Individual Consultant - International Consultancy to support development of Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health.

UNICEF Maldives country office is seeking an international consultant to co-develop the National Strategy on Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health in the Maldives (RMNCAH) for 2020-2025, along with the UNFPA consultant, who will lead the RMNCAH formulation process.

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ADVERTISEMENT - International Consultancy to support development of Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health.

Purpose of assignment & Background:

Maldives has made significant progression reducing child and infant mortality. The MDG target of reducing child mortality has already been achieved, though the progress in reducing mortality during the neonatal period has been relatively modest. In this regard, Infant and Child Mortality Rates fell steeply during the 1980s and 1990s. Under 5 mortality rate is 10 per 1000 live births and infant mortality rate is 8 per 1000 live birth (Maldives Health Profile, 2016). A greater challenge for further reduction in infant mortality now lies with reducing neonatal death rate. Child morbidity has seen significant improvements, however, dengue, diarrheal diseases, acute respiratory infections (ARI) continue to cause significant morbidity among children and adults. A strong focus and investment in the childhood immunization programme since has enabled very high vaccination coverage, reaching 93% for all EPI vaccines in 2012. However, currently, the immunization programme is facing significant challenges, including capacity gaps, logistics and cold chain issues.

The health care delivery system of Maldives is organized into a four-tier referral system with the island level health facilities referring patients to higher level health facilities in the atolls, regions and to central level depending upon the need and service availability. Hence, basic health care services are available on all 187 inhabited islands.  The universal health insurance scheme covers the cost of health expenditure through Aasandha. The Health Master Plan (2016 to 2025) aligned with the SDG goals recognizes the importance given on maternal health, child health and nutrition, adolescent health and reproductive health.

A Health Master Plan (2016 -2025) provides overarching directions on the health care agenda of the country. In 2015, with UNICEF's technical support, the National Child Health Strategy (2016 - 2020) was developed. Currently, the need for an integrated strategy from a life course approach has been agreed as the way forward. UNICEF, WHO and UNFPA country offices are all committed to support development of this next generation strategy.  An integrated strategy on reproductive, maternal, new born, child and adolescent health  will support to outline key actions to improve child and adolescent health for coming years, taking into account the current situation, achievements, lessons learnt and the gaps in the health system as well as social determinants of health, in order to advance survival, health, nutrition, development and wellbeing of pregnant women and children in the Maldives.

In this regard, UNICEF is seeking an international consultant to co-develop the National Strategy on Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health in the Maldives(RMNCAH) for 2020-2025, along with the UNFPA consultant, who will lead the RMNCAH formulation process.

What are the objectives to which the consultancy is related?

The purpose of the assignment is to provide technical expertise and support to co-develop the National Strategy on Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health in the Maldives (RMNCAH) for 2020-2025.

The specific objectives are to:

1. To provide a situation update on the health maternal, new born, child and adolescents of the country, and key indicators
2. to develop the new born, child health and adolescent components of the integrated national reproductive, maternal, new born, child and adolescent health strategy
3. To support formulate the action plan for the national RMNCAH strategy.

Duty station: Consultant will be based in the Health Protection Agency, with travel to island for consultations on a need basis.

Supervisor: Programme Specialist for Health & Nutrition, UNICEF Maldives will provide support and supervision.

Major tasks to be Accomplished:

The consultant will work in coordination with technical lead (from UNFPA) under the guidance of the UNICEF supervisor.

1. In coordination with the lead consultant conduct a desk review and conduct stakeholder consultations. The review process shall consider the current situation, achievements, lessons learnt and the gaps in the health system from a child health perspective, as well as briefly touch upon the social determinants of health
2. Based on the review and assessment, develop a Situation update on the health maternal, new born, child and adolescents of the country, with updates on key child health and ENAP indicators
3. With the lead consultant, develop a draft outline of the RMNCAH strategy. Consultant is responsible for developing the new born and child components as well as broader adolescent health components from a life-course approach. Nutrition, ECD and gender lenses to be integrated in the sections.
4. Together with the team leader, facilitate a stakeholder consultation workshop to identify priority areas for maternal, new born, child and adolescent health. Incorporate the feedback.
5. With the team lead, and based on the strategy document, formulate an action plan for the national RMNCAH strategy.
6. Together with team lead, finalize the strategy documents.

Estimated duration of contract: It is estimated that the project will take approximately 20 working days between September 2019 - November 2019

Official travel involved: Travel to Maldives required (September / October 2019)

Qualifications or specialized knowledge and/or experience required

• Advanced university degree in Medicine/ Public Health in area of child and adolescent health.
• At least 5 years professional work experience at the national and international levels in planning and programming in public health, child survival, health, nutrition, development and care, and adolescent health and development. Past work in UNICEF undertaking similar assignments will be an asset.
• Extensive working experience in mother and child health and nutrition area,
• Strong and proven level of expertise in public health planning or health system strengthening.
• Work experience and/or technical knowledge of RNMCAH programmes in an international context.
• Demonstrated high level of communication skills. Must be able to manage diverse view points and work in demanding situations.
• Excellent level of professional English.
• Excellent drafting skills and ability to synthesize complex information and issues. Strong analytical and conceptual thinking.  Ability to organize and plan complex work following the established timeframes.
• Proven ability to work in teams, past work in similar capacity of working alongside another consultant will be an asset.

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.

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.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Deadline for Application: 25^th August, 12:00 pm(West Asia Standard Time)

Application link:

https://secure.dc7.pageuppeople.com/apply/671/gateway/Default.aspx?c=apply&sJobIDs=525748&SourceTypeID=796&sLanguage=en-us 

Advert link on website:

http://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/525748?lApplicationSubSourceID=

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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