Organization: UN Children’s Fund
Country: Nigeria
Closing date: 06 Apr 2018

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Background:

Nigeria represents less than 1% of the world’s population, yet accounts for 10% of the global burden of infant, child and maternal mortality. Under 5 mortality in the North Zone of Nigeria is very high, with 43 per 1000 live births (LBs) in North central, 33/1000 LBS in the North East and 45/1000 LBS in the North West (MIC 2016).To reduce the childhood illnesses and death from vaccine preventable diseases and strengthen Routine Immunization and Maternal, Newborn and Child Health care in Jigawa and Taraba States, in 2014 the State Governments, Canadian Government and UNICEF went into partnership to address this.

Polio eradication is a corporate priority for UNICEF globally. Nigeria is one of the three remaining countries where polio is still endemic and UNICEF has committed itself in front of partners, donors, and national governments to continue the work on polio eradication until the goal is reached. With the declaration of polio as a public health emergency, UNICEF Nigeria is intensifying its efforts to ensure polio is stopped for good. As part of the ongoing efforts to stop polio, UNICEF and other partners are implementing a project in high risk polio LGAs with particular focus on under-served and hard to reach populations. The project will not only deliver polio vaccines, but expand access to basic primary health care by supporting integrated primary health care mobile outreach activities in about 4,000 hard-to-reach settlements in 6 States – Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Zamfara, Taraba and Jigawa States. In order to achieve this, UNICEF will a) hire, train, equip, supervise and monitor mobile health teams who will deliver integrated primary health care services to these settlements settlements in Niger, Jigawa, Zamfara, Taraba, Kaduna and Katsina States; and b) procure, deliver and track health commodities that form an integrated package of basic primary health care services for hard-to-reach settlements in the 6 States. C) link the HTR to Main Primary Health Care Centers Âd) Support the Implementation of Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM) in hard to reach settlements . The project will rapidly raise poliovirus immunity and help stop poliovirus transmission in Nigeria, while increasing coverage of basic maternal, newborn and child primary health care interventions in the hard-to-reach communities. Baseline and end line assessments, with an end-of-project evaluation, will show the cost-benefits of using a mobile-outreach strategy to provide basic primary health care services to hard-to reach communities. The project management and reporting will be embedded in the national and state polio Emergency Operations Centres. All the above are successfully ongoing.

Specific objectives:

Under the direct supervision of the Technical officer in Abuja together with the health specialist in Bauchi field office; to work with the State Primary Health Care Development Agency; Emergency Operation Center (EOC), and other partners:

Ensure effective delivery and tracking of an integrated package of high impact, basic health services and commodities in quarterly mobile primary health care outreaches to preselected settlements in LGAS Âin the State which will lead to:

reduced risk of poliovirus transmission and improve poliovirus immunity in 0-59 month old children in approximately pre-selected, hard-to-reach and underserved communities in >80% with at least 4 doses of polio vaccine.

Expanded coverage of selected, basic, high impact maternal, newborn and child health interventions Âutilizing both Health facility and community platforms such as Community Health Influencers and Promotors (CHIPS)

benefits, challenges and lessons learnt in implementing integrated mobile outreaches so this may be applied to strengthening primary health care outreach in their respective States.

Major Tasks to be accomplished:

-The state coordinator will report to the National Coordinator, HTR Health Specialist, Abuja and the UNICEF Health Specialist in Bauchi UNICEF Field Office.

-The state coordinator to be deployed to respective states will be responsible for coordination of MNCH activities with the state and polio emergency operations center (EOC) and state level logistics.

-The consultant will supervise the work of the ÂState HTR and ICCM team in the state and be responsible for implementation of the HTR state specific work-plan linked to the One Main PHC and other Community structures

-The consultant will be a member of the state Emergency Operations Centre and work closely with partners in their respective States.

-The consultant is expected to travel up to about 15 days in a month to the clusters, settlements and health facilitates for the purposes of monitoring implementation of the project programme, supply and human resources.

End Product: (e.g. final report, article, document etc):

Detailed monthly implementation work-plan.

Weekly State HTR Data and report on agreed template.

Monthly data and progress report of HTR & ICCM implementation in the State, based on agreed reporting indicators.

Detailed and up to date supply distribution plan and monthly commodity utilization.

Reports of milestones achieved to advance MNCH implementation in their States.

Minimum qualification:

Advanced degree in Health, Social Sciences, or Public Health and university degree or related technical field.

Five years experience working on child survival issues or health projects.

Fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another UN working language an asset.

Knowledge of local working language of the duty station, an asset.

Knowledge of the latest developments and technology in related fields.

Ability to make timely and quality judgments and decisions and very good training skills.

Computer skills, including internet navigation and various office applications.

Demonstrated ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships, both within and outside the organization.

Willingness to travel to remote settlements within the state

Initiative, passion and commitment to UNICEF mission and professional values.

An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.

A minimum of [insert years] of relevant professional experience in

Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

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

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.

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

How to apply:

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 organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=511881

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