Recruitment of a consultant for the development of a progress report on the status of HIV/AIDS services in Lebanon

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is one of the world's regions with the lowest coverage of prevention services and access to treatment and where AIDS-related deaths continue to rise. Concentration of the epidemic among key populations, limited access to screening, very low ART coverage (32% on average), significant discrimination and stigma, weak community-based monitoring and surveillance systems: the fight against HIV/AIDS is not a public health priority for decision-makers in many countries in the region. Faced with this observation, Solidarité Sida, in partnershipwith ITPC-MENA and five partner associations launched the FORSS Program ("FORmer, Suivre, Soutenir: Mobilisation communautaire pour lutter contre le VIH en région MENA"). The program aims to set up five community-led monitoring systems in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia, and to implement actions to influence national and international strategies. This community-let monitoring system will improve the supply and quality of prevention services, care and accessto treatmentin the MENA region for PLHIV and key populations. The experience ofthese pilot mechanisms will make it possible to identify and document existing obstacles to the availability, access and quality of prevention, testing and care services in order to conduct effective advocacy to refine HIV/AIDS control strategies in the MENA region, both at the legal level for key populations and at the medical level for all PLHIV. The success of this program therefore presents a major challenge in helping to highlight the challenges currently facing MENA countries in terms of their response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In particular, it is a matter of having recent and reliable data to conduct the advocacy necessary to take into account the most at-risk populations, especially key populations, in national, regional, and international strategies to fight HIV/AIDS. 2. Presentation of AFE MENA AFE's mission is to encourage and support activists in the MENA region working for rights, sexual and mental health and gender equality. M-Coalition, AFE-MENA's health network and department, was officially launched at the Melbourne World Conference in 2014. The platform aims to pay particular attention to the right to health but also to other human rights of LGBT+ people and PLHIV, and to ensure quality prevention, care, access to treatment and other services; advocacy and creation of advocacy strategies; knowledge generation and networking; all this while promoting the exchange of good 4 practices between countries.

II. PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY At the beginning of the project, status reports on available HIV/AIDS services were produced in each of the project countries and consolidated into a multi-country report. These reports were used as the basis for developing community-led monitoring systems, in order to focus the collection methodology. In comparison, an endline study, planned for the end of the project, should be able to measure the evolution of the organization of the fight against HIV/AIDS and the state of available HIV/AIDS services for PLWHA and key population groups in each of the project countries, here in Lebanon. The main task of the consultant recruited will be to carry out this study and to write a report. 1. Objectives and results The study aims to : 1. Give a state of play of the HIV/AIDS services available in Lebanon, in comparison with the 2018- 2019 situation (baseline study) ; 2. Help to improve community-based actors knowledges and practices in matter of prevention and care for PLHIV and key populations in Lebanon ; 3. Be an asset for advocacy strategies to improve the services offer. 2. Tasks Description1 Placed under the responsibility of the FORSS project team, the tasks expected from the consultant are the following : Desk Review of : ▪ National health strategies, particularly for HIV/AIDS (National Strategic Plan, communitybased strategies, etc.); ▪ Training plans for healthcare providers on care and support for PLHIV and groups of key populations ; ▪ Laws and regulations in favor of / against PLHIV and key populations; ▪ Reports from international organizations on the national situation. Data collection : Quantitative and qualitative date collection, via : ▪ Interviews with key informants (Ministries, NAP, UNAIDS Country Office, NGOs, etc.) ▪ Focus groups with healthcare providers and beneficiaries (PLHIV and key populations

3. Expected Deliverables Within the framework of this service, the consultant will provide various deliverables to the FORSS project team of AFE, namely:  The report This document, written in English, should not exceed 25 pages (excluding annexes) and should be organized as follows:  Cover page  Acknowledgement page  Table of contents  Abbreviation list  Introduction o Presentation of the context and issues o Goals and objectives of the study o Description of the methodology used (with also limitations and bias)  Chapters by themes, introducing the main results and challenges: the aim is to highlight the most relevant and meaningful results and make them intelligible. o Organization of the health system in Lebanon ▪ Organization of the HIV/AIDS system in Lebanon o Sensibilization and prevention o Testing o Access to treatments and care o Legal environment  Conclusion and recommendations: the report introduces in this part the most relevant pieces of information from the analysis of the results, and introduces recommendations.  Bibliography  Appendices: Tools of the study (including questionnaires), country maps and areas of the study.

 A 5 pages (maximum) abstract

4. Place(s) and duration of the consultancy:

The duration of the consultancy is estimated at 20 working days. The service will take place partly in Lebanon (for focus groups organization and key informants’ interviews) and partly remotly.

III. PROFILE AND REQUIRED SKILLS

• Master’s degree in social sciences and/or public health ; • Significant experience in the field of research and in development of studies with quantitative and qualitative data ; • Knowledge in the field of HIV/AIDS and access to right for key populations ; • Knowledge of the Lebanese context; • Fluent in both Arabic and English