Consultancy: Consultant, Country specific case studies on Immunization activities (routine, campaigns) during COVID19 pandemic – Health, PD, NYHQ/Home based – Req # 534995

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Consultancy Title: Country specific case studies on Immunization activities (routine, campaigns) during COVID19 pandemic

Section/Division/Duty Station: Health Section /Programme Division/New York

Duration: 66 days

 

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection and development. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

 

BACKGROUND

Deficiencies in essential health and social services including immunization during the response to COVID-19 have caused and will continue to result in increased indirect morbidity and mortality. Even robust health systems have been rapidly overwhelmed and compromised by a COVID-19 outbreak. There is urgent demand from countries for technical support in planning, implementing and evaluating health services during the COVID-19 pandemic response and recovery phases.

WHO in collaboration with UNICEF has prepared an Operational guidance for maintaining essential health services (EHS) during an outbreak as well as Framework for decision-making: implementation of mass vaccination campaigns in the context of COVID-19, which provides a set of targeted actions that countries should consider at national, regional, and local level to reorganize and maintain access to quality, essential health services for all. To further support countries in this area, there is need to develop a learning architecture for national and sub-national service planners, managers and providers to enable (1) maintenance of essential health services during the outbreak (2) immunization service recovery in the post-acute phase (3) sustained transformation/strengthening of immunization services in the post-pandemic phase.

The learning initiative will emphasize collection of lessons from countries to inform action within and beyond the health sector; identify and scale-up effective interventions; promote informed-action at various levels of the immunization system and facilitate sharing of experiences between countries. The learning architecture will focus on actions being taken forward by countries to maintain essential health including immunization services during the outbreak, early recovery and sustained transformation in the post-pandemic phase.

Provision and re-imagining of immunization services including campaigns during pandemic is a new strategic area for UNICEF and most of the countries are also still in the learning phase on this topic. More than 56 VPD campaigns has been postponed and only few countries have initiated vaccination campaigns. There is therefore a need for guidance and experience sharing, to support the work of governments and country offices as they increasingly work in this domain.

HQ is seeking a consultant to provide technical support to the Immunization section at HQ to document good practices, success stories and lessons learnt on re-initiating immunization services in response to COVID-19 and to support countries to effectively respond to the threat of COVID-19. The objective is to create a series of short case studies and associated stories, which will be used in technical meetings internally and externally.

 

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

The consultant will work with the Health Specialist, Accelerated Immunization Initiatives (AII), NYHQ Immunization unit on ongoing immunization in emergencies stream of work during COVID19 pandemic and consolidation of programmatic results related Measles and Rubella and other AII workstream priorities. Consultant will:

1)         Develop protocol for key informant interviews and a template structure for the case studies document (10 days)

2)         Based on key informant interviews and document review, i) develop case studies of maximum 3,000 to 4,000 words (total 5-7 country specific case studies) as agreed; ii) develop 2 or 3 Human interest stories (1,000 words max each).

3)         Review and copy-edit related resources and or reports produced by AII unit.

A case study will present a systematic review on a topic to capture knowledge and will be based on evidence, and will be used for technical guidance and advocacy, as part of UNICEF strategy to South-south contribution (SSC) through improved guidance to staff, and the fostering of learning and understanding of good practices in implementation of immunization activities/interventions during COVID19.

Case studies from the countries (TBC: Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Nepal or Pakistan, Myanmar, one country from LACRO) will be meant for in-country, regional and global immunization technical partners as well as cross-sectoral and resource mobilization partners, and senior management.

Case Study Format

The below format points out the major types of information that together make up a complete, well-documented case study. The format may be adapted and complemented as needed by additional fields.

1.         Abstract/Summary: Include a condensed overview of a case study, including salient points from each of the sections below. Include a paragraph with results and recommendations from the case – make sure to highlight the results within this paragraph. Provide an overview of the country or issue context directly relevant to the case. Describe the factors and explore their effect on the case, the processes and outcomes.

2.         Methods/Scope: Clearly describe underlying programme logic and assumptions, theory of change, data collection methodologies used in the case study, and limitations encountered by using that process. Describe the case, phenomenon or problem being studied in detail, including an explanation for why the case was chosen, and why it is important

3.         Response: narrative should cover What was the response/intervention/s, Why, Where, and How, especially for the current times of SARs-CoV2, it will also be useful to know what and how infection prevention and control (IPC) measures were put in place during the exercise or any innovations were applied to reach the unreached.

4.         Results and Discussion: Include all of the relevant outcomes that resulted from the activities/interventions/inputs.

–           What were the results of the programme response/intervention?

–           Were the results anticipated, unexpected or surprising?

–           What factors influenced the results?

–           What challenges were faced and how mitigated

–           What changed?

The narrative includes clear information on questions of Who, When, Where, What, Why and How, and is written with a focus on how this can help others in their work as part of lessons learned and good practices.

5.         Conclusions/Key Lessons/Recommendations: Outline the key achievements/results, challenges faced during the case study and enumerate the lessons learned that can shape future efforts to address the same or similar problems/situations. Recommend activities and next steps that should be explored based on the results of the case study at the programme or policy level.

Qualifications

(1) Education

•           Advanced university degree in communications, journalism, public/external relations, public affairs, public health

•           Knowledge of child health and specially immunization related work

2) Work experience

•           Superior editing and writing skills, acquired over at least 3 years of experience, and copy editing of data-rich publications

•           Portfolio that includes copy editing of advocacy publications written for non-specialized audiences, or technical publications on specialized topics

•           Demonstrated understanding of international development issues and/or issues concerning children; familiarity with the subject of the publication desirable

3) Competencies

•           Knowledge in management, communication strategies, advocacy and networking

•           Knowledge of theories and practices in communication research planning and strategy

•           Understanding of United Nations systems and international organizations in general; field/country experience an asset

•           Fluency in English and excellent writing skills; working knowledge of French language is desirable

•           Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and ability to establish harmonious working relations in a multicultural environment.

 

Requirements:

–           Completed profile in UNICEF’s e-Recruitment system and provide Personal History Form (P11) (can be downloadedhere: https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_consultancy_assignments.html

–           Upload copy of academic credentials

–           Financial proposal that will include:

o          your daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above

o          travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.

o          Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.

o          Indicate your availability

–           Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.

–           At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.

–           Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory 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.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4. 

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, culture, appearance, socio-economic status, ability, age, religious and ethnic backgrounds 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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.