Summary
Date Posted: Thursday, January 27, 2022 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
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, a fair chance
Uganda is one of the over 190 countries and territories around the world where we work to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination place in a child’s path. Together with the Government of Uganda and partners we work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the objectives of the Uganda National Development Plan, and the planned outcomes of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework.

Visit this link for more information on Uganda Country Office https://www.unicef.org/uganda/
How can you make a difference?

Background
The Ministry of Health of Uganda has been in emergency mode for COVID-19 emergency preparedness since January 2020. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Uganda in 21 March 2020, the Government has implemented economic, social and public health measures to slow the spread of coronavirus in Uganda and reduce the pressure on health care systems. Among others these included: Temporary closure of borders (except cargo), national lock-down during March-May 2020, nightly curfew, closure of schools since end of March 2020, a limited package of economic and social measures to support the businesses and the poorest and reallocation of the national budget to support the response with additional funding allocated to health, transport, ICT and few other Ministries/sectors at the forefront of the response activities. The Ministry of Health responded by implementing a comprehensive package of Public Health Measures, involving enhanced surveillance, testing, contract tracing, quarantine, setting up of COVID-19 treatment units, promoting respiratory hygiene, including masking, hand washing with soap and physical distancing.
The Uganda COVID-19 National Response Plan builds on the WHO-led Country Response Plan and significant investments which have been made over the past years in supporting national health systems and lessons learned from the earlier health emergencies (e.g., Ebola Virus Disease outbreaks). The response strategy also draws on robust risk communication networks, including for the most vulnerable communities in rural remote areas and refugee hosting districts. The National Response Plan provides a framework for coordinated actions and control of COVID-19 and is operationalized through a multi-sectoral implementation approach involving multiple Ministries (Health, Education, Water and Environment, Gender, Transport, ICT etc.), Departments & Agencies (MDAs), Development Partners, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), private sector entities and other stakeholders.
As of 27th December 2021, a total cumulative of 137,270 COVID-19 cases were confirmed among Uganda residents, with 3,287 deaths. Despite the recent increase in new cases in December 2021, Uganda still has one of the lowest incidences of COVID-19 per capita in Africa. As of 26 December, of the 32,696,772 all vaccine doses received in the country, 11,377,067 (35%) have been administered. Of the national target of 22 million, 3,704,421 (17%) individuals are fully vaccinated. While 100% of health workers have been reached, only 53% are fully vaccinated; coverage among teachers, security officers, people with comorbidities, and the elderly remains very low with only 32% of teachers are fully vaccinated despite their vaccination status being a marker for schools reopening on 10th January 2022. The Ministry of health with support from partners is currently implementing an accelerated mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign to address slow uptake is still observed among priority groups.
The UNICEF Uganda Country Office (UCO) COVID-19 support is aligned to the Uganda National Preparedness and Response Plan with the main objective of strengthening the national capacity to prevent and reduce morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19, including among the displaced population across the refugee hosting districts in Uganda. The UCO has been assisting the Government COVID-19 response, with a focus on UNICEF areas of comparative advantage including,
Support COVID-19 emergency response with focus on enhancing coordination; risk communication and community engagement; procurement and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, Personal Protective Equipment and WASH supplies; and mental health, psychosocial support, child protection and prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation and gender-based violence; safe reopening of schools in the context of COVID-19.
Support to prevent and address the secondary impact of the outbreak on children, women and their facilities from the most vulnerable communities, which includes: monitoring the impact of containment measures and supporting access to essential services such as Health, Nutrition, HIV, WASH, Child Protection; mitigating the interruption of schooling by supporting remote learning options and preparing schools for reopening and monitoring the impact of containment measures, analysis and technical advice on the social protection measures to address financial and livelihood hardship.

Purpose of the assignment
To ensure continued alignment, relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of UNICEF support, the CSD section requires additional capacity to ensure UNICEF presence in the national and UN coordination forums; to coordinate the various UNICEF inputs provided through the multiple pillars and sub-committees; to ensure regular information flows internally within UNICEF, with the Government, UN and other development partners; and to monitor UNICEF inputs and contribution to results. In addition, timely and comprehensive information is also essential for reporting and resource mobilisation efforts. With this in mind, CSD section will recruit a COVID-19 consultant to support coordination, planning, resource mobilisation, monitoring and reporting functions of UNICEF-supported COVID-19 response activities in Uganda.

The key responsibilities will include:
• Monitor, analyse and package COVID-9 data for various internal and external uses and support the Health Manager and Chief of CSD with the regular analytic updates, including the UCO COVID-19 and multiharzard situation updates.
• Support communication and reporting requirements to MOH/WHO, UNICEF, donors. Collaborate with WASH, Communications, C4D, Nutrition, BEAD, PSS-CP, Health and M&E units of UCO, contribute to office M&E mechanisms for performance results tracking, monitor coverage, collate and summarize achievements against designated indicators and document as required.
• Support development, review and update of the 2022 UNICEF COVID-19 costed response plan.
• Collaborate with the various outputs and sections in the UNICEF Country office namely, health, nutrition, WASH, communication, C4D, protection, education, supply, field coordination to monitor the implementation of activities under the UCO COVID-19 Response Plan.
• Provide technical support to UCO field office staff and partners including contributing to the development of or sharing relevant standards, protocols, guidelines and training materials for COVID-19 response.
• Identify bottlenecks hindering the delivery of critical life-saving interventions under the UCO COVID-19 response plan, and the delivery of Essential Package of Health Services in COVID-19 context and suggest alternative options/solutions for addressing implementation bottlenecks. Help maintain the COVID-19 implementation monitoring/action-tracker for CSD and follow-up on action points.
• Attend the national coordination mechanisms with focus on COVID-19 incident management team meetings, its coordination subcommittee and other pillar subcommittees as feasible, as well as UN coordination meetings. Document and communicate key issues to Health Manager, Chief CSD and other relevant units in the office, highlighting those of relevance to UNICEF and follow up on actions requiring UNICEF attention.
• Support planning and participate in rapid needs assessments and joint visits with MoH, WHO and other partners field visits to assess the situation and response effectiveness with focus on UNICEF areas of accountability.
• Establish and maintain a knowledge management system that consolidates the MoH and partner programmatic updates, analyses and reports on implementation and monitoring of the 2021 UNICEF COVID-19 Response Plan.
• Support the internal UCO COVID-19 coordination and communication by preparing situational briefs on evolution of COVID-19, updates on the Government response and support from WHO, CDC and other partners.
• Prepare inputs and draft funding appeals and project proposals for resource mobilization. Provide inputs and draft sections for the relevant COVID-19 donor reports.

Scope of Work
As part of the 2022 workplan of UNICEF Uganda Country office (UCO), the scope of work for this technical assistance will include the following:
Active participation at all relevant national coordination mechanisms with focus on COVID-19 incident management team meetings, its coordination subcommittee and other pillar sub-committees as feasible, as well as UN coordination meetings, with:-
• Information/Knowledge synthesis, documentation and coherent communication of key issues to Health Manager, Chief CSD and other relevant outputs/sections within UCO highlighting those of relevance to UNICEF with active follow-up on all actions requiring UNICEF attention.
• Maintain updated COVID-19 folders on collaborative site shared with UCO EMT members.
• After each assessment/ joint mission, establish and maintain a knowledge management system that consolidates the MoH and partner programmatic updates, analyses and reports on implementation and monitoring of the 2022 UNICEF COVID-19 Response Plan.

Support for the development, review and update of the 2022 UNICEF COVID-19 costed response plan and this will include:
The six-monthly progress review
The updated plan
The annual progress review

Collaboration with the various outputs and sections within the UNICEF Country office that is, health, nutrition, WASH, communication, C4D, protection, education, supply, field coordination, zonal offices, to effectively monitor the implementation of activities under the 2022 UCO COVID-19 Response Plan including:-
• Routine identification of bottlenecks hindering the delivery of critical life-saving interventions under the UCO COVID-19 response plan, and the delivery of Essential Package of Health Services in COVID-19 context.
• Development of alternative options/solutions for addressing implementation bottlenecks.
• Provision of technical assistance to maintain the COVID-19 implementation monitoring/action-tracker for CSD and follow-up on action points.

Support the internal UCO COVID-19 coordination and communication, including:-
• Preparation of situational briefs on evolution of COVID-19, updates on the Government response and support from WHO, CDC and other partners
• Preparation of COVID-19 situation and response updates for UCO EMT meetings prior to the internal UCO EMT meetings
• Routinely monitor, analyze and package COVID19 data for various internal and external uses
• Support Health Manager and chief CSD with the regular updates, including the UCO COVID-19 and multihazard situation updates.
• Support to communication and reporting requirements to MOH/WHO, UNICEF, donors.
• Collaboration with WASH, Communications, C4D, Nutrition, BEAD, PSS-CP, Health and M/E outputs/sections of UCO to contribute to office mechanisms for performance results tracking,
• Routinely monitor coverage, collate and summarize achievements against designated indicators and document as required.
• Prepare COVID-19 updates for HAC situation updates

Provide input for funding proposals and donor reports
Prepare draft funding appeals and project proposals for resource mobilization.
Provide input and draft sections for the relevant COVID-19 donor reports.

The consultant will report to the Health and HIV Manager at UNICEF Uganda Country Office
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
• Advanced university degree in Epidemiology or related fields
• At least eight years of relevant experience working in the areas of public health emergencies with focus on data analysis, knowledge synthesis and management
• Comprehensive technical knowledge and skills for disease outbreak response
• Proven ability to manage complex partnerships
• High level of initiative and ability to navigate challenges in prioritization to complete tasks and deliverables in a timely manner is essential.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English with strong interpersonal and presentation skills.
• Strong qualitative and quantitative analytic skills and report writing skill
• Fluency in written and spoken English
• Ability to provide quality products, with minimum supervision and to meet tight deadlines
• Ability to work with government counterparts and other partners at regional, district and sub-district level

Others:
• Excellent facilitation skills, negotiation skills and oral and written communication skills
• A repertoire of a wide range of facilitation approaches
• Strong qualitative and quantitative analytical skills
• Knowledge of the Uganda context is an added advantage
• Knowledge of UNICEF/GoU Adolescent Health programme is an added advantage
• Ability to work quickly and effectively in a multi-cultural environment
• Familiarity and/or experience with UNICEF and the UN system is desired
• High proficiency in English both written and verbal is required

Conditions:
• The consultancy will commence after signing of the contract.
• No contract may commence unless the consultant provides a certificate of completion of a mandatory course on “Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse”. A certificate to be submitted with the signed contract should have been obtained in the last three months.
• The SSA consultancy will include the consultancy fee and DSA.
• Under the consultancy agreements, a month is defined as 21 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
• The consultants will be based at the UNICEF Country Office.
• The consultant will use their personal computers and will be facilitated in case they have to do any printing or photocopying.
• Transport will be arranged as per approved TAs.
• A consultant will be paid monthly upon presentation of a deliverable report (see deliverable table 4 above)
• Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities nor authority on UNICEF budget and other resources.
• Consultants 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, if applicable.
• The Form ‘Designation, change or revocation of beneficiary’ must be completed by the consultant upon arrival, at the HR Section.
• Clearance from DHR will be required for former UNICEF staff
• Clearance from the Government required for civil servants

Application Procedure/Call for Proposals
Interested candidates are required to submit a technical proposal on how they intend to approach the work. The proposal should include a timeline, and methodology, based on the Terms of Reference. The proposal must also include detailed CV of the consultant, as well as a financial proposal, clearly indicating daily rate for professional fees. The financial proposal must be all-inclusive of all costs (consultancy fees and where applicable air fares, airport transfers, daily living expenses). This is an international level consultancy and competitive market rates should apply.

Evaluation of Candidate:
The consultant will be competitively selected from a list of applicants based on their past experience of doing similar work (extensive experience in writing donor reports, in compiling and editing annual reports for various UNICEF offices).

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 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.
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.

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

Education Requirement: No Requirements

Job Experience: No Requirements

Work Hours: 8

Job application procedure
Advertised: 24 Jan 2022 E. Africa Standard Time
Deadline: 07 Feb 2022 E. Africa Standard Time
Apply at: https://jobs.unicef.org/en-us/job/547871/consultancy-for-health-emergency-to-coordinate-unicef-support-for-the-covid19-response-kampala-uganda-7-months 

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