National Consultancy : Technical Assistance to develop a Comprehensive Costed New-born Care Strategy and Action Plan for MALAWI (Open to Malawian Nationals Only)

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, Protection

The Reproductive Health Directorate under the Malawi Ministry of Health aims at providing quality Maternal and Newborn Health services amongst its several core responsibilities. The Neonatal mortality rate dropped from 37 per 1000 live births to 27 per 1000 live births in 1990-2016. Despite this development, there are still gaps in delivering quality neonatal services such that 40% of child mortality is due to deaths occurring in the neonatal period.

Since 2015, Malawi has been implementing Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) which was developed in response to the global ENAP that was launched at the global World Health Assembly in 2014. It is perceived that slow progress in the implementation of the plan results from problems in health financing, accountability issues, inadequate supervision, staff shortages and inadequate equipment and essential drugs and supplies, including poor community engagement.

It is in the view of this that the Malawi Ministry of Health, represented by the Reproductive Health Directorate, and with financial support from partners such as UNICEF and Management for Health Sciences–ONSE, conducted this workshop to develop terms of reference for a consultant who will do the review and write the final document.

The contract holder for this consultancy is Ministry of Health within the Reproductive Health Directorate (RHD),who will be responsible for managing the assignment. UNICEF will only support with hiring of the consultant and will have no contractual obligations towards the consultant.

This is an activity that is conducted in cycles. The last cycle ENAP has ended and a new five years plan needs to be set, which would also inform HSSP III. In order to support the Ministry of Health in documenting gaps within current interventions on newborns, and with the development a comprehensive action plan to reduce neonatal deaths, strong technical assistance is necessary. Support to the national and regional health teams and development partners will ensure a costed Result Based Country level Every Newborn Action Plan is in place.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of this consultancy is to conduct a situation analysis on newborn care nationally, through the provision of technical support to MoH within the Reproductive Health Directorate (RHD) and its partners working on the MNCH programme, and use the results to inform the development of a Comprehensive Newborn Action Plan for 2022 to 2030, in line with the Global Newborn Care Action Plan (GNAP) and the child survival strategy (CSS) key actions for the Malawi context. UNICEF will only facilitate the recruitment process.

The consultant will be responsible for achieving the following objectives during the consultancy assignment:

Review and analyze major bottle necks and key barriers to effective coverage, (reach & quality), of evidence-based newborn care interventions.

• Review and document gaps in routine health management information systems as they relate to childbirth and newborn care provision and outcomes.
• Document feasible solutions through consultations and recommend interventions aimed at accelerating the scale up of quality newborn programmes as per CSS; as well as indicators to measure and periodically track progress.

• Develop a national level comprehensive costed newborn action plan based on the results from the situation analysis, informed by a wider stakeholder consultation, global and regional level best practices, and evidence based newborn programming.

  SCOPE OF WORK

• Review the relevant neonatal and strategic documents (including neonatal standards).

• Stakeholders meeting: share experience in relation to ENAP implementation. (MOH QMD and Community Health, DHMT, UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, NEST, Save the Children, PACHA, Mai khanda Trust, USAID-ONSE), that are currently implementing the newborn care projects.
• Review the defined Global/ National Neonatal targets as well as other strategic documents: HSSP, Child Health Strategy, Community Health Strategy, SRHR strategy, IMCI, FP.
• Review data sources / register and identify gaps: CMEED newborn. Verificate whether the data tools collect neonatal data.
• Identify existing structures and human resources for neonatal care that can be included in ENAP document: Nursery, KMC, Neonatal Intensive care unit.

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

• Advanced University degree (At least a Masters Level) in one of the disciplines relevant to the following areas: Medicine, Public Health, Maternal and Child Health, Pediatric Health, Newborn Health, Health Research, International Health, Health Policy and Management, Environmental Health Sciences, Biostatistics, Socio-medical Sciences, Epidemiology, or related field.
• A minimum of five years of professional experience in strategic programme development, monitoring and evaluation in the field of MNCH
• Good understanding of the Malawi MNCH situation and the current response in line with the country’s key and programme documents.
• Ability to manage assignments effectively, ensuring timeliness and quality with minimum supervision.
• Demonstrated knowledge and skills in facilitation of stakeholder consultations.
• Analytical, research and conceptual ability, skills in communication, presentation and documentation is an added advantage.

Please refer to the attached full Terms of Reference TOR COSTED NEWBORN CARE STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN FOR MALAWI.docx for more details on the consultancy and requirements.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

[insert competencies]

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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.

HOW TO APPLY...

Interested consultants should provide the following:

1. Curriculum Vitae
2. Brief technical proposal (no longer than five pages) demonstrating the consultant’s understanding of the assignment and approach/methodology to the assignment
3. Financial proposal including a breakdown of their all-inclusive fees (including professional fees, travel, living cost, visa and other costs). Complete the attached form Financial Proposal for Consultancy.xlsx
4. References details

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.