External Vacancy Announcement: Individual Consultant for Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI - Oman 2022)

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 fulfil 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, a vision.

The fundamental and primary mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favouritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in child survival, education, and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. Therefore, the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

The Government of Oman – UNICEF Country Programme is centered around two priority outcome areas, one of them is Enhancing Children’s Potential: Children of all ages have more equitable access to quality services in protection, education and health, and enhanced opportunities to realize their full potential. Under this goal area, UNICEF together with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth (MoCSY) built an investment case for a national coalition engaging the government, the private sector, the civil society, and young people to promote 4 strategic priorities related to the Vision 2040 of the Government of Oman. These are namely: 1) education and training that build skills for life, civic engagement, and work, 2) employment opportunities; 3) entrepreneurship mindset and 4) equitable access to quality education, training and employment, equipping young people as problem solvers and engaged members of society.

How can you make a difference?

Under the close supervision and guidance of the supervisor, the new hired individual contractor/consultant supports the respective section (s) by carrying out a range of procedural, administrative, and operational tasks, to help develop, implement, and monitor their country programme, ensuring timely and effective delivery that is consistent with UNICEF rules and regulations.

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global programme sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centres that offer an optimal level of care for lactation. BFHI assists hospitals in giving breastfeeding mothers the information, confidence and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies and gives special recognition to hospitals that have done so.

BFHI was launched in Oman by the Ministry of Health during the international breastfeeding week in August 1992, with the aim of achieving a baby friendly status in all maternity facilities in country. A national committee was formed, with their main goals being, assessment of the breastfeeding situation, formulation of training strategies and declaration of all hospitals with maternity services as baby friendly.

In the early 1990s, 31 health facilities in Oman were designated as Baby Friendly using UNICEF/WHO Global External Assessment Tools. The global BFHI was revised in 2005 - 2006 with a key element of maintaining standards in health facilities and the need for regular reassessment of hospital. This revision also added criteria related to care during labour and birth, immediate skin to skin contact, infant feeding when the mother is not breastfeeding, and clarity regarding the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes in Baby Friendly health facilities.

It is evident that the BFHI programme has experienced a continuous decline in the last few years due to various factors such as living environment, socio-economic status, maternal education and employment. Additionally, lack of support and lack of a strong knowledge base among health care providers concerning appropriate breastfeeding practices has affected breastfeeding initiation and duration rates.

According to the Oman National Nutrition Survey (ONNS) 2017, 11.4 % of Oman’s children under five are stunted (up from 9.8 % in 2009), 9.3 % were wasted (up from 7.1% in 2009), and 23.7 % are anaemic. Exclusive breastfeeding rates under six months are low at 23.2%. Early initiation of breastfeeding (under 24 months) stand at 82.0% according to the survey.

Over the last few years the Ministry of Health has invested efforts to roll-out the BFHI initiative to a number of hospitals by developing relevant BFHI guidelines and building capacity for implementation of the initiative amongst its workforce.

The Ministry is now keen to establish a cadre of professional accreditors that are equipped with relevant skills and tools to assess the degree of compliance with BFHI guidelines in hospitals that have started implementing them. Once in place this cadre of professional accreditors would be in charge of hospital accreditation.

Objectives, purpose, and expected results:

The main purpose of this consultancy is to:

• Build the capacity of a group of 20 MOH Professionals in BFHI overall and specifically on accreditation procedures.
• Conduct a BFHI Assessment and accreditation for 1 hospital with the trained assessors.

Expected Tasks and Deliverables:

Tasks

Deliverables

Number of Days (estimated)

Remotely

1. prepare training material on best BFHI practices and the accreditation tool developed to assess the compliance of hospitals in Oma, Training material is to be built based on the International Assessment Tool

Training materials

5 days

In-country:

2. Conduct a face-to-face training (TOT) for approximately 20 health care professionals (accreditors) from MOH at the national and regional level (with adequate knowledge about breastfeeding practices) to support facilitate, sustain and implement the BFHI assessment process.

Training report

3 days

In-country:

3. Conduct a BFHI Assessment and Accreditation for 1 hospital with the trained assessors to certify the hospital as Baby Friendly Hospital

Final Mission report to including the result of the assessment and accreditation results and findings.

4 days

Location and Duration

Offsite work will be involved – the consultancy will be active for a possibility of 12 working days / 60 calendar days

To qualify as a champion for every child a vision, you will have:

Experience, Knowledge and skills:

• The contracted individual must have a background in dietetics or science.
• Experience in training of trainers and assessors is also necessary, as well as monitoring and evaluation specifically in BFHI is recommended.
• At least 8 years’ experience in this field
• Previous experience working with the United Nations required
• Previous experience working in the Middle East would be considered an asset.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills

Language: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language Arabic language is an asset.

For every Child a vision, you are expected to demonstrate

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here. Or Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

Statement on UNICEF's Zero-Tolerance policy on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse:

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

Shortlisted candidate remark: Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Deadline: 20th May 2022