Reproductive Health Specialist

Contract

This is a UNV International Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as International UN Volunteer. It is normally internationally recruited only. More about UNV International Specialist contracts.

To respond to the emergency and cricis in Sudan, UNFPA launched a Japan-funded SRH project in January 2023, aiming to improve access to quality life-saving maternal health services for the most vulnerable women in Blue Nile State by strengthening maternal health care facilities, including building the capacities of health care providers and providing necessary medical equipment and supplies; and strengthening the referral systems in areas with limited access to maternal health services. Furthermore, UNFPA Sudan country office, through its seventh country programme, committed to contribute to upgrading of midwifery services in Sudan. In support of this strategic direction, UNFPA supported MoH to conduct a midwifery work-force gap analysis with the technical support of the international confederation of midwives. This analysis provided information for evidence based policy decision making and pin pointed areas deserving of investment in order to accelerate the scaling up of midwifery in the country. The quality and coverage of the midwifery service in Sudan demand an immediate intervention in order to improve the quality of care as well as improving the reproductive health outcomes. UNFPA considers investing in upgrading of midwifery service provision, regulations and education as an optimum set of intervention with highest impact, at its present and future returns. With emphases on midwifery Education, UNFPA focuses on strengthening the capacity of the schools and institutions in terms of infrastructure and staffing aiming at meeting the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) standards for the pre-service training of midwives at diploma level. Under the overall management of the UNFPA Sudan country representative, and the direct supervision of the Head of health unit, the health UNV is expected to carry programmatic functions related to sexual and reproductive health and rights with focus improving midwifery response in women and maternal health, MISP, Family planning and Reproductive health commodity security as well as HIV and STIs. The UNV will work in close coordination and complementarity with the Reproductive health analysts and field based staff, as well as the wide range of national counterparts (government, academia, NGOs and community based structures which are supported by UNFPA) to support ensuring effective and efficient program implementation.].

Under the supervision of Head of health unit or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteer SRH specialist will support the implementation of the Sexual Reproductive Health/ Midwifery programming in Sudan through: • Support in analyzing and reporting on implementation of the assigned project activities, monitor project expenditures and disbursement to ensure delivery is in line with approved budgets, in particular the Japan-funded SRH project. • Support reporting and visibility of the Japan funded SRH project and other relevant projects. • Support the RH unit to maintain and increase effective partnership with relevant stakeholders particularly with the Japanese government, JICA, Japanese NGOs and private sectors. • Assists advocacy and resource mobilization efforts of Country Office by preparing relevant documentation, i.e. project summaries, conference papers, speeches, donor profiles, and participating in donor meetings and public information events. • Support creating and documenting knowledge about current and emerging SRH, and shares with management for use in knowledge sharing and planning future strategies, including lessons learned and good practice documentation of the Japan funded SRH project and other relevant projects. • In collaboration with Government counterparts, NGOs and other partners, contributes to the formulation and design of the reproductive health program with emphases and focus on Family planning programming, in both humanitarian and development contexts, in line with the country programme and the National priorities and according to UNFPA pro-gramme policies and procedures. • Support capacity building of partners and stakeholders through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counterparts, including Implementing Partners (IPs); • Analyzes and interprets the political, social and economic environment relevant to reproductive health with emphases on Maternal health and Family planning programming ad-dressing health system elements as well as the broader profile of stakeholders and identifies opportunities for UNFPA assistance and intervention. • Keeps abreast of new policy developments and strategies analyzing policy papers, strategy documents, national plans and development frameworks, and prepares briefs and in-puts for policy dialogue, technical assistance coordination, and development frameworks. • Expedites and coordinates project implementation establishing collaborative relationships with executing agencies, experts, government counterparts and other UN agencies facilitating timely and efficient delivery of project inputs and addressing training needs of project personnel; • Work jointly with the RH unit team members in developing and implementation of monitoring and evaluation plan for the SRH projects in consultation with the field officers, HIV and the finance monitoring officers. • Follow up all logistical, financial and contractual matters related to facilitation of the work of consultants, advisors and experts involved in the implementation of the sexual and re-productive health programme.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to: • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for in-stance in events that mark International Volunteer Day); • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country. • Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities. • Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.; • Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers. • Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/Expected Outputs • Timely implementation of SRH projects and interventions, including Japan-funded SRH project in line with the required levels of quality. • As an active UNFPA team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNFPA SRH programme and its beneficiaries in the accom-plishment of her/his functions, including: o Strengthened planning, coordination, monitoring and reporting of UNFPA supported SRH programmes o Improved synthetization and documentation of best practices and lessons learned
o Good practices and lessons learned linked to peacebuilding documented and pub-lished o Improved coverage and positioning of SRH in country o The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) govern-mental counterparts.

☒ Accountability ☒ Adaptability and Flexibility ☒ Building Trust ☒ Client Orientation ☒ Commitment and Motivation ☒ Commitment to Continuous Learning ☒ Communication ☒ Creativity ☒ Empowering Others ☒ Ethics and Values ☒ Integrity ☒ Judgement and Decision-making ☒ Knowledge Sharing ☒ Managing Performance ☒ Planning and Organizing ☒ Professionalism ☒ Respect for Diversity ☒ Self-Management ☒ Technological Awareness ☒ Working in Teams

• Relevant professional experience in reproductive programme design and implementation. Experience with projects or a programme implemented by multinational or bilateral donors is an asset. • Professional work experience at the national and/or international level in Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) program; experience with public health is an asset, as is experience working in the UN or other international development organization. • Knowledge and experience in the field of programme development and management, including budget management is desirable • Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills; • Have affinity with or interest in SRH work, volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System.

HRD assignments are considered as assignments without family.

Assignment duty station will be Nairobi with possible visits to PortSudan and includes several field missions to different states of Sudan, in particular Blue Nile state.