Consultancy: People that Deliver workforce development and community health systems consultant, SCSC, UNICEF Supply Division, Copenhagen - 30 days - Part Time - Home-based with Field mission

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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, education

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of Activity/Assignment: Community Health Workers (CHWs) are critical last mile health workers that often serve as the primary health care provider for many patients in rural and hard-to-reach communities. CHWs are often responsible for the provision of family planning and manage their own stock of contraceptives. CHWs are therefore an integral part of the health supply chain workforce. Even the best, well-intentioned CHW needs a reliable supply of reproductive health commodities to provide for family planning. Without these supplies, their impact on child mortality disappears. In addition to family planning, CHWs often manage other essential health commodities for a variety of health programmes, including nutrition and malaria. A UNICEF report—which compiled findings from multiple countries in sub-Saharan Africa—found that, on average, 48% of CHWs were stocked out across different health commodities, including contraceptives.

Many of the issues have been identified through research by UNICEF, the Community Health Impact Coalition, and John Snow, Inc (JSI). Specifically, they note that in many countries, CHWs and the supplies are not integrated into the national supply chain system. National policies do not officially recognise CHWs and therefore there is no standard policy on the products CHWs are able to dispense. Their roles, tasks and relationship to the SC system are not defined. CHWs’ engagement with service delivery points (SDPs) and ministries of health (MOH) also varies from country to country, which affects how they receive their supplies. Many existing logistics working groups do not currently include community-level supply chains in their planning (source). Human resources is often cited as an underlying cause of stock outs at community level (source), however, no comprehensive assessment of human resources for supply chain at community level has ever been conducted.

To date, the People that Deliver Building Human Resources for Supply Chain Management Theory of Change (HR4SCM ToC) has never been used to assess CHWs as part of the overall supply chain workforce. However, given that their needs in terms of staffing, skills, motivation and working conditions may differ from those supply chain workers at other levels of the supply chain, further investigation could uncover useful findings that otherwise would not have been documented. Using the HR4SCM ToC will uncover critical issues leading to supply chain bottlenecks at the last mile and will help to define their role in the larger health supply chain system.

Scope of Work: The goal of this activity is to ensure that CHWs and their supplies are integrated into the national health supply chain system with ministry of health (MOH) policies officially recognising CHWs and their role in ensuring access to reproductive health commodities. This will lead to CHWs being motivated and equipped to treat their patients and understand their role in the overall health supply chain system.

Given this gap in analyses and the variation in terms of how CHWs engage with SDPs and the MOH, PtD is seeking a consultant to apply the HR4SCM ToC in one country (TBD) with a large and established cadre of CHWs to better understand CHW needs in terms of staffing, skills, motivation and working conditions, working alongside PtD’s coalition member, VillageReach. The findings from this assessment will be used to create a list of suggested interventions to specifically strengthen human resources for community health systems that looks across a variety of programs. The consultant will also develop an advocacy brief based on findings to promote the application of the HR4SCM ToC at the last mile to advocate for the recognition of CHWs as part of the national health supply chain system.

The findings from the application of the PtD HR4SCM ToC to CHWs will bring to light the underlying human resources challenges facing CHWs with recommended interventions to address the staffing, skills, motivation and working conditions of CHWs who manage and distribute reproductive health commodities. With the findings from this exercise, supply chain professionals at the country level will be able to strengthen the community-level supply chain workforce through a better understanding of the underlying human resources issues that lead to stock outs at the last mile. Findings will also help PtD advocate for the recognition of CHWs as members of the supply chain workforce and the need for their inclusion in national supply chain policies and strategies.

Key Tasks 1. Preparation (remote): a. Review background documents provided by the PtD secretariat, including reports from previous applications of the HR4SCM ToC methodology b. Develop a project plan and timeline and finalize in coordination with the PtD Secretariat c. Identify key stakeholders to interview and schedule in-country (or virtual) meetings 2. Data gathering (in-country): a. Convene a stakeholders’ meeting that includes groups representing community health workers, high-level government authorities, key national stakeholders, USAID mission team and other in-country stakeholders to explain the activity and build buy-in for the process. This meeting will identify the communities and key informants that will participate in the interviews and/or focus groups b. Coordinate and conduct interviews and/or focus groups with community health workers who manage their own stock of health commodities. These CHWs should be part of an established cadre or group of CHWs working in the country c. Convene a concluding stakeholders’ meeting that includes groups representing community health workers, high-level government authorities, national stakeholders, in-country partners, and the USAID local team to review data, confirm findings and validate recommendations, and reach a consensus on assessment details d. Conduct a debrief with MOH, USAID mission and other partners and agree on next steps 3. Reporting (remote): a. Complete final report with assessment findings (final report template available), with USAID review and revisions in response to USAID comments. 4. Development of the advocacy brief (remote) a. Develop a draft advocacy brief that highlights key findings from the application of the HR4SCM ToC that could be used to inform high-level decision makers on the challenges and opportunities for the community-level supply chain workforce b. Work with the PtD secretariat to review and finalize for publication

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone: 1. Preparation Deliverables/Outputs: Project plan and timeline Timeline: May 2022

Tasks/Milestone: 2. Data gathering Deliverables/Outputs: Debrief with partners and key stakeholders Timeline: June/July 2022

Tasks/Milestone: 3. Reporting Deliverables/Outputs: Assessment report Timeline: August /Sept 2022

Tasks/Milestone: 4. Development of the advocacy brief Deliverables/Outputs: Advocacy brief Timeline: Oct/Nov 2022

Travel International: Liberia

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

Minimum Qualifications required: Bachelors Degree

Disciplines (e.g. business administration, human resource management, public health, supply chain management, international development studies, logistics, or other relevant degree). Applicable work experience can substitute in cases where university degree is not aligned to a relevant field.

• At least 10 years work experience in supply chain management and/or human resource management, and staff performance management, in a global, regional, or country setting.

  Other Skills and Qualifications: • Demonstrated knowledge in the field of health supply chain management and human resource management • Experience working in last mile and/or community health supply chains • Demonstrated experience with HR for SCM assessments and/or SCM capacity building • Excellent research and analysis skills • Excellent writing and presentation skills

  Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF Core Competencies

• Builds and Maintains Partnerships
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness
• Drives to achieve impactful results
• Innovates and Embraces Change
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and Acts Strategically
• Works Collaboratively with others

Functional Competencies

• Works independently and is problem-solving oriented.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Demonstrates communication and relationship-building skills.

EVALUATION PROCESS:

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

1. Cover letter
2. Financial quote at a daily rate in US Dollars including all taxes
3. Highest Education Degree (scanned copy)
4. UN P11
5. Examples of previous, relevant work
6. At least 3 References from previous direct Supervisors ( email and phone contact if applicable)

Applications must be submitted through the UNICEF electronic application system by 16 May. Please indicate your availability and daily rate to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a daily rate will not be considered.

UNICEF considers best value for money as a criteria for evaluating potential candidates. As a general principle, the fees payable to a consultant or individual contractor follow the “best value for money” principle, i.e., achieving the desired outcome at the lowest possible fee. Please note that consultants and individual contractors are responsible for assuming costs for obtaining visas and travel insurance.

Successful applicants will be evaluated by the following criteria:

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATION (max. 75 points) Overall Response (25 points) Understanding of tasks, objectives and completeness and coherence of response Overall match between the TOR requirements and proposal Technical Capacity (50 points) Relevance of consultant’s experience with similar projects and as per required qualifications References FINANCIAL PROPOSAL (max. 25 points) Daily rate Relocation expenses Total estimated cost of contract (proposed contract fee only) FINANCIAL PROPOSAL - Weight Combined Score TOTAL SCORE (max. 100 points)

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.