Providing National Consultancy for “Conducting a Rapid Needs Assessment on the Emerging Needs of Women Who Use Drugs with Special Emphasis on Hard Drug Scenes”

Contract

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Background

To apply for this jobs please refer to http://www.ir.undp.org/content/iran/en/home/procurement.html under the subject: Provision of National Consultancy for “Conducting a Rapid Needs Assessment on the Emerging Needs of Women Who Use Drugs with Special Emphasis on Hard Drug Scenes”

Iran is heavily affected by the problem of drug use, with one of the highest rates of opiate use in the world and a significant prevalence of Amphetamine -Type Stimulants (ATS) use. A household epidemiological survey in the country conducted in 2015 estimates the life-time prevalence of drug use among the women aged 15-64 years at about 1.5% and the Iranian Drug Control Headquarters (DCHQ) has estimated that women comprise about 10% of people who use drugs in the country. While no disaggregated statistics are documented, the Director General of the Treatment and Social Support of the DCHQ has estimated the number of women with current drug use disorders in Iran around 156,000 in his interviews with the press. Women to men ratio in use of stimulants seems to be higher than in the use of opiates. Estimates propose that the number of people who inject drugs to be ca. 180,000. The prevalence of injecting drug use seems to be much lower among women, and although no steadfast data are available is estimated at about 5% of women who use drugs. On the other hand, the likelihood of lifetime needle and syringe sharing is increased by female gender, being jobless, having illegal income and drug use by family members. The present consultancy is funded under the UNAIDS UBRAF (2021) with the funding secured through UNODC Headquarters HIV/AIDS Section to be implemented under the IRN/Z78 project. It aims contributing to collection of necessary information on the characteristics and needs of women who use drugs especially in the hard drug use scenes for better access of existing harm reduction services.

Duties and Responsibilities

To apply for this jobs please refer to http://www.ir.undp.org/content/iran/en/home/procurement.html under the subject: Provision of National Consultancy for “Conducting a Rapid Needs Assessment on the Emerging Needs of Women Who Use Drugs with Special Emphasis on Hard Drug Scenes”

Maps women harm reduction and related services in the city of Tehran and services together with their menu of services. 2. Identifies breakages in the service provision chain with special emphasis on: opioid substitution therapy, HIV prevention for women who use stimulants, HIV testing and treatment, overdose, reproductive health including STIs, pregnancy and child care. 3. Reviews existing national guides and standards of procedures related to HIV prevention and care 4. Develops methodological framework to assess the unmet needs of target populations for accessing prevention services 5. Conducts an assessment among women with drug use disorders with special emphasis on homeless women in the city of Tehran based on the developed methodological assessment framework. Due to the implementation of this project in Tehran, it is necessary to evaluate the provision of services in special women's centres, including women's DICs, vulnerable women's counselling centres and women's treatment centres . 6. Identifies the existing challenges that limit the access and the barriers preventing women who use drugs from accessing the services for harm reduction, sexual and reproductive health and HIV that they or their children need, including for PMTCT, with special emphasis on stigma and discrimination based on the information obtained under 1-5. 7. Develops a training manual for service providers to encourage considering good practices and cumulative evidence for responding to the identified capacity needs. 8. Provide training to relevant harm reduction institutions based on the developed manual.

9. Develops a final comprehensive report including data on the stipulated indicators and recommendations for improving comprehensive service provision on HIV prevention and care especially for women who use drugs in hot spots, drop-in centres and other related centres to provide solutions and suggestions for access development

Competencies

To apply for this jobs please refer to http://www.ir.undp.org/content/iran/en/home/procurement.html under the subject: Provision of National Consultancy for “Conducting a Rapid Needs Assessment on the Emerging Needs of Women Who Use Drugs with Special Emphasis on Hard Drug Scenes”

N/A

Required Skills and Experience

To apply for this jobs please refer to http://www.ir.undp.org/content/iran/en/home/procurement.html under the subject: Provision of National Consultancy for “Conducting a Rapid Needs Assessment on the Emerging Needs of Women Who Use Drugs with Special Emphasis on Hard Drug Scenes”

Mandatory Required Skills and Experience Education • Holds relevant higher university education (at least Masters) like in medicine, psychology, social work, sociology, public health, epidemiology or other similar fields Experience • Has thorough acquaintance with substance dependence, its consequences and harms and addressing them. • Has thorough knowledge on HIV prevention, treatment and care. • Has thorough acquaintance with the issue of drug use among women and its surrounding problems, especially in the hard drug use scene. • Has at least two years of experience of working in the field of harm reduction. • Has proven experience in working directly with the target populations. • Has experience in carrying out needs and situation assessments. • Has proven experience in drafting study reports in English. Languages • Is in full command of spoken and written Farsi • Displays full command in developing detailed reports in English. Desirable experience • Has proven experience in providing training on harm reduction and HIV prevention.