About You(th) Care project:
You(th) Care (2022-2025) enables adolescents and youth (aged 10 – 25) in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia to advocate for and practice self- care for their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) needs and to increase access to (digital) self-care services and commodities.

SRHR self-care can prevent unwanted pregnancy; reduce unsafe abortion; and combat sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV (and AIDS-related deaths), reproductive tract infections, cervical cancer, and other gynaecological morbidities. When people participate actively in their healthcare, medication and treatment, adherence improves. When adolescents assess and manage their own care, they learn about their bodies and become more aware of their physical conditions. Worldwide, few advocacy programmes focus on fulfilling SRHR for adolescents through self-care. You(th) Care occupies a critical space in promoting SRHR for adolescents with (digital) self-care services led by adolescents themselves.

The overall objectives of the You(th) Care project is to ensure that vulnerable adolescents and young people, especially girls (e.g. living with HIV, out of school and in remote and low -income urban settings) in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia benefit from a more supportive policy and community environment and a strengthened health system, enabling them to practice self-care to promote and maintain their SRHR, access family planning and prevent HIV and AIDS.

You(th) Care has two specific objectives;

1. To encourage duty bearers and decision makers to improve, and implement laws and policies that respect, promote and realise adolescents’ SRHR and HIV self-care needs.
2. Increase access to quality SRHR and HIV community and public services, including access to self-care services and commodities for adolescents and young people, specifically girls.

Rationale for the development of a self-care toolkit
Self-care has never been more relevant than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when health systems around the world were unable to cope. Growing adolescent self-care frees up health workers to focus on conditions that require medical intervention, reducing pressure especially in low resource settings, contributing to realisation of universal health coverage (UHC) for SRHR, reduce unwanted teen pregnancies and adolescent birth rate (SDG 3.7.2), decrease adolescent HIV infections, increase adolescents living with HIV on treatment and realise a world without AIDS by 2030 (SDG 3.3).

‘The You(th) Care baseline survey, ARASA assessments, and the UHC & self-care study identified the need for more sensitisation on self-care and increased awareness on the concept, for You(th) Care partners to embrace self-care holistically as they implement their work’.

We envision an interactive guide to self-awareness and self-care. Designed to put self-care as a key priority. Having an easy reference toolkit that will help health provider and peer mentors to have a self-care routine.

Objectives of the self-care Toolkit
The self-care toolkit will help You(th) Care partners and their constituencies at regional, national and
community levels to:

1. Strengthen their understanding of the concept of self-care, self-care principles, self-care coping strategies and evidence-informed and rights-based responses needed to protect the rights to bodily autonomy and integrity, and to address key SRHR challenges facing youth in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia and the East and South African region.
2. Equip self –champions with the resources to effectively advocate for the inclusion of self-care in health system.

The toolkit should be adaptable to be used for training on self-care.

Terms of Reference of the Assignment
The development of the toolkit will refer to the SRHR self-care guidance of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the bodily autonomy and integrity framing of ARASA’s regional “Every Body Counts” campaign. The consultant should look into available research studies and documents from You(th) Care and other relevant sources and make use of the knowledge that exists in the You(th) Care consortium. Resources will be shared once the assignment has commenced.

Target of the Assignment
The self-care toolkit will be used by (youth-led) organisations and adolescents and young people in the region, including You(th) Care partners in Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya to train young people, the community and other duty bearers including community advocates and caregivers, on self-care, contributing to SRHR for adolescents and young people.

Methodology:

• Desk review: The consultant will be provided with a set of documents for the analysis, to start with. This will include self-care related materials developed by You(th) Care partners. The consultant will be expected to review additional relevant (SRHR) self-care tools and documents.
• Interviews and FGDs: the desk review will be strengthened by interviews with You(th) Care partners and focus group discussions with adolescents and young people in the project. This might allow key informants to bring in new issues that may not have been considered in the ToR.

Deliverables:

• An inception report for the assignment with tools
• A high-quality, user- and youth-friendly self-care toolkit (max. 22 pages including cover page).

The consultant will be expected;

1. To collect, review and analyse all the necessary self-care document as a basis for the self-care toolkit
2. Based on previously implemented focus groups results, analyse youth priorities and concerns.
3. Prepare a comprehensive list of contents to be included in the toolkit, specifically as related to self –care and peer support and based on the toolkit framework.
4. Draft step by step applied tools and activities to be used by youth facilitators in leading community meetings.

Timelines:
The consultancy should be completed within a maximum of 15 days before 5 June 2023

Requirements:

• In-depth understanding of HIV and SRHR, human rights, self-care, health programming with a focus on the rights to bodily autonomy and integrity and SRHR;
• Experience with civil society advocacy and campaigning at global, regional, national and/or community levels;
• Experience in manual/toolkit development and research
• Excellent written English and ability to write clearly and concisely;
• Ability to work independently and produce high quality outputs in a timely manner;
• Ability to work with and make full use of the knowledge of You(th) Care consortium partners and adolescents and young people affected by HIV;
• Preferably based in Kenya, Tanzania or Zambia;
• Young consultants are particularly encouraged to apply;

Background
Established in 2002, the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) is a regional partnership of civil society organisations working together in 18 countries in southern and east Africa to promote the rights to bodily autonomy and integrity in order to reduce inequality, especially gender inequality and promote health dignity and wellbeing in southern and east Africa. The Regional office of ARASA is in Windhoek, Namibia.

ARASA through Aidsfonds is providing technical assistance in capacity strengthening and advocacy to the partners of the You(th) Care project, a project implemented in Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya.

Institutional Arrangements/Reporting Relationships
The consultant shall work with existing self-care working group members although reporting and correspondence will be with Bruce Tushabe bruce@arasa.info

Please submit brief proposal explaining why you are the most suitable for this consultancy including confirmation on availability to complete the task in the proscribed period of time; - Personal Information: (CV of not more than 3 pages which shows experience with similar work) and a cover letter) Financial Proposal: Specifying the total lump sum amount as well as the requested amount of
the fee per day.

Please send the expression of interest to bruce@arasa.info. Subject line to read: “Expression of interest: Consultancy to develop self-care toolkit”. The closing date for the submission of expressions of interest is 10 May 2023.