International Consultancy - Implementation Specialist (Oxygen Support & Scale Up) - 12 months, Health Technology Centre

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, Love...

Purpose of Activity/Assignment: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF has invested significantly in Oxygen programmes in more than 100 countries across the world. UNICEF country offices have supported the local oxygen response in multiple ways through needs assessment, local procurement and installation of PSA plants or liquid oxygen tanks, procurement of oxygen cylinders, service contracts with suppliers, capacity building and other efforts aimed at strengthening country oxygen systems through sustainable solutions for long-term impact beyond COVID-19 to improve child health outcomes.

In the last two and half years, COVID-19 has put additional extensive pressure on existing medical oxygen supply chains that saw an exponential increase in demand for therapeutic oxygen and related supplies. In response, UNICEF developed a strategic framework to guide programmes aimed at preventing and overcoming the acute oxygen crisis in countries while ensuring long term sustainability and impact.

In order to adequately respond to the urgent needs for therapeutic oxygen in countries, UNICEF embarked on a programme of work to strengthen the medical oxygen ecosystem by providing a financing facility for procurement of new medical oxygen sources i.e., oxygen plants, concentrators, liquid medical oxygen, creating a centralized procurement service and providing technical support and tools to aid countries with forecasting oxygen needs, site readiness, installation and maintenance. Furthermore, UNICEF created Plant-in-a-Box (PIB), a bundled oxygen solution aimed for swift deployment to countries with limited oxygen production capacity or those faced with a sudden surge in demand for oxygen. UNICEF secured PIB through long term arrangements with leading manufacturers, and these were made available to countries for ordering through UNICEF’s procurement services. To date, UNICEF procured more than 130 PIBs for 50 countries. Approximately 30% of these PIBs installed and commissioned and delivering oxygen to the hospitals. Remaining 70% are at the various stages of implementation.

UNICEF now wants to accelerate the implementation of PIB and the broader oxygen ecosystem in countries and is looking for a consultant to support this initiative through provision of technical support and guidance to countries. Specifically, one of the major bottlenecks to PIB implementation is site readiness, and countries have attributed this to a number of factors including limited technical know-how and staffing capacities to fulfil and undertake the tasks required. The consultant is expected to support countries with overall PIB implementation but with a heavy focus on project management and support in order to accelerate PIB room readiness. The areas of support will range from site preparation, installation, and commissioning of PIBs to technical solutions that will ensure the ultimate delivery of oxygen to patients. The consultant will be home-based and support multiple countries, primarily LMIC countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This support will be coordinated through the UNICEF global oxygen team, housed at Supply Division (SD) in Copenhagen and Programme Group (PG) in New York.

How can you make a difference?

Scope of Work: Countries have large and diverse technical assistance requirements to implement PIB solutions. The key task for the consultant is to support countries get installation sites ready for PIB by identifying needs and resolving challenges/bottlenecks relating to site readiness and plant room construction. The consultant will also support the acceleration of critical tasks impacting implementation at country level by leveraging the global, regional, and local oxygen teams. The consultant will be responsible for providing/coordinating technical support to countries. The general scope of work includes but is not limited to the following:

• Implementation and project support in completing site readiness activities. Tracking progress in a systematic way and documenting lessons learnt.
• Coordination of activities and inputs of the oxygen team with regard to efforts in a particular country as well as at the global level.
• Developing tools and guidance for UNICEF country offices to build internal capacity in oxygen systems that can be further used by the national partners.
• Identifying needs for capacity building in biomedical engineering and developing training proposals. If approved, implementing trainings at country/regional level.

Task/Milestone and Deliverables/Outputs

1. Support UNICEF country offices in implementation of PIB. Output - Installation completed of 3-5 additional PIBs per quarter.
2. Develop guidance materials for the installation of UNICEF's PIB. Output - Handbook on PiB implementation drafted.
3. Support development of training programme for capacity building in biomedical engineering. Output - Roll-out two UNICEF Regions.
4. Monitor and document country progress on PIB implementation and administer all the tools related to the progress. Output - Updated PIB country status tracker.

The activity deadlines and further specification on individual activities will be specified and agreed after contracted.

Payments will follow the approval of key deliverables itemized above and according to the following estimation of workdays.

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

• University degree in medicine, medical science, logistics, public health, business administration, international relations or related discipline. Advanced degree (Masters) preferred

Professional experience.

• Experience with in-country maternal, neonatal and child health (including oxygen) systems.
• At least ten (10) years of experience with in-country health systems services technical assistance, including for oxygen.
• Experience with health related construction works, specifically PSA Plant rooms is an added advantage.
• Understanding of different capacity building models including engaging in-country service providers and private sector.
• Familiarity and experience of working with UN/UNICEF and LMICs is considered an asset.

Other skills and qualifications.

• High level of academic technical writing expertise.
• High level of analytical skills and attention to detail.
• Knowledge of MS Office Suite.
• Knowledge of the environment in which UNICEF operates (i.e., global health sector).
• Excellent communicator of verbal and written concepts to an international audience.
• Able to quickly understand instructions, to proactively seek clarification when needed.
• Able to work well in a team environment.

Functional Competencies.

• Able to work independently and problem solving oriented
• Able to work in a multi-cultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships
• Demonstrated communication and relationship building skills
• Proven capacity to work with collaborative teams across different locations and with different technical skills

Language Requirements.

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

How to apply

Qualified candidates are requested to submit: 1. Cover letter/application 2. Financial quote for the consultancy which must include: the total consultancy fee (broken down into cost per deliverable in US Dollars and possibly number of days to complete consultancy), travel costs (if applicable, with details of the economy class ticket price) The fees should be inclusive of all taxes. 3. CV or P 11 form (which can be downloaded from our website) 4. At least 3 reference contacts from previous supervisors 5. Additionally provided samples of previous work in past roles will be considered an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

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.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.