Consultant, IFRC Measles & Rubella Country Platform (Vaccination and Surveillance) – Afghanistan

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191-member National Societies. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.”  The IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

The IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of the IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.

The IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The IFRC also has country cluster delegations and country delegations throughout the world.

IFRC is aware that due to the recent global financial cutbacks in public health and immunization activities, technical support to many countries has been withdrawn thereby seriously threatening the planning and implementation of measles and rubella (M&R) vaccination, surveillance and related activities during 2026.  Consequently, a new collaboration between the IFRC and the Measles and Rubella Partnership (M&RP) seeks to establish a Measles & Rubella Country Platform (M&R Country Platform) to help overcome this gap in technical support to Ministries of Health. The M&R Country Platform serves to advance the goals of the Immunization Agenda 2030 and is committed to reducing measles and rubella morbidity and mortality by supporting countries to implement the Measles and Rubella Strategic Framework 2021- 2030.  IFRC’s M&R Country Platform also provides a mechanism to more deeply engage National Societies in immunization activities.

The goal of the M&R Country Platform is to respond to Ministry of Health requests for high-quality technical assistance in planning and implementing measles or measles/rubella vaccination, surveillance and related activities.  To meet these Ministry of Health needs, IFRC is recruiting consultants to be deployed within Afghanistan to support the country in planning, coordinating, and conducting measles or M&R vaccination (including outbreak) response and other complimentary activities during 2026. The IFRC consultant will provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Health, Red Cross/Red Crescent National Society, and other relevant in-country partners to ensure the planning and implementation of high-quality M&R vaccination and other M&R activities.

Desired outcomes

Consultants will support M&R activities which may include campaign planning/implementation, the development of applications, outbreak preparedness/response, strengthening of surveillance, strengthening routine immunization coverage, identifying as well as developing plans for high-risk populations, and other critical areas of technical support requested by Ministries of Health. Consultants may also support Red Cross/Red Crescent National Societies to engage more deeply in M&R-related activities.

Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy

The M&R Country Platform aligns to the Federation’s Strategy 2030 to achieve Global Aims:

Global Aim 1: People anticipate, respond to and quickly recover from crisis.

Global Aim 2: People lead safe, health and dignified lives and have opportunities to thrive.

Working in Afghanistan with the Ministry of Health and technical partners and under the overall guidance and supervision of the IFRC project lead, the consultant for the M&R will be engaged in activities contributing to country M&R elimination goals through the provision of technical assistance in the following tasks:

• Provide targeted support to routine immunization strengthening, focusing on M&R, zero-dose and under-immunized children, use of data for action, and identifying operational barriers to improving coverage.
• Provide technical support to strengthen M&R and vaccine preventable diseases (VPD) surveillance, focusing on improving detection, reporting, responding and review of case-based surveillance performance, data quality, completeness, and timeliness.
• Support M&R rapid outbreak investigation and response, including situational analysis, identification of immunity gaps, mapping of high-risk and underserved populations, and development of context-appropriate vaccination response strategies.
• Assist country in designing and implementing immunization strategies, such as outreach, mobile vaccination teams, and partnerships with other partners.
• Assist the country in gathering and reviewing evidence related to the benefits and costs of introducing rubella-containing vaccine.
• Conduct risk assessments integrating epidemiologic and operational considerations to prioritize geographies and populations for measles/rubella interventions.
• Assist Ministry of Health in preparing for and implementing M&R supplementary immunization activities (SIAs)/outbreak response campaign implementation through microplanning support, readiness assessments, monitoring frameworks, and interpretation of independent monitoring/ post campaign coverage survey results.
• Strengthen coordination among different entities to improve M&R vaccination coverage and surveillance in high-risk population, hard-to-reach areas/population.
• Support M&R data analyses and review to identify surveillance and immunization gaps; prepare concise analytic products (dashboards, briefs, epidemiologic summaries) for national and subnational decision-making.
• Support data improvement efforts, including simplified reporting tools, training for frontline workers, and integration of surveillance information.
• Support country elimination efforts, development of measles and rubella elimination strategic plan, support national M&R verification processes.
• Support country in developing proposal for introduction of rubella vaccine and MR catch up campaign.
• Support coordination with relevant partners including the organizations of the M&R and national immunization and surveillance programs to ensure alignment of surveillance, outbreak response, and immunization activities.
• Support the integration of the Red Cross/Red Crescent national society into the planning and coordination of vaccination activities to build capacity for future support. Specifically, facilitate Red Cross/Red Crescent participation in Ministry of Health social mobilization related committees to share Red Cross/Red Crescent knowledge of local community barriers, and if requested, support Red Cross/Red Crescent resource mobilization activities.
• Prepare monthly written summary reports, including key action items from the coordination meetings, on the status of programmatic activities and share with the IFRC (including the M&R Country Platform Officer in Geneva), Red Cross/Red Crescent National Society, UNICEF, country team, and other relevant partners. Include photos of the actions supported in the field, as part of the reports.
• Other tasks that may arise in the assigned work.

Method of consultant support delivery

Deployment to country to provide direct support to the Ministry of Health and in-country partners.

Duty station: Afghanistan

Support to be provided to the consultant

The IFRC M&R Country Platform Officer and Administrative Lead will support the consultant for travel, logistics, and program management. Additional technical support will be provided by other key colleagues including the M&RP organizations.

Consultant time allocation

In general, consultants will be contracted for 40 hours per week from April to June 2026. Extensions may be possible.

Management of consultants

The consultant will be directly managed by the IFRC M&R Country Platform Officer with overall coordination from the IFRC Immunization Senior Officer, both based in Geneva.

Required

• Medical doctor or related public health profession, with postgraduate training in epidemiology, public health or related field.

Required

• Strong knowledge of immunization programs with at least 5 years of experience especially in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of vaccine preventable disease control activities in low-resource settings.
• Proven experience working in M&R related vaccination and surveillance programs in low-resource settings.  
• Proven experience conducting technical support to international public health programs.
• Experience working with international, national, and local partners.
• No links to the pharmaceutical industry.

Preferred

• Experience in the implementation of M&R outbreak control at national or international level.
• Knowledge and experience with the use of digital tools for outbreak control in epidemiology and/or public health.
• Scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and other media.

Required

• Excellent English written and oral communication skills. Ability to communicate and conduct work in English.
• Ability to lead and supervise project staff at country level.
• Strong diplomatic and interpersonal skills with experience working effectively as a team member in diverse, multidisciplinary environments.
• Ability to work well in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple priorities that are subject to change.
• Ability to foster collaboration among diverse external and internal stakeholders and partners to achieve program goals.
• Excellent time and project management skills.

Preferred

• Additional relevant local language skills Dari and Pashto.

Application Instructions

• Please submit your application in English only.
• Please include the below:
• Curriculum Vitae
• A cover letter summarizing your experience and suggested approach to the consultancy

Notes

• The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC and the standard contractual terms will apply.

• Agreed travel expenses will be reimbursed at cost in accordance with the IFRC’s relevant regulations.