Officer for MNCH-related South-South Cooperation Programs

Details

Mission and objectives

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress.
UNICEF and China have a long history of collaboration. In 1947, China became the first country in Asia to welcome a partnership with UNICEF, and our first programme provided emergency relief services to children. Between 1948 and 1951, our work in China included child feeding, as well as training to build capacity for maternal and child health care, sanitation and first aid. This training programme later influenced China’s “barefoot doctor” rural healthcare system. Our partnerships in China resumed in 1979. Since that time, we have contributed to many of China’s most significant developments for children.

Context

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and several complementary frameworks highlight South-South and triangular cooperation as vital to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Given UNICEF’s global footprint, engagement in developing local solutions, and multi-stakeholder partnerships, the organization is well positioned to support and promote South-South and triangular cooperation for children’s rights and well-being, through brokering and building partnerships for knowledge exchange and technical assistance, supporting cross-country networks and partner-ships, promoting technical cooperation between governments, and increasing focus on children in development cooperation.
China, in cooperation with UNICEF, has been providing support to countries through its Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund (GDF). The GDF seeks to accelerate countries’ progress towards the SDGs and towards specific targets in areas of universal health care, education and child protection. In 2020 and 2021, UNICEF worked with governments and a range of partners in 15 African countries to implement 17 separate projects funded from the GDF. In partnership with national and local authorities, UNICEF offices were able to renovate and revitalize hospitals, maternity wards and special infant care clinics, in line with proven best practices. UNICEF brought new medical equipment, essential medicines and therapeutic foods to remote facilities, with many facilities receiving such items for the first time.
Meanwhile, UNICEF China office also collaborates with the National Health Commission to strengthen the capacity of Chinese partner agencies to deliver high-quality MNCH training programmes through SSC platform, which including (1) forge a flagship technical exchange platform which brings together Chinse institutes and other international institutes with experience in MNCH and SSC; (2) design standardized training courses and curriculum connecting the demands of recipient countries with China’s comparative advantage in MNCH, so as to improve the capacity of national and local policymakers in partner countries to use evidence to inform the development and revision of policies, guidelines and tools to equitably deliver high impact interventions for MNCH; (3) improve the capacity of Chinese partner agencies with relevant knowledge, skills and tools to effectively deliver MNCH foreign aid programme in other countries. In a single year of 2023, over 400 health workers and managers from nearly 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America have completed 10 trainings through the flagship technical exchange platform. Furthermore, UNICEF-supported training resources were adopted in four follow-up trainings, attended by 218 health workers and managers from 12 African and Asian countries.

Task description

In 2024-2025, the priorities of SSC on MNCH in Child Health and Development (CHD) Section of UNICEF China are identified as providing technical and/or financial support to (1) the design, launch and implementation of the multilateral cooperation programme on MNCH in Africa; (2) the development of flagship training curriculums based on experiences generated from UNICEF pilot programmes in China, such as maternal nutrition, early essential newborn care (EENC) and early childhood development (ECD); (3) the design, implementation and coordination of MNCH-related international aid programmes which are funded by provincial governments. In this context, UNICEF office is seeking a National UN Volunteer Specialist, to support the deliver of SSC-MNCH related programmes.
Under the primary supervision of Health Officer, as well as guidance of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Specialist, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
1. Familiarize with UNICEF SSC-MNCH related programmes by reading programme documents and publications, attending related meetings and joining field visits etc.;
2. Support to the design and launch of SSC-MNCH programmes.
3. Support to the review and provide inputs to technical products developed by SSC-MNCH related programmes;
4. Contribute to the design, data collection and report development for programme-related assessment, monitoring and/or evaluation;
5. Provide coordination and administrative support to daily management of SSC-MNCH related programmes, such as online and offline events, translation supports, advocacy campaigns, field visits and consultations;
6. Provide technical and administrative support on knowledge products management, such as the development of programme advocacy materials;
7. Perform other duties as required by the Section.
Furthermore, UNVs are encouraged to:
1. Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and taking an active part in UNV activities (for instance, IVD celebration events);
2. Get acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
3. Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking;
4. Contribute news and articles on field experiences and submit them to UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
5. Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UNV volunteers;
6. Promote online volunteering and encourage individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering Service whenever technically feasible.
Results/Expected Output:
1. At least one flagship training curriculum (EENC and ECD) are developed, based on experiences generated from UNICEF-supported programmes.
2. Satisfactory support is provided to the development of proposals, implementation plans and reports of relevant programmes, and the donor report is drafted within the deadline.
3. Satisfactory support is provided to the development of technical documents, which including but not limited to standards, criteria, and training products.
4. Valuable inputs are provided to the development of protocol and tools for needs assessment, programme monitoring and evaluation framework, and related reports.
5. Successful coordination and administrative support to programme daily management, online and offline events, advocacy campaigns, and consultations, etc.
6. High quality translation of relevant documents from Chinese to English and vice- versa are provided.
7. Valuable technical and administrative support on knowledge products management are pro-vided.
8. Other duties performed as required by the Section is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment.
9. A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.