The TSF provides several important and 'value for money' services.

A. FINDING QUALITY CONSULTANTS FOR PARTNERS

The TSF has a large database to help you quickly find quality consultants at a competitive rate. The database will continually be expanded to enhance access to the pool of Southern African consultants.

If no appropriate regional consultant is available, the TSF will source consultants through its networks outside Southern Africa .

Global Fund Round Six
The TSF broke new ground, in partnership with UNAIDS, in the Global Fund Round Six. A survey was conducted through UNAIDS Country Coordinators. This assessed which countries would apply for Round 6 and the main service areas that proposals would cover. The overall result was that five countries worked through the TSF and RST to secure assistance and funding. In addition to Southern African countries, support was also provided to Ethiopia . In total, 124 days of consultant support were provided, mainly for general proposal writing, costing and budgeting. Feedback from both clients and consultants was generally positive. They felt that the TSF was able to respond rapidly to their questions and needs. One client noted that "in every step, it is felt that TSF is genuinely concerned and strives to provide the best assistance possible".

B. QUALITY ASSURANCE

The TSF assures the quality of the work done by the consultants it finds for you. It does this by:

• Screening the consultants before they are used in the database
• Assessing the assignment's Terms of Reference to clarify the needs and find consultants to match them
• Helping to orientate consultants to client contexts and expectations
• Assisting clients and consultants to manage assignments for optimum outcomes
• Screening the quality of consultants' outputs
• Obtaining client and consultant feedback to facilitate continuous quality improvement

C. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF CONSULTANTS

The TSF Southern Africa has launched a professional development programme for mid-level consultants of Southern African origin. This programme aims to build a cadre of high-level regional and national consultants able to deliver in TSF technical areas for HIV and AIDS programme scale up. The TSF Southern Africa does this by:

• Recruiting consultants across the region to ensure representation
• Assessing the capabilities of consultants
• Enrolling consultants in activities designed to address specific learning areas
• Monitoring the performance of consultants on TSF assignments
• Publishing materials about good assignment practice

For more information about this programme, click here.

D. CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR COUNTRY PARTNERS AND CLIENTS OF THE TSF SOUTHERN AFRICA

The TSF Southern Africa is committed to building the capacity of country partners and clients of the TSF to manage short term technical assignments to maximum effect. The TSF Southern Africa does this by:

• Running workshops in-country to build confidence and knowledge of the steps to effective assignment management
• Offering direct support, such as training, technical assistance planning and pre-scoping missions to organisations and programmes utilising short term technical assistance for HIV and AIDS scale up
• Publishing materials about effective assignment management

For more information about this programme, click here.

E. TSF SOUTHERN AFRICA NEWS SERVICE

The TSF Southern Africa provides a regular news service to consultants registered on our data base and to country partners and clients interested to know more about the TSF. We provide two newsflashes per month. Newsflashes are short and informative and provide an update on developments in the TSF Southern Africa and disseminate important information relevant to the HIV and AIDS consulting environment.

For more information about this service, click here.