Child Survival & Development Specialist, NOC, Lilongwe, Malawi (Open to Malawian Nationals only)

The position of Child Survival & Development Specialist, NOC, Lilongwe, Malawi is open to Malawian Nationals only.

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.

Purpose of the Position

Accountable for providing technical support for the formulation, design, operationalization of good quality Child Health Program plans including EPI and Malaria and for the improvement of the coherence and coordination of the national programmes monitoring and evaluation strategies, and of operational research relevant to advancing maternal and child survival and health at the national, zonal, district and health facility catchment area levels, the improvement of EPI and Malaria surveillance and the surveillance of other diseases adversely affecting maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) and survival and the outcomes in SDG 3.

Accountable for providing technical support for the formulation, design, planning, monitoring and evaluation of strategies for scaling-up and improving the quality of health facility based micro-planning and management of the national child health programs, EPI (through a rapid scale-up of the REC approach) and Malaria programmes with a view of reducing the inequitable burden of morbidity and mortality experienced among marginalized communities and the most vulnerable households within districts.

Accountable for providing technical support for the reforms for the improvement of the content and data quality assurance and data management processes of the national Health Management Information System (HMIS) in support of acceleration evidence based planning, management and monitoring at the district, zonal and national level within the framework of the Health Sector Wide Approach (Health SWAp) with an emphasis on improving analysis and planning that integrates equity and gender priorities in support of marginalized communities and the most vulnerable households and groups at district level and at different levels within district (health facility catchment area).

Key Expected Results

1. Timely, evidence based regular data-driven analysis of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) situation to support evidence based planning and management within the Health SWAP framework and in support of UNICEF contribution to the SDGs and UNDAF processes.
2. Guidance to the Health SWAp's Sub-Technical Working Groups (SWTG) on IMCI, EPI and Malaria to strengthen the policies, strategies and guidelines and revision of training materials for the operationalization of results oriented child health, EPI and Malaria programme planning, management and improved quality of service delivery at community, health facility and referral level and for zonal level capacity building in support of districts for these critical pillar programme for maternal and child survival with a focus on improved quality of gap analysis and micro-planning for evidence based resource budgeting and leveraging particularly for EPI and Malaria essential commodities.
3. Guidance to the Health SWAp's Sub-Technical Working Group (SWTG) on Monitoring and Evaluation, and transfer of technical knowledge to Ministry of Health Programmes and Units on harmonization and streamlining of data collection mechanisms and tools in line with National Programmes and HMIS data requirement, to include data collected at village level and with a view to reducing the burden put on districts and health facility teams and improve quality of data sets and monitoring timeliness, accuracy and use of information system for evidence based MNCH planning and management and to improve comparability between health facilities within a district, comparability between districts and thus improve the quality of Health SWAP reviews at the zonal and national levels
4. Transfer of technical knowledge to relevant Ministry of Health Departments, Programmes and Units as well as to zonal and district health management teams, local government and community governance structures on timely and appropriate production, analysis and use of HMIS data for effective evidence based prioritization, planning, development and results-based management for scaling-up cost effective preventive, promotive and curative maternal, newborn and child and family health services at facility and first referral hospital level to improve SDG 3 outcomes.
5. Transfer of technical knowledge to district health management teams, local government and community governance structures for the elaboration, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of emergency preparedness and response plans that are evidence based and results oriented in all disaster prone districts.
6. Technical guidance and transfer of technical knowledge to health management teams and local government authorities for improved coordination of monitoring, evaluation, reporting, documentation and dissemination of progress in community and MNCH development with key stakeholders through improved quality of quarterly level district and zonal reviews that are more equity focussed and need responsive;
7. Effective communication, networking and technical and financial resource leveraging for district and zonal level health development achieved through careful stakeholder analysis and partnership building for rapid scale-up of improved monitoring, supervision and evaluation of MNCH services and for periodical surveys (DHS/MICS/ Malaria Multiple Indicator Surveys,EPI Data Quality Assessments, EMOC and bEMOC Surveys etc) to SWAP reviews and EPI and Malaria Programme Reviews.
8. Contribute to the improvement of accountability for MNCH development services and improve management, monitoring and evaluation at district and zonal level
9. Improve accountability among government and non-government recipients of UNICEF specific supply, non-supply and financial assistance.

Key Accountabilities and Duties & Tasks 

• Data-driven and results-based management

• Participate in regular data-driven situational analyses (including epidemiological, gender equality and emergency assessments)
• Provide technical and operational guidance and support to government and non-government partners with scaling-up Health interventions;
• Champion results-based management;
• Monitor developments at regional and decentralized levels;

• Upstream activities

• Provide specific technical expertise on results based planning and budgeting for the operationalization of health policies and strategies for acceleration of MNCH, including advocacy in gender equality, emergency preparedness and response, as appropriate and as defined by supervisors;

• Downstream activities

• Provide in-country technical and operational guidance on scaling-up related Health interventions;
• Contribute to the development and implementation of detailed sectoral work-plans and budgets for scaling-up assigned and specific Health interventions;
• Contribute to UNICEF country office's readiness to deliver on the Health-related CCCs;
• Conduct regular field visits to monitor MNCH programmes and participate in programme reviews with Government counterparts and other partners with particular focus on under-served populations;
• Document and disseminate lessons learned of scaling-up Health interventions.
• Share good practices in health planning and management that are equity centred and gender responsive at the district, zonal and national level.

• Monitoring, evaluation and reporting

• Collaborate with Chief of Health to timely, efficiently, rigorously and transparently monitor, evaluate and report on assigned health program areas;
• Contribute to the preparation of relevant sections of the annual Health sector status reports;
• Submit transparent and timely reports to donors and other partners.

• Accountability

• Ensure related UNICEF, government and non-government staff comply with UNICEF's financial rules including emergency fast-track procedures;
• In close collaboration with Operations and Supply staff, regularly monitor and report on use of related supplies and other resources donated to the government and non-government partners;
• Collaborate with the Operations Section and Government authorities to maintain sound internal controls, supportive of specific Health interventions as well as to ensure accountability.

• Knowledge management

• Document and disseminate lessons learned;
• Implement country-specific capacity building activities.

• Rights-based programmes through Results-Based Approach

• Ensure UNICEF, government and non-government staff apply right-based approaches to programming and humanitarian principles;
• Promote the quality of rights-based Health programmes through the formulation of programme goals and strategies and approaches.

• Partnerships and leveraging resources

• Maintain close working relationships with other related UNICEF sectors, particularly nutrition, HIV/AIDS, WASH, ECD and programme communication;

• Coordinate with related UNICEF Regional Advisers and HQ Officers to ensure strategies are aligned with global and regional strategies;
• Establish active and participatory partnerships with related Health sector stakeholders (Government, WHO, other UN agencies, NGOs and bilateral agencies) and interact with them at different stages of Health programme design and implementation and identify opportunities for leveraging resources to be brought to the attention of Chief of Health Section.

 Qualifications of Successful Candidate 

• Education

Advanced degree in one of the disciplines relevant to the following areas is an asset: Child health, Epidemiology, Public Health, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention or a field relevant to international development assistance in Health.

A first level university degree in combination with qualifying additional experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

• Work Experience

A minimum of five years of relevant professional work experience. Awareness of the technical support required in health related emergency and humanitarian preparedness. Direct work experience working with districts and local governance structures and within the UN governance structures and field work experience in child health development required.

Competencies of Successful Candidate

Core Values

• Commitment
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Integrity

Core competencies

• Communication
• Working with People
• Drive for Results

Functional Competencies

• Leading and Supervising                      
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts
• Analyzing  
• Relating and Networking
• Deciding and Initiating Action

• Applying Technical Expertise

Technical Knowledge  

To view our competency framework, please click here. 

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.