Conusltant at Education as a Vaccine (EVA)

Programme: Partnership to Inspire, Transform and Connect the HIV response (PITCH)

Duration of Engagement: August - October, 2020

Background to the Pitch Project:

PITCH is a 5-year project (2016-2020) and is part of the policy framework; Dialogue and Dissent of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The program’s purpose is to fight HIV/AIDS in 9 countries (Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Mozambique, Nigeria, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ukraine) most affected by HIV with a focus on key populations and women and girls. PITCH is a strategic partnership between AIDSFONDS, Frontline AIDS and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. PITCH is committed to enabling these groups to transform national HIV responses by strengthening their advocacy skills and capacities and promoting innovative evidence-informed practices. With these skills, it is hoped that this will enable PITCH partners to advocate for a more effective response to ensure all people have equal access to sexual and reproductive health services, including HIV-related services.

Background to the Assignment:

To effectively accomplish the above mandate, the PITCH Project recognizes that our Partner staff’s psychosocial and emotional wellbeing are central to their functions as Advocates of an effective Sexual and Reproductive Rights system. In addition, working as CSOs and pressure groups, they are often in the frontline of community/public mobilization for SRHR and other rights and are sometimes exposed to the vulnerabilities that come along. We regard employee self-care and wellbeing as very important and critical factors to our work performance, and for the PITCH project, wellbeing is a shared responsibility with our partner staff and us. In this period of remote working and social distancing, wellbeing is even more important.

We recognize our duty of care for anyone who works with us in any capacity at PITCH Nigeria, and therefore, seek to engage the services of a consultant/consultancy organization in Nigeria to provide an employee wellbeing intervention program for the staff of the PITCH partner organizations. The consultant/organization will be responsible for ensuring that the designed program is executed in a way that promotes psychosocial and emotional wellbeing with a particular effort to make the process stress/cost-free to the individual staff of our partner organizations.

The assignment aims to ensure effective counselling, psychosocial, mental health and overall well-being services to staff of the PITCH Partner organizations in Nigeria.

Scope of Consultancy

The Consultant/Organization will be required to:

• Provide remote counselling services on both work-related issues and stress caused by non-work issues.
• Keep track of how they are feeling and recommend things they can do to cope, feel better and stay safe in a crisis.
• Design capacity building activities group team bonding interventions to support the psychosocial and overall wellbeing of Partners’ staff
• Where needed, provide referral services by recommending to Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Specialists, Medical Practitioners or Psychiatrists

Key Deliverables:

• Provide all-round 24-hour counselling services (telephony or otherwise) to the Staff
• Keep track of all uptakes, and provide monthly report in a secure and strictly confidential way, without giving away identities or specific services rendered to individual up-takers.
• Disseminate periodic newsletter or helpful wellbeing tips and information to all up-takers as appropriate, integrating expert nutrition and fitness advisory, where possible.
• Organize monthly virtual group sessions on any of team bonding; stress management and working efficiently from home.

Tentative Time Schedule

• Contract- 03 August, 2020
• Development of individual wellbeing questionnaire to staff- 04 August, 2020
• Provision of tailored and specialized counseling services- August 5 – November 5, 2020
• Minimum Requirements for Application:

The Organization:

Registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission to provide HR, Guidance & Counselling, Psychology or Employee Capacity Development Programs

Tax Identification Number

Desired Expertise of the Promoters/Staff of the Organization:

• Demonstrated experience providing mental health, psychosocial support, guidance and counselling services
• Experience in providing technical support in Human Resources team bonding and team building interventions
• Experience in providing newsletters, periodic communication, and group facilitation sessions to communities or groups of people
• Professional Certification in HR, Organizational Psychology and/or Employee Wellbeing
• Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology, and Master’s degree in HR, Communication, Emotional Intelligence, or other related qualifications in the humanities.
• Flexibility and willingness to adapt and apply creative measures during the process of the consultancy