International Consultancy COVAX Consultant

Contract

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Background/Rationale for the Assignment

In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The outbreak has infected millions of people across the world and caused significant loss of lives. To protect people from the disease, vaccines against COVID have been developed by several manufacturers in a number of countries. It is expected that there will be only limited number of vaccines produced in the early days, and gradually scaled up. Hence, countries will need to prioritize population who will receive the vaccine in the first round. WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) has provided recommendations about which populations should be prioritized first. These include frontline health and care workers at high risk of infection, older adults, and those people at high risk of death because of underlying conditions like heart disease and diabetes. In the second phase of the roll-out, as more doses are produced, the vaccine should go to groups less at risk of being infected or of suffering badly. The decision will ultimately be made by national governments.

There is growing evidence of vaccine delays or refusals due to a lack of trust in the importance, safety, or effectiveness of vaccines, alongside persisting access issues. Community trust is key to ensure vaccine uptake and buy-in. To build trust, it is important to understand how communities perceive the disease and what are their main questions, doubts, and fears around vaccines, generally, and towards COVID-19 vaccine, more specifically. Previous experience of pandemics and communities’ risk perception about the disease can also influence vaccine uptake. Lack of trust in service providers, past negative experience of vaccination and poor quality of services including negative attitude of service providers may also affect the decision to accept a new vaccine in certain contexts. Similarly, it will be important to understand the trusted source of vaccine, influencers etc.

It will be important for countries to have a good advocacy communication and social mobilization (ACSM) plan in line with Government’s decision of prioritization of population. The ACCSM plan will have a strong community engagement component, include social listening and community feedback mechanism and evidence-based communication approaches. Families and communities need to be provided with accurate and up to date information on COVID 19 vaccine, based on evidence generated from social listening and behavior and social data, which will include clarification about eligible population and importance of continuing associated behaviours to prevent infection and transmission-engaging communities throughout the process. Demand generation interventions will need to encourage eligible populations to be vaccinated and at the same time manage public expectations and convey that vaccine will not be sufficient for everyone in the beginning.

The Government of the Republic of South Sudan in collaboration with the regional office and donors including GAVI and World Bank plan to support introduction of COVID 19 vaccines in the Republic of South Sudan prioritizing front line health workers and senior members (old age groups) of the community and other high-risk groups then later community at large.

The Communication for Development section is at the forefront in preparation to the introduction of COVID 19 vaccines hence would like to recruit an international consultant to support the introduction of this new vaccine in South Sudan with focus on special population groups targeted for the phased administration of the vaccine to the targeted groups in South Sudan. Purpose & Expected Results

Demand Generation is a key component of COVID-19 vaccine introduction in which UNICEF has been providing global leadership for preparedness of tools and guidance which will guide countries to develop and implement robust evidenced-based interventions to support the vaccine uptake, build and maintain public trust and manage misinformation and crisis communication for the COVAX (COVID 19) vaccine introduction. UNICEF country offices will have increased responsibility to support the national governments to develop and implement the demand generation strategies. As the assignment requires intensive dedicated work, a strong consultant with solid international experience and expertise in the area of demand generation for immunization will be required to support the planning, roll out and monitoring of the COVAX related introduction at the national and to some extent the sub-national level. This position will work closely with the national consultant who will be brought in to leverage the local knowledge and contexts at various levels of the vaccine roll out. A full-time consultant will be needed to support the quick roll out of COVID 19 vaccine as the already existing UNICEF staff members are dealing with significant workload owing to multiple disease outbreaks. Therefore, C4D team is looking to recruit an international consultant to provide rapid support to MoH and partners on C4D/demand generation for COVID-19 vaccine introduction.

Working under the direct supervision of C4D Specialist, the C4D international consultant will support the ACSM task force/RCCE taskforce to roll out the evidence based ACSM/C4D strategy for COVID 19 vaccine introduction and its implementation (as outlined in NDVP Chapter 9 Vaccination Acceptance and uptake). The ACSM/C4D planning will complement the already ongoing work on COVID 19 RCCE work to ensure seamless coordination of ongoing response to vaccine introduction in the country, and to continue the promotion of behaviours to prevent and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 both before and after vaccination, prepare countries to respond rapidly to AEFIs with crisis communication plan, and an national/sub national advocacy plan to mobilise wide spread support for COVID-19 vaccination

Some key tasks for this assignment will be:

• Lead the roll out and monitoring of the demand generation component of the National Vaccine Deployment Plan in tandem with the South Sudan COVAX working group, Ministry of Health and implementing partners. • To develop/revise a costed demand generation plan, keeping in mind the phased approach with the targeted population groups over the designated time period including oversight to IEC materials and messages • To successfully monitor promote and sustain the desired behaviour based on evidence for specific population groups targeted for the vaccination • To conduct relevant assessments and analysis for key demand-related drivers including risk perception and vaccine hesitancy • To support coordination with national and sub-national stakeholders, including government, implementing partners • To document demand generation interventions and establish a social listening and rumour management platform to inform crisis communication activities.

Qualifications and Competencies

Education: • Master’s degree in communications, social sciences, or in a related field.

Language: • Excellent written and spoken English, knowledge of the local language of the country (Arabic) is considered to be an advantage.

Experience: • A minimum of 5 years’ experience in Communication for Development C4D and in emergencies, risk communication and community engagement. • Experience in working on immunization- preferably prior experience in new vaccine introduction • Experience in developing and implementing crisis communication plan and Standard Operating Plans for crisis communication • Proven strong experience of working in humanitarian context

Deliverables: The duration of the consultancy is for six months starting from April 2021. Possible extensions will be considered depending on the programme needs and availability of funds.

Deliverables Duration Timeline • Support existing country level coordination mechanism around demand generation • Coordinate with country ACSM/RCCE taskforce and support the development of national planning based on NDVP global guidelines on COVID-19 vaccine with specific activities to reach the priority populations for the first phase of vaccination (health workers, essential workers, older adult population, people in long term care and people with pre-existing condition-as per the final decision of the country) (6 months Apr-Sept 2021) • In coordination with internal UNICEF sections (e.g. C4D, external communication) support in establishing/activating the rumours, social listening and misinformation management mechanism (6 months Apr-Sept 2021) • Coordinate the collection and use of behavior and social data (surveys, studies etc.) to inform communication and programme response (4 months Apr-Jul 2021)

• Oversee, coordinate with WHO and partners and provide technical assistance to MOH and partners on development and pre-testing and finalization of evidence-based communication content, messages and material as guided by evidence from social listening and based on global guidelines (4 months Apr-Jul 2021) • Coordinate SOPs to risk communication and support crisis communication preparedness and response including training of identified spokespersons (2 months May-June 2021) • Adapt available training modules and job aids for health workers and vaccinators as both first adopters of vaccines and as advocates for vaccination acceptance and uptake in communities • Tailor the global community engagement guidance to make it context specific for local context of the country (1 month Apr 2021) • Provide oversight to /conduct a mapping of key stakeholders, influential, faith based groups partners and most trusted sources of information to support acceptance and uptake of Covid-19 vaccination (eg: public health, nursing associations, organizations working with older adults, faith- based organizations etc) and in providing orientations to them (2 months May-June 2021) • Lead with support from national consultant and partners capacity building of health workers, CSOs, frontline workers on demand generation-linking it with the gains made in RCCE (4 months Apr-July 2021) • Develop a monitoring framework and checklists • Support monitoring (including community feedback, media and social media monitoring) and reporting of ongoing implementation of COVAX introduction and broader C4D/Risk communication activities (6 months Apr-Sept 2021) • Support documentation of ACSM activities including best practices and lessons learnt • Produce monthly consultancy reports (6 months Apr-Sep 2021)

Estimated Duration of the Contract is six months

All applicants must submit detailed financial and technical proposal.

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants/ Individual Contractors apply. • All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF. • The eligible maximum amount for travel is specified in the contract. • The consultant is responsible for his/her for travel arrangements. The most economic and direct route is authorized. • Internal travel costs will be reimbursed after the completion of mission. UNICEF will pay the applicable DSA rate and other travel related expenses upon submission of the invoice together with the supporting documentation.

Nature of Penalty Clause in Contract If the final reports and documents are not submitted according to the deliverables stated in this TOR, the payments will be withheld. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines (fees reduced due to late submission: 20 days - 10%; 1 month -20%; 2 months -30%; more 2 months – payment withhold). All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

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UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

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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.