International Consultant to provide support to the Immunization Recovery Plan (“The Big Catch-Up”) in South Asia - 186 days in total

Consultant Medical & Health Programme & Policy

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy 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, a future

How can you make a difference?

Background and Rationale:

The COVID-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 marked the worst continued backsliding in global immunization coverage in 30 years. This drop in coverage resulted in a nearly 40 per cent increase in the number of zero-dose (unvaccinated) children globally, from 13.3 million in 2019 to 18.2 million in 2021. While UNICEF and the global community continued to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, routine immunization programmes (EPI) slowly started to recover in 2022. The plunge in immunization coverage during the pandemic, combined with delayed catch-up efforts since 2020 resulted in a massive and growing immunity gap among children born in the pandemic period: in 2022, 33 countries reported large and disruptive measles outbreaks, compared to 22 countries in 2021. Traditionally, EPI programmes target children up to 2 years of age, especially in Low- and Lower Middle-Income Countries.

In 2020 and 2021, South Asia experienced the second highest increase in zero-dose children worldwide due to COVID-19 related restrictions and interruptions in immunization services. The relentless and dedicated efforts of national governments and immunization partners enabled South Asia to be the first region to recover and surpass pre-COVID immunization coverage levels in 2022. This exceptional accelerated vaccination recovery is now entering a next phase to trace and vaccinate older age children up to 5 years of age that missed vaccination between 2019-2022.

In 2023, Global immunization partners (WHO, UNICEF, and Gavi -the Vaccine Alliance) devised “The Big Catch-Up (BCU), An Essential Immunization Recovery Plan for 2023 and Beyond" that together with the Immunization Agenda 2023 (IA2023), sets out the path to getting immunization back on track. The strategy of the BCU is driven by three core objectives and geared to:

i) Catch-Up and reach children who missed vaccination during the period 2019-2022 and provide all missing vaccinations,

ii) Restore vaccination coverage rates for the current birth cohort to at least 2019 levels, and

iii) Strengthen immunization systems within PHC approaches, to improve programme resilience and accelerate towards reaching zero-dose children in line with IA2030 and Gavi 5.1 goals and targets.

The BCU targets children up to 5 years of age and globally focuses, though not exclusively, on the top twenty Zero-Dose high-burden countries, of which three of them (Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan) are in South Asia.

To vaccinate children who have been left unvaccinated in recent years, governments must create targeted BCU plans detailing their strategies for reaching and vaccinating these children. The planning, development, and implementation of these strategies are led by national governments with support from immunization partners, following a “One Plan, One Budget, and One team” approach. To operationalize their plans, governments can receive support from Gavi for vaccine procurement and activity implementation. Gavi introduced a performance-based financing mechanism for procuring additional vaccines and provided added flexibility to use available HSS and CDS3 financial windows for operational costs during 2024-25.

Three countries in South Asia -Afghanistan, Nepal, and Pakistan- developed their national plans of action for the BCU, submitted funding proposals to Gavi which were approved, and received the decision letters related to this. As of July 2024, Nepal completed implementation of the BCU as part of a multi-antigen vaccination campaign during the Measles catch-up in April/May 2024 (coverage results are awaited and post-campaign evaluations have been planned). Afghanistan and Pakistan are ready to commence implementation in July/August and Aug/Sept 2024 respectively, subject to the availability of additional vaccines. Recently, the Government of Bangladesh approved the BCU concept, and the country is working on vaccine forecasting and developing the national action plan. India continues its existing strategic approach outlined in “India Mission Indradhanush 6.0” by expanding the target catch-up age up to 5 years of age.

Scope of Work:

UNICEF’s Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA) provides dedicated technical backstopping and assistance to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan for proposal development, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the BCU, and liaises with Gavi and UNICEF Supply Division (SD) for channeling resources to countries. In addition, ROSA closely monitors sustained vaccination recovery.

Work Assignment:

The consultant will be hired for an initial period of 9 months to assist four target countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan) through in-country support and remote assistance to UNICEF country offices and National Immunization Programmes for:

1. Mapping of target children, preparing applications/proposals for Gavi funding in collaboration with NIP and in-country immunization partners in Bangladesh.
2. Developing the national BCU plan in Bangladesh.
3. Phasing/adjusting national BCU plans to align with the flow of funds and logistics in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.
4. Liaising with NYHQ, Gavi, and UNICEF SD to ensure timely availability of resources (vaccines and supplies) for Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
5. Tracking progress of Zero-Dose recovery in all five Gavi1 eligible countries in South Asia, especially the three high burden countries (Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan).
6. Monitoring the BCU implementation and post-campaign evaluations in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.
7. Developing a regional BCU dashboard, monthly updating it, and ensuring that latest updates on Zero-dose and BCU progress are reflected in the immunization country profiles.
8. Providing support to the overall regional immunization programme in context of PHC and broader HSS.
9. The consultant is expected to attend all calls and meetings related to the Big Catch Up and Zero dose recovery.

Main Deliverables:

1. Support for mapping of target children, preparing applications / proposals for Gavi funding in collaboration with NIP and in-country immunization partners in Bangladesh
2. Develop and update BCU dashboard and update country immunization profiles
3. Support to overall regional immunization programme
4. Support development of national action plan for Bangladesh
5. Support phasing/adjusting national action plans to align with the flow of funds and logistics.
6. Liaise with NYHQ, Gavi and UNICEF SD for timely availability of resources (vaccines and supplies) to countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan).
7. Monitoring and post campaign evaluations [all four]
8. Publish quarterly Zero-dose and Big Catch-up progress and submit final report on assignment and draft an article for ‘Zero-dose recovery in south Asia’ capturing zero dose and BCU progress, challenges, and country plans for rest of 2025 and beyond.

Note: This is home based consultancy, with travel within the region.

Remarks: Please submit your application with a financial proposal. Applications without the financial proposal will not be considered.

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

Education:

Advanced degree in public health or related fields

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• At least 10 years of experience in national Immunization Programmes preferably in South Asia and multi-country, including vaccination campaigns and reaching unvaccinated children
• Familiarity with working with national governments and partner organizations
• Familiarity with Gavi support processes
• Familiarity with creating dashboards
• Excellent communication and writing skills in English
• Experience of working with UNICEF is 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.

Apply now

Added 17 hours ago - Updated 8 hours ago - Source: unicef.org