Consultant for designing and managing the regional sustainability forum and supporting the regional social enterprise initiative: EpiC Thailand At FHI 360

Background

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by FHI 360, the Meeting Targets and Epidemic Control (EpiC) Project is a global project with specific scopes of work in multiple countries related to HIV prevention, care, and treatment. In Thailand, EpiC focuses on interventions to reduce HIV transmission among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), male sex workers (MSW), and transgender women (TGW) populations and to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Thailand. EpiC also works to support sustainable alternative financing for key population-led health services by helping them to access funds available through the National Health Security Office (NHSO) and, more recently, to establish social enterprises that generate program income for them to channel back into their services.

USAID RDMA also provides regional funds to EpiC Thailand to accelerate the update of HIV innovations from one country to another through knowledge sharing, mentoring, and on-going capacity building. One of these areas is sustainable financing and includes such diverse mechanisms and approaches as government social health insurance reimbursements and social contracting; social enterprise development; corporate social responsibility; and health and social impact bonds. FHI 360 and the EpiC Project will host a sustainable financing forum in August 2022 in collaboration with UNAIDS to introduce these areas to stakeholders from government, non-government, private, and donor sectors, identify advances in blended financing using these approaches already occurring in the Asia-Pacific region, and stimulate their increased use and application.

Scope of Work

Required Services

EpiC Thailand managed by FHI 360 is seeking the support of an individual consultant to collaborate with FHI 360 in designing and managing the regional sustainability forum and supporting the roll-out and overall quality of the regional initiative in social enterprise development. The specific deliverables are laid out below.

Purpose

The overall purpose of this consultancy is to ensure that the sustainable financing forum meets its objectives to provide participants with advanced knowledge of the diverse alternative financing approaches available to countries through knowledge sharing of best practices and discussions and that they are equipped to increase the use and application of these approaches when they return to their countries. Further, EpiC seeks to ensure the optimal quality and impact of the regional social enterprise initiative.

Tasks and Deliverables:

The services required of the contractor include but are not limited to the following:

1. Construct a final agenda for the 2-3 day forum on financial sustainability of key population-led health services, including specification of objectives, speakers, discussants, and breakout groups. The agenda should be constructed based on the consultant’s expertise related to sustainable financing, with a specific emphasis on government reimbursement mechanisms and social enterprise development, since these two approaches will be stressed. The consultant should bring to the agenda recommendations on key speakers and discussants who will fulfill the forum’s objectives. This task will be done in collaboration with FHI 360 and other stakeholders.
2. Participate in the regional financial sustainability forum as an expert and as a potential speaker or discussant.
3. Provide a summary of key points related to areas of support and expertise that country representatives have expressed at the forum that they will require to accelerate the adoption of alternative financing approaches.
4. Lead a post-forum workshop (likely half-day) with organizations supported by the regional social enterprise initiative to introduce lessons learned in social enterprise development and to provide technical expertise and planning guidance to the social incubator-implementer partnerships in Cambodia, India, Philippines, and Nepal.
5. Participate with FHI 360 and partner co-authors on the construction of lessons learned or thought leadership documents and/or peer-reviewed articles related to social enterprise development and/or alternative financing.

Location of Work: Bangkok, Thailand

Qualifications:

1. Expertise in sustainable financing solutions for community-based organizations, preferably those in health or HIV
2. Specific technical expertise in social enterprise development, including its principles, practical guidance, mentoring experience, facilitating factors, etc.
3. Experience in developing agendas for large-scale international fora or meetings.
4. Experience in global settings a strong plus.
5. Working knowledge of FHI 360 a plus.

Evaluation Criteria: Proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the following criteria:

• Relevant experience: 35%
• Proposed Approach: 30%
• Total cost: 25%
• References: 10%