Consultant for CARE International in Vietnam

Project Title:     Strengthening Civil Society Organizations’ to Curb HIV Infection among and Improve Care and Support for the Most Vulnerable Population Groups- Global Fund Against TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS- Round 9, Track 2- (hereafter GF9).
Location:            Hanoi
Duration:         60 days
Consultancy:    Improve 08 OD guide books and curriculum

CARE in Vietnam (CVN) is the representative of CARE International in Vietnam. CARE in Vietnam operates under the lead membership of CARE Australia. The laws and regulations of the Government of Vietnam apply to all staff, contractors and consultants.  Within CARE in Vietnam the Country Director has overall management authority as the representative of the lead member and of CARE International.

General Information

The GF9 project is a consortium of organisations funded by GFATM and collaborating to strengthen the contribution of civil society to Vietnam’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) is the prime recipient; Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS), Centre for Community Health and Education (COHED) and Pact are sub-recipients while CVN is a sub-sub-recipient positioned within the program to provide technical and practical support to community based organisations (CBO) in five ISDS’s provinces during implementation. The project is designed as a five year project linked to and complimenting the GFATM Round 8 project being currently being implemented by the GoVN.

Injecting drug user (IDU), sex worker (SW), man who have sex with man (MSM) and their primary sexual partners (PSP) have been identified as the most vulnerable populations for HIV infection in Vietnam.  Although HIV prevention and care services have made significant advances in quality and coverage for the general population, the coverage of essential services for these populations remains low. The assumption underlying this project is that lower service coverage for these populations within the national response is, in part, a result of lower participation of individuals and groups in service design and delivery. This project hopes to increase service access and choices for key populations, strengthen and link emerging civil society groups in Vietnam to mainstream services, and assisting the government in their efforts to extend HIV/AIDS programming to the most vulnerable.

Project Aims and Objectives

The project aims to make a breakthrough in civil society’s engagement in realization of the national strategy on HIV/AIDS by actively collaborating with and complementing the government’s response to HIV through the GF8 to reduce HIV transmission among sex workers (SW), men-who-have-with-men (MSM), injecting drug users (IDU) and their primary sexual partners (PSP) and improve care and support for members of these populations who are living with HIV.

The specific objectives include:

- Provide care services and comprehensive supports for OVC and PLWH in the communities
- Provide mitigation services to reduce HIV infection rates among IDUs and female sex workers in one province, among MSM, IDU and sexual partners of the PLWH.
- Creating a favorable environment for the growth and participation of civil society in dealing with HIV/AIDS
- Strengthen capacity of CSOs to optimize their contribution into HIV/AIDS pandemic confrontation.

Key project activities

- Raise awareness on rights and needs of IDU, sex workers, MSM, PSP and PLHIV and reduce stigma and discrimination against these populations.
- Support the establishment of support groups for the target populations.
- Build capacity of civil society organisations to deliver services or support service delivery.
- Create communication channels and foster dialogues between targeted populations and intervention designers and implementers.
- Implement evidence based interventions for targeted populations in the community and closed  settings
- Foster mutual learning and collaboration among stakeholders at all levels.

Scope of Services

Consultancy Objective:

The project would like to recruit individual consultant or a team including leading person and his/her team member if needed. The special tasks of consultancy service including:

1.Review the organizational development guide books including 8 modules: Leadership, Governance, HR management, Public Relation, Finance, Community Needs Assessment, Strategic Planning and Vision, Mission and Value including lesson plan and handout.

2.Provide technical comments for revising the curriculum including lesson plan and supporting documents basing on the revised guide books.

Scope of Consultant’s work:

The consultancy period is flexible from July 2013 to Aug 2013 with duties and tasks written as follows:

- Develop and/or modify existing OD guide books to be used by participating CBOs during implementation of GF9 project.
- Collect and review related materials of other organization.
- Consult relevant stakeholders including ISDS, COHED, PACT, selected CBOs
- Review existing OD guidebooks and curriculum
- Finalize OD guidebooks and curriculum

Tasks of consultant and proposed time: The total number of consultancy days is 60 days including proposed following tasks:

Tasks

- Conduct a desk review of similar organizational development materials and approaches that target smaller SHGs and CBOs.
- Consultation with ISDS, COHED and PACT and selected CBOs/mentors to focus of priority activities of GF project
- Revise the 8 OD guide books and send to ISDS, COHED and PACT for comments
- Conduct a consultation workshop with ISDS, COHED and PACT and selected CBOs/mentors to get feedback on the OD guide books in order to assist in refining the package so that it is fully adapted to CBOs.
- Provide CARE with print ready electronic copies of the OD guide books and curriculum for final review and comment.
- Provide CARE with print ready electronic copies of the OD guide books and curriculum, including any final amendments based on comment from CARE.

Total working days:

The total number of working days and the consultant rate will be discussed and agreed between CARE VN and the Consultant on the basis of the project’s financial regulations and qualification of the consultants, but not exceeding the above time estimation

Selections criteria / qualifications requirement for the consultant

The prospective consultant will require an appropriate balance of training facilitation skills and experience working with PLHIV as well as good communication and strong interpersonal skills.   

Qualifications should include:

1.A master’s degree with specialization in capacity building.
2.At least 5 years’ professional experience, preferably in capacity building
3.Significant understanding and application of active and participatory method into training.
4.Significant track record in conducting and facilitating training workshops, especially with CBOs of PLHIV.
5.Familiarity with the policies programmes and operating styles of the local and national health public entities that are participating in the project.

Interested people should send CV and proposal to [email protected]

Deadline for submission is 20 July, 2013.