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 respondents, 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

Activity	Timeline
Development of the list of key informants to be interviewed, development of the questionnaires for the semi-structured interviews and online survey	By 25th of February
Conducting the interviews with key informants, collecting data through the online survey	By 13th of March
To propose and agree with EHRA on the outline and structure of the report on the results of the survey	By 13th of March
Providing EHRA with the draft report on the results of the survey	By 25th of March
Finalization of the report based on the received feedback and comments from EHRA	By 1st of April

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.

Criteria	Weighting
Have an experience of conducting of a similar kind of surveys in the last three years (should be clear from LoI and CV)	25 points
Have a good understanding of Global Fund, its policies and processes including those taking place in EECA region and preferably has personal involvement in relevant processes (should be clear from LoI)	25 points
Preferably – have a good understanding of the Global Fund’s CRG Si, CRG TA Program and the Platform’s work in the region (should be clear from CV and LoI)	25 points
Good communication skills including experience in interviewing people and report writing (should be clear from LoI and CV)	25 points
Total	100 points

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 17 February 2022 24:00 EET.