National Consultant to provide support to Immunization programme of UNICEF Azerbaijan

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, care

Azerbaijan maintained high national immunization coverage rates until 2019. At sub-national level some districts had lower coverage which was explained by piloting of the healthcare reforms in these areas, although it did not significantly affect national averages. However, since 2020, Azerbaijan has faced backsliding in immunization coverage, particularly for DTP3 vaccine – 11%. In 2022, 81% districts reported MCV1 coverage above 90% and only 44% districts reported DTP3 coverage above 95% demonstrating significant variation in coverage across districts and related inequities. There were 281 measles cases reported in 2019 and some cases are reported in 2023. Available research indicates issues in the delivery of the immunization programme and among the most cited are:

• knowledge gaps of healthcare workers, particularly on contraindications and interpersonal communication with parents

• misinformation and misconceptions among parents and concerns of negative health outcomes of vaccines

• limited trust to local healthcare providers in rural areas due to limited resources, staff and quality of care.

How can you make a difference?

The objective of the consultants’ support is to assist the health team in specific tasks for the management and coordination of the immunization programme activities of Country Office.

The incumbent will report to the Health and Nutrition Specialist and routinely liaise with the Regional Immunization Specialist.

Key Activities/Tasks

• Facilitate district-level (sub-national) consultation workshops to develop tailored, evidence-based strategies to reach zero-dose or under-vaccinated children in their communities

• Organize and monitor training of primary healthcare workers involved in vaccination in selected 4 areas with the lowest immunization coverage rates.

• Support development of online version of the training for home visitors on immunization, educational videos (immunization academy) and other supportive digital information assets for health workers and parents.

Provide technical expertise to development of digital information materials/job aids to support health workers and awareness raising/behavior change of parents.

• Jointly with SBC consultant facilitate community engagement through information and Q&A sessions for parents to reduce misinformation, address their concerns and allow them to obtain advice from well-known specialists in the country.

• Monitor implementation of all immunization related activities and prepare progress reports for UNICEF Country Office, Regional Office and donor, as well as other necessary information, including for communication and visibility purposes

• Prepare and write necessary documents, briefings, analyses, presentations, etc. on immunisation

• Support communication team in preparing communication and visibility assets related to immunization, including production of human-interest stories

• Participate in all meetings at country, regional and global level related to immunization programme

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline:

Facilitate district-level (sub-national) consultation workshops to develop tailored, evidence-based strategies to reach zero-dose or under-vaccinated children in their communities

Reports on sub-national level workshops and tailored plans for each of 4 areas

January – March 2024

Organize trainings in 4 selected areas in coordination with government partners

Training reports, including training outcomes of participants

March – May 2024

Support for data collection for root-cause analysis of immunization backsliding to be conducted by Regional Office

All necessary meetings with stakeholders to be organized, district for analysis identified, focus group discussions organized in districts

February – March 2024

Technical support for root-cause analysis: review of the report and support for its finalization

Root-cause analysis report is reviewed, consulted with partners as needed

May – June 2024

Support for “cost of inaction” exercise of Regional Office carried out to support Middle Income Countries

All necessary support for data collection and report development is provided

March– August 2024

Support development of online version of immunization module for training of home visitors

All the materials are prepared, and adaptation/installment and testing of training module is organized together with relevant IT sub-contractor

March-May 2024

Development digital communication assets, job aids and other supportive materials on immunisation

Content for these materials prepared, written and pre-tested jointly with SBC consultant and communications team, materials are designed and disseminated

March-June 2024

Facilitate community engagement through information and Q&A sessions for parents to reduce misinformation, address their concerns and allow them to obtain advice from well-known specialists in the country.

Information, Q&A sessions for parents are organized jointly with SBC consultant in selected 4 areas

April – July 2024

Conduct regular monitoring of programme activities

Regular monitoring trips are carried out and monitoring reports submitted

April – June 2023

Develop programme reports, briefs and other necessary documents

Monthly progress reports, donor report, programme briefs are developed as needed

July – December 2023

Support for development of visibility assets

2 human-interest stories are prepared with technical support of immunization consultant jointly with communication team

August – October 2024

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

• Advanced university degree in public health, epidemiology or health management;
• At least 3 years’ experience in epidemiology, public health, including health planning, immunization and health systems management;
• Sound understanding and knowledge of technical aspects of immunization services/programmes;
• Provision of supporting documents of analytical reports and health planning in the field of immunization, epidemiology, public health and health systems strengthening;
• Previous experience in working with UN agencies is an asset;
• Knowledge of the United Nations system or other international organizations is an asset;
• Knowledge of international development, humanitarian issues and children’s rights is an asset.

Skills and attributes:

• High level of analytical ability to analyze qualitative and quantitative data, including using relevant software packages;

• Demonstrated ability to produce high quality, concise, analytical and insightful reports and presentations in English;

• Commitment and drive, with a clear focus on results;

• Ability to work with minimum supervision

• Ability to manage competing priorities under pressure, whilst maintaining attention to detail and meeting deadlines;

• Good facilitation and communication skills.

Interested applicants are required to provide the following documents through the link:

• A short cover letter, highlighting relevant experience with similar type of assignments (max 300 words).

• CV of the individual applicants

• A technical proposal with tentative workplan and timeframe

• Financial proposal

• Samples or links to related work previously conducted by the consultant

The shortlisted applicants will be contacted by UNICEF with a technical discussion and interview.

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.

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Added 5 months ago - Updated 5 months ago - Source: unicef.org