Job at Society for Inclusion and Development in Communities and Care for All
Documentation and Case Study Development on Migrant-Inclusive HIV, TB and Harm Reduction Responses in Emergency Settings in Lebanon
LebanonConsultancy
Job at Society for Inclusion and Development in Communities and Care for All
1. Background and Rationale
Migrants in Lebanon may face multiple and intersecting barriers to accessing health services, including financial constraints, language and communication barriers, unfamiliarity with the health system, documentation and residency-related concerns, stigma and discrimination, mobility restrictions and fear of disclosure. These barriers can become more pronounced during conflict and other emergencies, when displacement, insecurity, disruption of health facilities and services, transportation constraints and changing humanitarian priorities can further affect access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment and continuity of care.
For migrants living with or at risk of HIV, TB and other health conditions, these challenges may result in delayed testing and diagnosis, difficulties navigating available services, interrupted referrals, loss to follow-up, and challenges initiating or maintaining treatment. Migrant communities are diverse, and experiences, vulnerabilities and access to services may differ according to nationality, gender, type of employment, legal/documentation status, location, language and other factors.
Lebanon’s recent emergencies have also demonstrated the important role of the National TB and AIDS Program (NTAP), civil society and community-based organizations, healthcare providers, peer educators and community networks in maintaining access to essential services. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Migrant Working Group have also contributed to migrant-inclusive coordination and referral during emergencies. At the same time, gaps may remain in coordination, referral, follow-up and continuity of care, particularly when services are disrupted or migrants are displaced.
Against this background, the consultancy will document Lebanon’s experience of maintaining migrants’ access to HIV, TB, harm reduction and related services during emergencies. Findings will inform a policy-oriented case study and a practical Migrant-Inclusive Emergency Referral and Continuity Framework for HIV, TB and Harm Reduction in Lebanon.
For this study, “migrants” refers to international migrants residing in Lebanon, including migrant workers, migrant domestic workers and individuals with irregular or undocumented residency status. Refugees and internally displaced Lebanese populations will not be included as separate target groups; conflict-related displacement affecting migrants will be examined. Sexual and reproductive health, HIV/STI prevention and care, and mental health and psychosocial support will be considered where relevant to HIV, TB and harm reduction referral pathways and continuity of care. The inception report will confirm the emergency reference period and field locations, selected according to migrant presence, emergency impacts, data availability and operational feasibility.
2. Overall ObjectiveTo document and analyze migrants’ experiences, service-utilization patterns, access barriers, referral pathways and continuity-of-care challenges related to HIV, TB and harm reduction services during emergencies in Lebanon, and develop practical, migrant-inclusive recommendations and mechanisms for safer referral, linkage, follow-up and re-engagement in care.3. Specific Objectives
The activity will specifically aim to:
Key Areas of Inquiry
The assessment will examine the migrant service journey from access to information and prevention through testing or diagnosis, referral, linkage to appropriate services, treatment initiation and continuity, follow-up and re-linkage when care is interrupted. It will focus on experiences of access and referral, points where delays or interruptions occur, factors contributing to loss to follow-up, and adaptations that helped maintain continuity during emergencies.
The analysis will consider barriers and enabling factors at individual, community, service-provider, institutional and structural levels, including affordability, accessibility, language, documentation concerns, confidentiality and trust, stigma, displacement and insecurity. It will also examine coordination and safeguarding considerations where relevant. Differences between migrant groups will be examined where the evidence permits, without reporting small groups in ways that could identify participants.
4. Methodology
A focused mixed-methods, participatory approach will be used, combining quantitative and qualitative evidence to understand both service-access patterns and the factors influencing them. The methodology is organized around five complementary activities designed to maximize analytical value while remaining feasible within available resources.
Available programme, service and surveillance data will be reviewed to describe migrants’ access to HIV, TB, harm reduction and related services during emergencies. The analysis will examine available trends in testing, diagnosis, linkage to care, treatment initiation and continuity, referrals, loss to follow-up and re-engagement, with relevant disaggregation where feasible and ethically appropriate. This component will also review available programme documents and emergency-response information to provide the broader context for the case study. An initial data-availability and quality assessment will identify data custodians and sources, define indicators and reporting periods, assess completeness and comparability, check potential duplication, and establish whether migrant-status information and ethical disaggregation are available. Findings will distinguish service-utilization counts from population coverage; coverage estimates will not be made without reliable population denominators. Limitations and missing data will be transparently documented.
Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with a purposive selection of key stakeholders, including NTAP, CSOs/community-based organizations, healthcare providers, the IOM, representatives of the Migrant Working Group and other relevant health, humanitarian or protection actors. Interviews will explore experiences during emergencies, barriers affecting migrants’ access to HIV, TB, harm reduction and related services, referral and coordination practices, continuity-of-care challenges, service gaps, promising adaptations, safeguarding considerations and opportunities to strengthen collaboration.
FGDs and/or other appropriate consultation modalities will be conducted with migrants and relevant community representatives to document lived experiences of accessing HIV, TB, harm reduction and related health services. Discussions will explore barriers and enabling factors, experiences with referral and follow-up, confidentiality and trust, stigma and discrimination, emergency-related disruptions, and community perspectives on how services and continuity of care could be strengthened. Appropriate informed-consent, confidentiality and safeguarding measures will be applied. Participant-facing materials will be translated into relevant languages as needed, with interpretation support arranged where required and feasible. Confidential individual interviews will be prioritized when discussing HIV status, TB diagnosis, drug use, residency or documentation status, or other sensitive personal experiences. Group consultations will address broader barriers and service improvement without requiring disclosure of sensitive personal information. Participants will be informed that confidentiality between group members cannot be guaranteed.
Before data collection, the team will document the applicable ethics-review determination and any required approvals. Participation will be voluntary and based on informed consent; declining or withdrawing will not affect access to services. Data will be minimized, de-identified wherever possible, stored securely with role-based access controls, and governed by defined retention and deletion arrangements. Identifiable participant information will not be shared with employers or immigration authorities. Interview and referral procedures will incorporate safeguarding, safe recruitment, confidentiality and appropriate response pathways for protection concerns.
Findings from the desk review, quantitative analysis, KIIs and community consultations will be triangulated to identify the main points at which migrants experience delays, unsuccessful referrals, interrupted treatment or loss to follow-up. The analysis will examine whether identified gaps relate to service availability, affordability, accessibility, information, referral coordination, administrative barriers, confidentiality and trust, safeguarding concerns or emergency-related disruption. It will also identify promising practices and feasible priority actions for strengthening continuity of care.
Preliminary findings and proposed recommendations will be presented to NTAP, IOM, representatives of the Migrant Working Group and other selected stakeholders for technical validation, subject to their availability. The validation process will confirm key findings, address important gaps or inconsistencies, and assess the feasibility and relevance of the proposed recommendations. Feedback will inform finalization of the case study and the Migrant-Inclusive Emergency Referral and Continuity Framework for HIV, TB and Harm Reduction in Lebanon.
5. Strategic Outputs
The activity will produce a policy-oriented case study documenting Lebanon’s experience in maintaining migrant access to HIV, TB and harm reduction services during emergencies, supported by available quantitative evidence, migrant and community experiences, institutional perspectives, integrated analysis of referral and continuity-of-care bottlenecks, promising practices and lessons learned.
Findings will inform the development of a practical Migrant-Inclusive Emergency Referral and Continuity Framework for HIV, TB and Harm Reduction in Lebanon. The framework will translate the evidence generated through the five activities into feasible recommendations for strengthening access, referral, linkage, follow-up and continuity of care during emergencies. The framework will distinguish service-specific operational requirements for HIV, TB and harm reduction while applying shared principles of equitable access, confidentiality and continuity. It will identify responsible actors, minimum referral and follow-up procedures, emergency contingencies, indicative resource needs, and a concise implementation and monitoring plan aligned with existing national coordination mechanisms.
The framework may include:
The full final case study will be prepared in English. To maximize usability while controlling costs, selected final outputs - such as the executive summary, key findings, recommendations and/or practical framework elements - may be translated into Arabic as required, rather than translating the full report.
Ultimately, the activity will provide NTAP, CSOs, migrant-sector and humanitarian actors with evidence-based and practical recommendations for earlier identification, safer referral, stronger linkage and continuity of care for migrants during emergencies, while contributing to a more coordinated and resilient HIV, TB and harm reduction response in Lebanon.
6. Expected Deliverables
Refined methodology, sampling strategy, emergency reference period, stakeholder mapping, data sources, interview/FGD tools, ethical and safeguarding measures, timetable and proposed level of effort.
Documented desk review and secondary analysis; completed KIIs/community consultations; anonymized synthesis of evidence, limitations and emerging referral bottlenecks.
Policy-oriented analysis of migrant experiences, service-use patterns, emergency disruptions, referral pathways, continuity-of-care gaps, promising practices and lessons learned.
Actionable, feasible roles and coordination arrangements; no-wrong-door principles; referral confirmation, follow-up and re-linkage approaches; multilingual/community support; HIV/TB/harm reduction contingencies; safeguarding and suggested monitoring indicators.
Presentation of findings, feedback matrix, final English-language case study and final Migrant-Inclusive Emergency Referral and Continuity Framework, incorporating agreed comments.
7. Reporting and Coordination
The consultant will report to SIDC’s designated focal point. SIDC will review deliverables, consolidate technical feedback and facilitate introductions and access to available data. The consultant will organize agreed data collection and maintain the delivery schedule. The inception work plan will specify delivery dates, SIDC review periods and responsibilities for recruitment, interpretation, validation logistics and data access. SIDC will facilitate engagement with NTAP, IOM, the Migrant Working Group and other actors, while retaining overall responsibility for coordinating the consultancy. Any change to scope, costs or timetable requires SIDC’s prior written agreement.
Application Requirements
Interested individual consultants should submit the following:
Submission Instructions
Kindly send the complete application by 9 November 2026, end of day (Lebanon time), to [email protected] with the subject line: “Consultancy Application - Migrant-Inclusive HIV/TB/Harm Reduction Case Study”. Applications received after the deadline or missing required components may not be considered.