Senior Health Specialist – Community Health Delivery Partnership – P5  

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.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job ? it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built; we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, health and opportunities:

There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens ? addressing inequity ? not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

UNICEF’s current strategic plan revolves around ensuring that children survive, thrive and transform. This entails an integrated and comprehensive approach for every child (0-19 years) and promoting continuum of care along the life cycle. For health and wellbeing this requires a multi-sectoral approach with actions at community level, tackling the ?causes of the causes? of diseases and ill-health, and promoting the health and well-being of children. Community health and nutrition systems are a cornerstone for improving access to primary health care; when high impact, high quality interventions are delivered to the last mile in an equitable, cost-effective manner by government remunerated and institutionalized community health workers and health systems are strengthened, the full benefits of the health-related SDGs can be realized.

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision of the Associate Director, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health within the Health Programme Team, you will be responsible for the overall management of the partnerships around Community Health, their robust linkages with other sectoral and multi-sectoral partnerships, notably the Community Health Delivery Partnership (CHDP) at UNICEF. This role involves fostering global, regional and country level partnerships to enhance investments in community health and nutrition/ Community based Primary Health Care, aligned with country priorities. You will oversee day-to-day management and operations of these partnerships, including the CHDP, coordinate country and partner engagement, strengthen linkages with other initiatives, and support access to country-specific data for strategic decision-making. Additionally, you will coordinate technical support to governments in implementing their community health priorities and track progress in institutionalizing community health.

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

This role is vital in ensuring that the partnerships including the CHDP functions as a robust global partnership platform for community health. The incumbent leads efforts to enhance the CHDP’s engagement with partner institutions and country stakeholders, strengthening its links with other global and regional networks. They work closely with partners including sister UN agencies, bilateral and multilateral partners, private sector partners  to establish a long-term vision and governance mechanism for the platform. Regular stakeholder convenings are held to align with country priorities, and data is used strategically to monitor progress and inform decisions. The role also includes preparing donor proposals and reports, ensuring compliance with guidelines, and providing necessary data for program analysis and annual reports.

The incumbent mobilizes resources for community health, collaborating with key partners to advocate for increased investments in primary health care through strong community health systems. They engage with global and regional partnerships to enhance the CHDP’s linkages and coordinate investor dialogues to optimize resources for community health. The role involves reviewing existing health program funding mechanisms to better align resources and galvanizing efforts to establish a catalytic fund mechanism for CHDP priority countries. This position plays a crucial role in fostering collaboration, alignment, and resource optimization for primary health care at the community level.

The following minimum requirements:

An Advanced University degree in Public Health (preferably with specialized training in health systems strengthening, public health planning, budgeting & costing, health promotion and education, or epidemiology or nutrition), Child Development, Social Policy, Social Development, Community Development or another relevant field is required.

Work Experience:

A minimum of ten years of professional work experience at the national and international levels community / primary health care, health planning, programming, implementation monitoring and evaluation of health programmes relevant to child survival, thrive and transform agenda is required.

Desirables/Assets:

• Professional work experience in a managerial position, or a technical expert position in community health and/ or nutrition programming and other relevant technical areas of primary health care is highly desirable.
• Strong advocacy and communication skills are desired.
• Developing country work experience or field work is an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as 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.

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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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

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