Author: Igor Gordon

United and effective in challenging times: the Annual Meeting 2020 of the Steering Committee and the Advisory Board of the EHRA held on-line

Posted on by Igor Gordon

In the challenging year of 2020, when we all have to keep social distance, mutual support and jointly, coordinated actions are significant to ensure that people who use drugs in the CEECA region have access to medical, legal, and social help. This unity of EHRA leadership was mostly felt on November 19-20 during the Association’s Steering Committee and Advisory Board’s annual meeting. The on-line meeting was attended by 10 of the 13 members of the Steering Committee and EHRA Advisory Board members John-Peter Kools and Rick Lines. The session was led by Marina Chokheli, chair of the Steering Committee from Georgia.

On the first day, the Steering Committee and the Association Secretariat discussed the program activities’ results and planned the main events and products for the year 2021. When harm reduction funding and effectiveness is under serious threat in most countries of the region, an honest conversation about what works and what doesn’t in regional advocacy is very important. On behalf of organisations and activists in Southeast Europe, the co-chair of the Steering Committee from Bulgaria, Yulia Georgieva, initiated the creation of a specific EHRA workgroup to respond effectively to harm reduction closures and more systematically organise regional support for the national efforts of activists and community leaders for harm reduction funding.

It has become a good tradition to plan in detail approaches to mitigate organisational, political, and reputational risks in the Association’s work by the Steering Committee. Discussed steps to minimise the following risks that have the most significant impact on the implementation of the Association’s 2021 strategy:
– The COVID-19 crisis: COVID-19 crises: rapid changes in advocacy priorities, cooperation with state, access to services.
– Changes in state policy in CEECA countries, military conflicts between nations, revolutions within the region’s countries.
– Prohibition of EHRA members’ activities in CEECA countries, including a ban on disseminating information in the Russian language due to the implementation of “drug propaganda” laws.
– Significant decrease in the number of organisations/activists working in the field of drug policy at the national level, due to lack of support or repression.
– Closure of harm reduction programs in CEECA countries.

I remember when I first joined the Steering Committee, I kept emphasizing the need to work in countries that are difficult to work in, where few donors support programs - like Russia. And over the past year, I have seen that EHRA is doing a lot to support programs in "uneasy" countries, and there is much more to be done to protect activists and develop programs. We must not duplicate human rights defenders' efforts, but we need to organise help to activists in "crises"
Maxim Malyshev
Member of the Steering Committee from Russia

During the meeting, the Steering Committee discussed and made several important decisions for the work of the Association:
– To support further editing of the EHRA Code of Ethics, which will regulate the relationships and compliance with the key policies for all EHRA members and partners. The finalised Code in two languages will be published on the website, included in the admission procedure for new members and the EHRA contracts. 
– To organise elections of the new Steering Committee members by regional meetings and community in January, May and October, following the current Steering Committee members’ mandate in 2021.
– Make the practice of virtual regional gatherings of the EHRA a regular practice, to be held at least once every six months.The next EHRA regional members calls will be organised in February 2021.

European Harm Reduction sessions

Posted on by Igor Gordon

Together with Correlation European Harm Reduction Network we recently organized Harm Reduction Sessions, which were initiated to replace the 5th European Harm Reduction Conference. 

Session 1 – What can we learn from the COVID-19 pandemic?

Session 2 – Launch of the Special Edition of the Harm Reduction Journal

EHRA, as the co-organizer of the event, presented its decriminalization session, which was available in English and Russian. 

Session 3: Different approaches for decriminalization – what works?

Many countries started slowly to adopt alternatives to punishment, abolishing criminal sanctions for use and possession of psychoactive substances and replacing them with administrative measures, such as fine, compulsory or voluntary treatment, and other social interventions. However, not in all cases, these alternatives brought positive outcomes for people who use psychoactive substances and society at large.
Thus, we need to review new approaches or update old ones, to ensure that measures adopted by the state are proportionate and in line with human rights.
 
In this session, we discussed 5 different approaches to decriminalization, which are applied in 5 countries and their impact on the lives of people who use psychoactive substances and society, namely the cases where:
1) there are no consequences for the possession of drugs;
2) police confiscate drugs but take no further actions;
3) person is mandatory referred to health services for evaluation and receives no criminal arrest or conviction;
4) administrative liability is applied (i.e. fine);
5) person receives a criminal conviction but does not serve time in prison (may be required to complete community service and pay fine).
 
Moderator: Jamie Bridge, International Drug Policy Consortium
 
Speakers and their presentations:
🔸 Pavel Bem, Global Commission on Drug Policy
🔸 Machteld Busz, Mainline, the Netherlands
🔸 Alexandra Gurinova, Deutsche Aidshilfe, Germany
🔸 Mart Kalvet, Estonian Association of people using psychotropic substances LUNEST, Estonia
🔸 Erkinbek Iriskulbekov, Lawyer, Kyrgyzstan
🔸 Eliza Kurcevič, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, Lithuania
🔸 Zhannat Kosmukhamedova, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

We are looking for the expert to organize and facilitate EECA Regional Civil Society Consultation for the Next Global Fund Strategy

Posted on by Igor Gordon

Background

The Global Fund is currently preparing to host its 6th Partnership Forums, to be held virtually in 2021 and the first of such Forums, the one for Eastern Europe and Central Asia & Latin America and the Caribbean is already being planned for 9-11 February. While preparing for participation in this Forum, it is important to ensure that communities and civil society from the EECA region have the opportunity to discuss in advance and come up with concrete input on regional priorities to inform the development of the next Strategy.      

That is why, in a response to the request from the Global Fund CRG Department, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association in its capacity as a host of the EECA Regional Platform for Communication and Coordination would like to convene a Regional Consultation for Civil Society in EECA on the new Global Fund post-2022 Strategy.

For that purpose, EHRA is looking for the consultant to help EHRA with conceptualization of the Consultation, its organization and facilitation.

Aims of the Consultation

Aims of the planned Consultation are to 1) discuss collective priorities for the post-2022 Strategy, and 2) identify concrete recommendations/input to be included in the Strategy development process.    

To avoid duplication of the inputs recently collected by EHRA and provided to the Global Fund as a part of the Strategy’s Open Consultation process and also taking into account the Global Fund recommendations – the Consultation should be focused on the specific Strategy related topics requiring concentrated discussion and guidance (but may not be limited only to them):

  1. The Global Fund’s role in Global Health Security 
  2. The Global Fund’s future role in RSSH to achieve UHC 
  3. Strengthening partnerships to improve program effectiveness 
  4. Equity, human rights, and gender 

Community and civil society engagement and leadership in the response 

Key expected participants of the Consultation

  • EECA key population regional networks
  • Principle recipients of the Global Fund multi-country HIV and TB grants in EECA
  • Representatives of the NGOs involved into implementation of the Global fund grants in EECA as PRs, SRs and SSRs
  • Civil society activists interested in Global Fund processes

Tasks for the Consultant under this ToR 

EHRA is expecting the consultant under this ToR to:

  • develop the concept of the Regional Consultation and approach to its organization.
  • organize the processes of the Consultation in accordance with the developed concept and approach.
  • facilitate the major part of the Consultation to take place in a format of the online event;
  • Based of the results of the Consultation – to develop the report on the results of the Consultation. The report should be in English, not exceed 10 pages and include the recommendations, input or perspectives on the direction of the post-2022 Strategy.

 

The Consultation could be organized as a 2 – 3 stage process including the opportunity to provide input on the priority topics through the online survey, individual interviews with key civil society stakeholders and also through the online event with involvement of different stakeholders providing opportunity to discuss each of the priority topis altogether. But the consultant can suggest his/her own approach for EHRA consideration and approval.

Language

The Consultation should be organized both in Russian and English to allow non-Russian speaking representatives of the EECA civil society to express their opinion on the Strategy related topics. EHRA has resources available to organize the translation during the Consultation.  

Timeline

  • It is expected that during November the Consultation will be conceptualized and all the technical preparations will be organized.
  • The Consultation is planned to take place in early December 2020 (preliminary on the week 07 – 11) in the online format.
  • The report on the results of the consultation with relevant recommendations should be ready in English by 24.12.2020. to be provided to the Global Fund CRG Department.

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 regional expert should not exceed 9 working days altogether (2 days to develop the concept of the Consultation; four days to organize the processes of the Consultation; 1 day to facilitate the Consultation; 2 days to develop report on its results). Payment will be done within 10 days after the acceptance by EHRA of the report on the results of the workshop and developed TA request.

The contract with the consultant will be signed for the period from 06 of November till 31 of December 2020.

 Requirements to the consultant

Submitted application will be evaluated by a selection committee at the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association. To assess the tender applications, the following criteria will be used (maximum amount of points for each criterion):

  • The experience of organization and facilitation of such kind of events in last three years (should be clear from CV and the Letter of Interest); (20 points maximum)
  • Good understanding of the current Global Fund Strategy, key policies and processes including those currently taking place with regard to the development of the new Global Fund Strategy post-2022 (should be clear from the Letter of Interest); (20 points maximum)
  • Good understanding of the Global Fund related context in EECA, good knowledge of key civil society stakeholders involved into GF processes in EECA (should be clear from the Letter of Interest); (10 points maximum)
  • Good communication skills; (10 points maximum)
  • Tolerant attitude towards representatives of key communities affected by HIV and TB; (10 points maximum)
  • Fluent written and spoken English and Russian (exclusive requirement for local expert); (10 points maximum)
  • Optimal daily rate (20 points maximum)

The maximum possible amount of points is 100. Based on the results of the tendering process EHRA could decide to sub-contract more than one consultant to complete the tasks within this ToR.

How to apply

 The candidates are invited to submit their CV, Letter of Interest and state the daily rate in USD (including the taxes) by e-mail referenced under title “Consultant to organize the Consultation for the Next Global Fund Strategy” to ivan@harmreductioneurasia.org by COB 05 of November 2020 24:00 EET.

Andrey Rylkov Founation will be able to continue its harm reduction work with the help of the ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action Harm Reduction HIV Challenge Award

Posted on by Igor Gordon

Starting November 1, 2020 Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice (ARF) will be able to continue its harm reduction services in Moscow through the Positive Action Harm Reduction HIV Challenge award by ViiV Healthcare.

While funding for HIV prevention work in key populations became almost impossible to secure either through international or domestic sources, we are happy that we will be able to continue our work. ARF received the Positive Action Challenge Grand Award in the amount of 75 000 GBP in June 2020. The decision to award ARF was announced at a Virtual AIDS-2020 Conference the same month. Positive Action Challenges seek to find innovative solutions to a particular issue or challenge. The Harm Reduction Challenge sought innovative ideas for community or peer-led initiatives or programmes that provide comprehensive, innovative and accessible harm reduction services at the community level for people who inject drugs.

„Winners of the Positive Action Harm Reduction Challenge enact community or peer-led approaches to non-stigmatising, inclusive and comprehensive harm reduction and HIV care. Approaches like these help to meaninfully engage and involve people who inject drugs and help to address the rising HIV epidemic in the community,“ said Jennifer Carpenter, ViiV Healthcare Positive Action Breakthrough Manager.

The award will help ARF cover core harm reduction services to people who inject drugs on the streets of Moscow and keep exploring ways to improve key populations access to HIV prevention and treatment by placing more focus on mental health support, with a specific objectives to:

  • continue ARF daily outreach work on the streets of Moscow providing comprehensive services on HIV, HCV, overdose prevention, human rights redress, legal aid and mental health support;
  • ensure the accessibility of PWID to case management on the issues of health and rights;
  • expand the access of HIV-positive people to ARV treatment by improving mental health support systems;
  • develop and pilot the monitoring and evaluation system that would integrate the health and human rights indicators.

The Andrey Rylkov Foundation is a grass-roots organization based in Moscow working since 2009. Our mission is to promote and develop humane drug policy based on tolerance, protection of health, dignity and human rights. In advancing its mission, ARF engages in 5 key strategies:

  • direct service provision on the streets, including health and legal aid;
  • advocacy and public campaigns;
  • human rights monitoring and documentation;
  • strategic litigation;
  • PWUD community systems strengthening

While the award will help to cover essential services and staff, ARF donor funding for harm reduction has decreased by 40% in 2021. We are compensating with the ever growing contribution of our amazing volunteers network and through crowdfunding. We therefore use this opportunity to thank once again our volunteers and supporters for providing key support to our activities which becomes even more essential in these challenging times. 

EHRA is looking for a technical consultant to collect information on drug laws

Posted on by Igor Gordon

The Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) as a part of the three years project of the International Harm Reduction Consortium “We Will Not End AIDS Without Harm Reduction” is looking for a technical consultant to collect information on drug laws in 19 countries of CEECA region[1], based on already developed methodology and collected information on other 10 countries in CEECA region.

Tasks of the consultant and expected results:

  • To identify list of national focal points in 19 countries, who will support consultant in finding national legal acts.
  • To do a desk review of current regulations related to drug consumption, possession (with and without intent to distribute) and supply; as well as collect information for drug calculator.
  • To analyze collected information in 19 countries and prepare it for EHRA website, based on EHRA methodology.

Proposed timeline:

All tasks should be completed in the period from 3rd November till 13th December, 2020.

Evaluation criteria

The submitted applications will be evaluated by the selection committee of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association

A two-stage procedure will be utilized in evaluating the proposals:

  • evaluation of the previous experience (portfolio) via technical criteria – 80% in total evaluation
  • comparison of the costs (best value for money) – 20% in total evaluation.

Cost evaluation is only undertaken for technical submissions that score a minimum 70 points out of a maximum of 100 as a requirement to pass the technical evaluation. A proposal which fails to achieve the minimum technical threshold will not be considered further.

To assess submitted applications, the following technical criteria will be used (80%):

Criteria

Weighting

Experience in analyzing legal documents

40 points

Wide range of contacts on regional level to identify list of national focal points to collect information

40 points

Literate written English and/or Russian

20 points

 Cost proposal (20%):

EHRA will allocate same importance to the provided portfolio and recorded experience as to the cost of the services. The cost proposal will be evaluated in terms of best value-for money to EHRA in EUR, price and other factors considered.

Condition

This announcement and its attachments shall not be construed as a contract or a commitment of any kind. This request for proposals in no way obligates EHRA to award a contract, nor does it commit EHRA to pay any cost incurred in the preparation and submission of the proposals.

Terms of payment and other conditions same as a final timeline will be indicated in the agreement which EHRA will sign with the winner.

How to apply

The candidates are invited to submit their CV and letter of interest with suggested national focal points list and suggested consultancy fee for all work by e-mail referenced under title “Consultant to collect information on drug laws” to Eliza Kurcevic at eliza@harmreductioneurasia.org by 27th October 2020, 24:00 EET.

Results will be announced by 30th October 2020. Each candidate will be contacted individually.

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

[1] Countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, the Kosovo territory, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Extended: Apply for our new online course: “Sustainability and Survival: Resilience for civil society organisations working with key populations in the CEECA region”

Posted on by Igor Gordon

We kindly invite you to apply for the online course: “Sustainability and Survival: Resilience for civil society organisations working with key populations in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia”.

This collaborative and interactive skills development course is specifically designed for non-profit, civil society and community-based organizations from countries of the CECCA region, that advocate and/or provide direct services for key populations.  The course will help you, as a CSO or CBO working with key populations, to acquire skills and confidence for organisational resilience and a more diversified and sustainable funding model. By the end of this course, we expect you to be better equipped  the challenges of the current and future evolving funding environment.

Specifically we will be supporting you to:

  • Strengthen the effectiveness and resilience of your organisation;
  • Develop a strategy and plan for sustainability and pilot specific income generation approaches;
  • Ensure that your income generation streams and targets are aligned with organisational strategy, and respond to the current funding environment that you are facing;
  • Compare the characteristics of a range of new income sources and analyse their potential fit for your organisation (e.g. crowdfunding, social enterprise, membership models, social contracting);
  • Practice facilitating creative approaches to income generation with your colleagues.

The course offers the chance to join three 3-hour live and interactive online training workshops, to view a series of 1-hour webinars in your own time, and to undertake exercises to embed the learning between events. You will also have a mentor, who will be able to support you to practice and implement the learning, through a project of your choosing. The course will be delivered in English and Russian language.  Certificates will be issued to those that complete the course.

The course will be run by a consultancy team of four course facilitators and trainers:  Anya Sarang, Dermott McDonald, Rachel Haynes, and Victoria Ireland.

More details about the course can be found HERE.

If you would like to participate, please complete this online survey by October 11. We will be letting you know if you have a place by October 14, 2020.

Who can apply? The programme is open to officially registered civil society / community-based organizations working with or for key communities (people who use drugs, men who have sex with men, LGBTQI+, sex workers) or people living with HIV, operating in one of 29 CEECA countries.

Participants must be employees of these organisations, that have been involved in one or more income generation activities of the organization. You must be able to commit 35 hours to the course during October and November and must be able to speak and write in Russian or English.

PLEASE NOTE: Participation in the course is free. The number of seats is limited to 20 participants, ideally 2 people from each organization. The selection of participants will be on competitive bases, based on the quality of completed applications. Filling out the online survey does not guarantee participation in the course. We will inform you about enrolment in the group by October 14, 2020.

The course is delivered in the framework of the Eurasian Regional Consortium project “Thinking outside the box: overcoming challenges in community advocacy for sustainable and high-quality HIV services”, funded by the Robert Carr Fund for civil society networks

Extended: EHRA is looking for a team for websites maintenance and support

Posted on by Igor Gordon

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.

Currently EHRA is hosting www.harmreductioneurasia.org, www.eecaplatform.org, www.chasevirus.org, www.drugeducationyouth.org internet portals as knowledge and networking tools for its members, donors and partners.

The portals provide access to resources, strategies and policies, case studies, information about events, tenders and opportunities to inform members, donors, consultants, researchers and other stakeholders in the fields of harm reduction, drug education and human rights at regional level.

This assignment is for a contractor to provide expert technical maintenance and support for websites and to develop and implement technical solutions that improve the user friendliness and ability to respond to its audience’s needs on an ongoing basis for one year from October 2020.

A team consisting of four full-time staff is managing web portals by updating the site with content, and ensuring the structures meet the audience needs. The contractor will provide maintenance and support services for websites (based on WordPress open source software) and also develop and implement new features. The services sought are indicated in these terms of reference. The contractor will be expected to be flexible and responsive to the web portals support services requested as well as provide innovative ideas and recommendations to ensure that the portals are considered to be user friendly.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Overall, the contractor is required to:

  • Ensure implementation, troubleshooting, and maintenance support for the existing websites; and to collaborate with the team, serve as a resource for problem analysis and solution.
  • Provide more effective development and design for the functionality of the websites.
  • Provide technical and creative expertise to create, manage, and update the websites.
  1. SITE HOSTING & ADMINISTRATION
  • Assure a reliable hosting environment and a stable functioning of the websites.
  • Backups – in case of a serious incident, the restoration of the website from the most recent backup needs to be assured.
  • Security – manage all aspects of website security to protect confidential member information and existing content (data, project information, contact details, etc.), and prevent hacks, defacing, etc.
  1. REGULAR TECHNICAL SITE & CODE MAINTENANCE
  • Assure the WordPress Website Maintenance.
  • Install Software, module/Security patches and upgrades including bug fixes.
  • Install, upgrade or modify existing modules on sites.
  • Develop, update and maintain the sites.
  1. ONGOING WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT (IMPROVEMENT OF SITE FUNCTIONALITIES)
  • Analyse the existing website functionalities.
  • Maintain ongoing development on existing sites and add new features where needed.
  • Manage, update and improve site navigation and information architecture.
  • Manage web design; enhancements to the sites’ look and feel on an ongoing basis.
  1. SPECIFIC FEATURES
  • Development, design and implementation of new specific features on the websites based on requests from the team. These will occur on demand;
  • Advise on alternative platforms to ensure maximum performance of the tools and content needed on specific website.
  1. MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

The assignment will be managed by the EHRA team. All options and recommendations for improving the website will be agreed through the team, which will directly collaborate with the contractor on different sections of the websites.

  1. QUALIFICATIONS

The contractor is required to have:

  • extensive knowledge and experience of website development and management by making use of innovative technologies and applications;
  • specific and in-depth expertise in the WordPress content management system;
  • experience with other platforms (Drupal, Joomla and other CMS platforms);
  • excellent communication skills and the capacity to be responsive to changing needs and requirements as communicated by EHRA team.

The service provider is expected to describe its understanding of the objectives of the project and the Scope of Work.

  1. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY / APPROACH
  • A clearly quantified proposal on the various benefits shall be outlined by the service provider as well as the cost implications which shall include the administration costs.
  • A capacity statement, stating the service provider’s capacity, qualifications and experience in delivering the abovementioned services;
  • Detailed description of work experience with traceable references (work examples with contacts for references);
  • Hourly rates (VAT inclusive)

CLOSING DATE

All proposals must be submitted by e-mail referenced under title “IT TEAM” to Alina Storozhuk at alina@harmreductioneurasia.org by 9 October, 2020, 24:00 EET.

EVALUATION

After the closing date of the bid invitation, an appointed evaluation committee of EHRA staff will evaluate the proposals of the bidders. The committee will individually evaluate each of the bid proposals received. The evaluation will be made based on:

  • Experience – maximum score 50 points
  • Price – maximum score 50 points

The contract will be awarded to 1 applicant with the highest score.

GENERAL CONDITIONS

The following should be noted by interested parties:

  • Intellectual property and ownership of all products developed in the execution of the contract will be vested in EHRA and any and all service providers will sign those rights to EHRA.
  • Products may not be made available to any unauthorised person or institution or sold for profit without prior written consent from EHRA.
  • On completion or termination of the agreement, all products must be handed over to EHRA.
  • No information concerning the tender or award of the tender may be made available by the Bidder to other parties without prior consultation and written approval from EHRA.
  • The successful bidder will be required to be bound by confidentiality.

The time period for this assignment will be 1 year, starting from October 2020 with an option for renewal for another 6 months.

MANAGEMENT REPORTING AND ASSIGNMENT ENQUIRIES


All enquiries related to the objectives and scope of this assignment should be directed to:

Alina Storozhuk
Eurasian Harm Reduction Association
Senior Communications and Campaign Officer
Tel: +37069256431
Email: alina@harmreductioneurasia.org

EHRA is looking for the consultant in Lithuania on conducting teambuilding and soft skills improvement training session for secretariat team

Posted on by Igor Gordon

for EHRA secretariat team

The Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) is looking for qualified social psychologist who will develop and conduct targeted 1,5 day training session on teambuilding and soft skills improvement for EHRA Secretariat team.

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 http://harmreductioneurasia.org

Participants of the training: team of 9 professionals and experts in advocacy of harm reduction, sustainability and transition, drug policy and drug users’ community mobilization with high education and several years of joint working experience in implementation of regional and national projects.

Place and time: Lithuania, 15-16th of October 2020.

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSULTANCY

The aim of the assignments it to develop and conduct teambuilding event with elements of the soft skills improvement for EHRA team. The training will be conducted in-door at out of office bases.

The selected trainer should conduct following tasks:

  1. To conduct rapid assessment of the organisational climate and needs in soft skills development among EHRA staff via individual interviews with up to 6 staff members.
  2. To summarise finding of the assessment and to suggest agenda for the 1,5 day teambuilding training for staff.
  3. To conduct team building training for staff 15-16th of October.
  4. To provide short report summarising results of the assessment and training.

TIMELINE

All tasks should be completed in the period from 1st October till 1st November, 2020. Training itself need to be conducted 15-16th of October, 2020.

Full description of position requirements can be found here

HOW TO APPLY

The candidates are invited to submit:

·        their CV,

·        examples of reports or agenda from teambuilding or soft-skills training and assessment conducted earlier and

·        letter of interest with calculation of the cost of assignment.

by e-mail referenced under title “Teambuilding” to Ganna Dovbakh at anna@harmreductioneurasia.org by 27th September 2020, 24:00 EET. Results will be announced by September 30, 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 cost of the travel within Lithuania to the venue of the training, accommodation, and food during the training for the consultant will be covered by EHRA.

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

 

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

Posted on by Igor Gordon

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

EHRA is looking for Finance and Grants Officer

Posted on by Igor Gordon

International non-profit organization, working in the sphere of advocacy, human rights, realization of socially important projects invites a financial specialist to join its team.

For more information about EHRA and the main programs being implemented by EHRA, please, follow the following links:  https://old.harmreductioneurasia.org/about-us/

Working conditions:

Distance work using own facilities: computer, stable access to the Internet.

Consultancy agreement without social insurance for one year starting from October 2020. 

Ability to come to the EHRA’s office in Vilnius (Lithuania) at least twice a year. EHRA will cover flight and accommodation during visit.

General requirements and experience:

  • Understanding the legal, regulatory documents, the requirements of donor organizations.
  • Work with large volumes of information.
  • Excellent problem-solving and time management skills and ability to prioritize/multi-task;

EHRA expects qualified candidates to have the following skills and experience:

  • University/college degree (e.g. in finance/accounting or relevant fields);
  • At least 3 years of professional experience in finance.
  • At least 1 year of experience in working with grant agreement, donation and international donor‘s organizations; ( GFATM, RCF, UNAIDS, etc.)
  • Preferred experience in working with non-profit/NGO sector, donation and international donor‘s organizations;
  • Preferred experience in the preparation of different types of contracts (grant, service, etc.)

Excellent command of Russian (oral and written), good English (written). Languages of communication with partners: Russian and English.

Personal qualities:

  • Optimism, tolerance to cultural differences.
  • Ability to work under pressure.
  • Communication skills.

Full description of position requirements can be found here

 Compensation:  Gross salary is 1100 USD include all taxes.

 Interested candidates should provide:

  • updated CV outlining specific relevant experience and two references.
  • a short cover letter indicating suitability for the position.

 Documents should be sent to: info@harmreductioneurasia.org until September 27, 2020.

 Interviews will be done on a rolling basis.

Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.