Extended: EHRA is looking for consultant to conduct a research on NPS in Estonia

BACKGROUND

Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) is a non-for-profit public membership-based organisation, registered by the initiative of harm reduction activists and organisations from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) in 2017.

More information about the Association and specifics of the work you can find on our website https://old.harmreductioneurasia.org

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSULTANCY

In cooperation with School of Law, Swansea University, UK, EHRA is seeking to engage national  consultant in Estonia to conduct a research on the use of new psychoactive substances (hereinafter – NPS) in Estonia.

The assessment is aimed to analyze existing evidence and documents to overview the (a) existing statistics/data on NPS use from various sources, (b) researches of patterns of use and procurement of NPS (via clubs, darknet, etc), (c) existing algorithms of ambulance and police actions, and (d) availability of harm reduction services for NPS users, and how existing services needs to adapt to meet the needs created by NPS in Estonia. This research will be conducted using the same methodology as one, done already in Moldova, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Serbia.

The potential candidates should:

  • collect national data sources (such as website links, documents (in word, pdf formats), presentations and other materials) on NPS (documents and research data on drug use, behavior and harm reduction services, existing laws on health and drug policy).
  • to organize the field data collection:
  • recruit not less than 20 respondents from community of people who use drugs and other key affected populations and conduct focus-groups;
  • arrange and conduct interviews with officials from law enforcement and health services, harm reduction services (list of needed interviewees will be agreed with EHRA);
  • according the collected national sources on NPS use, together with EHRA staff member to adjust questionnaire for interviews/ focus groups;
  • develop a report on NPS use in Estonia.

Soft copies of all collected data and minutes of interviews should be shared with EHRA via DropBox or GoogleDrive. In case of using quotes from individuals, the consultant must have a signed informed consent from each interviewee.

EHRA will support the consultant by facilitating the contacts between the Consultant and national harm reduction experts / networks of people who use drugs; as well will guide through the methodology of the research.

TIMELINE

 All tasks should be completed in the period from 1st October till 15th November, 2020.

Selection of the consultants will be done by the Commission in EHRA, based on the following Evaluation criteria:

 Relevant experience in harm reduction/drug policy field or/and social research field data collection (50 points)

Wide range of contacts on national level (with community of PWUD, law enforcement, health and harm reduction services) (30 points)

Fluency in written Russian and/or English (20 points)

HOW TO APPLY

 The candidates are invited to submit their CV and letter of interest with suggested respondents list, and state the daily rate in EUR (should be provided in EHRA’s template) by e-mail referenced under title

“National Consultant” to Eliza Kurcevic at eliza@harmreductioneurasia.org by 4 October, 2020, 24:00 EET.

 Results will be announced by 7 October, 2020. Each candidate will be contacted individually.

Payment

Payment for the work of the consultant under this ToR will be decided based on the results of the tendering process. The work under this ToR for the consultant should not exceed 20 working days altogether over a period of one and a half of month including the collection of national data sources, organization of focus groups and interviews with key respondents, development of the report, and validation of data of the report. The stated daily rate should be confirmed by the consultant. The final daily rate could be the subject to agreement between the parties. In case the consultant can’t confirm the stated daily rate or EHRA is not being able to agree the daily rate with the consultant, EHRA reserves the right not to sign the contract with the expert and approach the next candidate in line in accordance with the results of the tendering process.

Any questions regarding the participation should be sent to eliza@harmreductioneurasia.org