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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES OF THE HIV & AIDS IMPACT STUDY
Lesotho is one of the countries most affected by HIV and AIDS in the world. The epidemic has spread rapidly throughout the country since the first case of AIDS was reported in the remote mountain district of Mokhotlong in 1986, to the current rate of 23.2% HIV prevalence of the adult population. It is a known fact that every day the Civil Service is losing trained human resources beyond the capacity to replace them. However, to date no systematic effort has been undertaken to assess the impact of HIV & AIDS on the Lesotho Civil Service.
The Ministry of Public Service recognises that currently, there is limited information/data on the impact of HIV & AIDS in the country, and therefore the entry point is to undertake a comprehensive impact assessment. When the facts are known, it will be possible to develop appropriate capacity building initiatives and HIV & AIDS Action Plans for the work place.
With the support of UNDP Lesotho and in collaboration with the National AIDS Commission, the Ministry of Public Service is undertaking an assessment to determine the impact of HIV & AIDS on the public sector in Lesotho.

2. PRODUCTS EXPECTED FORM THE HIV & AIDS IMPACT STUDY
Overall, the expected output would be a comprehensive report, which would highlight the following:
• Death rate in the Civil Service (sector specific)
• Occupational groups or skills most affected
• Vacancy levels
• The status of Human Resources Management (HRM) practices and policies including issues of training and development.
• Recommendations on way forward and specific interventions, considering the impact of HIV & AIDS on the Lesotho civil service.

3. SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE HIV & AIDS IMPACT ASSESSMENT STUDY TEAM
The assessment team will do the following:
• Establish the attrition rate by death for the last ten years in the Lesotho Civil Service
• Identify occupational categories or skills most affected.
• Establish the attrition rate by death between gender and various age groups.
• Establish the amount of economic and financial support that the Government provides to civil servants in Lesotho through the 2% - 1% budgetary allocation for HIV & AIDS as part of the National AIDS Spending Assessment (NASA).
• Establish the level of vacancies caused by death and the time it takes to fill them taking into account occupational categories.
• Establish sickness levels among sector institutions and identify incidences of prolonged cases.
• Establish disclosure levels within sector institutions, and impact of stigma on the disclosed in the Civil Service.
• Assess the impact of all the above on Human Resource demand and supply in the Civil Service.
• Make appropriate recommendations for Human Resource Capacity building interventions and measures to be adopted at the work place to improve HRM practices.
• Develop ministerial mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the impact and effect of employee assistance programme.


4. EXPECTED OUTPUTS
• Research proposal to undertake the study. The proposal will include review of relevant documents, method of data collection, and description and justification for conducting the study and the outline of the study.
Out-put: Compilation of studies and policy documents on HIV/AIDS in Lesotho
• Draft report of the study which will be distributed and reviewed by all constituencies, stakeholders and UN colleagues;
Out-put: Socio-economic data and indicators
• Seminar aiming to review, discuss and elaborate the report;
Out-put: Recommendations
• Final report in both hard and soft format.

5. TIME LINE
The UNDP Resident Representative in Lesotho will be primarily responsible for organising and managing the assessment study in consultation with the Ministry of Public Service. The consultant(s) is expected to report to UNDP according to agreed dates with the consultancy starting in November 2007 over a period of six months.
• Completion of Research Proposal;
• Completion of Data Collation and Analysis;
• Completion of Write-up Drafts (Draft Zero and Draft 1-which will be shared during the seminar for feedback);
• Completion of Draft 2 – with the seminar feedback integrated;
• Completion of Draft 3 – which will need mostly editorial and layout work
• Completion of the Final Document ready for reproduction.

6. COMPOSITION OF THE HIV & AIDS ASSESSMENT STUDY TEAM AND TIME FRAME
Interested firms/organizations, consultants, are required to submit comprehensive but separate technical and financial proposals. The proposal should clearly indicate the following:
 Expertise of the consultant/Firm/Organization submitting the proposal
 Proposed Work Plan and Approach for the study

a) The ideal consulting team should have solid expertise and impeccable experience in the following areas: modeling and forecasting, health and labor economics with at least 5 years corporate experience in HIV and AIDS and Development, research, economic impact assessments

b) Key members of the team, should possess at least a master’s degree in any one of the following fields of study: Development Studies; Development Planning and Management, Social Sciences, Economics, Actuarial Science, Health Economics, Public Health or related disciplines

• At least 5 years work experience in HIV/AIDS and Development including experience in research and conducting impact assessments
• Demonstrable understanding of the operations and ways of working within a public service
• Proven research, analytical and management skills
• Ability to engage large number of stakeholders at the same time
• Proficiency in English both written and oral with strong communication and report writing skills

For international consultants, it is a requirement that they have local counterparts based in Lesotho. The consultants will be specialists in HIV & AIDS and human development. They will be persons with broad experience in issues of HIV & AIDS and its impact on sustainable human development. They will also be specialists in development planning with a strong focus in health related developmental issues.

7. RESPONSIBILITIES FOR MANAGING THE HIV & AIDS IMPACT ASSESSEMENT STUDY
The UNDP Resident Representative in Lesotho will be primarily responsible for organising and managing the assessment study in consultation with the Ministry of Public Service, and the National AIDS Commission. The Ministry of Public Service, with financial and technical support from UNDP (and NAC) will also be responsible for the production of the assessment report.

8. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Interested firms/organizations, consultants, are required to submit comprehensive but separate technical and financial proposals by 23rd November 2007. Proposals should be submitted in sealed envelopes clearly marked: “Proposal – HIV & AIDS Impact Assessment”. Please note that the Client is not bound to accept any of the Proposals submitted. The proposal should clearly indicate the following:

 Expertise of the consultant/Firm/Organization submitting the proposal
 Proposed Work Plan, Approach and cost of the study

Proposals to be sent/delivered to:
The UNDP Resident Representative, 3rd Floor, UN House, PO BOX 301, United Nations Road, Maseru, Lesotho

E-Mail: veronic.sekhibane@undp.org  with a copy to registry.ls@undp.org

Detailed terms of reference can also be found on the UNDP notice boards.OR contact Ms Puleng Letsie – (Poverty Reduction and HIV&AIDS Unit, UNDP) Tel: 22 313 790 Extension 311 Email: puleng.letsie@undp.org
 
Terms of reference