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For every child, Results

Vacancy Announcement: Consultant

Consultancy Title: Consultant to provide technical support for triple elimination and closing the treatment gap in children living with HIV

Section/Division/Duty Station: Health HIV/AIDS Section – PG – NYHQ

Duration: 1 May 2024 – 31 July 2024

Home/ office Based: REMOTE

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection, and development. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations, and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Purpose of Activity/Assignment: To support UNICEFs engagement with the Global Alliance to end AIDS in Children through global and country level technical assistance to accelerate paediatric HIV testing, close the treatment gap for children living with HIV and advance implementation of Triple Elimination implementation.

Scope of Work:

The Global Alliance to end AIDS in children by 2030 is co-convened by UNICEF WHO and UNAIDS together with other community and civil society partners. The Alliance is currently in Phase 1 of a 3-phase 9-year long initiative to eliminate vertical transmission of HIV and end paediatric and adolescent mortality from HIV by closing the treatment gap for children.

Linked to the work of the Global Alliance, over the past year there has been a growing push to advance the HIV EMTCT agenda through promotion of “Triple Elimination” of vertical transmission of HIV syphilis and hepatitis B. Although there is global interest including from governments and donors and a recently developed WHO framework for triple elimination, in many cases, countries lack the implementation guidance and technical support to roll out Triple Elimination.

Under the supervision of the Decade 1 Senior Advisor within the HIV/AIDS section, the consultant will support three key areas of work:

1. At the global level, support a technical working group to develop a detailed outline of a new tool: The Implementation Guide to Triple Elimination of Vertical Transmission of HIV Syphilis and Hepatitis B
2. At the regional level support data reporting by Alliance countries to maintain country data snapshots highlighting progress in elimination of vertical transmission and paediatric treatment coverage
3. At country level, provide expert advice and technical assistance to targeted Alliance countries, which may include Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Mozambique, to identify bottlenecks and implement solutions to increase paediatric treatment coverage, including through enhanced paediatric case finding and linkage to treatment, using UNICEFs Paediatric HIV Case Finding Technical Brief.

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Deliverable 1 – Done by May 31, 2024

• TWG created.
• Schedule of organising calls established
• Timeline for creation of Triple EMTCT guidance developed

Deliverable 2 – Done by June 30, 2024 and July 31, 2024 respectively

• 1st Draft developed
• Final outline developed

Deliverable 3 – Done by June 15, 2024 and July 31, 2024 respectively

• Roll out plan and GANTT chart established for selected diagnostic/case finding interventions in each of the 6 target countries
• 2 technical support calls for each of target countries. Total of 12 calls documented.
• 2 field visits as needed

Deliverable 4 – Done by July 31, 2024

• Data dashboards updated in all 12 Alliance countries.

Deliverable 5 – Done by July 31, 2024

• 1 ppt slide deck on Alliance updates
• 1 short brochure/handout.

Qualifications

Education:

A Master’s degree in health, public policy, health systems strengthening, clinical medicine, paediatrics, maternal-child health services.

Work experience:

• A minimum of fifteen (15) years of progressively responsible work experience at the international level in public health, including in country technical support
• Experience with development of policy guidance through consultation and consensus

Competencies/Knowledge:

• Excellent communication, organisational and inter-personal skills with an emphasis on cultural sensitivity to working with stakeholders in country.
• Strong preference for candidates based in sub-Saharan Africa

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF’s e-Recruitment system and

• Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal that will include/ reflect:
  • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability.
• Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
• At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
• Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.

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

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: Here

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: 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.