Category: News

 

RFP Number	EHRA-03-11
RFP Title	External consultant. Simultaneous interpreters
RFP Closing Date and time:	23:59 EET on March 18, 2022
Proposal Submission Address:	info@harmreductioneurasia.org

 

Background

Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) is a non-for-profit public membership-based organization uniting harm reduction activists and organisations from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) with its mission to actively unite and support communities and civil societies to ensure the rights and freedoms, health, and well-being of people who use psychoactive substances in the CEECA region.

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

Objectives of the tender:

EHRA announces a tender for the selection of simultaneous interpreters from English into Russian and from Russian into English for long-term cooperation (remote online work). Based on the results of the tender, several simultaneous interpreters will be selected, with whom EHRA will sign long-term contracts.

Evaluation criteria:

Submitted applications will be evaluated by the evaluation panel 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 (per-hour cost in EUR) – 20% in total evaluation.

Cost evaluation is only undertaken for technical submissions that score a minimum 80 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.

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 (per hour cost in EUR working remotely online). Kindly make sure to specify in euro the hourly cost of online simultaneous interpreting, as well as the rate for an 8-hour working day for live meetings.

How to apply

To be eligible as an EHRA consultant, any organization or individual must comply with the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association Code of Ethics which you can find at the following link: https://old.harmreductioneurasia.org/ehra-code-of-ethics/

Applicants must submit the following documents:

1. CV with relevant information in the field of simultaneous interpretation and education.
2. Application (motivation letter) in free form, in which you must specify:

–  cost per hour in EUR of remote work online;

–  rate in EUR for an 8-hour working day for live meetings,

–  the subject matter in which you are working, taking into account the specifics of EHRA, especially highlighting services for UN agencies or the Global Fund, services to combat HIV, TB and malaria;

–  contact details of persons for whom you have provided interpretation services in the last 6 months (2-3 events).

Please submit your proposal to info@harmreductioneurasia.org .

In the subject line of your e-mail please indicate the RFP number EHRA-01-03, the title “External consultant. Simultaneous interpreters” and your name. Otherwise, the application will not be considered.

ATTENTION. If these documents are not submitted in full, the participant will not be allowed to take part in the tender.

General terms

Interested consultants should pay attention to the following conditions:

• This RFP shall not be interpreted as a contract or obligation of any kind. This invitation to tender does not in any way oblige EHRA to enter into contracts, nor does it oblige EHRA to pay any costs incurred in preparing and submitting applications.
• Participants must confirm that the cost of the works specified in the application are valid for a period of at least 24 months from the date of the competition.
• During the evaluation period, EHRA reserves the right to ask candidates to complete an additional task in the form of simultaneous interpretation.
• Based on the results of the tender, a contract for the provision of services for a two-year period will be signed with the winners. The contract is not an employment contract. Payment of all taxes and social insurance is the responsibility of the contractor. Further work will be carried out in accordance with the request of EHRA, which will indicate the timing and other specific conditions.

Background

The Regional Platforms for Communication and Coordination were established in 6 regions of the world by the Global Fund within its Community, Rights and Gender Special Initiative (CRG-SI) which was implemented throughout 2014-2016. The work of the Platforms was reaffirmed to be executed throughout 2017-2019 and 2020 – 2022 within a 2nd and 3rd phases of the now called CRG Strategic Initiative. Sine 2017 Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) is being the host of the EECA regional Platform.

The regional platforms for communication and coordination are expected to have a key role in engaging civil society organizations and community networks in Global Fund processes. They are responsible to foster regional dialogue, exchange knowledge and good practices among civil society actors and networks, as well as to disseminating information on technical assistance opportunities across civil society and community groups across all countries where the Global Fund has grants and/or countries under Global Fund multi-country grants.

To progress towards these goals, the EHRA in its role as a regional platform is aiming to achieve the following objectives in EECA region:

Sub-objective 1: To enhance community knowledge of the Global Fund and its processes, through the regular bi-directional sharing of tailored and targeted information to a diverse audience.

Sub-objective 2: To strengthen the capacity and coordination of communities to engage in national and regional Global Fund grants and related processes.

Sub-objective 3: To improve community access to technical assistance through information-sharing, linkage to appropriate providers, support developing requests, and strengthening TA provider capacity and coordination.

To ensure proper communication in order to achieve above-mentioned objectives, the EECA Platform uses the next communication channels:

• Web-site
• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Twitter: @EecaInfo
• EECA regional thematic listservs: EHRA (RUS and ENG), TBEC, ITPCru

EHRA is looking for the expert to conduct the EECA Regional Civil Society Survey on the work of the EECA Regional Platform.

Purpose and scope of the survey

The survey aims to help EHRA to understand the experience of communities, KAP and partners within and outside the EECA region with the EECA Regional Platform and collect specific requests and recommendations on what could be sustained, improved or changed in its work in 2022 – 2023.

In particular, EHRA is expecting the results of the survey to help it to understand how the Platform could better organize its work during the next two years in order to achieve its 3 objectives, including, in particular (but not limited to):

• How the Platform could better target the civil society and communities in the region with the relevant information (what could be improved in the current Platform’s approach to communication, what is the best way to provide civil society in the region with GF related information and how to interest them with it, what other channels of communication could be used etc.).
• How the Platform should restructure and update its website to make it more attractive and useful for the representatives of civil society and communities in EECA (what topics should be highlighted better, what sections should be added, what challenges people experience when using the website, etc.)
• What the Platform could do better to make its work more visible in the region
• How the Platform could act better to strengthen the capacity of civil society to get better engagement into the national Global Fund related processes in their countries
• What the Platform could do better to ensure the access of civil society and communities’ representatives in the region to the available technical support (including CRG TA in particular)
• In what areas there could be a stronger role for the Platform in the region

Key tasks to be conducted by the expert

Before proceeding with organization of the survey process the expert sub-contracted by EHRA under this ToR is expected to familiarize themselves with:

• the Platform’s communication channels including website and accounts in social networks
• the Platform’s work plan for 2021 – 2023
• the EHRA report on the C19RM support project in 2021
• the EHRA report on the Platform’s work in 2017 – 2020

All relevant documents will be provided by EHRA to the selected consultant.

Next approaches to data collection are expected to be used by the consultant:

• Semi-structured interviews with the representatives of the next categories of the respondents:

• NGOs which received CRG TA / C19RM related TA with the support of the EECA Platform in 2020 – 2021 (4 interviews)
• Partners involved in the implementation of the Components 1 and 2 of the CRG SI in EECA region (3 interviews)
• CRG TA providers which had the experience of CRG TA provision in EECA region in 2020 – 2021 (3 interviews)
• Principal recipients of the Global Fund’s HIV and TB multi-country grants in EECA (2 interviews)
• Members of the relevant Delegations to the GF Board from EECA region (3 interviews)

• Global Fund’s Secretariat CRG Department and EECA team (2 interviews)

• Key EHRA partners in the region from among key populations networks (3 interviews)

As some of the interviewees could represent more than one category of key respondent, not less than 15 interviews should be conducted altogether covering all the above listed categories.

• Online survey in two languages (Russian and English) available for any interested civil society and communities’ representatives from EECA region. SurveyMonkey or Google forms could be used as a base for the online survey.

The consultant will be expected to develop and agree with EHRA:

• The list of the key informants to be interviewed
• The questionnaires for the different categories of the key informants to be interviewed
• The questionnaire for the online survey
• The outline of the report on the results of the survey

Proposed timeline and process

Deliverables

As the result a report summarizing the results of the survey should be developed. The report should not exceed 20 pages (excluding annexes if any) and be prepared in Russian or English.

The report will be used by EHRA to improve the work of the EECA regional Platform in 2022 – 2023 and will be shared with the Community, Rights and Gender Team in the Global Fund’s Secretariat.

Cost of services and payment order

The total contract cost for the work of the consultant under this ToR should not exceed 2 300 USD (including all taxes).

Payment should be executed for the completed services after the exception by EHRA of the report on the results of the survey and based on the invoice and act of service rendered.

Evaluation Criteria

An evaluation panel will assess the extent to which proposals submitted in response to this announcement meet the evaluation criteria below.

The minimum technical score is 90. Only candidates with a minimum score of 90 points out of a maximum of 100 are considered eligible for the assignment. Consultants with proven work experience in the community organization would be given a priority.

The candidates with the highest technical score that meets the requirement will be invited for negotiation of the agreement.

Additionally, the consultants should have:

• No conflict of interest (should be declared in the Letter of Interest);
• Fluent written and spoken English and Russian

How to apply

The individual consultants are invited to submit their CV and the Letter of Interest (LoI) by e-mail referenced under title “Consultant to conduct the EECA Regional Civil Society Survey” to ivan@harmreductioneurasia.org by COB 25 February 2022 24:00 EET.

 

RFP Number	EHRA-01-06
RFP Title	Сonsultancy. Assessment on drug scene changes during Covid-19
RFP Closing Date and time:	23:59 EET, 23 February 2022
Proposal Submission Address:	info@harmreductioneurasia.org

 

Background

Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) is a non-for-profit public membership-based organization uniting harm reduction activists and organisations from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) with its mission to actively unite and support communities and civil societies to ensure the rights and freedoms, health, and well-being of people who use psychoactive substances in the CEECA region.

Covid-19 pandemic affected not only provision of harm reduction and other health and social services worldwide, but also made an influence on drug scene and drug use patterns changes. Anecdotal data in CEECA region shows that more new psychoactive substances, and/ or substances which were not before accessible there, entered the drug markets[1]. EHRA as a part of the RCF Covid-19 Grant Relief project is looking for a consultant to conduct community-based[2] assessment on drug scene and drug use patterns changes during Covid-19 in CEECA region.

 

Objectives of the consultancy:

• To develop methodology for the community-based assessment in consultation and agreement with EHRA. The current vision of methodology includes desk research and collection of data through the online questionnaires, however it is not limited to the before mentioned activities.
• To collect data for the report. We expect consultant to collect data from at least 200 people in 28 countries[3] of CEECA region (number of questionnaires per country will be agreed while signing the agreement with selected consultant).
• To process data for the preparation of report.
• To develop a regional report on drug scene and drug use patterns changes during Covid-19 in CEECA region. Report should be written in English or Russian language and not exceed 30 pages.

Only consultants who are fluent and understand both – Russian and English can apply.

Assessment should analyze, but is not limited to the following questions, which will be discussed with a selected consultant during preparatory work:

• What drugs people used before Covid-19 and did their drug of choice changed during pandemic? What is their new drug of choice?
• What was the reason that people switched to other drugs during Covid-19?
• Did the administration route of drugs change?
• Did the method of purchasing of drugs change?
• If there is seen an increase of overdoses during Covid-19?
• How the prices of drugs changed?
• Are people facing any mental health issues during Covid-19? What are the issues and what actions are taken to respond to it?
• Are people facing any challenges in receiving health, social and legal support during Covid-19?

!!! Please, notice that assessment should be conducted online. There is no available budget for consultant to travel to countries. EHRA will support consultant to connect with national partners, however we expect consultant to have at least minimal connection with partners from CEECA region.

Proposed timeline:

• Methodology for the community-based assessment should be prepared and agreed with EHRA by 21^st March, 2022.
• Data in 28 countries of CEECA region should be collected by 2^nd May, 2022.
• 1^st draft of the report should be developed and send to EHRA for a feedback by 23^rd May, 2022.
• Final version of the report should be ready by 6^th June, 2022.

Evaluation Criteria

Submitted applications will be evaluated by the evaluation panel 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 80 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%) (maximum possible number of points is 100):

 

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

• Only consultants who are fluent and understand both – Russian and English are eligible to apply.
• 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.

How to apply

To be eligible as a EHRA consultant, any organization or individual must comply with the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association Code of Ethics which you can find at the following link: https://old.harmreductioneurasia.org/ehra-code-of-ethics/

Applicants must submit the following documents:

– CV,

– Letter of Interest. The CV and application should clearly reflect the competency of the candidate necessary to complete this task, as well as include the proposed number of working days for each stage, daily rate in EUR and timing of their implementation.

Please submit your proposal to the info@harmreductioneurasia.org.

In the subject line of your e-mail please indicate the RFP number, title “Consultancy. Assessment on drug scene changes during Covid-19”.  Otherwise, the application will not be considered.

General terms

Interested consultants should pay attention to the following conditions:

• EHRA will sign an agreement with the winner of the competitive selection. The contract will define a detailed work plan and payment terms.
• EHRA reserves the right (but does not commit itself to obligations) to enter into negotiations with one or more applicants in order to obtain clarifications or additional information, as well as to agree on the timing of work.
• The winner must confirm his/her daily rate before signing of the agreement.
• Results will be announced by 27^th February 2022. Each candidate will be contacted individually.
• Any questions regarding the participation should be sent to eliza@harmreductioneurasia.org till 21^st February, 2022.

 

[1] https://old.harmreductioneurasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/regional-review_-FINAL_ENG_1.pdf

[2] We expect consultant to involve community representatives into the development of the methodology and participation in the assessment.

[3] Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.