Senior Health Adviser – Immunization, PG Health – Immunization (P-5), AU-ACDC, OP to Ethiopia (Temporary Appointment 364days) # 00129346

The Senior Health Adviser will be responsible for the immunization outcome on decreasing zero-dose children, contribute to the other two outcomes on community health and public health emergency and collaborate broadly to support the related supply functions.

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

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For every child, … good health….

Africa CDC: Africa CDC is a specialized technical institution established by the African Union (AU) to support Member States to respond effectively and efficiently to public health threats and outbreaks on the continent. Africa CDC is mandated to support public health initiatives of AU Member States and to strengthen the capacity of African institutions to prevent, detect, control, and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats. Africa CDC has been the AU’s technical lead in the fight against COVID-19 in Africa, coordinating the implementation of the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) and the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative.

UNICEF has established a partnership with Africa-CDC to collaborate on broad spectrum of issues. These include strengthening capacity of the center in areas related to supply and key programme priorities such as immunization strengthening, primary health care and public health emergency.

The Africa CDC-UNICEF partnership aims to achieve the following programme outcomes between 2024-2027.

1. Work with Africa CDC to mobilise resources and provide technical assistance needed to train and deploy 500,000 Community Health Workers over the four-year period,

1. Join hands with ACDC to reignite political commitment for immunization to achieve a 25% decrease in Zero-Dose/unvaccinated children by 2027, and
2. Build the capacity of Africa CDC to provide timely multisectoral public health emergency response and support the implementation of the Joint Emergency Action Plan (JEAP)

How can you make a difference?

The Senior Health Adviser will be responsible for the immunization outcome on decreasing zero-dose children, contribute to the other two outcomes on community health and public health emergency and collaborate broadly to support the related supply functions. The Adviser will provide expert technical advice and guidance to Africa CDC in the establishment and strengthening the capacity of the immunization unit, support AU Member States on immunization systems’ strengthening, tap into the broader UNICEF’s immunization expertise, and facilitate the implementation, monitoring, review and adjustment of immunization activities agreed in the Joint Action Plan (JAP) of Africa CDC and UNICEF. Critical areas of focus will include advice on designing, building and operating the immunization function in ACDC, implementation and monitoring of key flagship initiatives such as the Addis declaration on Immunization and the Big Catch-Up; strengthening vaccine delivery and immunization supply chain systems; enhancing social and behaviour change communication; supporting resource mobilization from donors and advocacy for expanding and ensuring sustainability of domestic funding in support of national immunization programmes. The function further involves capacity building for early detection and response to outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases and enhancing the linkage with the International Coordinating Group (ICG) for vaccines supply. The overall support is intended to improve the capacity of Africa CDC to appropriately and timely respond to the immunization and outbreak response needs of the Member States of the AU, so as to ensure that all children survive and thrive and are able to achieve their full potential.

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

Facilitate the establishment of Africa CDC’s immunization function and support to build its capacity

Particularly, the adviser will

• Work with senior leadership of Africa CDC to design and articulate the strategic priorities and comparative areas of advantage for the immunization and vaccination function in Africa CDC. This will involve aligning the priorities of the unit with the broader strategic ambition of the center and its mandates.
• Engage with the senior leadership and experts of the Africa CDC to refine the proposed structure of the immunization team, articulate the required areas of competence, develop TORs of key personnel and firm up its strategic approach to planning, implementation and monitoring at headquarters of Africa CDC and its Regional coordination centers (RCCs). This will also include guidance and creating the linkages with various coordination mechanisms within the region such as the Regional Working Groups and EPI Managers’ forums.
• Support to recruiting and onboarding of the immunization staffs (as required by the center), build the technical skills of new staffs and creating the required links with key global and regional platforms.
• Support the HQ and RCC level immunization functions of Africa CDC by building norms, standards and cadence to operate as fully functional and abled entity with a key influence on areas that affect immunization and primary health care delivery.
• Build the immunization teams/functions at HQ and RCCs in a manner that is able to advocate for sustainable immunization financing, political prioritization of immunization and PHC, and implementation of the Addis Declaration on immunization, enhancing immunization governance in MS including through strengthening National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) and Interagency Coordination Committees (ICC), and providing technical guidance on outbreak response, operating in fragile and conflict settings and cross-boarder responses.

Technical advice on immunization in the context of PHC

• Keep abreast of national, regional, and global development trends and priorities to determine strategies, approaches and priorities for programming to address the region’s immunization and health needs. In consultation with UNICEF HQs and Regional Offices for ESA, WCA and MENA, advise Africa CDC on policies, strategies, approaches, and best practices on strengthening immunization services through primary health care with focus on sustainable financing, immunization supply chain strengthening, and socio-behavior change communication.
• Co-leading with Africa CDC, AU Commission and in consultation with key immunization stakeholders, facilitate the development of the continental Immunization Strategy for Africa. Capitalize on the ongoing activities, such as the Immunization Review in Africa and the review of the implementation of the Addis Declaration on Immunization (ADI) to ensure synergies and process efficiency.
• Participate in regional/country planning, preparation, and reviews to provide advice on the formulation, design and communication of National Immunization Strategies and Primary Health Care programmes.
• In consultation with UNICEF HQ Health Section, Supply Division, UNICEF Regional Offices (WCA, ESA, MENA), provide and coordinate UNICEF’s strategic and technical advice to Africa CDC and AU Member States on strengthening immunization supply chain policies, vaccine and cold chain management, including temperature monitoring. Coordinate the provision of UNICEF technical support to Africa CDC and AU Member States in the development of guidance and tools on health facility electrification and waste management.
• In consultation with UNICEF HQ Health Section, Supply Division, UNICEF Regional Offices (WCA, ESA, MENA), provide and coordinate UNICEF’s strategic and technical advice to Africa CDC and AU Member States to strengthen capacity to improve vaccine acceptance, and management of misinformation on vaccination.

Timely detection and response to VPD outbreaks

• Support ACDC to build its capacity for timely response to vaccine preventable diseases (VPD) outbreaks including supporting countries to strengthen their capacities for early detection, submission of timely application for support to the International Coordinating Group (ICG), Gavi and other channels to ensure timely and quality response to the outbreak situations.

Knowledge management, capacity building and innovation

• Contribute to establishing and maintaining a comprehensive and updated evidence base on immunization as well as relevant economic, social, and political indicators for immunization and PHC planning in the African Union member states. Maintain the information in readily accessible formats for use by Africa CDC, UNICEF and key stakeholders during coordination, strategic and technical discussions.
• Utilize vaccine supply dashboards, implementation rates of iSC key performance indicators and supply information/data from various systems (e.g. Thrive 360) to inform decision making and policy support by Africa CDC.
• Utilize socio-behavioural data with a view to inform the design and strengthen the implementation of demand generation and community engagement approaches.
• In consultation with UNICEF HQ Health Section, Supply Division, UNICEF Regional Offices (WCA, ESA, MENA), lead, plan and implement capacity building approaches and initiatives to enhance the competencies of Africa CDC and AU MS to promote sustainable results on immunization related programmes, with focus on sustainable financing, immunization supply chain and demand generation.
• Advocate and support the testing and scale-up of innovative approaches to immunization financing, immunization supply chain and vaccine demand.

Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• Participate in planning and facilitation of relevant Africa CDC/AU events and strategic discussions to contribute to policy discussions and agenda setting in Immunization, public health emergency and primary health care issues.
• Build and strengthen strategic partnership between Africa CDC and government counterparts, global institutions, partners, donors and academia.
• Advocate for increasing the sufficiency and sustainability of donor and domestic investments in immunization and primary health care in Africa.
• Advocate and contribute to the strengthening of Africa CDC’s partnership with key global platforms and networks in immunization, immunization supply chain and vaccine demand

The following minimum requirements:

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in public health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, biostatistics, socio-medical, health education, epidemiology or another relevant technical field is required.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of professional experience at international level in one or more of the areas of public health planning and management, immunization, or health emergency/humanitarian preparedness and response is required. 
• Experience working in the African continent is considered an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of another UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) is considered 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

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

• Builds and maintains partnerships
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Innovates and embraces change
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and acts strategically
• Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

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 does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children.

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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be 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 canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.