KNOWLEDGE GENERATION AND MANAGEMENT IN THE AREAS OF HEALTH, NUTRITION, HIV AND WASH

To support knowledge generation and management if initiatives in the areas of Health, Nutrition, HIV, and WASH in the LAC region.

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.

The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, a largely middle income country environment, is enjoying stable economic growth and has made important progress on key development measures, including health, nutrition, HIV and WASH indicators. However, large disparities based on a variety of factors, such as gender, ethnicity, geography, and socio-economic status still remain. In addition, the region is vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters and vector borne epidemics, exacerbated by climate change.

The work of UNICEF in the region is guided by the Sustainable Development Goals and the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2014-2017, which has seven components – 1) Health, 2) HIV/AIDS, 3) WASH, 4) Nutrition, 5) Education, 6) Exploitation and violence, and 7) Social inclusion – along with the commitment to prioritize results for the most excluded and disadvantaged children and adolescents to achieve results with equity. In light of these inter-related commitments, efforts will be made to monitor progress achieved in child rights at the national level but also to ensure progress is carried through to reduce disparities at the sub-regional level where the most substantial inequities persist.

With respect to Health and taking into account current Latin America and the Caribbean epidemiological landscape, areas of focus of work include the reduction of inequities in maternal, neonatal and child morbidity and mortality, and the improvement of adolescent health with emphasis on reduction of adolescent pregnancies. Additional focus areas in the region include health system strengthening and equity-based monitoring, including quality of care and services, and a broader view at the health situation of children and adolescents regarding the impact and implications of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in morbidity, mortality and burden of disease in the region.

Regional work in Nutrition focuses on the reduction of malnutrition in all its forms in children, adolescent girls and women through the positioning of malnutrition prevention and care at the core of national development, as well as through support for an improved and equitable access to quality Nutrition services. Areas of focus include the equitable reduction of undernutrition, the reduction of overweight in children, and strengthening of nutrition resilience in emergencies.

With respect to HIV, focus in LAC includes achieving and sustaining the elimination of mother-to-child-transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis by advocating and building capacity of country offices for the development of a comprehensive public health approach, as well as supporting and coordinating several initiatives towards HIV prevention among adolescents and young people.

WASH focus of work in the region is targeted at the reduction of inequalities in access to drinking water and sanitation, particularly among rural populations and marginalized groups. A second priority area concerns policy development, monitoring and strengthening of national standards for WASH in schools. A third priority area is emergency preparedness, including coordination mechanisms and resilience in the WASH sector.

The consultancy being sought will help UNICEF LACRO and COs to improve their capacity to collect, analyze, document, and disseminate sectoral information on the Health, Nutrition, HIV, and WASH key case studies and initiatives in the region, as well as on experiences and lessons learned in the improvement of the Health, Nutrition, HIV, and WASH related status of the children of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Purpose of the Assignment

To support knowledge generation and management if initiatives in the areas of Health, Nutrition, HIV, and WASH in the LAC region.

Assignment Tasks

The overall objective of the consultancy is to support the Health, Nutrition, HIV and WASH team in the implementation of knowledge management and data related tasks, and to ensure that these tasks are implemented timely and with quality.

The specific tasks related to this consultancy are:

• To systematize regional experiences and produce, jointly with Country Offices, a series of sectoral compendiums in UNICEF programming in Health, Nutrition, HIV, WASH, and Adolescents in the LAC region based on case and field studies and/or good practices identified;
• To update sectoral country profiles based on latest data form the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and other available sources to prepare 10 WASH country profiles based on JMP, GLAAS and SWA data and other available resources.
• To strengthen COs capacity to elaborate knowledge management products related to Health, Nutrition, HIV, WASH and Adolescents
• To prepare two Health, Nutrition, WASH and HIV regional bulletins;
• To conduct related simple data analysis and visualization of information, according to the needs;
• To systematize the available information related to Health, Nutrition, HIV, WASH and Adolescents in written documents (concept notes, PPT presentations), according to the needs.
• To support the Health, Nutrition, HIV and WASH section in the development and monitoring of studies.

Expected Deliverables

1. A series of country experiences in UNICEF programming (including case and field studies, and/or good practices or lessons learned) in Health, Nutrition, HIV, WASH and Adolescents in the LAC region developed with UNICEF COs contributions;
2. Sectoral compendiums of country experiences and priority topics developed based on Deliverable 1;
3. Sectoral country profiles based on latest data created and/or updated;
4. Two Health, Nutrition, WASH and HIV regional bulletins produced;
5. Key Health, Nutrition, HIV, WASH and Adolescents data of the LAC region are maintained updated and accessible, as well as used for analysis and written documentation

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

• Three to five years of experience in health, nutrition, HIV, WASH or related fields;
• Advanced university degree in public health, epidemiology or related field;
• Proven analytical and data management skills;
• Previous work experience and knowledge of UNICEF-supported priorities in health, nutrition, HIV, or WASH an asset
• Fluent in oral and written English and Spanish; French and/or Portuguese is an added advantage.

ESTIMATED DURATION OF THE CONTRACT AND PROPOSAL

Nine-month consultancy, from March 2017 to December 2017

Reporting Responsibilities/supervision

The consultant will be supervised by the Regional Health Adviser in UNICEF LACRO.

CONSULTANTS WORK PLACE

The hired consultant will work primarly from UNICEF LACRO in Panama City. If travel is required, travel costs will be covered by UNICEF and DSAs will apply per corporate guidance.

HONORARIA & FEES:

Applicants are requested to submit an economic proposal for the consultancy.

CLOSING DATE:

The deadline to receive applications is 27 february, 2017

To view our competency framework, please click here. 

Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above (including travel and daily subsistence allowance, if applicable).  Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.