Consultancy – Impact of Stigma and Discrimination on Migrant Adolescents Living with HIV

Description of Service: To undertake a review of the impact of stigma and discrimination on migrant adolescents living with HIV in fragile contexts.

Expected start date: 20 October 2022

Expected Completion date: 28 February 2023

End Date: 28 February 2023

Study Report: 15 February 2023

Webinar: 15 March 2023

Journal Article: 30 March 2023

Reporting to: 3 Technical Working Groups through the RIATT-ESA Programme Manager

About RIATT-ESA

The Regional Interagency Task Team on Children and AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa (RIATT-ESA) is a network of organizations working together to influence global, regional, and national policy formulation and implementation for children and their families. RIATT-ESA uses an evidence-driven approach across three pillars of action- research, knowledge sharing, and advocacy to support programmes and policymakers in efforts to provide comprehensive care and support for HIV-infected and affected children and their families. The partners of the network come from regional political and economic bodies; civil society organizations; academia; funders; and UN agencies. RIATT-ESA was formed in 2006 as a regional affiliate of the Interagency Task Team (IATT). RIATT-ESA was set up in response to a recommendation by the global Inter-Agency Network on Children and AIDS (IATT-CABA) to establish regional task teams. The current RIATT-ESA Strategy incorporated the theme of Migration as a theme that the organization needed to focus on among other themes included in the strategy.

Background and Justification:

There is no single agreed definition of a fragile state, however, the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UNICEF define fragile contexts as contexts where there is an accumulation and combination of risks because of context-specific underlying causes combined with insufficient coping capacity of the state, system, and/or communities to manage, absorb or mitigate those risks. More than 2 billion people, including half the world’s poorest populations, live in countries where development outcomes are affected by political fragility and conflict, problems increasingly linked with climate change (Clark et al, 2020). In a report by UNICEF (2018) one-quarter of the world’s children, which was around 535 million, were living in fragile contexts. To ensure an end to HIV/ AIDS by 2030, a more comprehensive approach needs to be adopted by targeting those who are most vulnerable and those most difficult to reach including those being affected by fragility and conflict. The deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations in 2021 stated that there is a need to end intersecting injustices that drive new HIV infections and prevent people from accessing services.

The Eastern and Southern African (ESA) region is home to 1.74 million adolescents living with HIV, which represent 60 percent of this population globally. Research has shown that AIDS-related illness is the leading cause of death among adolescents in the ESA region, which makes them a key to achieving the global goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 Toska et al (2018). Closely related to this, In July 2022 the World Health Organization’s first global review of refugees and migrant health indicated that refugees and migrants have poorer health outcomes (WHO, 2022). HIV-related stigma has been identified as a significant stressor affecting the quality of life of adolescents living with HIV (Kimera et al, 2020). The global statistics in August 2022 stated that UNAIDS cautions there has been unequal progress in reducing new HIV infections, increasing access to treatment, and ending AIDS-related deaths, with too many vulnerable people and populations left behind which points to issues like discrimination, stigma, and social inequalities. To achieve the globally agreed upon Fast-Track commitments and targets set in 2016, and to truly end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, all efforts and resources must include a specific focus on fragile and conflict-affected settings. Gaining a contextualized understanding of the impact of stigma on adolescents living in fragile contexts is key in addressing it in this group and setting.

ASSIGNMENT SUMMARY

Aim of the study:

The main purpose of the study is to do a review of the impact of stigma and discrimination on migrant adolescents living with HIV in fragile contexts.

The specific objectives are to undertake a review of the impact of stigma and discrimination on migrant adolescents living with HIV in fragile contexts in selected countries in the EAC and SADC regions to identify:

• The impact of stigma on accessing HIV and SRHR services for migrant adolescents living with HIV in fragile contexts.
• The key human-rights-related barriers to accessing HIV and SRHR services in selected countries in the ESA region;
• Describe existing programmes to reduce such barriers;
• Indicate what a comprehensive response to existing barriers would comprise in terms of the types of programmes, and their coverage.

Scope of this assignment / Detailed Activities and Tasks

The consultant is required to do a review of the impact of stigma and discrimination on migrant adolescents living with HIV in fragile contexts. Research has shown that there are poor health outcomes among the vulnerable, migrants and refugees. The consultant is also required to outline key recommendations and advocacy messages for RIATT-ESA. In addition, the consultant is required to develop a journal article that would be used to disseminate the findings of the study. Finally, he/ she is required to present the aforementioned study in a webinar.

• Develop and submit inception report.
• Prepare and submit the final draft report outlining the recommendations for the most successful interventions on improving access to HIV and SRHR services for migrant adolescents in fragile contexts as well as key advocacy messages for RIATT-ESA.
• A journal Article that contains the following:
  • An abstract
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Discussions
  • References.
• Present the study in a webinar that will serve as a platform to disseminate the findings.

Outputs/Deliverables:

This assignment has 4 deliverables:

1. Inception Report.
2. A report of the study on a review of the impact of stigma and discrimination on adolescents living with HIV in fragile contexts.
3. A Journal Article.
4. A presentation on the study during a webinar.

Duration of Assignment

The duration of the assignment is four months.

Qualifications

• University degree (Ph.D. or Masters) in Migration Studies, Social Sciences, Public Health, Demography, Epidemiology, or other related fields.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience in Migration, Child Protection and Adolescent HIV and SRHR.
• Strong knowledge of Children’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and the situation of children affected by AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa.
• Strong Knowledge of global and regional policies and frameworks on Migration, children and adolescents.
• Knowledge of working with migrant children and adolescents in fragile contexts.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Excellent organizational skills

How to apply

Send an application responding to the Terms of Reference that includes a CV, a proposed methodology (Maximum 4 pages), an activity time schedule, and a financial proposal/ budget to [email protected] and copy [email protected] with the subject “A review of the impact of stigma and discrimination on migrant adolescents living with HIV in fragile contexts”.