Regional Advisor Polio

The Global Polio Eradication Program is at the forefront of UNICEF equity agenda and envisages a world where no child, regardless of where they live is at risk from the crippling effects of the polio virus.  Despite considerable gains the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission continues in the epidemiological block of Afghanistan and Pakistan and is increasing.  While important gains were made over the period 2019 to 2022, the trajectory of polio transmission in both Pakistan and Afghanistan has recently reversed putting at risks the GPEI goal of declaring the world eradicated from wild polio virus by 2027.  

Given the complex geopolitical and epidemiological context of these remaining endemic areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the urgency to stop polio transmission, UNICEF has determined that it needs to place its regional oversight and support for the two polio programs closer to our teams in the endemic countries.  The Regional Advisor for Polio position will be outposted to Islamabad starting in 2025.  This will facilitate greater insights to the program challenges and context, allow better alignment of support to the GPEI programme and partners in the two countries, and more rapid engagement and support to our two UNICEF country teams.

Reporting to the ROSA Regional Director, your key tasks will be to: 

• Support the planning, implementation and assessment of all UNICEF polio related activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and coordination support and alignment with other ROSA programmatic areas (SBC, Health and Immunization, Nutrition, Gender).
• Represent UNICEF in GPEI regional coordination and oversight bodies for strategic and general view across all areas (access, overall planning, and strategy).
• Provide inputs, with a regional perspective, to the Global Polio Eradication Team, for the GPEIs governance bodies (POB, Strategy Committee, different Programme Support Groups) and for Briefings to Global Management.
• Support HR planning and talent management for Country Offices.
• Act as the main reporting related officer to UNICEF Global and Regional team on  progress of the Polio eradication in the Region(Country level Indicators, Communication outcomes, Impact on Immunization targets, etc) .
• Contribute to the development of the Post Certification Strategy and its roll out for the Region. This includes a plan for the use of polio assets and lessons learned from Polio eradication to improve RI coverages in Polio high-risk areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

These key tasks will specifically include:

• Regional leadership
• Technical Guidance and Support
• GPEI Budgetary Oversight
• Data-driven and results-based management
• Monitoring, evaluation and reporting
• Knowledge management

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

Minimum requirements:

Education:

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Public Health, Social Sciences, Public Administration, Public Policy, Social Development, Community Development, or other relevant disciplines.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of Ten (10) years progressively responsible work experience in planning, programming, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, public health, including vaccine management at national or international levels.
• Experience in developing and establishing policies and strategies in immunization disease control.
• Experience of strategic partnerships in global health or other accelerated initiatives to combat vaccine-preventable diseases.
• Specific experience in providing technical leadership, management advice, and programme support and capacity building on vaccine-preventable disease initiatives is desirable.
• Experience of GPEI and polio eradication programmes is an asset.

Language Requirements: 

• Fluency in English is required.  Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Source: https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/577286