Health policy review in 14 Pacific Island countries (Consultancy)

UNICEF Pacific is seeking a consultant to collect and review the maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition policies and, where relevant, strategies in all 14 Pacific countries, identifying the gaps in policy related to new-born, infant, maternal, under 5 health and nutrition areas and to provide country specific recommendations to develop or improve the policies to ensure they are aligned with evidence based global best practices including the SDGs. Based on the health policy review findings UNICEF Pacific will develop an advocacy and technical assistance plan to strengthen the policy and legislative environment.

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 Assignment

The assignment is to give a comprehensive overview of the status of MNCH and Nutrition policies across the Pacific.  Once a baseline of information is compiled, actions can be systematically taken to fill gaps and strengthen policies.  The assignment will aim to:

1. Create base line information on the availability of national health policies, legislation, and strategies in relation to maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition in all 14 Pacific Island Countries.  This will include broadening the scope to sectors beyond health to understand inclusion in relevant sectors (WASH, Food, Climate, Education etc)
2. Identify whether the available policies, legislation, and strategies are inclusive with new born, infant, maternal, under 5, EPI and nutrition areas and whether they are aligned with global best practices including SDGs.
3. Identify the gaps in policies, legislation and strategies for maternal neonatal, child health and nutrition.
4. Design a set of recommendations and prioritizations by country for development/ improvement of existing policies, legislation and guidelines.
5. Disseminate the findings to UNICEF.

Assignment Tasks

Under the supervision of the UNICEF Pacific Chief of Child Survival and Development and with support from the MCH and Nutrition Specialists based in Suva as well as the field office Chiefs, the Health Policy review (HPR) consultant will undertake the following tasks to achieve the objective of the assignment:

1. Desk review of the available PICTs health policies, legislations, and strategies on maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition
2. Collect policy documents and map the available latest health policies, legislation, and strategies from 14 PICTs
3. Review the existing policies, legislation and strategies and identify the gap on availability and content of health policies by country
4. Review the available policies, legislation and strategies identifying relevance and suitability of the maternal, neonatal and child health and nutrition areas
5. Design specific recommendations by country, for developing, including/and/or aligning the policies, legislation and strategies for the maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition areas based on the global best practices, SDGs and recommendations.
6. Develop and deliver to Suva colleagues a PPT presentation for dissemination of the findings and proposed recommendations.

7. Recommend way forward in terms of technical assistance, priorities, and costing for the development/ revision /realignment the policy, legislation and the strategy for improvement of the maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition services. .

Expected Deliverables

1. Inception report including detailed workplan and regular/weekly discussions/update with Suva team.

2. Report on detailed gap analysis of the health policies, legislation and strategies by country

3. Report on relevance of the policy, legislation and strategies on MNCHN areas based on the global best practices, SDGs and recommendations

4. Report on recommendations and prioritisation on development/ revision /improvement of the policies for individual countries. This will include an analysis and recommendations of further technical assistance and costing for the development/ revision /realignment the policy, legislation and the strategy for improvement of the maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition services.

5. Develop and deliver a PPT presentation on the findings and recommendations.

6. Submission of a short reflections and observations report (no more than 5 pages) – format of which to be agreed.

   All products should be in electronic and hard copy submission.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

Education

• Post-graduate degree in public health, social sciences, human resources or maternal, child health and nutrition related fields

Years of relevant experience

• At least 7 years of relevant working experience in developing health policies, strategies and guidelines
• A solid understanding on the use of policy review methodologies
• Documented experience in policy development and review
• Strong inter-personal, teamwork and organizational skills
• Substantive knowledge on maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition (MNCHN) issues/ policies, strategies and guidelines
• Familiarity with information technology, including proficiency in word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation software
• Previous working experience in the Pacific and with health and nutrition programmes will be an asset.
• Proven analytical and report writing skills;

• Familiarity and experience of working with UN agencies is an asset

• Languages - Fluency in written and spoken English required.

• Competencies of Successful Candidate - To view our competency framework, please click here. 

  Good analytical, negotiating, communication and advocacy skills

Detailed copy of the Terms of Reference is attached:  EXTERNAL TOR - Health Policy Review Consultancy.docx

TO APPLY: Interested applicants are to include the following documents in their submission:

• A cover letter describing how you meet each of the requirements listed above (max. 2 pages)
• A detailed proposal that includes  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.

For any questions or clarifications in relation to the above consultancy please contact us at pacificvacancies@unicef.org. DO NOT forward any applications to this email address as they will not be considered, all applications must be submitted online on the UNICEF Employment page where this position is being advertised.  

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.