ToR for the consultant to develop research methodology for community-based assessment of patient satisfaction with OST services

The transition period from the Global Fund resources to public budget affected sustainability of opioid substitution treatment services in CEECA countries. State and NGOs implement different variants of OST programs:  covered by public or municipal budget and free for patients; fully or partially self-paid by patients. Alongside with those changes, EHRA started receiving information from national partners and OST patients about the worsened quality of services.

Consultancy task and expected results

The proposed task for the expert is to develop the methodology and questionanarie that can be used to conduct community-led monitoring of client satisfaction with OST services in CEECA countries in order to: (1) collect national-level data on client satisfaction as one of the key measures of service quality and apply findings to advocate for improved quality and client-focused services, and (2) collect regional (CEECA) level data on client satisfaction and advocate at a regional level for more client-focused services as part of quality assurance of OST services in CEECA region.

Stages of work and Timeline:

  1. Develop the methodology that include (Draft March 22, Final version March 28):
  • Research questions
  • Background and significance
  • Design: time frame and approach
  • Selection criteria and sampling design
  • Survey instrument
  • Statistical issues: hypothesis, sample size, analytic approach
  • Ethical issues
  1. Develop the questionnarie in consultation with EHRA team (EHRA already have the draft, final version March 28)
  2. Supervise the validation of questionnarie with country representatives and adjust the tool if necessary (Deadline April 10)
  3. Conduct 2days training for the interviewers and write short report (April, 2019/ exact dates will be agreed late)
  4. Supervise the pilot data collection (Deadline June 28)
  5. Analyse the collected data and write the report together with EHRA team (Deadline December 13)

The consultant should start working no later than March 14.

Requirement to the consultant

Submitted applications will be evaluated by a selection committee at the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association. To assess the tender applications, the following criteria will be used (the maximum possible amount of points is 100):

  1. Relevant education (Sociology, Antropology, Public Health) (35 points)
  2. Relevant work experience, knowledge and experience in harm reduction would be an advantage(documents or links to conducted surveysshould be provided in the Letter of Interest) (40 points)
  3. Fluent Russian and/or English (10 points)
  4. Proposed price (15 points)

How to apply

The candidates are invited to submit their CVs and  Letter of Interest  in free text format by e-mail referenced under title “Consultant MSOST” to maria@harmreductioneurasia.org by 24:00 EET, 12 of March 2019. CVs and Letter of Interest  should clearly reflect the competencies of the candidate required to complete this task and include proposed amount of working days and estimated cost for each stage of work .

General Conditions

The following should be noted by interested consultants:

  • EHRA will sign a contract with the winner of the competition where detailed workplan and payment conditions will be determined
  • The winner of the competition is obliged to provide the confirmation of his daily rates before signing the contract
  • EHRA reserves the right (but is not under obligation to do so) to enter into discussion with one or more bidders in order to obtain clarifications or additional details, or negotiate the proposed cost
  • EHRA reserves the right to negotiate number of working days related to the each stage of work with the consultant. Final number of working days can change during implementation by mutual agreement between EHRA and consultant

If you have any questions or clarifications in relation to these TORs please feel free to contact Maria Plotko maria@harmreductioneurasia.org no later than 8th March 2019

Please read the Terms of Reference for more information

ToR for the consultant to to develop research methodology for comunity-based assessment of patient satisfaction with OST services