Health Specialist, NOC, Islamabad, Pakistan # 123070 (6 months)

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Application deadline 1 year ago: Friday 23 Dec 2022 at 18:55 UTC

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This is a NO-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-3 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

Pakistan was the sixth country in the world to sign and ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, less than one year after it was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989. However, children and adolescents living in Pakistan still face acute challenges.

UNICEF supports the Government of Pakistan to accelerate progress for children, work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and help children realize their rights under the Convention on the Rights of Children. This will be made through, among other things, strong partnerships with provincial authorities, teachers and health professionals, frontline workers and social mobilisers, communities and families, and of course the children and adolescents themselves.

In particular, UNICEF will work so that:

  • Every child survives and thrives -- being in good health, immunized, protected from polio and accessing nutritious food.
  • Every child learns.
  • Every child is protected from violence and exploitation and registered at birth.
  • Every child lives in a safe and clean environment, with access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.

To learn more about UNICEF work in Pakistan, please visit the country website www.unicef.org/pakistan and videos on YouTube and Vimeo

UNICEF is the lead agency for urban immunization in Pakistan, in line with Immunization agenda 2030, National immunization strategy to contribute to the country efforts in reaching SDG 3 target by 2025, regarding under 5 mortality.

Urban poor populations represent one of the main challenges of Pakistan EPI program, due to accelerated urbanization and uncontrolled establishment in urban and peri-urban areas.

Accelerated by increasing rates of urbanisation, it has been estimated that almost one billion people are living in urban slums globally. In South Asia, slums make up a significant proportion of a country's urban population (Bangladesh 55%, Nepal 54%, and India 24%. As is the case in these neighboring Asian countries and globally, slum growth in Pakistan is also being driven by accelerating rates of urbanization. According to one estimate in 2014, 46% of the urban population in Pakistan resided in slum areas (referred to as "Katchi abadis "), which is equivalent to over 32 million people. In a recent survey of slums and underserved areas in the 10 most populated cities in Pakistan, it was found that there were 4441 urban poor areas with an estimated population of over 13 million residents. iv In the largest City of Pakistan, it has been estimated that 6.9 million are living in slum areas, which represents 48% of the total city population of 15 million.

Recent studies undertaken by UNICEF (and many others) have highlighted significant gaps in public health, PHC services and environmental (including water hygiene and sanitation) and social sector support services in the urban poor areas of Pakistan. These studies have also confirmed low levels of health facility availability and utilisation, lack of legal recognition of many of the slum settlements, and a strong association between low socio economic and educational status and low service coverage for health and other social services. Over the years, governments, international organisations, NGOs and others have responded through design and implementation of a range of programs and projects to alleviate the health and social conditions of the urban poor. Given the scope of the health problem, and the number and range of different initiatives, projects and programs implemented, there is now an opportunity to share further and consolidate the lessons learned from these experiences. This provides an opportunity to develop a shared vision and goal for integrated urban primary health care in Pakistan that is aligned to core National and Global strategic directions for primary health care and immunisation.

(source: UNICEF publication on urban poor communities, UNICEF Profiles of Slums/Underserved Areas of 8 Largest Cities of Pakistan July 2020)

To address this challenge to the program, UNICEF in collaboration with FDI and Immunization partners have proposed in the recent GAVI HSS application a package of services called the urban immunization strategy which include community mobilization, service delivery (weekend, evening, mobile integrated services, 24/7 birth dose initiative in labor rooms), real time data collection system, community detection and referral of missed children.

The incumbent will contribute under the leadership and strategic direction of the Senior Manager Immunization to the successful planning, implementation, and monitoring evaluation of all these strategies. The Health Specialist reports to the Senior Manager Immunization for guidance and general supervision. The Health Specialist HSS/ urban immunization supports the planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of the EPI urban immunization strategy and results in reaching zero dose children. He/She will be responsible for managing a team of provincial and district urban immunization consultants based in all provinces and federating areas of Pakistan, under the leadership of the HSS Urban immunization officer as primary supervisor and the senior manager immunization as a secondary supervisor.

To make a difference, the incumbent shall be responsible for following key strategic functions, accountabilities and related duties/ tasks;

  1. Provide technical support to sub national stakeholders for finalization of GAVI portfolio 2023/2027 application for the country with specific focus on targeting Zero dose communities from urban and remote rural settings and address concerns of the GAVI IRC.
  2. Using RBM approach, collect baseline information, to guide prioritization within provinces, dictricts and UCs/communities, Health facilities, plan and implement the urban immunization package in the 7 megacities assigned by Government of Pakistan and GAVI to be supported by UNICEF (Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Islamabad), which includes: 24/7 birth dose initiative, weekend and evening outreaches in the megacities allocated to UNICEF and related procurements, LQAs and independent program monitoring. And monitor progress toward achieving 100% coverage with Penta 1. Monitor and evaluate progress toward reaching 100% zero dose in selected areas.
  3. Leverage the health committees established by ACSM team to detect, refer and vaccinate defaulters and zero dose.
  4. Identify areas where new EPI posts need to be established both in public and private sector.
  5. Provide support to strengthening collaboration between stakeholders (government, donors, civil society organizations and the private sector) and UNICEF to achieve results for children
    • Provide technical support for coordination of Gavi supported Grants in the provinces, Strengthen coordination mechanism with provincial EPI programs, CSOs, private sectors, PEI program and donors.
    • Ensures adequate fund utilization, timely fund commitments, utilization in all provinces and report monthly and continuously as required to supervisors.
    • Contribute to timely donors’ progress reports (NISP/WB, HSS -II additional funding, Performance based funding), in collaboration with supervisor, providing status of implementation and results specific to strategies being implemented.
  6. Document the best practices and publish lesson learned at provincial and district level.
  7. Provide support for planning and microplanning of mass vaccination campaigns (TT/Td, Covid-19, TCV, Cholerae, Measles etc) and ensure that Gender disaggregated data of campaigns is collected to inform future campaign strategies and Zero dose children are recorded and actions are taken to retrieve zero dose children.

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

  • An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in one of the following fields is required: public health, pediatric health, family health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, epidemiology, or another relevant technical field. *A first University Degree (Bachelor's) in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
  • A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required: public health, Immunization, epidemiology, planning and management, maternal and neonatal health care, or health emergency/humanitarian preparedness.
  • International experience in urban immunization and HSS is an advantage.
  • Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
  • Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
  • 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 Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness(3)Drive to achieve results for impact(4)Innovates and embraces change(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity(6)Thinks and acts strategically(7)Works collaboratively with others.

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

Life at UNICEF

Working at UNICEF is highly rewarding. With attractive remuneration package encompassing competitive pay and benefits, a culture that helps staff thrive and diverse opportunities for personal and professional development, we aim to help you maintain a fulfilling life both at and outside the office.

We make sure you and your loved ones receive the resources and care that you need to thrive. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. Our contracts, wellbeing policies and initiatives ensure that you are well equipped to effectively deliver for children such as;

  • Tax exemption, family allowances, hardship benefits, 10 UN holidays and annual leave allowance, maternity, paternity, adoption leave, medical and dental insurance, pension etc.
  • Career support, staff wellbeing programme, breastfeeding policy, flexible work arrangements, childcare room, family support, policies & initiatives, security etc.
  • UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

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:

  • Verified educational certificates/ HEC Attested Degrees are a pre-requisite for employment at UNICEF. During the recruitment process candidates will be required to present HEC attested degrees/certificates.
  • Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
  • UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates will be prioritized.
Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org