Terms of Reference: Building the capacity of young key populations to meaningfully engage in the national AIDS response
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Background
There is increasing recognition of the importance of young people as partners, innovators and leaders capable of developing and implementing creative solutions to tackle the many development challenges facing the world. This includes acting as the driving force in many settings behind the HIV prevention revolution.
Across the Asia-Pacific region, an estimated 690,000 young people aged 15-24 are living with HIV. While the overall prevalence in most countries is low, including among young people, the HIV epidemic among young people is highly concentrated in young key populations at higher risk of HIV exposure (YKP). This is no different in Myanmar. For example, significant levels of HIV infection have been found in the 2012 surveillance survey among young men who have sex with men (7.1% among those aged 20-24) , among young women selling sex (3.4% among those aged 15-19 and 7.4% among those aged 20-24 in 2012) , and 15% among young people who inject drugs (20-24 year-olds in 2012) .
In recent years, UNESCO have supported capacity-building interventions designed to enhance the leadership skills and the capacity of young people from key populations (including young men who have sex with men, young transgender people, young people using drugs, young people selling sex, and young people living with HIV.) These courses have evaluated well, and have contributed to developing the capacity of young leaders including those that emerged from these training to form Myanmar Youth Stars (MYS). More recently other partners including UNAIDS, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, and UNFPA have also established partnerships with MYS to further strengthen its institutional capacity and outreach to young key populations in Myanmar.
UNESCO is interested in engaging an institutional partner to support a one-year programme of work to strengthen the leadership capacity of young key populations and MYS including outreach to township levels to further equip young key populations with the skills they need to be advocates, undertake outreach with their peers, and otherwise engage in the national AIDS response.
Objectives
The institution contracted by UNESCO will contribute to:
• Building knowledge and skills on sexual and reproductive health (SRH), HIV and leadership among more than 200 young people from key populations through MYS;
• Improving the capacity of trained MYS members to undertake follow up activities within their communities and among their peers on HIV, through targeted support, supervision, and opportunities for information-sharing and networking, and
• Strengthening the institutional capacity of MYS, including by expanding its participation base and outreach at sub-national levels.
Work Assignments
The tasks to be conducted include but are not limited to:
1. Development of an “advanced” training curriculum on SRH, HIV and leadership, drawing on the existing “basic” curriculum available through the NewGen leadership short course and related materials. This curriculum should be designed to be a training curriculum delivered in a 3-day participatory workshop with young people from key populations.
2. Support to conducting 2 basic and 2 advanced trainings for young people from key populations from different regions and representing young people from, or working with young men who have sex with men, young transgender people, young people who use drugs, young people who sell sex and young people living with HIV. These trainings will be delivered by MYS members who have already received training-of-trainer support to deliver these trainings and who are familiar with the course curriculum.
3. Support to deliver five multiplier workshops in highly affected regions in Myanmar (one workshop per township) to expand outreach to communities in these areas.
4. Support to monitoring of actions undertaken by MYS members as a follow up to their participation in the training, and data collection on the types of activities supported and outcomes. This information should be provided in a short report at the end of the project cycle including lessons learned and next steps.
Qualifications or Specialized Knowledge/Experience Required:
The institution selected to support this work will need to be registered, and require:
• Demonstrated capacity in working with youth organizations in Myanmar, with a preference for those with previous experience supporting organizations and/or networks of young people from key populations including MYS;
• Demonstrated experience supporting capacity development activities, including trainings and coaching and mentoring of young people in Myanmar;
• Long-standing experience working on issues including SRH, HIV, stigma and discrimination and young people in Myanmar, with a preference for those agencies with ongoing programmes in this area;
• Previous experience working with the UN/multilateral/bilateral institutions in Myanmar would be an advantage;
• Willingness to provide any type of matching funding will be considered an asset.
Contract arrangements
UNESCO will issue the contract and be the primary focal point with the selected institution. Two contracts will be established, one through December 2014 and one through November 2015.
UNESCO will work closely as a technical partner on the implementation of the work through 2015, including reviewing and contributing to any technical products developed over the project lifecycle; participating in trainings or relevant events, where appropriate; and supporting monitoring of outcomes. Appropriate recognition of
UNESCO support, including the use of the UNESCO logo for materials and activities implemented in this partnership will be required.
Interested institutions/organizations should submit a short (3-5 pages) proposal including a proposed strategy, proposed timeline and estimated budget for completing this activity by 1 October 2014 to pp.phyo@unesco.org, copying tl.ngo@unesco.org.
Proposals for this work should not exceed 30,000 USD. The most competitive bid will be selected and institutions able to demonstrate synergies with their existing work, and/or able to provide matching funding will be considered favourably.