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                                                                      TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background and Justification :

COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that becomes the greatest challenge to countries in a short period of time. Since its emergence late 2019, the virus has spread to every continent. The pandemic is more than a health crisis that created an unprecedented socio-economic crisis stressing every country it touched.

In order to fight this pandemic, a group of global health actors launched an initiative called “Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A)” to promote and accelerate the development, production and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. One of the goals of ACT-A is to avail 2 billion doses of COVID 19 vaccine by end of 2021.Rapidly deploying  and quickly vaccinating target groups will be the goal of the exercise.

In 2020, UNICEF procured 1.9 billion doses of childhood vaccines for 102 countries, enough to reach 45 percent of the world’s children under five years of age. This incredible milestone calls for equally effective stock management at all levels of supply chain and ideally at service delivery points to ensure children, especially those in under-served, urban poor, conflict-affected and hard-to-reach areas, have access to life-saving vaccines, when needed.

This UNICEF’s experience has been instrumental in the  supply and delivery of COVID 19 vaccines for the massive global vaccination drive bring stock management to a new level of urgency and offer a unique opportunity to ensure quality and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and strengthen and enhance the routine immunization (RI) stock management practices.

Hence, UNICEF ESARO, is seeking assistance in the form of a consultancy to support on the collection, review, quality assurance, analysis and visualization of EPI related data including C 19 and childhood Vaccine Management related data  from respective country offices for a duration of 11.5  months.

 Scope of Work :

1. Goal and Objective :  

Under the direct supervision of the Health Specialist  and in close coordination with cold chain  specialist –the incumbent will support the collection, review, quality assurance, analysis and visualization of immunization programme performance data amidst COVID 19 pandemic including vaccine stock data from ESAR country offices;

2. Details/reference to AWP areas covered :

This assignment links to 240R/A0/11/801/001 in that its main objective is to support countries experiencing emergencies, in this particular case COVID19;

The incumbent will support the following areas.

3. Activities and Tasks :
   1. Map and establish dataflows in countries covered by the regional office. Set up and trouble shoot system for data gathering from 21 ESAR countries on the status of immunization and other essential health service delivery ;
   2. Provide support to Country office to collect, validate, review and analyze EPI data sets including Vaccine management data base and provide detailed feedback and follow-up with country offices ;
   3. Conduct in-depth data analysis to identify areas with higher number of un/under immunized/zero-dose children for targeted technical assistance (conflict affected, hard-to-reach, urban poor etc) ;
   4. Produce infographics, presentations and other visual information products to strengthen data-driven planning and decision making at regional offices, across partners and country offices ;
   5. Support design and planning of a web-based dashboard for data aggregation and analytics of the information gathered for 21 ESAR countries ;
   6. Support the visualization and dissemination of the Continuity of essential health services and country profile data products through web based dashboards and slides posted on the UNICEF ESAR Health Sharepoint Collaboration Site/Knowledge Hub.
4. Work relationships :

The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Immunization team,  the Health System Strengthening Specialist,and the  Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) Specialist, and report to the Immunization coordinator.

Within the region, the consultant will work closely with the national Immunization Programme Managers, including cold chain and logistic teams. The consultant will also coordinate with the global consultants which are currenlty working in the region;

The consultant will work with WHO as a major stakeholder in immunization and will interact with key resource persons in WHO IST team involved in the deployment of COVID 19 vaccine.

5. Outputs/Deliverables :

The monthly status reports should be submitted to health specialist copy to cold chain specialist on monthly basis electronically

Payment Schedule :

• Payment will be made monthly upon submission of a monthly progress report providing update on all the listed deliverables ;
• Payment is made upon satisfactory completion of deliverables. Please note that the final remuneration will be negotiated by HR

Desired competencies, technical background, and experience :

Education : Advanced university degree in one or more of the following areas: Public Health, Epidemiology, or other related discipline. *First university degree combined with additional two years relevant professional work experience and understanding of relevant functions may be considered in lieu of advanced university degree.

Work Experience :

• A minimum of 5 years’ relevant experience at national and international levels Experience managing, analyzing, and visualizing data using web-based data visualization dashboards/platforms (e.g. Tableau, PowerBi, Shiny, Superset) and programming languages/analytical tools (e.g. SQL, Java, Python, R, Matlab) is a requirement. Prior work experience with a multi-lateral or international health and development agency ;
• Track record of producing quality deliverables on time.

Special Skills : Strong ability to multi-task and a drive for on-time delivery required.

Language Proficiency : Fluency in spoken and written English is a requirement. Working knowledge of French or Portuguese will be an asset.

Administrative issues :

The consultant will work under the supervision and guidance of Health Specialist, UNICEF ESARO. UNICEF will be responsible for the management of contract, assess consultant’s work, and evaluate performance based on deliverables.  The consultant is expected to provide proof of medical insurance coverage prior to commencing the contract.

Conditions :

The consultant will be based in Nairobi and use his/her own IT equipment (laptop, cell-phone etc.), where operating communication costs – long-distance calls, internet if any should be part of the overall quoted fees (no reimbursement will be applied).

As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary.

The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts.”

Risks :

All products and data developed or collected for this agreement are the intellectual property of UNICEF.  The consultant may not publish or disseminate the final report, or any other documents produced from this work without the express permission of and acknowledgement of UNICEF.

How to Apply :

Interested candidates should apply online using the button below.

As part of their application, candidates should provide :

• A cover letter that specifies how you meet the desired competencies, technical background and experience (no more than 2 pages) ;
•  A short CV (no more than 4 pages) ;
• A financial proposal that should include the daily rate and total fees for the assignment which includes travel/administrative/per diems, if applicable ;
• Referees.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Deadline : 06 Apr 2022 E. Africa Standard Time