Objectives of the consultancy

The objective of this assignment is to support the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) and National Department of Health (NDoH) in expanding stakeholder buy-in and engagement in the estimation modelling process, down to sub-national level. Development and dissemination of a consumable, user-friendly HIV Estimates Report is expected to support broader understanding of and utilization of these modelled results.

The proposed consultant activities to achieve the finalized product are: 

• Conduct inception meeting discussions with SANAC, NDoH, UNAIDS, CDC, and the modelling team and develop an Inception Report which summarizes the agreed upon details of the assignment and includes a workplan with timelines.
• Consult with the modelling team and review the most recent (2022) Thembisa v4.6 and Naomi modelled reports and outputs. Determine with the modelling team and HIV Estimates TT/ reference group on how best to distil and present the model, inputs, process, outputs and implications thereof, from existing reports and outputs, into an HIV Estimates Report.
• Guided by inception consultations, draw from the existing HIV Estimate technical reports and outputs to develop a Draft HIV Estimates Report. The Report will be concise, user-friendly, and geared towards a broad range of stakeholders that have differing levels of understanding of estimation modelling.
• Facilitate a validation meeting of key stakeholders that includes: i) a brief presentation of the process undertaken to develop the Draft HIV Estimates Report, ii) a presentation of the Draft Estimates Report content, iii) discussion and gathering of input to finalize the Report.
• Develop a final version of the HIV Estimates Report that incorporates input from the validation session.
• Prepare and deliver a summary PowerPoint presentation ‘master’ slide deck of the main outputs and summary description of each, to be used as a standalone deliverable to the Report.  

Deliverables

• Brief Inception Report which details the final agreements of the work, the consultancy workplan, agreed-upon timelines, and outline of the HIV Estimates Report.
• Draft and Final versions of the HIV Estimates Report.
• Facilitation of validation workshop.
• Summary PowerPoint presentation 'master' slide deck of the main out[puts and summary description of each. 

     Duration of Work

    The consultant is expected to complete this consultancy within a maximum of 25 consulting days over the period from 15 August to 30 September 2023. The breakdown of key activities and estimated consulting days are in the table below.

    Consultant qualifications, experience, and skills

• Master’s degree in public health, epidemiology, or related discipline; or bachelor’s degree with 8+ years of relevant experience.
• Strong knowledge of public health statistics and modelling related to HIV.
• At least 5+ years of relevant work experience in HIV statistics and/ or modelling preferred.
• Demonstrated experience in the development of various types of publications related to HIV, including the use of data to inform programmes, policy and strategic plan development.
• Knowledge of the South African context, HIV epidemic, and HIV estimates. Familiarity with the Thembisa and Naomi models used to generate HIV estimates is preferred.
• Results-oriented with strong organizational skills and ability to produce quality work within a deadline.
• Excellent command of spoken and written English and report writing skills.

    How to apply

RE-ADVERTISEMENT: Interested candidates should submit a CV and brief budget before the deadline of 11:59 on Friday, 28 July 2023. The budget should detail the main and sub activities, number of days for each and the loaded daily rate in South African Rand (ZAR). The consultant budget should exclude costs related to small/large meetings, venue and refreshments, or layout and printing.

Candidates should submit the above by the deadline to the attention of:

• Ms Thembi Dube, at [email protected]

• CC: Ms Jennifer Baumann, at [email protected]