International Consultancy (For Non Zambians) - Logistimo and Routine Temperature Monitoring (RTMs) Devices Roll Out Assessment

UN Jobs, Relief Web, UN Job List, UNICEF Website

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, ....

The UNICEF Programme in Cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) is designed to address and mitigate the triple threat of poverty the country’s children face, while responding to the needs with interventions addressing the multiple causative factors.

In response to the combination these threats involve the Programme supports national efforts to improve service delivery in the key areas of: child health and nutrition and HIV and AIDS, quality basic education, water, sanitation and hygiene education, child protection and social policy, advocacy and communication. 

To find out more about UNICEF’s work in Zambia, please visit https://www.unicef.org/zambia/. 

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of the Consultancy

The overall goal of this consultancy is to assess the performance and utilisation of Logistimo and Routine Temperature Monitoring (RTMs) Devices and to make policy recommendations

Location

The consultancy will be based in Lusaka with field visits to selected districts.

Duration

40 working days

Reporting Line

Chief, Health & Nutrition, UNICEF

Background of the Consultancy

Findings from the Effective Vaccine Management Assessment conducted in 2015, noted significant improvements in the majority of critical indicators with the exception of those related to vaccine management. Challenges included un-updated records, unexplained stock adjustments, irregular stock counts, inconsistences in temperature and vaccine vial monitors (VVM) monitoring and absence of essential information on vaccine records.[i]

In response to this, the ministry introduced in 2015 and 2017, a web-based  vaccine management tool (Logistimo) and a wireless temperature monitoring system for cold chain equipment (CCE) - Routine Temperature Monitoring (RTMs) Devices (model Fridge-Tag 3) respectively. Logistimo is currently being used for real time stock visibility and to monitor stock movement of vaccines, whereas Fridge-tag3 transmits data and provides real-time temperature alerts through audio alarms (also visible on the LCD display of the device) and SMS (text messages). Fridge –tag3 is capable of data integration with Logistimo and currently utilizing the Logistimo platform.

Logistimo is operational at National, all Provincial and District Vaccine Stores and selected Health Facilities.). Fridge –tag3 is being piloted in 23 selected Health Facilities in two Districts (Livingstone and Mambwe) only and at the two district vaccine stores.

It is envisioned that further roll out of Logistimo to all health facilities will improve efficiencies in the immunisation supply chain by ensuring the availability of vaccines and safe injection materials.

The effective use of Logistimo will:

1. provide real time visibility of stock status and implore necessary corrective measures on time.
2. enable the user to efficiently manage the immunisation supply chain and use the information for decision making.

In addition, the country envisions a full roll out of the RTMs noting that it is essential to administer potent vaccine in order to trigger an immune response that will protect the vaccinated client. Vaccines are sensitive biological products that can be damaged to varying extents by exposure to freezing temperatures, to heat and to light; once vaccine potency is lost, it cannot be regained. In order to maintain vaccine quality, it is essential to monitor the temperature of vaccines throughout the supply chain. Effective monitoring and record-keeping achieves the following objectives:

1. verification that vaccine storage temperatures are within the acceptable ranges of +2°C to +8°C in cold rooms and vaccine refrigerators and -25°C to -15°C in freezer rooms and vaccine freezers;
2. detection of out-of-range storage temperatures so that corrective action can be taken on time;
3. detection of out-of-range transport temperatures so that corrective action can be taken
4. continuous remote temperature monitoring even at times when the health worker is unavailable/not on site.

Well-maintained records can be used to assess the quality of the vaccine supply chain, monitor the performance of cold chain equipment over time and demonstrate compliance with good storage and distribution practices.[ii]

The CCEOP Application is expected to be the platform that will facilitate expansion of the use of RTMs.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Individual must have:

  1. Education

  Master`s Degree (or equivalent) in Public Health, Epidemiology, Supply Chain Management, Logistics or related field with developed statistics and analytical skills.

  2. Work experience
  • Minimum of eight years of work experience in public health, with at least five years related to immunisation supply chain systems and vaccine management.  Immunisation logistics will be added advantage.
  • Demonstrated experience in using qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis tools such.
  • Previous experience with Ministry of Health immunisation programs
  • Excellent skills in organizing, communication, reporting and presentation
  3. Language/s

       Fluency in English required (fluency local languages- added advantage)

  4. Should be available to take up consultancy at short notice

ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES

• Interviews if necessary indicating for which experts/position (in general, the evaluation of experts is conducted on the basis of their CVs).
• Whenever possible, bidder should be requested to provide an all-inclusive cost in the financial proposal.  Bidder should be reminded to factor in all cost implications for the required service / assignment
• When travel is expected as part of the assignment, it shall be clearly specified (e.g. location, duration, number of journeys …etc.) in the TOR.   Bidder shall be required to include the estimate cost of travel in the financial proposal.  It is essential to clarify in the TOR that i) travel cost shall be calculated based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of travel and ii) costs for accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed applicable daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates for UNICEF.
• Unexpected travels shall also be treated as above.
• Resources and facilities to be provided by UNICEF; e.g. access to printer, office space…etc.

POLICY BOTH PARTIES SHOULD BE AWARE OF

• Under the consultancy agreements, a month is defined as 22 working days, and fees are prorated accordingly.  Consultants are not paid for weekends or public holidays.
• Consultants are not entitled to payment of overtime.  All remuneration must be within the contract agreement.
• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the consultant or Contractor.
• For international consultants outside the duty station, signed contracts must be sent by fax or email. 
• No consultant may travel without a signed contract and authorisation to travel prior to the commencement of the journey to the duty station.
• Unless authorised, UNICEF will buy the tickets of the consultant.  In some cases, the consultant may be authorised to buy their travel tickets and shall be reimbursed at the “most economical and direct route” but this must be agreed beforehand.
• Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget.
• Consultant will be required to sign the Health statement for consultants/Individual contractor prior to taking up the assignment, and to document that they have appropriate health insurance, including Medical Evacuation.
• The Form 'Designation, change or revocation of beneficiary' must be completed by the consultant.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The technical competencies required for this post are….

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.