International Team Leader (Consultant): Preliminary assessment - What works in Integrated Community Health, Nutrition and other essential social services in South Asia, UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal (55 days)

Remote | Kathmandu | Islamabad

Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund
Location: Remote | Kathmandu | Islamabad
Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
Occupational Groups:
- Public Health and Health Service
- Social Affairs
- Nutrition
- Children's rights (health and protection)
- Civil Society and Local governance
- Managerial positions
Closing Date: Closed

The overall purpose of this assignment is to map out and analyse models, including management and implementation strategies/approaches, for the integrated delivery of health, nutrition and essential social services at the community level. This analysis aims to identify what approaches/strategies are effective and which are not with the ultimate purpose of informing policy and programming.

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, a future

Background:

COMMUNITY HEALTH AND NUTRITION:

Community health within the domain of public health focuses on maintenance, protection and improvement of health for the general population and communities as a whole. Community health as such is a key component of primary health care (PHC) which aims to achieve wellbeing through preventive and promotive health care and reducing the risk factors for both communicable and non-communicable diseases.

UNICEF strengthens and scales up community systems to deliver comprehensive health, nutrition and other essential social services to hard to the reach, including remote communities both in development and humanitarian settings. Our focus is to build resilient community systems for integrated service delivery on health, nutrition, early child development (ECD), child protection, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) with social and behavior change (SBC) as a cross-cutting component. UNICEF works with Governments, non-government organizations and other development partners to elevate community health and nutrition in national agenda as a pillar of PHC.

For UNICEF ROSA, community health and nutrition systems refer to the management and delivery of comprehensive and integrated health and nutrition services to communities, particularly to the most vulnerable and hard to reach children, mothers and their caregivers in South Asian Countries. We see community health and nutrition as a key component to primary health care that integrates preventive, promotive, and curative services within the community context for achieving the Primary Health Care (PHC) goals of reducing the underlying risk factors and enhancing quality health and nutrition care up to the last mile. Our focus is to bring community health and nutrition at the national level for well-established policies and strategies along with provision of both human and financial resources.

At service delivery levels, Community Health and Nutrition refer to several basic health and nutrition interventions along with other social services delivered by health and nutrition cadres, community workers, and volunteers who are not regular staff of facility-based health and nutrition services. The interactions between community health and nutrition and other community services like social protection, WASH, Child Protection and social and behavior change (SBC) are recognized underscoring the view that improvement of the wellbeing of communities requires integrated approaches that recognize the role that all services play and contribute to addressing the overlapping and multiple needs of children and communities.

UNICEF seeks to support the renewed commitment for PHC, based on a multi-sectoral life-course approach focusing on the first two decades of life. This includes supporting the PHC agenda through working in a more multisectoral way, empowering people, families, and communities to advance their own health and wellbeing, and improve the quality and coverage of integrated health and nutrition services, especially within communities.

For detailed background and methodology, please check the detailed TOR Download File

Advert TOR.docx

How can you make a difference?

This consultancy will seek to achieve the following objectives.

To examine the contexts and environments, including governance and management, in which community health, nutrition and other services effectively enhance the primary health care goal of providing a continuum of care from national, sub national health facility and community levels.
To understand what works and does not work in managing and implementing the integration of community health, nutrition, and other services including SBC, ECD, education, WASH, child protection, social protection etc in South Asia.
To examine the service models/approaches/packages of services of integrated community health, nutrition and other services delivered in south Asia.
To document examples of and needed policies and strategies, governance and operational structures that are needed to ensure effective integrated community health, nutrition and other service programming.
To assess UNICEF’s efforts and positions in effectively supporting implementation of integrated community health, nutrition, and other services programming with the aim of fostering scalability and sustainability.
To examine the challenges faced and lessons learned in implementing existing integrated, community health, nutrition services in South Asia.
To make recommendations on key modalities for planning, implementation and scaling up of integrated delivery of health, nutrition and essential social services at the community level.
To make recommendations on how UNICEF could better support governments for effective implementation and scaling up of integrated delivery of health, nutrition and essential social services at the community level

Key Assignments/Tasks:

A Lead Consultant will be supported by Country Specific National Consultant. One consultant will be recruited in Nepal and another in Pakistan. However, the lead consultant will be responsible for ensuring that all deliverables are met.

Inception phase

Develop a documentation framework to define the methodology, timeline of the documentation, tools to answer the questions, key background documents identified for desk review and complete stakeholder mapping including the list of UNICEF staff, other UN agencies, development partners, implementing partners, local and national government stakeholders to interview and administer all tools.

Data collection

Data collection and analysis based on the framework and tools developed during inception, including but not limited to intensive desk review and key informant interviews.

Reporting

Draft report and presentation in English answering the key assessment questions.
Final report and summary report incorporating the feedback from UNICEF ROSA

Policy and Programme Brief

The brief should summarize the key findings as well as their policy and programme implications and recommendations.

Note: The assignment is remote working but will include 2 weeks travel each to both Nepal and Pakistan. Within each country, the team lead will travel to different provinces/ sub national level jurisdictions, visiting CSOs, community workers and health facilities to observe activities conducted at the community level.

Key Deliverables:

Prepare Inception report: Brief Inception report describing the methodology, including the tools and names of potential respondents – this will be submitted after inception discussions with UNICEF staff.
Oversee and conduct desk review and data collection: Data collection scripts and preliminary survey results
Prepare draft power point with preliminary highlights: Draft power point with highlights and early observations
Prepare report to include the methodology and findings answering the assessment questions
Address comments from UNICEF and revise report

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

Education:

A master's degree in public health, Child Health, Nutrition, or another relevant field or a medical degree with the required experience

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

A background in health or nutrition with at least 10 years in programming for these areas at higher level
Experience in South Asia, including experience and knowledge of programming and governance/ policy at both the national and sub national levels.
Knowledge or understanding of integrated programming, especially at the community level.
At least eight years of proven experience in programme reviews, documenting and reporting on programme management such as programmatic analysis, reviews, evaluation, lessons learnt, good practices and recommendations etc.
Strong understanding of the health system in at least one country in South Asia.
Strong experience in writing reports, documentation to convey programming efforts.
Experience in data collection and analysis, including with strength in either quantitative or qualitative data collection as well as ability to facilitate group discussions, key informant
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English required.
Demonstrated teamwork skills.
Ability to deliver high quality products on time.
Ability to work on multiple tasks under pressure

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit  here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

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. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

This vacancy is now closed.