INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANCY FOR DIAGNOSIS OF THE DIGITAL PREPAREDNESS

UNICEF Romania is seeking an international consultant to assess the digital preparedness of Romania in terms of introducing and promoting digital health solutions and making recommendations for a road-map towards digital health enabling environment

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Background

In the report of European Commission regarding Digital Economy and Society (DESI)[1] Romania scores that last out of the 28 EU member states. The report looks into 5 main areas: connectivity, human capital, use of internet, integration of digital technology and digital public services and in all areas with the exception of the internet speed and cost of internet connection Romania is way behind the EU average. Though the report does not investigate the situation sector by sector in the case of health Romania is also only in preliminary stages of digitalization. Romanian Ministry of Health and National Health Insurance House are starting a process to develop the national digital health strategy.

Justification

The Romanian health system relies on hospital care as the main delivery method, resulting in the overload of infrastructure and excessive focus on expensive curative care at the cost of outpatient and primary care. Community-based health services are not accessible for vulnerable people and are insufficient to cater for the needs of all segments of the population.

Nearly 1 million children (almost 25%) are hospitalized at least 7 days every year, largely because they have limited access to primary and community healthcare. These hospitalizations are often preventable and costly to the system. Low funding and inefficient use of resources limit the effectiveness of the healthcare system, against the background of an increasing shortage of doctors and nurses. In this context, optimization of available capacities in primary health care and health prevention, complemented by digital health solutions it is expected to improve access to and quality of the health services of vulnerable populations.

At the request of Ministry of Health and National Health Insurance House, UNICEF office in coordination with WHO office are supporting the process to develop the National Digital Health Strategy

Purpose

The consultancy is aimed to provide   assessment of the health information systems and provide guidance to prepare for digital solutions in health sector in Romania at national and inter-sectoral level. . The assessment report must be in line with the main areas of digital review conducted by the EU Commission through the DESI report and in line with best practices from EU advanced countries like Estonia, Denmark or Sweden. There is no prescribed format in which such assessment can be performed, and its methodology should aim to result in a set of conclusions leading to recommendations to feed into any possible new Digital Strategy at national level and specific Digital Health Strategy. The assessment shall also include a functional review of the existing policies, implementation structures and mechanisms that are active and recommendations to improve those as well.

Major duties and responsibilities

In close cooperation with the UNICEF Programme Specialist, programme team and partners:

• Desk review of the existing national strategy on digital agenda, health strategy, healthcare policy in Romania and other key documents.
• Propose a methodology for the assessment based on preliminary consultations with key stakeholders (Ministry of Health, National Health Insurance, Ministry of Communication, UNICEF, service providers, patients’ associations)
• Convene a short two-day baseline knowledge sharing workshop for core team and key stakeholders to establish some common understanding on digital health issues and challenges, and the way ahead for the analysis of the current situation.

• Stakeholder mapping and consultation with key stakeholders who are supporting digital health solutions. This will include working with them to:

  • Assess the use of digital technologies for health, including in health information systems at the national and subnational levels, to identify areas of improvement
  • Review the level of digital uptake in the health sector and identify major barriers and bottleneck at the level of health sector
  • Review the level of digital up-take at national inter-sectoral level that are connected and influencing the digital health agenda
• Run a 2 day Validation and development workshop to review and validate the situation analysis and its associated implementation implications,  and then to consider the preparations needed for the next phase of work to develop a Digital  Health Strategy if this is required.
• Outputs from the workshop will include proposals for a series of events that will be organized by UNICEF and national partners to support the strategy development process; findings and recommendations at 2 levels: national inter-sectoral level and health sector level. The recommendations at health sector level, and in the form of a report (detailed below) should be formulated as inputs for the planned Digital Health Strategy.

• Advanced university degree in medical sciences, public health, health management information systems/health informatics or other related fields
• At least 7 years of experience working at international level in health system reform, public health and/or any related field of work, including interaction with various range of stakeholders involved in these areas
• Experience in analysis for policy change or policy formulation in digital agenda and health agenda
• Analytical and conceptual ability. Previous involvement in situation analysis, report writing and formulation of recommendations.
• Ability to make timely and quality judgments and decisions. Planning and monitoring skills; ability to organize work.
• Previous experience with UNICEF or the UN is an advantage
• Fluency in English (written and oral) is required
• Computer skills, including internet navigation and various office applications
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment
• Availability for short in-country travel missions
• Availability for part-time work for 4 months starting January 2020

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.

General conditions: Procedures and Logistics

• Consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Programme Specialist and in close collaboration with the Health Specialist. Decision-making is limited to methods of work and prioritizing project activities in accordance with established weekly/monthly work-plans.
• All the costs related to the travel to Romania and inside Romania will be covered by the Romania UNICEF office based on a plan that will be agreed with the consultant
• Payments will be made per deliverables against a daily fee for maximum 40 consultancy days.
• Please submit your resume and financial offer as per the template attached:  Financial template_Individual consultant_per day.docx
• Note: consultant will sign health statement prior to taking the assignment and the designation form will be completed.

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.