Procurement and Supply Chain Consultant for Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment

Contract

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UNICEF’s aim is to help accelerate access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, and to support critical elements of health systems strengthening, community engagement and information. The core of UNICEF’s involvement in the ACT-A (Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator - a ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines) is around procurement, preparedness and delivery of the vaccine, tests and treatments in target countries. UNICEF is responsible for leading end-to-end supply chain engagement – spanning procurement, international freight, logistics and supporting country readiness, as well as in-country delivery. In addition, UNICEF’s mandate also includes strengthening the supply chains (supporting the assessment of countries' cold chain and logistics capacities and closing potential supply chain capacity gaps), training health workers, building trust in vaccines by engaging with communities, and addressing misinformation and other barriers to uptake.

Work Assignment Overview:

The main purpose of this consultancy is to support UNICEF Serbia to assist the Government of Serbia (GoS) and the Ministry of Health (MoH) / Institute of Public Health of Serbia (IPHS) in preparing and implementing activities from the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for COVID-19 vaccines, specifically on vaccine procurement through the COVAX facility, supply and cold chain management and logistics, and other issues related to COVID-19 immunization that are of specific interest for the GoS/MoH/IPHS.

Duration of the assignment: January – December 2021, up to 90 workdays (3-10 workdays per month, depending on the need)

Task description:

Under the supervision of the UNICEF Health and ECD Specialist, and in consultation with the GoS/MoH/IPHS representatives, the consultant is expected to perform the following major tasks:

1. In collaboration with WHO and other partners, support national authorities assess and improve overall country readiness for vaccine delivery (with particular focus on readiness for vaccines procured through the COVAX facility);
2. Assist GoS/MoH in COVID-19 vaccine procurement processes, as well as deployment planning and monitoring of vaccine(s) procured through the COVAX facility;
3. In close collaboration with other UN Agencies (primarily WHO, UNDP and UNOPS), and based on the identified need, support GoS/MoH to strengthen the supply and cold chain management and logistics for the effective deployment of COVID-19 vaccines (with particular focus on supply and logistics related to vaccines procured through COVAX facility).

A more detailed task description will be available to the selected consultant.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• University degree in medical sciences, technology or related fields;
• An advanced university degree in public health or epidemiology would be an advantage;
• At least 5 years of field experience in health, public health or related technical field;
• Excellent knowledge of immunization supply and logistics;
• Demonstrated experience in managing disease outbreak response is an asset;
• A highly organized, proactive and pragmatic person with good process management skills;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Ability to work under stress and tight timeline;
• Demonstrated tactfulness and a high sense of responsibility and discretion;
• Proven cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrated integrity and high ethical standards;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
• Fluency in both Serbian and English, written and spoken;
• Previous work experience with UNICEF or WHO is an asset.

How to apply:

The application must include a financial proposal in RSD as a separate document, providing the following information:

1. Daily rate (all costs included, e.g. health insurance, pension, usage of mobile phone),
2. Daily travel allowance for an overnight stay in Serbia (including accommodation),
3. Transportation costs per km (for travel within Serbia).

Important notes:

Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

For every child, you must demonstrate UNICEF's core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, and on any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will therefore undergo reference and background checks.