Consultant - RMNCAH Policy & Child Survival Action Plan, P3/P4, Monrovia, Liberia (3 months) - For Non-Liberians

Contract

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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, health is a priority!!

How can you make a difference?

1. Purpose of Assignment:

The International consultant will work with Government and RMNCAH stakeholders, and UNICEF Regional and Country office Teams to develop Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) Policy and Child Survival Action plan along with a National Consultant engaged for these two documents development. The Consultant will be responsible to work with the Family Health department, Nutrition department, Immunization program, Global fund, Planning and Research department and other key stakeholders to develop vision, strategic objectives, and actions to reduce mortality and morbidity of women, mothers, newborns, children and adolescents. The policy will help to increase access to and utilization of SRMNCAH services and in order to ensure that all those in need of SRMNCAH services are able to access them, while the CSA should include identification of priority evidence based Child Health interventions according to the context of Liberia, necessary actions, and strategies to ensure equitable access and provision of continuum of care with quality from birth to 18 years and work with costing unit to cost and align budget plan.

This role will focus on providing support to Liberia in the following:

1. Conduct an entry meeting and subsequent key Stakeholders engagements utilising the existing technical working groups (TWGs or formation, as needed) and workshops as needed.
2. Review all relevant National polices, Strategies, plans , investment cases and evaluation within the health sector and other sectors that may impact on the Health of women and Children including key stakeholder interview.
3. Conduct a SRMNCAH situational analysis and bottleneck analysis (BNA) for the RMNCAH landscape and extract the Child Health situation.
4. Work closely with Technical Working Groups related to SRMNCAH to get consensus on vision, objectives, and strategic actions with milestones , and targets to monitor progress for accountability .The contents of the policy and action plan expected to be SMART and easily implementable including current trends and innovations e.g digital health.
5. Draft and validate to get approval and buy-in from key stakeholder on Liberia 10 year SRMNCAH policy and 3 years Child Survival Action plan inclusive of Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.
6. Support the costing of the 3 year CSAP.
7. Disseminate findings using the existing TWGs and other national,regional/ global initiatives such as webinars to share lessons learnt.

2. Basic Objectives of the Consultancy:

The International Consultant will be hired by UNICEF Liberia CO. The Consultant will work in close collaboration with the UNICEF regional teams and key stakeholders engaged in Family Health Division of the Ministry of Health Government of Liberia including working with the National Consultant engaged for the same assignment. 60 days of the assignment will be in-country. The incumbent will be based in the Health Section in UNICEF Liberia CO, under the direct supervision of the Health Specialist, P-3 who manages the Health Section.

The Consultant will develop a workplan and roadmap in collaboration with the National Consultant on the processes for developing these two documents:

1. Rapid Assessment on the existing assessments, policies and strategies including Situational Analysis and Bottleneck Analysis****:

Desk review of national health and development strategic documents, existing and ongoing assessments including NSHPP, NCHP, Pro-poor agenda, Evaluation report of RMNCAH investment cases, LENAP, ENAP/ EPMM Joint Country Plan and other relevant documents, LDHs, Harmonise health Facility Assessment (for target, interventions, and activities). The IP will conduct a bottleneck analysis and prepare RMNCAH situational analysis report with a section dedicated to Child Health situation in the country.

2. Conduct of Key Stakeholders Engagement Utilising the TWGs****:

Share the initial findings from the action 1 through the relevant TWGs, engage with the key stakeholders individually at the National and subnational levels to get their feedback to be reflected within the draft of RMNCAH Policy and Child Survival Action plan , conduct regular meetings utilising the TWGs to share the draft of the policy and CSAP.

3. Develop a 10-year RMNCAH Policy and 3-year Child Survival Action Plan and work with costing Consultants and Health Financing Unit for costing of the Action Plan:

As agreed by stakeholders, develop the 10 years RMNCAH policy, and extract contents from this document to develop the 5 years Child Survival Strategy and ensure its costed.

4. Disseminate Using the Existing TWGs to get Approval and buy-in from Key Stakeholders****:

Share the draft of the RMNCAH policy and CSAP using T WGs, conduct validation meetings and dissemination of the RMNCAH policy and CSAP documents through MOH with full buy in. Work with Costing Unit to develop costed scale-up plan with a sustainable financing model that can be used when approaching donors and other investors. Share the final documents with Regional and Global partners including Child Survival Action Plan.

Objective 1: Rapid Assessment on the existing assessments, Policies and Strategies including Situational Analysis and Bottleneck Analysis****:

Key Activities/Tasks

1. Develop implementation roadmap for the development of the 2 documents.
2. Desk review of national health and development strategy documents including NSH policy and plan, EPHS, and other relevant documents (for target, interventions, and activities).
3. Desk review of the existing and ongoing assessments including costed EPHS II and ENAPEPMM joint country plan and investment case, LDHSs.
4. Commence key stakeholders’ interviews to contribute to situational analysis Prioritize evidence based RMNCAH interventions and approaches for Liberia and identify potential strategic objectives, necessary actions, interventions with milestones.

Outputs/Deliverables

1. Work plan of consultant developed and signed off by MOH and UNICEF.
2. Inception report with consolidation of the findings from the existing assessments review of policies, strategies to identify RMNCAH approaches/interventions, strategic objectives, necessary actions.
3. Key stakeholders interview report completed.

Time frame

30 days (days in country)

Objective 2: Conduct of Key Stakeholders engagement utilising the TWGs and Validation of Policy and Strategy:

Key Activities/Tasks

Outputs/Deliverables

Time frame

1. Ongoing meetings and capacity building exercises with Core team to conduct situational analysis and Bottleneck analysis on RMNCAH policy and strategy.

2. Workshops for the RMNCAH policy and strategy.

3. Meetings held with TWG to review the draft policy and strategy.

4. Regional office review of documents prior to validation.
5. Two high level Workshops held to Validate the RMNCAH Policy and Child survival Action Plan.

Ongoing through the whole consultancy

Objective 3: Develop a 10-year RMNCAH Policy and three (3) years Child Survival Action Plan:

1. Conduct RMNCAH landscape analysis and BNA.
2. Finalize RMNCAH policy and Child Survival Action plan.

3. Conduct a Validation meeting.

4. RMNCAH landscape report and BNA report completed.

5. Validated RMNCAH Policy.
6. Validate Child Survival Action plan.

45 days

(In -country)

Objective 4: Work with Costing Consultants for Costing CSAP and Health Financing Unit for costing and d****disseminate RMNCAH policy****:

1. Provide guidance for costing by identified Team
2. Document lessons learnt from the process of RMNCAH policy and Child Survival Action Plan development.
3. Formulate and conduct capacity building strategies and activities to drive continuous RMNCAH programme improvements through transfer of skills, trainings, and webinars.

4. Play a pivotal role in the RMNCAH policy and Child Survival strategy launching with Government and stakeholders and resource mobilization.

5. 3- year costed Child Survival plan available.

6. Clearly documented report of the process including the lessons learnt and recommendations.
7. High level advocacy meeting held to disseminate RMNCAH policy and child Survival Action Plan.

15 days (In- country)

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

Qualification or specialized knowledge/experience/expertise required for the consultancy:

Education:

• An advanced university degree is required in Public Health, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, Health Economics, Health System Strengthening (HSS), Primary Health Care and Health Care Financing (HCF);
• Advanced degree in a relevant field or equivalent related practical experience an advantage Experience in Health Policy Development will be an added advantage.

Experience:

• Professional experience in Public Health, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, Health Economics, Health System Strengthening (HSS), Primary Health Care and Health Care Financing (HCF).
• Strong writing skills with experience in writing similar documents
• Demonstrated experience on strong networking and engagement with Government and stakeholders

Language:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset.

For every child, you demonstrate…

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

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (3)
• Works Collaboratively with others (3)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (3)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (3)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (3)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (3)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (3)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

General Terms and Conditions of the Contract:

• Under the consultancy agreements, payment is deliverable based as defined in the ToR with mix model of home based and in country activities
• All remuneration must be within the contract agreement.
• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the consultant or Contractor.
• For international consultants outside the duty station, signed contracts must be sent by fax or email.
• Unless authorized, UNICEF will buy the tickets for the consultant. In exceptional cases, the consultant may be authorized 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.

• Mention is it as per the General Terms and Conditions of the Contract.

  During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

Remarks:

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.

For every child, a future!