Advocacy Consultant at Associationof Positive Youth Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (APYIN)

Goal of the consultancy:
The overall goal of this consultancy is to develop advocacy strategy for APYIN under the PITCH project which will guide implementation in line with the advocacy focus and position of the project on the age of consent for adolescent and young people.

Scope of work:

The specific tasks of the consultant include-

Policy Analysis- review relevant available policies selected in agreement with APYIN and consortium partners against expected deliverables to determine what limit adoption and implementation at National level and recommend ways forward
Planning- work with key staff from and youth advocates from APYIN, ASWHAN and EVA to develop an advocacy strategy that will enable the consortium to identify a niche role, milestones and strategies to influence implementation of key policies concerning age of consent and against policy gaps which are reinforcing barriers to accessing HIV and SRHR services by adolescents and young people in FCT

Partnership/stakeholders mapping and coordination- identify specific roles for young advocates under the PITCH project, partners, champions and other stakeholders in influencing the implementation of key policies in FCT and National levels (e.g. Guidelines for Young Persons’ Participation in Research and Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Nigeria)

Advocacy strategy- develop an advocacy strategy and implementation plan based on policy analysis, planning, partnership/stakeholders mapping focusing on key priority areas where APYIN and consortium partners can add value

Consultation- present and seek inputs on the draft advocacy strategy and implementation plan with key partner staff, and other stakeholders to ensure the proposed strategy has the buy-in and is appropriately linked to roles, capacity and priorities

Expected Deliverables:

Development of detail Advocacy strategy to include the following:

• Approaches,
• Techniques,
• Messages and
• Materials

Development of Advocacy materials to include the following:

• Position Paper
• Policy Brief

Facilitate the development of detail Advocacy Work-plan by advocacy coalition. Work-plan to include the following:

Objectives & activities;

• Time Frame;
• Responsible party;
• Partners; and
• Budget

Expertise required:
APYIN is seeking an individual consultant with extensive experience policy and advocacy in youth development issues. The candidate should be talented individual who is to youth led development and passionate about promoting participatory approaches to advocacy

Qualifications:

• Min Qualification BA/BSc/HND plus other professional degree, higher degree will be an added advantage.
• At least 5 years experience in programmes and advocacy (preferably linked to young people) at national level
•  Strong knowledge on contemporary development issues national and globally especially on young people’s health issues, HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health and rights
• Experience in developing evidence based advocacy messages and materials (e.g policy briefs, position paper and presentations) in Nigeria
• Good communication written and verbal in English
• Excellent network with government and civil society partners

Reporting:
All reports will be submitted to the National coordinator/Programme Coordinator-APYIN, on dates as may be mutually agreed during the inception meeting. The reports will be reviewed by APYIN team and submitted and for final approval by the lead consortium, EVA. Reports (written in English) will be submitted as softcopies while the final advocacy strategy will be submitted as a soft copy and three (3) hard copies.

Stakeholders to be involved: the stakeholders in the process of the engagement shall be the following:

The Consultant

• Key staff of APYIN, ASWHAN and EVA
• 15 young Advocates from APYIN, ASWHAN and EVA
• Relevant staff from NACA, Population Council, UNFPA e.t.c
• Consultancy Fee: Consultant is to be engaged for seven (7 days spread over a 16 days period)
• Consultant is to be paid the sum of N20,000 per day for 7 days
• Remuneration is to be made upon every engagement
• Remuneration is to cover Consultancy, Transport, Refreshment and Accommodation. Therefore, APYIN shall not be liable for any expense exceeding the sum of 20,000 per day
• Consultant is to provide receipt of Total sum of monies received upon receipt of the final installment.

Documentation:
The Documents produced in the course of this engagement shall be the property of APYIN, therefore, extent to which these documentation will be distributed shall be to subject to APYIN’s approval