ThaiNGO

Terms of Reference for Consultants to Conduct

An Assessment to Improve Harm Reduction Program in Thailand

Contracting Authority: Raks Thai Foundation

Financed by

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

(The Global Fund)

For the NFM Thailand grant

Issuance of RFP:                                              14 November 2016

Submission Date:                                              25 November 2016

Email proposal to:                                             monsuda@raksthai.org   

Finalization of Award:                                                    December 2016

Tentative Start Date of Contract:                        January 2016

1. Purpose of Terms of Reference

Raks Thai Foundation is looking for an individual international consultant/an individual national consultant/a team of international and national consultants/well-established institutions (consultancy firms, universities, etc.) to conduct an assessment and provide recommendations and capacity building package to improve the Global Fund supported Thai civil society organization (CSO) harm reduction program. The assessment is scheduled for implementation starting from December 2016. Raks Thai Foundation is therefore looking for an international consultant with deep commitment and strong background in harm reduction with international experiences and good practices to undertake the assessment together with a national consultant to assess identified issues such as practices lead to increase vulnerability of PWID and drugs policy mapping. This assignment has major implications for Raks Thai Foundation and implementing agencies’ future work and partnerships in improving People Who Inject Drugs (PWID)’ quality of life in Thailand.

Interested consultants are encouraged to submit the proposals. The interested bidders are requested to submit up to 10-page proposal including assessment methodology and approach, relevant qualifications, budget and available date of assignment.

2. Project Description

In Thailand, the recent estimation in 2011 of the total number of PWID is 40,300.[1] HIV prevalence among PWID in Bangkok and Chiang Mai were reported ranging from 11% to 24%.[2] While the statistics on Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) among PWID in Thailand are limited, there was a report that up to 90% of PWID in Thailand have contracted HCV.[3] The coverage of Methadone treatment program, as part of the national health insurance, is low.[4]

Thailand has a long experience in working with PWID with supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In 2015, Raks Thai Foundation has been commissioned to be the Principal Recipient (PR) under the New Funding Model (NFM), Stop TB and AIDS through RRTTR (STAR). The program is focusing on Reach, Recruit, Test, Treat and Retain (RRTTR) among PWID as following details;

• Reach and Recruit: reach new PWID and recruit them to participate in the programs, needs identify and encourage use of condom, sterile needle and syringe.
• Test: referring PWID to take Voluntary Counselling and HIV Testing (VCT), HCV, TB, STI testing and providing friendly services.
• Treat: referring PWID to receive the treatment.
• Retain: maintain contact with PWID, encourage them to take VCT and other health testing regularly.

The setup of the program includes the drop-in centers and outreach activities by having ex- or current PWID perform as a peer educator to provide knowledge and other services. The project activities are distribution of information packages, condoms and needle and syringes, referral for HIV and STI testing and treatment and other health services, referral for methadone maintenance treatment, data management and networking with stakeholders.

Currently, the program is reaching about 7,000 – 9,000 PWID per year in 12 provinces or around 16 – 20% of a national estimate of PWID in need for harm reduction services. Whilst the ultimate goal of the program is to improve PWID’s well-being beyond the project objectives, the current implementation has faced challenges include reaching more PWID, covering various PWID groups, gender and geographical areas, understanding their needs and providing better health services include HCV, TB, overdose prevention program, collaboration with government, law enforcement and other stakeholders, support from the communities etc.

The program aims to improve its activities by considering various aspects of PWID include but not limited to; 1) Drugs: entering into drugs treatment, collaboration with MMT clinics, overdose prevention program, relapse prevention; 2) Health: HIV, STI, HCV, and TB prevention, testing and treatment, 3) Life security: living and integrating with the communities, 4) Skills and knowledge: skill development and education. Moreover, the CSO needs to establish standards, work toward achieving higher quality and perform accreditation for acquiring support from the Royal Thai government. The framework of this assignment can be seen in below figure;

Assessment Framework

3. Purpose of the assessment

The purposes of this assignment are as follow;

1. To assess the current harm reduction program under the STAR program and provide specific recommendations on the strengths and areas of improvements in terms of drop-in center, outreach activities, and ability to provide RRTTR services and community led services[5].
2. To identify areas that the various key stakeholders may want to consider in improving community based harm reduction program including social and health related benefits for the PWID, especially female, families and society.
3. To recommend improvement models and processes for the implementing agencies in Thailand regarding to drop-in center, outreach management, human resources training and capacity building, management practices, data utilization and performance management.
4. To recommend approach to long term sustainability of the Thai harm reduction program in all level.

Recommendation should base on international good practices and ability to apply to Thailand context. The consultant should be able to raise good examples and practices from multiple programs and countries with similar situations as in Thailand.

4. Scope of work

The assignment has a broad focus covering the assessment of Raks Thai Foundation and its implementing partners’ harm reduction program. It will also examine the collaboration with the stakeholders such as government, hospitals, MMT clinics, and prisons. The international consultant will conduct site visits to 5-6 project sites in Bangkok, Samutprakarn, Songkhla, Trang and Chiang Mai and have meetings with stakeholders in Bangkok. The national consultant will conduct an assessment with a topic will be discussed and agreed with Raks Thai Foundation.

5. Use of the findings

The intended key audiences of the assessment are Raks Thai Foundation, Thai Drug Users Network (TDN) and Ozone Foundation. The recommendation should base on international best practice and apply to Thailand context. It will be used for program redesign and development process to accelerate ongoing efforts towards reaching the goals and plan for a long-term sustainable program.

6. Work Assignments

• Planning workshop in Bangkok to familiarize the consultants with the various program aspects, and conduct detailed planning of the consultancy plan.
• International consultant, Site visits to 5 CSO harm reduction programs in Bangkok, Samutprakarn, Songkhla, Trang and Chiang Mai provinces
• National consultant, desk review, program assessment and analysis
• Meetings with key stakeholders in Bangkok
• Conduct a final workshop of with key stakeholders to discuss findings and recommendations and to develop draft plan for program improvement
• Develop draft and final assessment report and submit to Raks Thai Foundation

7. Estimated duration of contract

The assignment is preferably to commence in December 2016 and full completion and submission of all deliverables by 28 February 2017.

8. Work schedule

International consultant

National consultant

9. Deliverables

• Detailed planning of consultancy
• Draft assessment report
• Final assessment report
• PowerPoint with main findings
• Workshop with key stakeholders to discuss findings and recommendations and to develop draft plan for program improvement

Substantial information from the assessment must be presented in the final report with well written English. The final structure of the report will be guided by what is learned from the assessment and input from workshop and meetings. However, it is envisaged that the final report could be structured along the following key headings:

• Executive summary
• Program description
  • Background
  • Objectives
  • Assessment methodology
• Findings
• Recommendations

10. Qualifications or specialized knowledge/experience required

Qualified individual international consultant/individual national consultant/a team of international and national consultants/well-established institutions that have the capabilities to meet the following requirements, and are available for the assessment period indicated, are invited to submit an EOI. 

The composition of the proposed team can be individual consultant or a team of one international consultant and one national consultant:

International consultant

The international consultant will conduct the assessment and the dissemination of the findings and recommendations. S/he should have the following competencies:

• Have extensive harm reduction experiences (more than 7 years) including, but not limited to, the management of drop-in centers, outreach activities, overseeing coordination with government sector and other related services, HIV prevention and treatment, drug treatment as well as on the broader sense of improving the health and well-being of PWID
• Holding a university degree in public health or related field, including specific international experience in the harm reduction area and sound knowledge of enabling environment factors in working with government policy makers, law enforcements and private agencies
• Bringing a strong commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results, i.e. credible assessments that are used for improving the program
• Having excellent interpersonal and communication skills to help ensure that the assessment is understood and used
• Previous experience of working in a South-East Asian context is desirable, together with understanding of Thailand context
• The international consultant must be committed and willing to work independently, with limited regular supervision; s/he must demonstrate adaptability and flexibility, client orientation, proven ethical practice, initiative, concern for accuracy and quality. S/he must have the ability to concisely and clearly express ideas and concepts in written and oral form as well as the ability to communicate with various stakeholders in English

National consultant

The national consultant will conduct the assessment on identified topic such as policy mapping and various practices leading to increased vulnerability and the dissemination of the findings and recommendations. S/he should have the following competencies:

• Have harm reduction experiences (more than 3 years)
• Holding a university degree in public health or related field
• Having a firm understanding of harm reduction approached to programming, enabling environment factors in working with government policy makers, law enforcements and private agencies
• Having excellent interpersonal and communication skills to help ensure that the assessment is understood and used
• Thai national with strong, working level English

11. Fees and Payment Schedule

The fees for this assignment should be proposed by the consultant, with agreement of Raks Thai Foundation. The amount should include all costs and expenses for the assignments, out-of pocket, and service Taxes/VATs. Raks Thai Foundation will response for the cost of travelling to/from Thailand, local transportation per diem, and conducting workshops. All the costs are incurred in this TOR will be paid based on actual receipts.

12. Evaluation of Proposal

The proposal will be evaluated and examined to determine its responsiveness and compliancy with the ToR. Evaluation criteria for selecting the consultant will include:

A proposal shall be rejected if it fails to achieve the minimum threshold of 70% of the 100 points for the proposal.

13. Submission of the Proposal

Interested individual consultant/a team of international and national consultants/well-established institutions are encouraged to submit up to 10-page proposal including assessment methodology and approach, relevant qualifications, budget and available date of assignment. The proposal should be sent to monsuda@raksthai.org, no later than November 25, 2016. Further details on the assessment can be sent to interested parties upon request. Only shortlisted candidates will be interviewed. If you have any additional questions about this assignment, please email: Ms.Monsuda Chansiri (Program Officer) at monsuda@raksthai.org.

[1] Aramrattana A, et al. Using the Multiplier Method to Estimate the Population Size of Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) in Thailand, 2009.  The 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific 26-30 August 2011; Busan, Republic of Korea2011.

[2] WHO. ATLAS of Substance Use Disorders, Country Profile: Thailand. WHO; 2010.

[3] International Harm Reduction Association, ‘Global State of Harm Reduction 2008: Mapping the response to drug-related HIV and hepatitis C epidemics’, 2008.

[4] Fairbairn, N. and et al, Factors associated with methadone treatment among injection drug users in Bangkok, Thailand. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 2011.

[5] Community led services focus on rapid HIV testing by the communities to target key affected population to get the test and refer to the treatment if positive