Consultant for Urban Immunization with a focus on Zero dose in Nigeria-Abuja, Nigeria (168 working days )- remote/office based

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, health

In Nigeria, UNICEF works in a complex humanitarian and development setting to fulfill and protect children’s rights in partnership with the government, civil society, children, and families.  UNICEF Nigeria is one of the largest UNICEF Country Offices globally – click the link to learn more about UNICEF in Nigeria: https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/

How can you make a difference? 

Background:

Rapid urbanization presents an urgent challenge for the world’s low- and middle-income countries. Over half of the world’s population (3.9 billion people) currently lives in a city. By 2050, the number is expected to increase to 6.3 billion, with over 90% of the growth occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Six of the 10 countries with the highest urbanization rates in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa, as people flock to cities for economic opportunities, education, and social services. However rapid urban growth causes many interrelated challenges, including overextended resources, substandard services, and an increased probability of social unrest. The children of rural-urban migrant families in low- and middle-income countries are less likely to be fully immunized than those of urban non-migrants and the general population.
As urban areas continue to grow, informal settlements or slums develop and are most times unknown legally. These settlements are comprised of an inter-mix of social groups which is less common in rural areas. Socio-economic development has not always followed rapid urbanization with some pockets or settings within urban areas poorer than much rural areas.

Although immunization coverage rates are usually higher in urban areas than in rural areas, evidence shows the largest number of un/under-immunized children often reside in urban slums. Further, urban slum areas lack access to basic services and are densely populated and therefore creating an additional risk for disease outbreaks and a high-impact environment for immunization. Improving routine immunization in the urban slums is an essential element to address immunization coverage and equity for a few reasons which includes,

 Deliverables:

• Analyze the coverage and equity situation and determine why coverage is lower in specific population groups, geographical areas or pockets of under-immunized children.
• Identify constraints to improving coverage and equity, particularly as they relate to service delivery, supply chain, data, demand promotion, immunization financing, leadership, management & coordination (LMC) and political will and accountability.
• Identify gender-related barriers to vaccination arising from social and financial restrictions to women’s mobility, decision-making and interactions outside the home, and the fact that most primary caregivers are women.
• Based on the findings, identify, and develop pro-equity strategies and interventions and resource mobilize to support implementation in country plans.
• Contextualized framework, narrative and country mission for the urban immunization developed with a focus on zero dose in Nigeria.
• Brief of the results of the CEA to be presented to the Equity Reference Group for Immunization and shared for comment with colleagues at country, regional and global level).
• A plan of action for recommended materials and products (domestic resource mobilization, tools, dashboards, evidence sharing and key messages) needed for country-level decision-making following engagement with immunization technical working groups, committees and the private sector.

To view the full job description, please refer to the attached… TOR Urban Immunization Consultant Deliverabel based.pdf

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

• An Advanced university degree (Masters) in health with expertise in immunization.
• Five years of work experience in Health/Immunization and development programmes.
• Solid technical knowledge of immunization curricula, tools, and resources.
• Demonstrated experience with programme design, development, and implementation, monitoring, and evaluation using both. quantitative and qualitative techniques
• Fluency in English is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

 To view our competency framework, please visit  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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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 be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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. 

Remarks:  

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.