CONSULTANT TO IMPLEMENT STUDY ON HIV SELF-TESTING IN 4 COUNTRIES

Background

South-Eastern Europe Regional TB and HIV Community Network (SEE RCN) is implementing the Regional Programme Sustainability of Services for Key Populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and led by the Alliance for Public Health from Ukraine.   

The objective of the programme is to address the inadequacy of the HIV response across Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), and the SEE RCN is implementing a part of the regional project in five countries of South-Eastern Europe, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.  The proposed goals of the Multicountry EECA Alliance for Public Health HIV grant include:

• Institutionalizing effective HIV response models and processes to strengthen the HIV care cascade in the EECA region.

• Removing barriers to services for key populations, thereby enabling quality health interventions based on human rights principles; and

• Budget advocacy for sustainable services for key populations in EECA.

With this in mind, SEE RCN is seeking a consultant to assess country-specific policies, regulations, and practical factors that are currently enabling or hindering community-level access to rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for HIV self-testing) in 4 countries of Balkan region.

Tasks

In order to achieve the objective of the assignment, the Consultant is expected to implement the following tasks:

• Desk review of the current status of HIV self-testing in 4 countries – Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia
• Data collection – semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders to examine views and perceptions towards HIV self-testing
• Preparation of the draft report after desk review and data collection
• Preparation of final report after inputs from the study participants and SEE RCN

Implementation period

The period for implementation of the study is July 2022 – December 2022, with the following specific deadlines:

• Desk review – July 2022 – August 2022
• Data collection – August 2022 – October 2022
• Preparation of draft report – 31 October 2022
• Preparation of final report – 30 November 2022

Requirements

• Excellent knowledge of English language (knowledge of local languages is desirable)
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in HIV/TB donor funded programmes in EECA region
• Experience in Global Fund processes and procedures
• Experience in implementing similar studies in EECA region

How to apply

Interested parties should send a Letter of Interest with relevant CV(s), expressing the interest in implementing the study with references and a financial offer with breakdown of costs per task.

All applications are to be submitted to info@seercn.org no later than 11 July 2022 COB. An evaluation panel will review all submitted offers based on following criteria

The Consultant with the highest score will be selected to implement the assignment.