HIV/AIDS Specialist, NO-3, Pretoria, South Africa # 122708 (Temporal Appointment 364 days)

Contract

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

How can you make a difference?

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, 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 favoritism. 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 the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why 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.

UNICEF’s HIV response for children and adolescents must ensure that neither age, poverty, gender inequality, nor social exclusion determine access to life saving HIV prevention, treatment and care. UNICEF and its partners’ responses ensure all children are born free of HIV and remain HIV-free for the first two decades of life, from birth through adolescence. It means that all children and adolescents living with HIV have access to the treatment, care and support they need to remain alive and healthy. This is UNICEF’s vision of an AIDS-free generation starting with children. Ending AIDS among children is vital to ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030 – the overarching goal of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) of which UNICEF is a cofounding partner.

Within South Africa, the adolescent HIV portfolio includes a focus on adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV). Through strategic partnerships under the Global Fund AGYW Strategic Initiative and as part of the Centre for Disease and Control and Prevention, the Estee Lauder foundation and MAC among other partners, UNICEF is committed to improving HIV related and well-being related results for adolescents.

Job organizational context: The HIV/AIDS Specialist reports to the HIV/AIDS Manager (NOD) for guidance and general supervision.

Purpose for the job: . The HIV Specialist will support the development and implementation of the adolescent SRHR and HIV programmes/projects including the Global Fund AGYW Strategic Initiative. The HIV Specialist is responsible for managing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting on the progress of adolescent HIV programmes/projects and will support the work of the HIV team more broadly.

The Specialist provides technical guidance and management support throughout the programming processes to facilitate the administration and achievement of concrete and sustainable results according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM) and UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework.

III. Key function, accountabilities and related duties/tasks

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Support to programmes/projects development and planning 2. Provides technical assistance to NDoH, SANAC and UNICEF supported districts 3. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results 4. Technical and operational support to programme implementation 5. Networking and partnership building 6. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

1. Support to programme/project development and planning

• Contribute to/support the preparation/design and conduct/update of situation analysis and assessments on adolescent SRHR and HIV related issues to ensure that comprehensive, relevant and evidence-based data are collected to guide country office SRHR and HIV programming, monitoring and delivery of programme/project services.
• Support the development and ensure that all Global Fund AGYW partnership workplans, budgets, reports and other donor and administrative agent requirements at county level are completed and submitted to RO in a timely and high-quality manner.
• Participate in strategic programme discussion to provide input and operational support to the development of an integrated SRHR and HIV programmes/projects (within the country and/or UNDAF programmes).
• Formulate, design and prepare adolescent SRHR and HIV projects proposal, ensuring alignment with the overall UNICEF’s Strategic Plans and Country Programme and coherence/integration with UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Establish specific goals, objectives and strategies and implementation plans using results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM).
• Prepare adolescent SRHR and HIV project documentation for Country Office Programme recommendation ensuring alignment with the overall UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Work closely and collaboratively with internal and external colleagues and partners to provide technical and operational support to programme planning, management and implementation and to ensure synergy, integration, coherence and harmonization of HIV programmes/projects within the country programme, donors’ development strategies/policies, country level national priorities/competencies and UN system development interventions/initiatives.

2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

• Plan and/or collaborate with internal and external partners to establish monitoring benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators and measurement to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results for the assigned sector/s in adolescent HIV projects.
• Lead and manage the coordination and completion of all recruitment and contractual processes of consultants at country level, providing administrative support to secure smooth flow of work and identifying and resolving issues related to compliance with UNICEF contractual requirements.
• Actively monitor the development and progress of TA deliverables, ensuring timely communication of bottlenecks and challenges affecting planned timeframes and ensuring high-quality inputs for assurance and finalization that are in line with agreements and feedback per UNICEF and Global Fund agreements.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results.
• Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in programme and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Actively monitor projects through field visits, surveys and/or exchange of information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Monitor and verify the optimum/appropriate use of sector/s programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets) confirming compliance with organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity and ensuring timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
• Prepare regular/mandated programme/project reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.

3. Technical and operational support to programme implementation

• Provide technical guidance and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices and approaches on SRHR and HIV related issues to support programme development planning, management, implementation and delivery of results.
• Participate in programme strategic discussions/planning to contribute to policy discussions and agenda setting to promote adolescent SRHR and HIV interventions especially in the areas of gender inequality, social inclusion, human rights and humanitarian situations to ensure that at risks and vulnerable population are fully covered in times of greatest needs.
• Draft policy papers, briefs and other strategic programme materials for management use, information and/or consideration.
• Organize, participate and contribute to review, validation and reporting meetings and activities with UNICEF CO and RO, Global Fund AGYW core team and country teams, PRs/SRs and other partners as necessary for deliverable finalization.

4. Networking and partnership building

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with relevant sector government counterparts, national stakeholders and global partners/allies/donors/academia through active networking and advocacy to exchange knowledge/expertise, leverage resources/action, build alliances and engage participation of communities in programme design, delivery and demand creation.
• Prepare communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and enhance resource mobilization for UNICEF HIV programmes/projects.
• Work closely with UNICEF country office (CO) and regional office (RO), Principal Recipients and Sub Recipients (PRs/SRs) Ministries of Health and other partners on country-level discussions to identify, support implementation and monitor technical assistance (TA) requests from PRs/SRs within the Global Fund AGYW Strategic Initiative partnership.
• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on SRHR and HIV and related issues to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF planning and preparation of SRHR and HIV programmes/projects ensuring organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda setting.

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Apply/introduce innovative approaches and good practice to build the capacity of partners and stakeholders and to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark and implement best and cutting-edge practices in adolescent SRHR and HIV management and information systems. Institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned.
• Organize and implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results in adolescent SRHR and HIV related programmes/projects.
• Facilitate the development, exchange and sharing of experiences, lessons learned, promising practices using innovative methods for programme staff and relevant partners.
• Support the communications of key outcomes from the Global Fund AGYW partnership.
• Participate and/ or represent UNICEF in relevant meetings, working groups and events as requested

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

• An Advanced University Degree in public health, pediatric health, family health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, biostatistics, socio-medical, health education, epidemiology or other health related sciences is required.
• Experience: A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in adolescent health, public HIV/AIDS planning and management and/or in relevant areas of health care, health emergency/humanitarian preparedness, at the international level some of which preferably in a developing country is required. Relevant experience in HIV/AIDS programme/project development and management in any UN system agency or organization is an asset.
• Language Requirements: Oral and written proficiency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and 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.

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

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. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable All candidates irrespective of ethnic background are encouraged to apply.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.