Consultancy - Nutrition Response in Karamoja for 2 months (43.5 working days)

Contract

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, Health

Background and Purpose

Karamoja sub-region in North-eastern Uganda has, as of April 2022, recorded the highest levels of acute malnutrition (13.1%) and acute food insecurity (41%) compared to the past two years. The districts of Moroto and Kaabong are the most affected (at critical level), followed by Amudat, Kotido, Nabilatuk and Napak classified as serious level and Abim, Karenga and Nakapiripirit at alert level. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projections indicated an unlikely improvement in the food security situation with even possible worse-case scenario unfolding between August 2022 and January 2023. The current drought induced acute malnutrition is compounded by the outbreak of diseases, inadequate dietary consumption, unsatisfactory childcare, infant and young feeding practices due to maternal workload and alcoholism, poor access to improved sanitation facilities and low per capita water use.

To increase coverage, UNICEF invested further internal resources ($400,000) in May 2022 to support the districts of Kaabong and Moroto to carry out mass community screening for acute wasting among children 6-59 month and conducted integrated community outreaches to hard-to-reach communities. A total of 61,786 children aged 6-59 months in the two districts have been reached through these two activities. The findings from the mass screening revealed the acute malnutrition levels in the two districts remains critical (25 per cent in Kaabong and 14 per cent in Moroto) with a high percentage of the eligible children not being enrolled into therapeutic care.

Based on this experience in Kaabong and Moroto, UNICEF proposes to recruit 11 consultants to support the response in all the nine districts of Karamoja. The consultants will contribute to strengthening the capacity of disrict local governments for timely identification, referral and treatment of cases of children 6 to 59 months with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in all the nine districts of Karamoja. The consultants will speficifically provide technical assistance and guidance to the planning, implementation and monitoring of the lean response in all the nine districts of Karamoja

How can you make a difference?

Justification

The initiation of the mass screening and integrated outreaches have improved the enrolment of malnourished children into therapeutic care in the two most critical districts and an expansion of the mass screening and referral is much need to the rest of the seven districts is needed as well. The technical assitance to the districts of Kaabong and Moroto by the 14 consultants was instrumental in achieving these results in the two districts. Thus, more support is needed to guide the DHTs in the seven other districts to better plan, implement, report and coordinate the nutrition response activities including mass screening and integrated outreaches. The consultants will also contribute to ensuring the gains made in Kaabong and Moroto are sustained.

Objective of the assignment:

The consultants will strengthen the capacity of government and community to identify and prevent malnutrition and to detect and treat severe acute malnutrition (SAM) among children under-five in food insecure Karamoja Region.

Through the consultants, UNICEF aims to reach 191,000 children screened for SAM, (ii) 22,740 children referred and admitted for care in OTC/ITC, (iii) 280,000 of caregivers reached with key nutrition messages on management and prevention of wasting among children 6-59 months (iv) 150,000 children 6-59 months received VAS and 140,000 children 12-59 months dewormed.

The consultants will contribute to improved documentation and reporting of nutrition emergency response in all the nine districts of Karamoja through support to the health facilities, district health teams and community volunteers.

Scope of Work of the contract:

Under the supervision of the Nutrition Specialist in Kampala and co-supervision of the Nutrition Officer in Moroto, the consultants will provide urgent technical assistance to the Karamoja districts to respond to the nutrition emergency in the region. The consultants will directly guide the districts, health facility and communities in the timely planning, implementation, documentation and reporting of the nutrition response including community mass screening, and integrated outreaches in Karamoja.

Major Tasks:

1. Provide planning support to DHTs and health facilities for community mass screening and integrated outreaches.
2. Provide implementation, monitoring and reporting support to the districts, health facilities and communities on nutrition response in severe wasting (such as integrated outreaches, vitamin A supplementation and deworming).
3. Map out hot-spot villages/sub-counties with higher levels of global acute malnutrition (GAM), and concentration of children under 5 in therapeutic care.
4. Documentation and reporting of nutrition response activities and case studies in Karamoja

Deliverables:

• District and health facility level Nutrition micro-plans for community mass screening and integrated outreaches.
• Weekly Community mass screening, vitamin A supplementation and deworming reports and weekly Nutrition supplies stock status—RUTF, F75, F100, ReSoMal, vitamin A capsules, deworming medicines reports, integrated outreaches activity reports.
• Reports on cases of children with acute malnutrition identified, referred, and enrolled in care in OTC, ITC or SFC.
• Two Case studies for nutrition in emergency response activities
• Health facility, community nutrition data compilation and reporting status report and final activity technical report

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

Education:

• Advanced University Degree in Nutrition, Public Health or other related disciplines.
• At least 5-year professional experience in nutrition, public health, nutrition planning and management, nutrition research, policy development and knowledge management; additional experience in supporting nutrition and health emergency program prepared and response at national, regional and district levels.
• Experience working with Government entities in national programming for health, nutrition, public health, and other child survival and development areas.
• Experience in undertaking work or projects that relate to integrated management of acute malnutrition, micronutrient supplementation, deworming, maternal and adolescent nutrition programming.
• Experience in project management
• Experience of working with leadership and management spheres in public health and nutrition programmes
• Experience in facilitating dialogue among different stakeholders

Desirable:

• Working experience with UNICEF, FCDO, EU and their implementing partners at national, regional and district level.
• Working experience with the Ministry of Health, Regional Referral Hospitals, District Local Governments, and/ or other governmental entities.
• Experience and knowledge of EPI and Nutrition micro-planning and implementation.

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.

Evaluation Criteria:

The Technical proposal is weighted at 75% and 25% for the Financial proposal.

Payment Schedule:

The consultancy fees are payable in instalments upon successful completion of the tasks and submission of the deliverables.

Risks associated with the contract:

The main risk associated with this contract is insecurity in Karamoja which has potential to harm and incovenience the consultants during their operations in the districts. This will be mitigated by following established SOPs followed by the UN and UNICEF in Karamoja.

General Conditions: Procedures & Logistics:

• Under the consultancy agreements, a month is defined as 21 working days, and fees are prorated accordingly. Consultants are not paid for weekends or public holidays.
• Consultants are not entitled to payment of overtime. All remuneration must be within the contract agreement.
• No contract may commence unless the consultant provides a certificate of completion of a mandatory course on “Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse”. A certificate to be submitted with the signed contract should have been obtained in the last three months.
• For international consultants outside the duty station, signed contracts must be sent by fax or email. Signed contract copy or written agreement must be received by the office before Travel Authorisation is issued
• No consultant may travel without a signed travel authorisation prior to the commencement of the journey to the duty station.
• Unless authorised, UNICEF will buy the tickets of the consultant. In exceptional cases, the consultant may be authorised to buy their travel tickets and shall be reimbursed at the “most economical and direct route” but this must be agreed to beforehand.
• Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget.
• Consultant will be required to sign the Health statement for consultants/Individual contractor prior to taking up the assignment, and to document that they have appropriate health insurance, including Medical Evacuation.
• The Form 'Designation, change or revocation of beneficiary' must be completed by the consultant upon arrival, at the HR Section.
• Clearance from the Government is required for civil servants or other government employee.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

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.

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. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.