Consultant, Support to CDC-funded IFRC Global Immunization Activities

Vacancy No.S18591Category of ContractConsultantPosition TypeConsultantApplication Deadline13/09/2026Job Posted On07/09/2026Duty StationGlobalCountryGLOBAL Different LocationsGradeConsultant, Not ApplicableDuration8 months from November 2026 to June 2027

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian network, with 191 member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. IFRC uses the Triple R – response, resilience and respect – to deliver on Strategy 2030. IFRC responds to disasters and crises, ensuring timely, coordinated and locally led humanitarian action. IFRC supports its members in building community resilience in the areas of climate and environment, health and wellbeing, and migration and displacement. IFRC promotes respect for our fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality, including in our work on values, power and inclusion. The IFRC focuses throughout on our core mandate – our raison d’être – of strategic and operational coordination, humanitarian diplomacy, National Society development, and accountability.

IFRC is led by its Secretary General and has its Headquarters in Geneva and five regional offices in Africa (Nairobi); the Americas (Panama); Asia Pacific (Kuala Lumpur); Europe (Budapest); and MENA (Beirut) as well as representation offices, service centres and delegations across the globe.

The IFRC has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination, and lack of integrity (including but not limited to financial misconduct). IFRC also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles.

The Health and Care Department’s New Strategic Direction 2023 focuses on Health Systems Strengthening and WASH Systems Strengthening through 4 Pillars:

Pillar 1: Global Health Security

Pillar 2: Global Health Protection and Universal Health Coverage

Pillar 3: Global Water Security

Pillar 4: Transformative Partnership

The 4 Pillars under Health Systems Strengthening and WASH Systems Strengthening are supported by 3 Enablers:

Enabler 1: Strengthening National Society Leadership on Health and WASH

Enabler 2: Strengthening IFRC Secretariate Health Infrastructure at county, cluster, region and Geneva level

Enabler 3: Digital Solutions and Data

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has supported IFRC and the National Society immunization activities since 2017 across three multi-year Cooperative Agreements (CoAg). US CDC funding supports six priority areas: 1) strengthening immunization services; 2) supporting comprehensive vaccine preventable disease (VPD) surveillance; 3) preparing for and responding to VPD outbreaks; 4) supporting immunization programme sustainability; 5) supporting innovation acceleration; 6) collaborating with global immunization partner agencies and national governments. To date, US CDC funding has supported immunization activities in many countries including Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and countries in the African Region working to control or respond to cholera outbreaks with the oral cholera vaccine (OCV).

The current CoAg is a multi-year award administered through annual budget periods, each requiring a non-competing continuation application, an annual performance report, and where applicable, carryover and prior approval requests in accordance with 2 CFR 200.331. Country level implementation is delivered by National Societies through workplans and budgets that are reviewed and approved on an annual cycle.  The volume and pace of donor reporting, together with the number of implementing countries and components, requires dedicated coordination capacity and adherence to reporting requirements.

Job Purpose

The IFRC Immunization Team is seeking a consultant with experience in immunizations, grants governance and compliance, grant financial management and donor relationship management and negotiation. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the IFRC immunization team, regional and country offices and National Societies and hold the operationalization of the award: maintaining communication with the donor, tracking implementation across all supported countries, preparing reporting documents required for submission, including annual performance reports, non-competing continuation applications, carryover requests and budget revisions.

Alongside this award management function, the consultant will provide technical support to National Societies delivering immunization activities in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable (FCV) settings, with an emphasis on ensuring that what is implemented can be accurately monitored, evidenced and reported. The consultant’s overall objective is to ensure that the CoAg is well coordinated, compliant, and reported on time, and country programs are supported to deliver and demonstrate results.

Alignment to the IFRC’s Strategy 2030

The consultancy aligns to the Federation’s Strategy 2030 as it supports the achievement of 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.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

1. Cooperative agreement coordination and donor liaison:

  • Serve as the operational point of contact with CDC on the CoAg, maintaining regular communication with both the CDC administrative and technical teams.
  • Facilitate CDC requests for project updates and reports, and coordinate the responses required from relevant IFRC regional offices, country offices and National Societies.
  • Maintain oversight of all CDC supported activities across implementation countries, tracking progress, issues, identified solutions and challenges.
  • Manage the scope of the CDC CoAg to ensure requests can be realistically and feasibly implemented by National Societies and in FCV settings.
  • Negotiate donor and internal information requests, balancing CDC requirements against country team and National Society capacity.
  • Escalate requests that exceed agreed deliverables, carry compliance risk, or cannot be met within the budgeted time frame to the Lead, Immunization and the Manager, Health Systems Strengthening.

2. Data reporting, applications and compliance preparation:

  • Facilitate the development and submission of the annual and interim performance reports.
  • Develop and facilitate submission of the non-continuation application package for the consecutive budget year, including project narrative, budget narrative, cover letter, budget summaries in accordance with relevant CDC Divisions including the Global Immunization Division (GID) and the Division of Global Health Protection (DGHP) reporting guidelines and strategic framework.
  • Prepare carryover requests and other submissions requiring CDC prior approval, such as a redirection of funds and budget revisions, including consolidating country office, regional and headquarters requests with the required justifications.
  • Lead CDC feedback, technical review questions and revision requests on submitted proposals and budgets and coordinate the responses required.
  • Monitor IFRC and National Society compliance with CDC reporting and compliance requirements and provide guidance to country teams on those requirements.

3. Country workplan and budget support

  • Support National Societies and IFRC country offices in the development, review and revision of annual immunization workplans and budgets aligned to CDC GID and DGHP strategic priorities.
  • Coordinate the review and submission of country budget revisions, ensuring that changes are documented, justified and submitted through the correct approval route.
  • Provide technical support to CDC-identified priority areas and priority countries in developing and submitting proposals to CDC.

4. Technical support

  • Act as the technical reference point for IFRC at regional, cluster and country level, and for National Societies on CDC-funded immunization activities.
  • Provide remote technical support on the requitements and expectations for high-quality immunization service delivery, including demand creation and social mobilization for routine immunization, improving the quality of supplementary immunization activities for measles, polio and other VPDs, and supporting Ministries of Health in vaccine programs and service delivery where applicable.
  • In collaboration with IFRC regional and country colleagues, support National Societies funded by CDC to maintain the capacity to detect and respond to VPD outbreaks, and to identify the opportunities and strategies to deliver immunization services where the national program is unable to operate.
  • In collaboration with partner agencies and IFRC regional and country colleagues, support IFRC involvement in global polio eradication efforts in endemic countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

  • Support the development, adaptation and update of immunization specific guidelines, tools and training materials for National Societies.

5. Monitoring, evidence and knowledge management

  • In coordination with the immunization M&E consultant, support the development of realistic indicators to measure and report on immunization activities.
  • Work with knowledge management, RCCE colleagues to share evidence of what works, where and for whom, in strengthening immunization service delivery and community engagement.

6. Strategy, positioning and handover

  • Support the development and dissemination of a multi-year approach to expanding IFRC engagement with CDC.
  • Support National Societies to use immunization as an entry point to strengthen primary health care, improve integrated health service delivery and advance universal health coverage in FCV settings, in line with the Immunization Agenda 2030.
  • Work with IFRC regional, cluster and country offices to increase the number of National Societies supporting immunization services, especially in FCV settings, including by identifying funding opportunities from CDC and other donors.
  • Develop a coordination guidance note for future CoAg coordinators setting out CDC specific requirements, submission cycles and working practices.

Management of consultancy

The consultant will be managed by the Manager, Health Systems Strengthening, with day-to-day technical direction from the Lead, Immunization. The consultant will engage with all members of the IFRC Immunization Team, including the Immunization M&E consultant, as well as with IFRC regional, cluster and country offices, National Societies, relevant IFRC Secretariat units including finance and partnership functions, and both CDC administrative and technical teams.

Time allocation and location

The estimated level of work is approximately 130 days over an 8-month period, average of 16 days per month, including one mission to Geneva, subject to the timely delivery of deliverables as agreed between the consultant and the Lead, Immunization. Work will be conducted remotely.

Education

Required

  • Advanced university degree (master’s or PhD) in epidemiology, public health, health in humanitarian settings, or a related field or equivalent professional experience.

Experience

Required

  • Minimum of 10-15 years working experience with the US government and/or the humanitarian development sector supporting health activities.
  • Demonstrated experience managing a CDC-funded award, including donor reporting, continuation applications, carryover and prior approval submissions.
  • Experience collaborating with and building relationships with key stakeholders that deliver or support primary health care and immunization activities in FCVs.
  • Experience in resource mobilization and partnership building, particularly in immunization programming.
  • Proven experience working in diverse, low-resource settings.
  • Proven experience conducting scientific or programmatic research and/or technical support to international public health programs.
  • Experience working with international, national, and local partners.

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

Required

  • Results oriented and demand driven, with the ability to work independently and to lead in ambiguous situations.
  • Strong project coordination and organizational skills, with the ability to hold multiple reporting cycles and country workstreams simultaneously.
  • 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.

LANGUAGES

Required

  • Excellent French and English written and oral communication skills. Ability to communicate and conduct work in French is required.
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