Perinatal Care Consultant

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, health

UNICEF Ukraine

Background:

The war in Ukraine continues to destroy infrastructure, livelihoods and increase vulnerabilities of affected populations. The situation remains volatile and unpredictable, requiring comprehensive emergency preparedness and planning to ensure the greatest needs can continue to be met. Communities continue to face limited access to basic and essential water, health and education services, with some services in parts of the country non-operational.

The situation of Ukraine’s healthcare system is critical, with numerous challenges affecting maternal and childcare, including direct damaging of health care facilities, and migration of healthcare professionals. There are difficulties with referral to specialized hospital care, and access to adequate maternal and child health services. In some regions of Ukraine (Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zakarpattia), there are still no perinatal care centers of the tertiary level. The number of children who are exclusively breastfed in Ukraine has been historically low even before the war; only 20 per cent of babies under 6 months were exclusively breastfed in 2012, with many dependent on infant formula. The already low exclusive breastfeeding rates during the first six months of life have dropped further since the war — a recent survey conducted by UNICEF in October 2022 reported rates of around 15 per cent. Additionally, the lack of reserve generators in some facilities poses a serious risk to the lives of newborns and mothers dependent on life-saving medical equipment during frequent electricity cuts. Infection prevention and control issues, including non-adherence to protocols and inadequate WASH facilities, further compound the problem. Furthermore, the ongoing war in Ukraine has exacerbated mental health issues, affecting a significant portion of the population, including children and healthcare workers. According to the Minister of Health of Ukraine, 15 million Ukrainians require psychological support due to traumatic experiences caused by war.

The disruption caused by the war has also impacted immunization services, hindering health service delivery nationwide. Insufficient immunization rates are being exacerbated by the limited access to health service provision in parts of the country, increasing the risk of preventable, infectious diseases being reported from across regions. Immediate action is necessary to address these urgent and complex challenges to protect the well-being and dignity of individuals and communities.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of assignment:

To support UNICEF interventions in the CPD Flagship area of ECD, particularly focusing on neonatal, perinatal care, a consultant will perform a number of tasks, including:

• Facilitate the assessment of existing practices and guidelines in perinatal care.
• Provide technical support to MOH in the review and improvement of policies, guidelines in neonatal, perinatal care in accordance with WHO recommendations and evidence-based medicine.
• Facilitation of projects to improve access, quality of perinatal care to ensure continuum of care within the ECD interventions, including through home-visiting.
• Support for revision of the NHS neonatal, perinatal care packages, monitoring of coverage with these packages and quality of perinatal care.
• Support for improvement of regulations and practices with regard to regionalisation (referral system) in perinatal care.
• Capacity mapping of health workers in perinatal care as per approved NHS package.
• Organization of capacity building events for perinatal care staff on newly revised guidelines.
• Support for identification of needs and distribution of supplies.
• Facilitation of dialogue with perinatal care managers, support to the establishment of a national dialogue platform on effective management during war, quality of care for children.
• Participation in internal meetings and meetings with partners, counterparts.
• Preparation of progress updates for donors, UNICEF CO management.
• Provision of inputs to donor reports.

The consultant will work under the supervision of the UNICEF CO Health Specialist.

Work assignment overview:

Deliverable

Deadline

# of w/days

1. A written review of policies, guidelines in neonatal, perinatal care in accordance with WHO recommendations and evidence-based medicine and mapping of capacity assessment is provided.

28.10.2024

60

2. Facilitate at least 8 capacity building events, dialogue sessions on perinatal care within KWF, French grant projects based on the results of the assessment.

28.10.2024

100

3. At least 8 monitoring visits to assess needs, existing practices and policies in perinatal care, capacity mapping conducted at regular intervals to be conducted jointly with the MoH, NHSU

4.10.2024

60

4. Progress monthly updates for donors, UNICEF CO management, inputs to donor reports on project implementation are provided.

28.10.2024

30

Sub-total:

250

Please provide an all-inclusive financial proposal including travels to carry out the deliverables listed above.

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

Education: An advanced university degree (Master's or higher) in one of the following fields is required: M Medicine, Public Health, Health Management or higher education in other fields with previous professional experience in project management, implementation of initiatives in health.

Professional experience:

• A minimum of two years of professional experience implementing initiatives in the area of health.
• Experience working in a humanitarian emergency is an asset.
• Cooperation with/supporting a UN system agency or organization is considered an added advantage.

Languages:

• Ukrainian: Proficient/Native [C2];
• English: Upper-Intermediate [B2].

Skills and competencies:

• Knowledge of the Ukrainian healthcare system, related context and challenges
• Good organizational skills, ability to manage complexity
• Working with others, good communication skills
• Networking and partnership building
• Drive to achieve result for impact

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.

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

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.