National Consultant on Gender and HIV programme

TERMS OF REFERENCE TOR reference number: TOR-VNM-2020-003 (please refer to this number in the application letter) Position: National Consultant on Gender and HIV/AIDS Purpose: Provide technical advice and inputs to UN Women Viet Nam Office on the implementation of HIV/AIDS activities to enhance gender responsive and human rights-based HIV response in Viet Nam Location Hanoi: Viet Nam with travelling to some provinces in Viet Nam for gender and HIV training workshops Contract duration: 10 February to 30 July 2020 Contract supervision: UN Women Programme Specialist, Viet Nam Country Office I. Background Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of substantive equality between women and men. The fundamental objective of UN Women is to enhance national capacity and ownership to enable national partners to formulate gender responsive laws, policies and upscale successful strategies to deliver on national and international commitments to gender equality. After peaking in the early 2000s, Viet Nam’s HIV epidemic has stabilized, with HIV prevalence among adults (15-49) at 0.3%. However, HIV remains a public health threat in Viet Nam, with an estimated 11,000 new HIV infections and 7,800 AIDS-related deaths in 2016. Injecting drug use remains the main mode of HIV transmission. The epidemic is concentrated among key populations, especially people who inject drugs, gay men and other men who have sex with men and female sex workers and their sexual partners. People living with HIV (PLHIV) mainly live in large cities and the mountainous provinces. National estimates show an increasing proportion of new infections among female partners of key populations at risk of HIV and men who have sex with men (MSM). The prevention needs of female sex workers, intimate partners of males living with or at risk of HIV are also not fully met and there are no specific interventions for transgender persons. These groups should receive more adequate attention. Better knowledge of the HIV epidemic and risk factors among these populations, especially among transgender groups is essential. In this context, the United Nations in Viet Nam, through the HIV Thematic Group, is supporting Viet Nam in shaping the gender-responsive and human rights-based national response to HIV and provide coordinated UN support to the fast-tracking of the national HIV response, towards ending AIDS in Viet Nam by 2030. While the HIV Thematic Group is convened by United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Viet Nam, UN Women, as a Group member, coordinates the joint UN efforts around human rights, gender equality, stigma and discrimination dimensions of the HIV epidemic and response in line with the 2018 joint work plan outlined in the UNAIDS country envelop. The national consultant will play a major role in guiding and supporting the implementation of the selected activities under the UNAIDS country envelop. II. Objective of the Consultancy The consultancy is aimed at enhancing gender responsive and human rights-based HIV responses in Viet Nam by providing strategic guidance and technical inputs regarding the planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the activities. III. Scope of Work and Expected Tasks The national consultant will work in a team with one national consultant on gender, human rights and HIV to provide strategic guidance and the following services: 1. Advise on designing the workplan. 2. Coordinate with the Viet Nam Authority of HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC) and members of the UN HIV Thematic Group to support the National Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee to organize activity/ies that support the amendment processes of the Law on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, the Law on Drugs Prevention and Control, the Law on Administrative Sanctions, and other related laws and policies.

Develop the concept note, the agenda, presentations and relevant materials from UN agencies.
Liaise with Social Affairs Committee, VAAC, and UN colleagues, identify invitees and speakers for the Regional Policy Dialogue.
Document key outcomes of the Policy Dialogues and produce an executive summary report (max. 4 pages).
Provide technical support at the dialogue event, including travel when required

3. Facilitate discussions and coordinate with HIV Department of Center for Disease Control (CDC) of Hanoi and other provinces (if any) to organize community capacity building workshops on gender and human rights in Viet Nam’s achieving 90-90-90 Goals for HIV key affected populations and village health volunteers, and post-training follow-up support in selected districts.

Support to recruit a consultant to support this activity.
Review and provide inputs to training materials.
Monitor the actual training, including travel to the project sites and ensure the quality of training
Report on the training results.
Post training, follow-up with trained participants to facilitate achievement of 90-90-90 goal.

4. Support the finalization of the tool kit combines Change Makers and TeenGen 5. Facilitate preparatory and capacity development activities for community-based networks for meaningful participation of key affected community in law and policy making processes and in general gender equality in HIV/AIDS issues.

Identify the capacity building needs.
Develop and review training materials.
Connect, reach out to relevant networks to ensure diversity and effectiveness.
A brief report on the activities.

6. Advise and facilitate an activity to better the livelihoods of young key-affected populations. 7. Support in the monitoring and reporting of all activities under the UNAIDS country envelope and UBRAF against the work plan by providing inputs. 8. Undertake documentation of the work done by CO in the area of HIV/AIDS IV. Deliverables and Schedule of Payment The payment will be provided in two instalments as bellow: 1. Indicative deliverables: • A final work plan for HIV activities for VCO office. Written inputs for new HIV activities that VCO will successfully mobilize fund in Q1 2020. • Support the organization of gender, human rights, HIV and training of HIV lay testing providers (the development of the TOR and technical inputs into the training materials). • Training materials under capacity building activity for key networks and facilitate the training. • Advise, facilitate an activity to better the livelihoods of young key-affected populations (technical inputs, selection of the UN Women responsible partners, monitor and report on activity). • Inputs for the quarterly report of UN Women on the result based management system. Time: End of April 2020 Amount: 60% 2. Indicative deliverables:

Support to organize policy events with members of the National Assembly, VAAC and other key stakeholders (concept note, list of invitees, finalized agenda, inputs to materials such as presentations and handouts, executive summary report not exceeding 4 pages).
Meeting minutes between UN, government partners and civil society that are part of advocacy efforts for the amendment processes of the Law on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, the Law on Drugs Prevention and Control, the Law on Administrative Sanctions, and other related laws and policies.
Inputs for reporting implementation results of the country envelop concerning activities supported by the consultant.
Inputs for the quarterly report of UN Women on the result based management system.

Time: End of July 2020 Amount: 40% V. CONTRACT SUPERVISION The national consultant will work under the direct supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist in close collaboration with UN Women Regional Advisor on HIV and UN Women Programme Consultant. The local consultant will be ultimately responsible to the UN Women Country Head of Office in Viet Nam. VI. Duration of Assignment and Duty Station The consultancy will be conducted from 10 Feb to 30 July 2020 in Viet Nam. The duty station is in Hanoi and travel to the project sites upon the requests (UN Women will provide information of said missions prior to travelling, and the costs will be covered by UN Women). VII. Qualification Fluency in written and spoken English is essential to be considered for the assignment. Additionally, qualified candidates shall fulfill the following requirements:

Master’s degree in HIV, public health, social science, public administration or related field.
At least 7 years of relevant experience in health response, particularly in the field of HIV/AIDS.
Prior experience working with the National Assembly, Government agencies, line Ministries, NGOs and other networks of HIV key populations and people living with HIV.
Sound knowledge on women’s human rights and gender equality in Viet Nam’s HIV response will be an asset.
Prior experience supporting UN agencies for policy advocacy will be an asset.

VIII. Application Evaluation Criteria The applicant will be evaluated based on technical capacities (70%) and financial proposal (30%). Technical evaluation will be based on the following criteria stated as below.

Master’s degree in HIV, public health, social science, public administration or related field: 20 points
At least 7 years of relevant experience in health response, particularly in the field of HIV/AIDS: 30 points
Prior experience working with the National Assembly, Government agencies, line Ministries, NGOs and other networks of HIV key populations and people living with HIV: 30 points
Sound knowledge on women’s human rights and gender equality in Viet Nam’s HIV response: 10 points
Prior experience supporting UN agencies for policy advocacy: 10 points.
Total 100 points

A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the submissions, with evaluation of the technical components being completed prior to any price proposals being opened and compared. The price proposal will be opened only for submissions that passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the evaluation of the technical component. The technical component is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Term of Reference (TOR). Technically qualified consultants may be selected for an interview before financial evaluation. Maximum 100 points will be given to the lowest offer and the other financial proposals will receive the points inversely proportional to their financial offers. i.e. Sf = 100 x Fm / F, in which Sf is the financial score, Fm is the lowest price and F the price of the submission under consideration. The weight of technical points is 70% and financial points is 30%. Individual consultants will be evaluated based on Cumulative analysis, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: a) Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. IX. Application Procedure and Deadline Interested applicants must submit the following document/information (in PDF format) to demonstrate their qualifications Technical component:

Letter of interest explaining why you are the most suitable for the work.
Signed Curriculum vitae with contact details for 3 references Financial proposal (with your signature).
The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount in VND including consultancy fees and all associated costs. The consultant does not have to include financial proposal for travel to project sites as such costs are covered by UN Women.
Please note that the cost of preparing a proposal and of negotiating a contract, including any related travel, is not reimbursable as a direct cost of the assignment.

Complete applications should be sent to . Only applications with all items mentioned above will be considered. Deadline for Application: 8 January 2020 NOTE: Documents required before contract signing:

UN Personal History Form.
Full medical examination and Statement of Fitness to work and travel for consultants with travel involved. (This is not a requirement for RLA contracts).
Completed UNDSS BSAFE online training course. EN: https://agora.unicef.org/course/info.php?id=17891
Individual subscribers over 65 years of age are required to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays at their own cost and obtaining medical clearance from the UN Medical Director prior to taking up their assignment.
Release letter in case the selected consultant is government official.

Tags: UN Women