If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

Although great strides in child survival were achieved in the past two decades, progress has been uneven within and across countries and global threats like the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change could reverse these gains. Demographic and epidemiological transitions underway at varying paces around the world have also resulted in shifts in the causes and distribution of child death and diseases, and many children are now living with short-and long-term chronic illnesses, injuries, and disabilities. These changes mean that regular monitoring of child health and well-being is essential if we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In view of demographic and epidemiological shifts, WHO and UNICEF have been working together on a child health redesign that is based on a life-course approach. This new strategy views child health as a continuum for the first two decades of life and focuses on designing and implementing programs that will improve child survival as well as the ability of all children to thrive and reach their potential. UNICEF is aiming to increase programming in the areas of non-communicable diseases. However, there is very little comparable data on child non-communicable diseases, which is needed to help guide program development, implementation, and monitoring.

Terms of Reference

In close collaboration and working with the Senior Advisor, Health and HIV, the Consultant will support UNICEF in the revision of the thrive component of the monitoring and evaluation framework for the UNICEF-WHO child health redesign, and to develop a road map for increasing data availability on non-communicable diseases (one dimension of the thrive component of the child health redesign). This work will contribute to the organization’s ability to plan and monitor its health programs on child health and well-being and specifically on non-communicable diseases

Scope of Work

Task 1. Refine the current monitoring and evaluation framework for the UNICEF-WHO child health redesign. This task will involve revising the current version of the framework to expand on the thrive/well-being component, including ensuring the framework is consistent with UNICEF’s Strategic Plan for 2022-2025. Steps involve assessing changes in the evidence base since the establishment of the framework and in identifying a core set of metrics for monitoring thrive aspects of the child health redesign that are consistent with UNICEF programmatic priorities (i.e., childhood non-communicable diseases, injuries, disability, mental health, and environmental health). The identification process will require coordination with experts in each of these domain areas. Expected outputs include: A report describing the revised framework including proposed indicators and a plan for monitoring and reporting on them.

Task 2. Develop a measurement roadmap for non-communicable diseases for children and adolescents including recommendations for improving data availability through existing data collection platforms (e.g., routine administrative systems, health facility surveys/assessments, household surveys) as well as proposing new tools (i.e., screening, and diagnostic tools). The road map should be consistent with the child health redesign framework and the three pillars of primary health care. The road map will include clarity on phases of work, with the first phase focusing on the health care sector and using as a starting point UNICEF’s chronic care model and synthesis of lessons learned from UNICEF’s HIV team. The development of the road map will involve coordination with expert groups such as the Child Health Accountability Tracking working group (CHAT), Global Action for Measurement of Adolescent Health (GAMA), and academic institutions with expertise in non-communicable diseases (Harvard University). Expected output is a measurement roadmap for non-communicable diseases including research recommendations and a phased approach.

Task 3. Support the development of a set of data visualizations on non-communicable diseases for children ages 0-9. Expected output: profile template or set of charts and tables on non-communicable diseases for children ages 0-9.

Deliverables

Task 1a. Development of a draft report for a revised thrive component of the M&E framework for the child health redesign

Task 1b. Final report of the revised thrive component of the M&E framework for the child health redesign including a recommended set of indicators and plan for regular monitoring of them

Task 2a. Draft measurement roadmap for non-communicable diseases among children including research recommendations

Task 2b. Final measurement roadmap for non-communicable diseases among children including research recommendations

Task 3. Support for the development of data visualizations on non-communicable diseases for children 0-9 years of age

Qualifications

(1) Education

An advanced degree in Public Health, Medicine**, Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation or a relevant field.
The individual should be highly proficient in MS Excel and MS Powerpoint and have strong communication skills in English

2) Work experience

At least 10 years’ experience working on monitoring and evaluation activities in the area of child health.
Proven experience working on childhood chronic conditions.

3) Competencies

Strong organizational, planning, and analytical skills.
Fluency in English and another UN language is an asset.
Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and ability to establish harmonious working relations in a multicultural environment.

Requirements****:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and provide Personal History Form (P11) Upload copy of academic credentials
Financial proposal that will include:
your daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference
- travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
- Any other estimated costs: visa & health insurance as applicable.
- Indicate your availability
Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. The candidate may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid).

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Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org