FAITH COMMUNITY INITIATIVE PROJECT
CONSULTANCY SERVICES – UPDATE OF THE FAITH PACK
A. Introduction
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.
CRS/Lesotho is seeking the services of a locally registered consultant / firm with proven experience in developing HIV/AIDS educational material and related training packages.
Faith Communities, including Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs), are essential partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS and TB. An estimated 49.4% of Lesotho’s population is Roman Catholic, followed by 18.2% who identify as Protestant, and 15.4% as Pentecostal.[1] Anglicans make up 5.2% of the population with Muslims, Hindus, Baha’i, and indigenous religions accounting for the remaining 10%.
FBOs have significant influence within their communities, and as they are often the first point of contact for people in need, they are promising key messaging delivery points. Their moral authority typically gives them credibility that other institutions may lack, and they often have extensive networks and structures enabling them to access hard-to-reach populations.
CRS has secured funding from USAID to implement the Faith and Community Initiative Project in Lesotho, in collaboration with other implementing partners, to further engage with communities of faith in-country and strengthen their responses to HIV/AIDS. The project is for a period of 12 months commencing 1st October 2019.
As per USAID guidance, the aim of the project is to Rapidly increase the proportion of men and children living with HIV who know their status, are linked to care and have viral load suppression by focusing on two (2) priority areas:
Priority 1: Disseminate new messages of hope down and across faith-based parent body infra-structures; and
Priority 2: Justice for Children
The focus of this consultancy will primarily be on Priority 1 to support the dissemination of new messages of hope down and across faith-based parent body infra-structures and decrease stigma and non-adherence related to faith healing.
B. Background:
The current Sunday Pack, an educational toolkit that provides standard messaging for sermon guidelines, was developed in 2007 through a partnership between the National AIDS Commission (NAC), CRS, Lesotho Inter-Religious AIDS Consortium (LIRAC), World Vision and UNAIDS, in consultation with inter-faith leaders and communities, experts and advisers on issues of HIV and AIDS, and churches and faith communities. The overall purpose was to assist in developing a new culture of ecumenical and inter-faith cooperation in the fight against HIV/AIDS. It has five thematic areas which a pastor or priest can choose to preach or teach on: 1) Basic Information on HIV and AIDS; 2) HIV Prevention; 3) Stigma and Discrimination; 4) Treatment Care and Support; and 5) Other Important Issues. Each thematic area also has a section on key messages. Since the Sunday Pack was developed, however, there have been many changes and advances in HIV prevention and care and the Sunday Pack was never widely disseminated nor trainings conducted on how to use the resource. In addition, the faith-based sector, through a core group of religious leaders, has developed a national framework with support from UNAIDS entitled the Lesotho Faith Sector Implementation Framework on HIV and AIDS.
C. Specific objective:
Update of the Sunday Pack (to be renamed to make it more inclusive of different communities of faith) to include key messages of hope which harness celebration, positivity and compassion (as per USAID guidance) and develop materials based on the updated pack to support training of religious leaders to mobilize their communities to make a final push toward epidemic control.
Dates of Assignment(s): 2 months – January 2020 to February 2020
D. Proposal Submission:
Interested qualified consultants are invited to submit a proposal that includes the following:
- An understanding of the requirements
- Methodology and work plan for performing the assignment
- Project delivery plans
- Team composition and task assignment
- Detailed reference list indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments
- Relevant services undertaken in the past three (3) years
- Registration and other relevant statutory documents
Please send your proposals to: [email protected]
For full Scope of Work, please contact: [email protected]
Closing date for applications is Friday 6th December by 2.00pm.
Disclaimer:
The material arising from the contract shall be the property of CRS and cannot be used
without expressed written consent by CRS
[1] Religious Characteristics of States, 2015