorities in developing action plans based on the findings of the assessment; building capacities of representatives of National AIDS coordinating authorities in integrating gender equality in their HIV response; to involve women living with HIV in monitoring and evaluation through the implementation of the National Action Plan for HIV Prevention for 2021-2025. For this purpose, UN Women is seeking for a Local Consultant to support in mainstreaming gender and addressing key gaps revealed by the National Review to identify key barriers of women’ access to HIV treatment in Tajikistan into the NAP of the National AIDS coordinating authorities as part of National Program on HIV Prevention implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Country Programme Manager the Consultant will perform, but will not necessarily be limited, to the following tasks:

• Preparation of the detailed work plan, including the methodology of work in close coordination with UN Women Programme Office in Tajikistan.
• Coordination with the National AIDS authorities and/or if necessary, through MFA in getting official permission in conducting desk review of the existing action plans from gender lens.
• As a result of the conducted desk review of the actions plans, elaborate position paper with possible gaps and recommendations for further integration in action plans.
• Coordinate with the National AIDS authorities in provision of the list of staff for the training on integrating gender equality in HIV response (HIV strategies, programmes, plans, budgets, M&E efforts).
• Conducting a short need assessment exercise with the selected representatives and designing the two-days training content and module on integrating gender equality in HIV response focusing on the knowledge, experiences, perspectives and needs of the participants for at least 10 representatives of the National AIDS Coordination Authorities.
• Conducting a two-days training and provision of the detailed report including recommendations.
• To conduct one prioritization meeting with at least 15 women living with HIV to introduce the National Program on HIV Prevention M&E plan and identify the role of WLWH in its implementation.
• To assess the knowledge of women in M&E and conduct four-days training on basics of monitoring and evaluation for WLWH.
• To prepare a detailed concept note for the final event planned to be conducted on December 1, 2020 on International AIDS Day with participation of related HIV/AIDS authorities, included Governmental, International community, Civil Society, Donors and other interested stakeholders to present the results of the conducted Assessment to identify key barriers of women’ access to HIV treatment in Tajikistan, as well as the results/achievements in implementation of the National Programme on HIV/AIDS for 2021-2025.
• To facilitate the above-mentioned meeting/presentation.
• Preparation and submission of the detailed report along with the supporting documents for the review and approval of UN Women Country Programme Manager, further recommendations and follow up actions.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Good knowledge of the training topic on medical aspects and ethical norms in the field of HIV counselling.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Possesses the ability to work independently, under pressure and meet deadlines;
• Good knowledge of technical area;
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail;
• Experience in report writing.
• Proven excellent communication and facilitation skills;

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in gender equality, women’s studies, law, human rights, social studies, development studies or related field;

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant experience in promoting the rights of women living with HIV (WLWH) to overcome stigma and discrimination and the empowerment of WLWH.
• At least 2 years’ of experience in mainstreaming gender in policies and plans, especially in the context of WLWH rights is an asset.
• Previous work and direct working relationships with UN agencies considered an asset.

Knowledge of languages:

• Proficiency in written and oral Russian, Knowledge of English is an advantage.