UNICEF recrute un consultant pour le développement d’une stratégie d’immunisation urbaine pour le Malawi
Job Number : 534327 | Vacancy Link
Locations : Africa : Malawi
Work Type : Consultancy
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.
Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.
And we never give up.
For every child, good health :
For many years, the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in Malawi sustained a high national coverage (above 80%) for all antigens. However, there has been a gradual and significant decline in the number of fully immunized children from 81% in 2010 to 76% in 2015 (MDHS 2015/16) putting Malawi in the top 10 of countries with the highest number of unimmunized children in this region. To reverse this trend, the immunization program with support of partners implemented a number of activities to strengthen delivery of immunization services; administrative data on routine immunization now shows an improvement of national immunization coverage in 2017 and 2018 compared to the coverage in 2016. For instance, the coverage of Penta3 increased to 88% in 2017 compared to 84% in 2016.
Malawi has made significant progress in addressing equity issues related to immunization. While distance to health facilities and hard to reach areas are barriers for the uptake and delivery of immunization services, outreach clinic services targeting rural and isolated communities have been organized. Outreach services are delivered by community-based HSAs with support from health facilities and the district health office (DHO). The use of HSAs, therefore, ensures equitable access to health services including immunization: they deliver services to difficult to reach areas under very demanding circumstances. Recent studies such as the 2015/16 MDHS and 2013/14 MDG Endline Survey have demonstrated that there are no major differences in vaccination coverage among male and female children, between rich and poor households and among ethnic and religious groups.
However, challenges remain to ensure equitable and effective coverage of immunization. In particular, the 2015/16 MDHS found that vaccination coverage is higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. Disparities exist in population groups residing in urban and rural areas, with populations in rural areas showing higher vaccination coverage when compared to those in urban areas. There are also wide disparities in coverage between socio economic groups within urban areas. With these coverage gaps, there are risks of outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases in urban areas. In response to this public health risk, there is need for a specifically tailored operational strategy in urban settings.
Justification :
The Malawi Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSPII) targets to achieve 95% coverage of children under one year of age fully immunized by 2021.The. Gavi has allocated USD 41 million for five years (2018-2022) under Gavi HSIS-III grant platform to support strengthening of health system for equitable and quality coverage of immunization
in Malawi. During the 2018 Joint Appraisal stakeholders reflected on the situation of urban immunization. It was noted that the steady increase in the urban population could exacerbate the challenges for urban immunization and agreed to come up with specific strategies to address decreasing immunization coverage in urban settings.
UNICEF with funding from Gavi intends to support the Ministry of Health (MOH) in recruiting a consultant to work with MOH, WHO, UNICEF and other in-country, regional and global partners to develop the urban immunization strategy in Malawi.
Purpose of the assignment :
To provide technical support to the EPI unit of the Ministry of Health in reviewing the operational management modalities and develop an implementation plan for efficient management of Gavi grants for immunization program.
How can you make a difference?
The consultant will work with UNICEF, the MOH and other immunization stakeholders at the national and sub-national level to provide technical support to EPI unit of the Ministry of Health to conduct situation analysis of immunization program performance in urban areas of Malawi and design a strategy to improve immunization coverage in the urban areas. The expected output of this consultancy is a multi-year costed urban immunization strategy and implementation plan to guide the MOH and partners in the implementation of interventions to promote immunization in urban areas.
The consultant will be expected to provide technical support for carrying out the following tasks :
- Map and describe current immunization and public health services for the urban population in Malawi with a focus on disparities existing between different urban socio-economic groups ;
- Map the distribution of underserved populations and their access to health care facilities and outreach health services ;
- Review Bottleneck Analysis Report and related documents to identify the bottlenecks in the immunization services particularly in urban settings and the solutions needed to improve underserved populations’ access to and utilization of immunization and PHC services in the urban areas ;
- Conduct remote interviews with mothers of under five children across different socio-economic groups and vaccinators to identify knowledge gaps and other considerations to be highlighted in the development and implementation of the urban immunization strategy ;
- Conduct a stakeholder workshop (ideally using virtual platforms in view of COVID-19) to further understand the barriers to immunization and other PHC services faced by underserved populations in urban areas and strategies needed to address them ;
- Propose specific interventions/strategies to address bottlenecks in accessing immunization services in urban areas ;
- Draft a multi-year strategy for increasing population coverage with vaccination and key PHC services in urban areas within Malawi, with focus on services for urban underserved populations, including a simple tool kit for central monitoring of social mobilization activities in urban areas ;
- Develop a monitoring framework with clear indicators for tracking progress, quality and results from implementation of proposed interventions ;
- Conduct workshop (ideally using virtual platforms in view of COVID-19) to develop costed action plan for the multi-year implementation of the urban immunization strategy ;
- Facilitate validation meeting with MOH and key stakeholders (ideally using virtual platforms in view of COVID-19) on the final costed urban immunization strategy.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
- Advanced University degree in Public health, Business management, Social science, Economics or in relevant field ;
- A minimum of eight years of progressively responsible professional work experience at the national or international levels in health sector program analysis, management and leadership ;
- Good understanding of the Expanded Programme Immunization preferably on urban immunization, including national level strategic planning and implementation across the health system tiers ;
- Have experience on social mobilization strategies for health program, preferably for immunization program in urban setting ;
- Familiarity with key MOH, UNICEF and Gavi related work streams, guidelines and processes ;
- Proven experience of facilitation of strategic discussions on public health program management at national and international level ;
- Proven experience in leadership, management and coordination of public health program ;
- Proven experience in programme situation analysis/review, planning and budgeting ;
- Good interpersonal and communication skills ;
- Strong analytical, negotiation, oral and written communication skills ;
- Effective presenter including ability to adapt the message and visual aids for multiple audiences to deliver concise, impactful presentations of primary health care interventions ;
- Effective facilitator with proven ability to engage and train a group of individuals at national level and for front line health workers as well ;
- Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment ;
- Written and spoken fluency in English and Chichewa.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
View our competency framework at : UNICEF_Competencies.pdf
View more information about this consultancy in the Terms of Reference (TOR) attached : 
TOR Template Development of Urban Immunization Strategy .pdf
Use this template to submit your financial proposal : Financial Proposal Template.xlsx
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.
UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.
Remarks :
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.
Closing Date Wed Sep 16 2020 16:00:00 GMT+0100 (heure normale d’Afrique de l’Ouest).
