Purpose of consultancy:

In 1994, the International Conference for Population and Development Programme of Action (ICPD PoA) defined reproductive health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and its functions and processes. Reproductive health implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when, and how often to do so. Implicit in this last condition are the rights of men and women to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable, and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their choice for regulation of fertility which are not against the law, and the right of access to appropriate health care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant. 

In line with the definition of reproductive health, reproductive health care is defined as the constellation of methods, techniques and services that contribute to reproductive health and well-being by preventing and solving reproductive health problems. It also includes sexual health, the purpose of which is the enhancement of life and personal relations, and not merely counseling and care related to reproduction and sexually transmitted diseases (1). WHO’s Reproductive Health Strategy (2004) draws upon the ICPD PoA conceptualization of SRH and provides clear recommendations for the services that are needed for national programmes to address the five core aspects of reproductive and sexual health:  “improving antenatal, perinatal, postpartum and newborn care; providing high-quality services for family planning, including infertility services; eliminating unsafe abortion; combating sexually transmitted infections including HIV, reproductive tract infections, cervical cancer, and other gynecological morbidities; and promoting sexual health”. 

The Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on SRHR  provides a similar definition of the services that should be provided for achieving SRH: “comprehensive sexuality education; counseling and services for a range of modern contraceptives, with a defined minimum number and types of methods; antenatal, childbirth and postnatal care, including emergency obstetric and newborn care; safe abortion services and treatment of complications of unsafe abortion; prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections; prevention, detection, immediate services and referrals for cases of sexual and gender-based violence; prevention, detection, and management of reproductive cancers, especially cervical cancer; information, counseling and services for subfertility and infertility; information, counseling and services for sexual health and well-being”. 

Many of these elements are included in public policy documents of the Republic of Serbia, adopted before the Law on the planning system of the Republic of Serbia and its new methodology entered into force, and with limited scope and implementation. Some of them are the National programme of health protection of Women, children and Youth (2009), the National programme for Preserving and Improvement of Sexual and reproductive health of the Citizens of the Republic of Serbia (2017), the Strategy for birth promotion (2018), Programme for improvement of cancer control (2020). However, the comprehensive and up-to-date policy document which could lead to the development and improvement in the majority of areas of sexual and reproductive health of citizens of Serbia is lacking.

The new comprehensive strategy for preserving and improving reproductive health should be developed in line with the Law on the Planning System of the Republic of Serbia, which defines that the first and crucial step in the development of the new public policy document is an ex-ante analysis of the impact of public policy. 

The development of the ex-ante analysis for the National Strategy and the development of the new strategic document will be convened by the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography. The Ministry will coordinate the work of the multisectoral working group for strategy development that will include representatives of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth, the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialog, Institute of Public Health of Serbia, and other relevant ministries, institutions, health care institutions, and civil society organizations.

UNFPA CO Serbia has been invited to provide support, in accordance with its mandate, to the process of drafting the ex-ante analysis for the comprehensive new strategy for preserving and improving reproductive health. 

The purpose of this consultancy is, therefore, to develop the ex-ante analysis for the National strategy for preserving and improving the reproductive health of the citizens of Serbia.

The methodology for conducting an ex-ante analysis of the effects of public policies is defined by the Regulation on the methodology of public policy management, analysis of the effects of public policies and regulations and the content of individual public policy documents (2020). The Regulation defines steps to choose the optimal public policy, which implies a detailed analysis of the effects while respecting the principles of proportionality and precaution, which the Law defines in the Planning System of the Republic of Serbia. 

The National Consultant - will closely cooperate with the focal point of the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography of the Republic of Serbia, the UNFPA Head of Office and the UNFPA SRH and Youth Programme Analyst and members of the multisectoral working group for strategy development and consult the other relevant institutions and organizations and CSOs, as needed.

The National Consultant is expected to execute the following tasks/activities: 

Task 1. Preparatory work for ex-ante analysis, which consists of two parts. 1. Develop the outline of the ex-ante analysis for the National strategy for preserving and improving the reproductive health of the citizens of Serbia- which will reflect the methodology, tasks, stakeholders and proposed content of the analysis. 2. Consolidate the list of all relevant reference documents/data sources, such as national legal and strategic documents, laws, by-laws, research/ publications/ reports, and other relevant data. The document will be reviewed by the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography of the Republic of Serbia and the UNFPA CO Serbia for quality assurance.

Task 2. Organize consultations with representatives of all target groups and other interested parties using some of the following consultation techniques: 1) focus group discussions; 2) round table discussions; 3) semi-structured interviews; 4) panels; 5) surveys; or 6) collecting written comments. The purpose of consultations is to collect information from relevant parties and target groups necessary for conducting an impact analysis in order to define optimal public policy measures. The method of consultations will be agreed upon with the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography of the Republic of Serbia UNFPA CO Serbia over the course of the consultancy

Task 3. Develop the first draft of the ex-ante analysis for the National strategy in Serbian and submit the document draft to the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography of the Republic of Serbia and the UNFPA CO Serbia for review and comments.

Task 4. Based on the comments, consolidate the final document of the ex-ante analysis for the National Strategy and submit the analysis to the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography of the Republic of Serbia and the UNFPA CO Serbia.

Applicants should send their resume (CV) to vacancies.serbia@unfpa.org, no later than 11th July 2023, 5.00 PM CET.

Please refer to the attached ToR for further information.