Consultant at the Association of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (ASWHAN)

Association of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (ASWHAN) is the coordinating network of women living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, charged with the responsibility of promoting the involvement of Women Living with HIV (WLHIV), Adolescent Girls and Young Women(AGYW) and mainstreaming of women peculiar issues, such as their participation in decision-making processes including leadership within and outside HIV responses and spaces, enhancing elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, economic empowerment, Treatment care and support, Elimination of stigma and discrimination, empowerment and livelihood, GBV, Drug reduction and other mental health issues to ensure women live a life of dignity.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultancy for Survey on Barriers Preventing Vertical transmission of HIV among Women Living with HIV, Women who use Drugs, and Sex Workers

Location: Abuja (FCT) 
Employment Type: Temporary

Background
Association of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (ASWHAN) is the coordinating network of women living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, charged with the responsibility of promoting the involvement of Women Living with HIV (WLHIV), Adolescent Girls and Young Women(AGYW) and mainstreaming of Women peculiar issues, such as their participation in decision-making processes including leadership within and outside HIV responses and spaces, enhancing Elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, economic empowerment, Treatment care and support, Elimination of stigma and discrimination, empowerment and livelihood, GBV, Drug reduction and other mental health issues to ensure women live a life of dignity.

ASWHAN, in collaboration with the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), is implementing Through Last Mile grants, innovative approaches for working deeply with communities to understand the needs and priorities of the most underserved and to promote and amplify their representation through capacity building, agenda setting and advocacy. Examples of underserved groups that this programme aims to support include – but are not limited to - children of key populations and people with advanced HIV disease or AIDS. This project is being implemented by organizations led by women living with HIV and women from key populations in 4 Love Alliance countries (Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa) to strengthen advocacy for interventions to prevent vertical HIV transmission among their communities.

Through awarding ‘Last Mile Grants, ’ the Love Alliance aims to increase the voice, visibility, and autonomy of underserved and often invisible populations within PLHIV and key population communities and build their capacity to advocate for their own rights and well-being.

Pan African Report (Children of Structurally Silenced Women

Structurally silenced women are defined to include women living with HIV , women who use drugs,sex workers, bisexual, and Transwomen. Children living with HIV and those children mothered and cared for by women from key populations continue to be left behind in the HIV response. Only about half of children living with HIV are on life-saving treatment, according to UNAIDS’. And, even though the number of children acquiring HIV annually has declined by 75% since 2000, progress in reducing vertical infections has stalled in recent years.

Vertical transmission of HIV refers to the transmission of the virus from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery, and breastfeeding. According to UNAIDS, approximately 130,000 new HIV infections occurred among children worldwide in 2022. Despite a notable decline of 61% in new HIV infections among children in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, the estimated rate of vertical HIV transmission after breastfeeding remains at 8.6%.

This highlights the persistent challenges that mothers and parents face in accessing services that promote safe pregnancy and breastfeeding practices, and prevent vertical transmission during this period. GNP+ has launched its Last Mile Grants – Children of Structurally Silenced Women initiative to gather evidence about the barriers faced by women living with HIV and women from key populations when accessing reliable information and services to prevent vertical transmission. The evidence will reflect the experiences of women in 4 countries: Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. Key informant interviews with global and regional stakeholders will also inform the development of a Pan African Community Report about barriers to vertical transmission prevention.

Overall Goal:

• Explore and understand the barriers to accessing information and services needed for preventing vertical HIV transmission in Nigeria
• Identify the ART treatment and delivery gaps and needs, including early infant diagnosis for children of key-population groups.

Objectives:

• The purpose is to conduct an analysis of the impact of health-seeking behaviours on PMTCT services for underserved communities, including women living with HIV, women who use drugs, teen mothers, and female sex workers. The analysis will focus on ANC-seeking behaviour in relation to PMTCT and access to PMTCT services, which include HIV testing and counselling, post-test counselling, ARV prophylaxis for mother and child, as well as treatment for children.
• Examine the various obstacles that hinder the accessibility of HIV prevention, treatment, and support services, with a particular focus on PMTCT services for women living with HIV, women who use drugs, sex workers, and teenage mothers.

Job Summary
ASWHAN is currently looking to hire a research consultant to conduct a study on the issues that impact the prevention of vertical transmission of HIV among women and girls in Nigeria, specifically those who are HIV-positive, women who inject drugs, and sex workers. The consultant will also investigate their access to PMTCT services.

Responsibilities

• Conduct a literature review to understand the existing research on the intersection of HIV, injective drug use, and sex work among women and girls in Nigeria.
• Designing Data Collection tools for qualitative and quantitative data collection from interviews and focus group discussions.
• Collecting and analyzing data from women and girls living with HIV/AIDS, women who use drugs, and sex workers, as well as key stakeholders and service providers.
•  At the direction of ASWHAN staff and the GNP+ consultant identify best practices and successful interventions from other countries or regions that could be adapted to the Nigerian context.
• Develop a draft report and final report incorporating feedback from ASWHAN. Report on the survey findings and provide recommendations for ASWHAN and other stakeholders.

Qualifications / Experiences

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Art and Social Science, communication, documentation, International Development, Law, Human Rights, Political Science, or another related field.
• A first-level university degree, combined with five additional years of qualifying experience, may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• At least 6 years of relevant professional experience in working with key population women who use drugs, sex workers and Women Living with HIV, documentation and questionnaire development.
• Knowledge of documentation and knowledge products
• Expertise in programme design and results-based management.
• Experience in gender equality and Empowerment of women
• Demonstrated ability to work independently; ability to organize work efficiently and deal with multiple tasks.
• Previous experience working with the Key population, GNP+, international Partners, and Networks, the UN and Development partners is an asset.

Competencies
Core Values and Guiding Principles:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling core human rights values and ethical standards.
• Demonstrates a commitment to leaving no one behind
• Able to work effectively within a team.
• Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability.
• Able to multi-task and juggle competing demands.
• Can assess and prioritize work needs quickly.
• Able to relate to external partners, including other international organizations and agencies, NGOs, etc.

Functional Competencies
Baseline:

• Knowledge and skills in design and development of research tools, etc.
• Good understanding of issues affecting Key populations particularly Female sex workers, women who inject drugs, teenage sex workers and women living with HIV
• Strong knowledge and skills in writing, documentations and gender mainstreaming
• Knowledge and expertise in planning and organizing skills and experiences.
• Capacity to work with diverse groups, networks and partners including governments, donors, and civil society.
• Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds.
• Results-based management skills.
• Ability to produce well-written documents.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.

Application Closing Date
26th April, 2024.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Applications to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the mail.