Consultancy Immunization Specialist - Equatorial Guinea (4 Months)

Contract

This is a P-4 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 138,183 USD and 178,159 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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, Hope

The Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) has been underperforming in terms of routine activities in Equatorial Guinea in recent months, due to the Covid-19. According to the results of the inequities analysis carried out in July 2020, 6 552 under 1-year children registered in 8 districts dropped-out to comply with the national immunization calendar due to the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic. As a result of this situation, UNICEF in collaboration with WHO, developed strategies to support the Government through the Expanded Immunization Program (EPI), to catch-up these children who have missed out to receive their routine vaccines. In addition, a National Measles Vaccination Campaign was carried out in December 2020 given the low coverage of measles vaccination (45%) and the risks related to the appearance of epidemic outbreaks. It is also important to highlight that the risk of epidemic outbreak is real for many diseases such as polio, yellow fever and measles because of the weakness of the Immunization programme and because of the COVID-19 pandemic which is overstretching health systems and where a lot of attention and resources are directed. There is an urgent need to ensure that routine immunization against preventable diseases receives the attention and resources it deserves while continuing to implement preventive measures against COVID-19. The organization of a high-level forum with national authorities would eventually provide an opportunity to advocate for stronger routine immunization programme and highlight how it also provides the platform to promote and deliver other child health interventions. Likewise, to boost immunity to measles, it is important to accelerate the activities to introduce the 2nd dose of measles which will also allow to catch up children who may have missed their first dose.

Recent vaccination coverage data still show that more than half of the districts (12/18), have not reached at least 80% Penta3 coverage for routine vaccination. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate efforts in 2021, implementing effective strategies and actions to improve vaccination coverage in the country, identify and reach out to the unvaccinated children under 1 -year in 2020. The CO is understaffed and has many competing priorities because of COVID 19 and the recent emergency in Bata. UNICEF-EQG is therefore recruiting an international consultant to support the acceleration and strengthening of routine immunization services, to apply and disseminate knowledge, and maintain strong working relationships with the Government of EQG and its partners.

How can you make a difference?

Under the general guidance and supervision of the Health Specialist, the Immunization Specialist will include the following tasks:

• Coordinate UNICEF-EQG immunization Team, ensuring interaction with the Ministry of Health and WHO, as well as other partners to the External Review preparation and the introduction of Yellow Fever Vaccine.
• Monitor and evaluate routine immunization activities based on UNICEF interventions (vaccines security and Communication/SocMob activities); disseminate good practices, ensure exchanges of experience and innovations with immunization staff, and other UNICEF partners.
• In collaboration with partners, design and implement strategies for strengthening vaccination in urban settings.
• Support the implementation of plan for introduction of second doses of measles and fourth doses of pentavalent in line with second year of life strategy initiative: Training, supervision, and monitoring.
• Develop partnerships with government institutions and national civil society organisations, including NGOs, religious groups, traditional leaders, and other organised community groups, to solicit their participation in reinforcing the operationalisation of health districts.
• Assist districts in the implementation of child survival mini-foras and in preparing the national High-Level Forum in Child Health in Equatorial Guinea with major focus on Immunization/KRC1 as an entry point.
• Contributes to the coordination and execution of the Effective Vaccine Management standard operating procedures and assisting with valuable data based Electronic stock management systems (SMT).
• Contribute to the development of funding proposals to support immunization activities in coordination with the immunisation teams in the RO and HQ.

Deliverables and Schedules

• Prepare donor reports and progress reports as required.
• EPI program staff have been trained in effective vaccine management (May 2021)
• The activities report on the introduction of the second dose of measles and fourth doses of pentavalent vaccines (May 2021)
• Second year of life strategy initiative has been prepared (May 2021).
• District health strengthening workshops have been developed with all stakeholders.
• Reports of formative supervisions in support of routine vaccination (May)
• Report of microplanning (mini-forum) conducted in all districts preparing the national High-Level Forum in Child Health in Equatorial Guinea with major focus on Immunization/KRC1 as an entry point (Jun 2021).
• Yellow Fever vaccine Introduction plan has been prepared in coordination with the MoH (Jun 2021)
• National vaccine forecast for the period 2022 available and shared with RO (July 2021).
• Terms of reference for Evaluation of Vaccine Management (EVM) planning in 2022 available (July 2021).
• Terms of reference for External review of vaccination program and GEV assessment (August)

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Advanced University Degree in Medicine, Public Health, or related social sciences.
• Experience in Expanded Programme Immunization and Health System Strengthening.
• Previous health management experience.
• Capacity to work with government, non-government organization and/or UN agencies in Immunization and related areas.
• Proven skills in utilization of informatics packages applied to data management and financial processes.
• Adaptability and flexibility in working within complex and dynamic environment.
• Ability to deliver high quality products in a timely manner.
• Fluency in Spanish and/or French with good knowledge of English.
• Familiarized with the peculiarities of the COVID 19 context and other disease’s emergencies.

To Apply

Please send your application by May 10, 2021. Please include a Cover Letter and CV.

The consultancy fee will be negotiated at P4 level. In the case of unsatisfactory performance or a significant delay in delivering the outputs, UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment of the fee normally due upon completion of work.

DSA and ticket will be covered by UNICEF. The consultant will work at the UNICEF and travel to the field using UNICEF transport means in accordance with the Organization’s regulations.

UNICEF will not provide the consultant with a computer for work, but he / she will use the UNICEF IT infrastructure to perform his / her work (printers, photocopiers, scanner and internet).

Services: office space, photocopying and printing, supplies, secretarial work.

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.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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.

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.