Local Consultants: National Coordinator for COVID-19 Vaccination and Routine Immunization (10 Months)

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, a fair chance

UNICEF has been an active partner of the Government of the Philippines and civil society in realizing the rights of every Filipino child, in line with priorities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. UNICEF efforts have been focused on the most vulnerable regions identified by the Government of the Philippines Development Plan, particularly in the regions of Visayas and Mindanao. To ensure that interventions are sustainable and scaled up, UNICEF will support primarily local government units (LGUs) as the main instruments of delivering services and building systems. The level of engagement with government institutions will take into account capacities, economies of scale and sector issues.

It has a field office in Cotabato City, the second largest city in Mindanao, southern Philippines, with some 300,000 population. The city is the regional administrative centre of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and over 80 percent of the population is Muslim. Mindanao is both conflict-affected and prone to frequent earthquakes and typhoon storms.

Visit this link for more information on Philippine Country Office: https://www.unicef.org/philippines/

How can you make a difference?

Scope of Work:

A. COVID-19 Vaccination

1. Provide support to DOH in the review and updating of the National COVID-19 Deployment Vaccination Plan
2. Provide technical support to the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) in cold chain logistics vaccine management, RCCE, data analysis, and preparation of technical updates.
3. Collaborate with DOH/WHO/UNICEF teams to organize periodic assessment/meetings to discuss vaccination roll-out implementation, issues, and concerns raised by the regional, provincial, and lower levels.

• Review of the human resources constraints and recommendations to DOH and regions on the possible
• adjustments
• Review of the operational issues preventing optimal coverage of the priority population; recommend corrective actions

4. In collaboration with UNICEF COMS team C4D Specialist and DOH Health Promotion Bureau, support the content development of the advocacy plans, human interest stories, and case studies from the field.
5. Collaborate with the CO EPI team to ensure that the logistical aspects of the vaccination roll-out, especially COVAX support, cold chain support, financing, and HR, are managed with optimal efficiency.

6. Collaborate with WHO to produce updates of COVID-19 vaccination activities (e.g., SITREPS) for distribution to relevant partners.

7. Provide additional support as deemed necessary by CO health team

B. Routine Immunization

1. Technical support to the National Immunization Program in the development of policies including development of the national immunization strategic plan
2. Provide support to DOH and priority regions to do bottleneck analysis and review of routine immunization data and provide recommendations on improving access and coverage
3. Provide support to government partners in the development of guidelines, policies and training materials
4. Provide support in conduct of training needs analysis, development of training materials and conduct of capacity building activities
5. Spearhead the review of existing immunization policies or the development of new ones as needed in support of the NIP
6. Support the scale up of an expanded Reaching Every Purok Strategy and other innovations to improve routine immunization and contribute to measles and other vaccine-preventable elimination goals.
7. Provide additional support as deemed necessary by CO health team

Tasks:

1. Support DOH in review and updating the COVID-19 vaccines plan and the National Immunization Program strategic plan for the Philippines.
2. Support DOH and regions to review the EPI data for routine immunization (bottleneck analysis), provide recommendations on improving the access and coverage
3. Lead in the training needs analysis of the NIP at the National, Regional and LGU levels and come up with a training packages
4. Spearhead the review of existing immunization policies or the development of new ones as needed in support of the NIP

5. Support the scale up of an expanded Reaching Every Purok Strategy and other innovations to improve routine immunization and contribute to measles and other vaccine-preventable elimination goals

6. Provide technical support to DOH on organizing National Vaccine Operations Management (NVOC) meetings, including setting up the agenda, supporting the data analysis, and preparing the technical updates.

7. Collaborate with DOH/WHO/UNICEF teams to organize periodic assessment/meetings to discuss vaccination roll-out implementation, issues, and concerns raised by the regional, provincial, and lower levels.

• Review of the human resources constraints and recommendations to DOH and regions on the possible adjustments
• Review of the operational issues preventing optimal coverage of the priority population; recommend corrective actions

8. In collaboration with UNICEF COMS team C4D Specialist and DOH Health Promotion Bureau, support the content development of the advocacy plans, human interest stories, and case studies from the field.
9. Collaborate with the CO EPI team to ensure that the logistical aspects of the vaccination roll-out, especially COVAX support, cold chain support, financing, and HR, are managed with optimal efficiency.
10. Collaborate with WHO to produce updates of COVID-19 vaccination activities (e.g., SITREPS) for distribution to relevant partners.
11. Provide additional support as deemed necessary by CO health team

Deliverables:

- Inception Report, Situational Analysis for COVID-19 Vaccination and the National Immunization Program - NIP TA Plan for 2022 Training Needs Analysis and training plan - Advocacy strategy for Zero-dose children to include advocacy materials Draft strategic plan for immunization - Progress report on the urban assessment - COVID-19 vaccination roll- out improvement plan Documentation Report on REP - Implementation and workplan for scale up - Monitoring report on COVID-19 vaccination Draft REP strategy - Assessment report on NIP registry and reporting system with recommendations for improvement - Progress report on COVID- 19 vaccination, urban immunization assessment - Progress report on the revised immunization act Progress report on COVID- 19 vaccination roll out - NIP Communication Plan Progress report - NIP Strategic Plan Report on trainings conducted - Progress Report on COVID- 19 vaccination and routine immunization support - Progress Report - Final Report

Qualifications and Competencies of Successful Consultant

• Advance Degree in Medicine or Public Health is preferred; a Master's Degree in Public Health, Public Administration or its equivalent is accepted in lieu of advance degrees.

Work Experience:

• At least 5-year experience and progressive technical leadership on immunization at the national and subnational level
• At least 5-years previous experience on SIAs Planning and implementation at the National and sub-national level
• Prior experience managing a team implementing SIAs and/or routine immunization
• Previous experience in challenging environments; can work well in multi-cultural teams and withstand minimum amount of pressure and stress in the workplace
• Previous experience working with UNICEF and national government/LGUs with a sound interpretation and judgment to present the programs and policies in a way that enhances UNICEF's image is an advantage.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Filipino languages required.

HOW TO APPLY

Qualified candidates are requested to complete an online candidate profile in http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/ by 14 March 2022. Only applications sent through the e-recruitment portal under Job Number: 548967 will be considered.

All candidates are requested to submit a COVER LETTER, and the duly filled P11 Form which can be downloaded from our website at P11 Form.docx (sharepoint.com) indicating three (3) previous supervisors. Please indicate your area of assignment, ability, availability and daily/monthly rate to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.

Only shortlisted consultants will be contacted.

Remarks:

Terms of reference may be shared upon request.

By applying through our Talent Management System (TMS) you agree to our privacy statement which is in line with the Philippines Data Privacy Act. You are strongly advised to read carefully through the privacy statement before submitting your application.

"UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles."