Cold Chain Officer, NOB based in Monrovia, #127312 (For Liberians Only), Temporary (364 days)

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 Champion

Background and Context

Some of the main constraints currently preventing Liberia from achieving a quality immunization programme with universally high coverage rates relate to Cold Chain and Vaccine Logistics. There is limited cold chain infrastructure and capacity for both routine and supplemental immunization. Systematic efforts to identify gaps and address issues in cold chain and vaccine logistics management have been conducted in recent years. Key constraints identified include inadequate and poor infrastructure, HR issues including technical capacities; weak monitoring and data issues; and vaccine management.

These constraints have led to high breakdown rate of cold chain equipment, overstocking and stock outs, inadequate monitoring and supervision, poor management thus hampering improved vaccine coverage. UNICEF intends to address the above-mentioned issues by the development of an integrated and innovative solution that aims to transfer skills to government counterparts to setup up a system for real time information of vaccine stocks and temperature, timely diagnosis and repair of faulty cold chain equipment, etc at the various levels of the EPI programme. Immunization is one of the key result areas (KRC#1) for Liberia Country Office. Towards achieving high immunization coverage while introducing new vaccines through equity-focused vaccination program, the need for effective cold chain management remains vital. The supply chain equipped with reliable cold chain equipment are important in helping the country primarily, to reaching children with potent lifesaving vaccines to protect them against vaccine preventable diseases and subsequently, increase immunization coverage.

According to the most recent inventory of the cold chain, the National Immunization Program has a total of 697 cold chain equipment (CCE) units across the country, which include walk-in cold rooms (WICR), walk-in freezers (WIFR), refrigerators, freezers, ultra-cold chain (UCC) and Arktek devices. Those CCE require frequent routine and corrective maintenance. Currently, the country has a shortage of workforce regarding cold chain maintenance. Therefore, the Cold Chain Officer will train health staff at national, regional, county and health facility level on cold chain maintenance among other supports.

For the specific purpose above UNICEF-Liberia intends to recruit a Cold Chain Officer to be based in Monrovia with frequent travel to the regional stores and counties and s/he is expected to complement the technical HR capacity of the health unit to adequately provide technical expertise in solar refrigerators installation to the Government. The Cold Chain Officer will work under the direct supervision of the Immunization Specialist, Health Unit, CSD Section, UNICEF.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of the TA position

The Cold Chain Officer is expected to provide technical support to install new solar refrigerators and manage the cold chain maintenance and logistics system and to build the capacity of the technicians at national, regional stores and county depots.

Basic objectives of the recruitment.

1. Provide technical support to MOH for the procurement and installation of new refrigerators based on the MOH cold chain replacement plan/schedule.
2. Provide on-job training on the installation, proper use, and preventive maintenance of cold chain equipment for users at the national, regional, county and health facility vaccine stores.
3. Provide technical support to MOH to implement activities related to effective vaccine management (EVM) and other assessment findings

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.

The cold chain officer is expected to complement the technical capacity of the Health Section to support the Government during the installation of over 300 solar refrigerators across the country.

He/she provides technical guidance and management support throughout the programming processes to facilitate the achievement of concrete and sustainable results according to plans, allocation, results-based management (RBM) principles and established standards of performance and accountability. The ideal candidate is accountable for ensuring that UNICEF’s support to the Government of Liberia in terms of strengthening cold chain is carried out in a timely and efficient manner throughout the duration of the post.

The full TOR can be found  FULL ToR_Cold Chain Officer NOB TA.pdf

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

• University degree in one of the disciplines relevant to the following areas: Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Social Sciences, Medicine, Health, Public Health, International Development, or a field relevant to technical assistance in immunization Supply Chain and Logistics (iSCL)
• At least two years previous relevant and proven experience in immunization supply chain strengthening, specifically solar refrigerators installation
• Experience in vaccine and cold chain management
• Ability to produce technically sound, well-written reports in English.
• Experience with Liberian populations or similar development/programming context would be an asset.
• Prior experience with UN and other international organizations and exposure to UNICEF’s work
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

[add the 8^th competency (Nurtures, leads and manages people) for supervisory role]

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. 

Remarks:

[Remove below text if not a child safeguarding elevated risk role]

[If applicable] This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is:a role with direct contact with children, works directly with children, is a safeguarding response role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) applies.

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable [Insert diversity profile] are encouraged to apply.

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

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

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