Understanding performance in the health sector consultancy, Pretoria, South Africa

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

PURPOSE OF ACTIVITY/ASSIGNMENT:

As part of the public finance portfolio in social policy, annually, a series of budget briefs is done to probe the extent to which budgets affect the financing and outcome for children’s programmes. This is used in year-long advocacy and forms the foundation for the Country Office’s submission to the National Parliament.

SCOPE OF WORK:

a) Describe South Africa’s quality policy framework in the health sector and comment on the extent of its implementation and its putative relationships to important health outcomes. Is this framework applicable to all spheres of government and where has it been implemented the most etc.? Is there an alignment between this framework and the country’s health Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

b) Select a range of quality national and provincial health quality indicators and detail changes over time using the period 2016-2021. In the selection of indicators, please try and relate these to the national and provincial budgets where possible. Are there any specific reasons for the relative improvement or deterioration in the status of these national and provincial indictors? Is there a coherent framework to address progress or lack thereof in the realisation of these indicators? The final list of indicators will be jointly determined by the Consultant and the Chief of Health and Nutrition in UNICEF SACO.

c) Critically describe South Africa’s public finance management system as it pertains to the delivery of national and provincial health care and assess whether this system is fit for the purpose of providing access to quality health care. What are the manifest shortcomings of this system? What does this system do well in catering for the needs of the most disadvantaged in the country? Is there evidence that public finance management practices influenced health outcomes in some provinces? Evidence should be multi-year and the assignments time frame is Financial Year 2016-2021 and trends over the existing medium-term period (Financial Year 2022-2024)

d) Based on the emerging and established evidence, how can the sub-national financing of health care be tweaked to ensure broader access to quality health care services for the most disadvantaged population in South Africa? Please include in this analysis a consideration of a proposed quality health care agenda that should be pursued for the next five years and beyond. Both budgetary and policy interventions should be included in the final set of recommendations for a quality national and provincial health agenda.

WORK ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline

Inception report detailing approach to the assignment

Report

24 June 2022

Draft health sector budget brief

Report

26 August 2022

Final health sector budget brief

Report

30 September 2022

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS required:

Enter disciplines:

a) At least a Master’s Degree in Economics, Public Policy or any relevant and comparable Social Science qualification. b) Substantial policy and empirical work done in the health sector in South Africa. c) At least eight years of experience in handing publications of this nature, especially work with the international development community; and d) Competencies: Excellent understanding and command of written English. e) Sufficient understanding of the public finance context in South Africa and consolidated

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

To view our competency framework, please visit 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.

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. The candidate may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid).