Re-advertised: Internal/External Vacancy Notice: Immunization Specialist, P3, Fixed-term, Kathmandu, Nepal (Post#119665)

Overview

Lead immunization system strengthening initiatives in Nepal.

You have:

• Advanced university degree in Medicine, Public Health, Paediatric Health, Child Development, or related disciplines.
• Five years of professional work experience in planning, programming, implementation and evaluation of health and immunization programmes.
• Developing country work experience is essential.
• Background or familiarity with Emergency.
• Fluency in English and another UN language is required.

Contract

This is a P-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 90,549 USD and 118,567 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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

While Nepal has progressed remarkably in reducing child mortality over the decade, challenges exist as there were around 15 per cent of children with zero-dose immunization especially in urban Madesh and rural Sudurpaschim provinces, 28 per cent among Terai/Madesh Dalit and 21 per cent zero dose children among Muslim communities. Consistently, children in Madesh Province and among Terai/Madesh Dalits were 30 – 40 per cent do not complete full dose of DTP-containing vaccines (MICS, 2019).

Disparities in access to these lifesaving services are associated with lack of capacity of health workers and facilities, adolescent pregnancy and early marriage, in some cases, inappropriate care practices, cultural barriers and social norms related to gender and ethnicity. Continued progress in immunization depends on reaching the most underserved communities. Primary health care – the cornerstone of universal health coverage – has been identified as a platform through which frontline services across programmes and sectors can be coordinated. This coordination includes working with frontline workers, and community volunteers to ensure trust in health care services especially among the Terai/ Madesh Dalit & Muslims communities to identify and reach zero dose children.

In Nepal, procurement, logistics and supply chain management constraints are major challenges to making progress in health outcomes. There are system inefficiencies in its six-tiers of supply chains, exacerbated by recent huge influx of vaccines and devices procurement volume, leading to challenges in storage and distributions and high wastage of commodities. Logistics and supply chain management systems are fragmented and coordination mechanisms (intra- and inter-departmental and inter-ministerial) to manage supply chains are lacking. Above all, Nepal’s rank of 112th out of 140 countries in it and scores 51.8 out of a 0 to 100 scale in terms of infrastructure quality, poor electricity & road infrastructure, complicates logistics and supply chain management systems in health and other sectors. Confounded by these bottlenecks, outreach health activities for immunization including FHCVs are not adequately reaching the marginalized and hard-to-reach areas. Dedicated immunization cold chain points in large catchment areas/population are scarce, added by challenges with transport and technical human resources.

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision and guidance of the Chief Health (7031), the incumbent is accountable for professional leadership and innovation in the development, planning, implementation, delivery, monitoring, evaluation and oversight management of the immunization system strengthening within primary health care framework, in the new Country Programme 2023-2027, to achieve UNICEF's goals and objectives for the country.

You will join the Health Section team to lead the capacity development and technical assistance to ensure integrated/aligned approaches to reduce stock-outs and equitably deliver essential commodities using immunization commodities as entry. Robust and well-functioning vaccine delivery systems are especially critical; as such, central, provincial, district, municipality, facility and outreach services in 412 municipalities will be prioritized to strengthen their cold chain and capacity to manage vaccines (including new ones) and other essential medicines which require cold storage. UNICEF’s support will accelerate the implementation of the effective vaccine management (EVM) improvement plan and conduct a continuous effective vaccine management assessment in 2024 and 2027. Efforts will be made to establish and strengthening electronic logistics information management system for real-time, disaggregated stock management data, supply chain data analysis, and decision making.

Local partnerships will be important to implement strategies in some hard-to-reach areas, with a focus on helping Nepal to reduce the number of under-immunized children and an intensified focus on reaching the unreached, especially ‘zero-dose’ children (children that have not received any routine vaccine). These tend to be clustered in communities without any basic health services. UNICEF will also support community engagement and social behaviour change interventions with local authorities, community leaders, and CSOs, to address and minimize barriers to access these services.

A summary of key functions and accountabilities include:

1. Timely sectoral analysis, input, support and coordination contribute to the Situation Analysis with consistent integration of sex disaggregated data and its periodic update for effective project planning, development and management.
2. Quality contributions are made to the development and implementation of the immunization strategies and approaches through participation and collaboration with internal and external partnership.
3. Work plan and objectives are strategically established, technical support is effectively provided, and planned results are timely delivered through exercise of strong technical leadership.
4. Project implementation progress is monitored and evaluated for adjustment, acceleration and improvement of program delivery and sustainability.
5. Technical support is provided to government and NGOs at all stages of the programme cooperation, including capacity building of government personnel and beneficiaries.
6. The capacities of Country Office staff and partners are strengthened through effective capacity building programme in the development, implementation and management of the immunisation programme, focusing on immunisation Supply Chain (iSC), Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) Improvement Plan and vaccine logistics management information system
7. UNICEF and Government accountability is ensured for supply and non-supply assistance and disbursement of programme funds for the sector.
8. Effective partnership and collaboration achieved and maintained for advocacy, technical cooperation, programme coordination, information sharing and knowledge networking.
9. The most relevant and strategic information is provided to support the Immunization Programme by the effective implementation of integrated health information monitoring system.
10. All required programme reports are timely prepared in compliance with the established guidelines and procedures.
11. Emergency preparedness is maintained, and in emergencies, emergency responses with effective coordination are provided.

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

• Advanced university degree in Medicine, Public Health, Paediatric Health, Child Development, Child Health, Epidemiology, Public Administration, or other relevant disciplines.
• Five years of professional work experience at the national levels in planning, programming, implementation monitoring and evaluation of child health and immunization programmes. Professional work experience in a technical expert position related to child survival & health care.
• Developing country work experience is essential
• Background/familiarity with Emergency.
• Fluency in English and another UN language.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability (CRITA) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1), Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2), Works Collaboratively with others (2), Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2), Innovates and Embraces Change (2), Thinks and Acts Strategically (2), Drives to achieve impactful results (2), Manages ambiguity and complexity (2).

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

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.

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Remarks:

The post is re-advertised to expand our sourcing approach to have a wider pool of candidates for review.

Candidates who had applied before do not need to re-apply because their earlier applications are well received.

Priority will be given to all the eligible candidates participating in 2022 Mobility Exercise.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Potential interview questions