International Consultant to Support the Coordination of the 2017 Mr Follow up Vaccination Campaign, UNICEF Rwanda, 35 Working Days

UNICEF Rwanda is looking for Qualified International consultant to Support the Coordination of 2017 MR follow up Vaccination Campaign for a period of 35 Working Days.

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.

 Background and Purpose

Rwanda is one of the countries in Africa with high immunization coverage and strong immunization system. The 2015 demographic and health survey report showed a fully immunized status of 93%. The country is pioneering most African countries by spearheading the introduction of new vaccines such as PCV, Rotavirus, MR, HPV and Measles second dose lastly introduced in July 2014.

Rwanda has received GAVI grant to conduct a MR follow up vaccination campaign which is planned to be conducted in October 2017 at national level targeting 1,500 children aged 9 months to 5 years.  The objective of this campaign is to achieve more than 95% coverage in all districts and to provide the chance to these children and the communities in general to be immunized against measles and rubella.

Justification

In order to achieve the highest possible coverage and quality of the MR SIA, MOH and immunization partners have engaged in intensive planning and preparation at all levels.  UNICEF, as members of the ICC and key MOH immunization partner have responsibilities to assist the MoH in the planning, organizing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the upcoming MR vaccination campaign. Facilitating and monitoring the SIA through assigning technical assistant is among the key areas assigned to UNICEF by the ICC and immunization partners. Hence UNICEF advises the deployment of one international SIA coordinator to support the MoH at national level. UNICEF ESARO and UNICEF HQ committed to provide required technical support to Rwanda CO for successful implementation of the MR vaccination campaign.

Objectives

The main objective is to ensure that MOH and all stakeholders are engaged, mobilized and well equipped with necessary tools, materials and the implementation strategies to ensure effective conduct, monitoring and reporting of the October integrated MR vaccination campaign. This will be achieved through UNICEF and other partners technical support and close collaboration with Ministry of Health for a successful and quality SIAs implementation.

Methodological Approach and Expected Outputs

The TA will ensure effective support in coordinating the preparatory & implementation activities of the campaign. In general the consultant will be tasked to support the coordination of the overall preparation and implementation of the planned integrated MR vaccination campaign at the national and sub national levels closely coordination with the national EPI manager and EPI partners.

Major Tasks, Deliverables, & Timeframe

The consultant for MR follow up campaign will perform tasks below:

• Support the Rwanda Ministry of Health and UNICEF in the preparation & implementation of the 2017 MR campaign
• Support establishing a command centre with adequate communication facilities at the national level to coordinate all the national and subnational MR campaign activities
• Support the MOH in coordinating the weekly MR Task Force meetings, prepare progress reports and provide updates to partners in the coordination meetings.
• Follow up the implementation of the way forward from the coordination meetings with the various sub committees, partner agencies and district campaign coordinators
• Review campaign materials and tools and provide technical assistance to national & districts campaign coordinators, facilitators, national & district supervisors 
• Ensure the timely development and printing of the various SIA tools such as tally sheets, vaccinators guide, reporting formats, supervision checklist and others are done in time
• Develop monitoring plan and assist the MoH EPI in monitoring and following up to ensure good preparation and implementation of the MR campaign at the district level
• Facilitate the intra-campaign monitoring and participate in the monitoring and post-campaign evaluation activities in coordination with MCCH/EPI, the district technical working groups and other partners
• Compile the SIA performance reports

The consultants will report to the MOH/EPI and UNICEF Chief CSD section.

Major tasks and deliverables:

 Stakeholder Participation

UNICEF will be responsible for hiring the MR consultant and MOH technical team and UNICEF will provide all relevant information or documents and support needed for the MR follow up implementation.

Members of the steering committee chaired by MoH/RBC/MCCH and composed by main stakeholders involved in EPI activities will be consulted to review process and reports on consultant deliverables.

Qualification and Requirements

Candidate should possess following:

• Advanced university degree in Medecine and Public Heath with 7 years of relevant work experience, particularly in the planning an implementation of SIA and other large-scale/national campaigns, additional certificate in immunization is an added advantage
• Excellent planning, monitoring and evaluation skills, and ability to oversee projects
• Skills in writing, production of analytical & succinct notes on programmatic issues
• Proficiency in use of computer, including Excel and generation of graphs and charts
• Familiar to working  with UNICEF and UN agencies
• Fluency in English, and fluency in French will be an added value

Good interpersonal and negotiation skills

Supervision

The consultant will work closely with the health team/UNICEF Health Officer in charge of immunization services, MoH/EPI team and UNICEF ESARO Specialist under the overall supervision of the Chief of Child Survival and development, UNICEF Rwanda. The evaluation of the consultant shall be completed based on the timely submission of the deliverable, accuracy and quality of the product delivered.

 Terms and conditions

1. The Consultant will be reimbursed the airfare ticket by the most direct flights in economy class from the recruitment place to the duty station and return.
2. While on official mission in Rwanda, in case of field travel, necessitating an overnight stay, you will be reimbursed based on a submitted voucher/claim approved by your supervisor of out of pocket expenses associated with the travel but not exceeding DSA prevailing UN rate for that location.
3. Payment in US Dollar will be based on deliverable
4. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines
5. All materials developed by the consultant will remain the copyright of UNICEF and that UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in future.

 How to apply:

Qualified candidates are requested to submit a Letter of interest and the proposed lump sum fee in US$ for the consultancy (The lump sum should include the consultancy fees, living allowances and travel cost). CV, UN Personal History Form (P11) and references from previous consultancies emailed to UNICEF Country Office. In their Letter of Interest, candidates should highlight to which of the consultancies they are applying, previous work experience relevant to the assignment, the attributes that make them suitable, their proposed approach to the assignment and their anticipated fee for the assignment.

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.