National Consultant to provide technical assistance to the Day Care Centres in providing psychosocial support for adolescents and young people living with HIV

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

Background

UNICEF Uzbekistan has supported the development of a psychosocial support model for children and families living with HIV since 2010. At present, nine Day Care Centres (DCCs) for children and families affected by HIV have been established in eight most HIV-affected regions of Uzbekistan (Tashkent, Andijan, Namangan, Ferghana, Samarkand, Bukhara, Surkhandarya, and Kashkadarya regions) to provide psychosocial support to children and their families. The DCCs are conceived to be service centres, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health providing specialized and child-friendly services. Due to the absence of an independent ‘social service’ sector, the DCCs attempted to fill in this gap themselves – most notably by adding a psychologist post to the DCC staff structure. This model was so successful that MOH issued an order in 2018 which specifically aimed at making the continuation of the DCC model possible.

Adolescents and young people represent a growing share of people living with HIV. In accordance with the recent assessment of DCC capacity and gap analysis, the main clients (94%) of Day-Care Centres are currently children, who have reached the age of adolescence. Adolescents often face problems such as difficulty to accept their HIV-status and bad adherence to treatment and dispensary supervision by specialists. There is an urgent need to address these challenges and improve the system to deliver quality health care and psychosocial support for adolescents. Against this backdrop, UNICEF Uzbekistan commissions the current consultancy with the aim of model refinement, specifically to ensure the maximum effectiveness and efficiency of the model.

Purpose:

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the Child Protection Programme in further equipping HIV-positive adolescents and their parents, peer educators and DCC staff with necessary skills and knowledge to practice psychosocial support services that would contribute to improving the quality of their life and enhance their social integration.

Objectives:

Specifically, the following are actual expected objectives from the consultant:

1. Enhance the knowledge and skills of psychologists and other staff in Day Care Centres in providing psychosocial support to adolescents living with HIV and their parents
2. Provide recommendations on how to enhance the sustainability of interventions supported by UNICEF in regard to psychosocial support to adolescents living with HIV and their parents

Tasks: 

1. Conduct 3 three-day trainings for psychologists on PSS for adolescents and their parents

2. Support the printing and distribution of IEC materials on psychosocial support for adolescents living with HIV in Uzbek (diary with answers to the most pressing questions)

3. Provide technical support to staff in Day Care Centres so as to improve psychosocial support to children and adolescent living with HIV and their families

4. Develop and conceptualize the Advocacy Brief for DCCs sustainability

5. Development of methodological recommendations for schools, social protection and healthcare organizations on stigma prevention and support for children and adolescents living with HIV and other chronic diseases

Deliverables and Timeframe:

1. 15 psychologists from AIDS centres/DCCs are trained on PSS – Nov 2021 – Jan 2022

2. IEC-material on psychosocial support to children living with HIV printed and distributed among at least 1,500 adolescents living with HIV in Ferghana region – Nov – Dec 2021

3. Report on the – Dec 2021 – Jan 2022
– number of children and adolescent who received direct counselling services;
– counselling result;
– number of on-job trainings provided and personnel trained
-number and results of field visits in DCCs

4. Advocacy Brief for DCCs sustainability developed – Dec 2021- Jan 2022

5. Methodological recommendations developed – Nov 2021 – Jan 2022

Timeframe: From 22 November 2021 to 21 January 2022 (2 months)

Management: The National consultant will work under the direct supervision of the UNICEF Child Protection Specialist.

Procedures and working conditions: The travel expenses will be paid in accordance with UNICEF ‘Duty Travel’ rules and regulations as follows: 

This consultancy is office -based with frequent visits/meetings to the UNICEF Office. The consultant will be provided with computer and is expected to make use of his/her own facilities as may be required by the consultancy (phone, internet connection, etc.) The consultant will need to travel within Uzbekistan as required for the monitoring of project activities and family visits (if the COVID-19- related quarantine allows). The travel expenses will be paid in accordance with UNICEF’s ‘Duty Travel’ rules and regulations as follows: 

If UNICEF determines that the Contractor needs to travel in order to perform his or her assignment, that travel shall be specified in the contract and the Contractor’s travel costs shall be set out in the contract. In cases where travel costs have not been set out in the contract, provisions of UNICEF Procedures on Travel apply (see DFAM Policy 5).

Travel paid for by UNICEF shall be based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of travel, subject to exceptional approval of business class travel by the Approving Authority (such approval may be granted normally for certified medical reasons). 

Reservations: UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if deliverable(s) incomplete, not finalized or for failure to meet deadlines.

UNICEF will reserve copyright of all developed materials and own primary data collected through this assignment. The materials cannot be published or disseminated without prior written permission of UNICEF. UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future. The contractor must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.

The United Nations and UNICEF undertake no liability for taxes, duty or other contribution payable by the consultant on payments made under this contract. No statement of earnings will be issued by the United Nations or UNICEF to the consultant. National consultant is personally responsible for payment of all taxes related to consultancy.

Required qualifications and areas of expertise:

• Bachelor or master degree in Health/psycho-social sciences or related fields;
• At least 4 years of practical experience of working programs related to HIV/AIDS;
• Experience on psychosocial support to PLHIV;
• Experience in conducting of trainings on psycho-social support;
• Good communication and networking skills;
• Good communication skills in Russian and Uzbek and good understanding of English

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.