Republic of Moldova

National consultant/s to support the Department of Penitentiary Institutions to efficiently implement HIV/AIDS services in prisons

Vacancy Number: Pr12/00174

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	27 Aug 2012, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	10 Sep 2012
Reference to the project:	UNODC Moldova
Expected Duration of Assignment:	3 months
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online or by email to vacancies-moldova@undp.org, no later than 27 August 2012 with the following reference in the subject of the message: “UNODC_HIV_Prison/2012/02”. Any request for clarification must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: elena.jidobin@unodc.org.UNDP/UNODC will respond by standard electronic mail and will send copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

Institutions of the penitentiary system are commonly recognized as facilities with higher risk of dangerous infections spreading, one of the top concerns being HIV, TB and Hepatitis. In Moldova, the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Penitentiary Institutions as the agency coordinating work of all penitentiary sector, is involved in implementing national HIV/AIDS response strategy. State policy framework guiding the HIV response in the Republic of Moldova is implemented through the National Programme on Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS and STIs for 2011-2016, which has as priority national strategies: prevention, epidemiological surveillance and treatment, care and support.  According to National HIV/AIDS Programme, the DPI is one of the stakeholders responsible for achieving the National HIV/AIDS indicators.

National and international organizations provide technical and financial support to penitentiary system in development of HIV services, including HIV prevention, AIDS treatment and care for PLWH.  Therefore, projects funded by Global Fund, Council of Europe, UNODC, Pompidou Group, European Union and NGOs at national and local levels implement projects related to HIV/AIDS in cooperation with DPI.

The Parliament of Republic of Moldova has adopted the Justice Sector Reform Strategy for 2011-2016. The aim of the strategy is to build an accessible, efficient, independent, transparent, professional justice sector with high public accountability, consistent with European standards and ensuring the rule of law. One of reform provision is to transfer the Penitentiary Medical Service under Ministry of Health authority. Even though growth and progress is registered, the country faces challenges related to universal access to services of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support among MARPs and in closed settings. Thus the Department of Penitentiary Institutions needs serious and continuous medical service improvement.

Active stakeholders in the field of HIV services in prisons gathered together during a national workshop 4th May 2012 in order to develop a comprehensive SWOT analysis regarding HIV prevention, care and support services for PLWH, including injecting drug users, in prison and detention settings. In the same time a series of recommendations have been formulated to improve access, quality and coverage of HIV services in prisons.

In this context, UNODC is seeking to hire a national consultant to assist the Department of Penitentiary Institutions (DPI) (Ministry of Justice) to update/review its current sectorial HIV/AIDS policy framework and other activities related with its implementation with international guidelines on HIV prevention and care among IDUs and in prison settings taking into account the Prison HIV Services SWOT Analysis. Also the national consultant is expected to implement a series of activities related to comprehensive HIV services in prisons.

Scope of work

The expected output for the national consultant/s’ assignment is to provide support the DPI (Ministry of Justice) in implementing international/national recommendations on the HIV comprehensive package of services in prisons. The consultant is expected to provide his/her services to the Ministry of Justice in accordance with a list of activities agreed between both parties.

In order to achieve the stated objective, the Consultant will have the following responsibilities:

• Support DPI to implement its sectorial HIV policy, i.e. the DPI HIV/AIDS plan of actions and the list of activities agreed during the workshop on May 4, 2012. The activities will refer to improvement of HIV/AIDS services coordination, strategic planning and monitoring of services implementation.
• Jointly with DPI Medical Unit staff, to find suitable mechanisms to ensure scale-up of good medical practices in prisons of Moldova to be in the line with international recommendations, main national HIV/AIDS response strategies and national stakeholder’s references (SWOT Analysis on Prison HIV services) in order to better address the needs of vulnerable populations from prison setting.
• The consultant shall consider the HIV response recommendations of WHO, UNAIDS and UNODC publications during his consultancy work.
• The consultant is expected to provide the following deliverables as a result of this consultancy: Detailed progress report against delivery of all tasks agreed with the DPI management for each month. The work plan shall be finalized together with the DPI representatives.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

1. Academic Qualifications:

• University Degree in Law, Public Health, Public Administration or related field;

2. Years of experience:

• At least five years of work experience within or tangential collaboration with penitentiary system;

3. Competencies:

• Excellent knowledge of the Moldova justice system and human rights issues;
• Knowledge of national justice sectors recent developments and proposed reforms; 
• Knowledge  and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches relevant to HIV prevention, including among injection drug users and in prison settings;
• Deep understanding and knowledge about HIV and harm reduction services provision;
• Knowledge of fluent Romanian and Russian languages. English shall constitute an advantage;
• Proven analytical skills and ability to work under tight deadlines;
• Being able to work independently, objectively as well as within a team, and take initiative;

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Proposal explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;
2. Financial proposal;
3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references or the dully filled Personal History Form (P11).

Financial proposal

Lump sum contracts

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).  

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

 

Disclaimer In case of discrepancies between the text published on the website and the contents of the supporting documents, the provisions, instructions and conditions included in the supporting documents (published as Adobe Portable Document Format files) shall prevail. In case of discrepancies between the English version and the Romanian and/or Russian versions of text, documents or other content published on this webpage, the English version shall prevail.

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