Country: Eritrea
Closing date: 18 Aug 2017
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.
Purpose of the Assignment
The Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP 2011 - 2020) calls for the “Reaching Every District” strategic approach to be recast as “Reaching Every Community (Strategic Objective 3). This is to address inequities in immunization coverage that today results in one out of every five of the world’s children failing to receive at least a basic set of vaccinations during infancy. These missed children are likely to be found in marginalized and underserved communities outside traditional social and government structures.
In recasting “Reaching Every District” to “Reaching Every Community” as a strategy to address immunization inequities, the GVAP states that National Immunization Programs will need a detailed understanding of the barriers to access and use of immunization; the underserved to be identified, and micro plans at the district and community levels to be reviewed and revised in order to ensure that these barriers can be overcome. This is particularly relevant today, with the introduction of additional new life saving vaccines, whose benefits will be maximized when the most vulnerable children are reached.
In Eritrea, Penta 3 coverage is 94.7 nationally as per the EPI coverage survey of 2017. This national average masks the disparity that exists in different Regions (Zobas) of the country where Southern Red Sea, Northern Red Sea and Gashbarka regions have penta 3 coverage of 86%, 91% and 90.8 respectively. The routine EPI data also show that ten districts in the three Zobas are reporting below 80% coverage. The national dropout rate for 2016 was 5.4% which may show below the WHO cut off rate, however the dropout rate differs by Zoba, with some being above the recommended cut off point.
The need to reduce the high drop-out rates and numbers of un-immunized children in Gash Barka, Southern Red Sea and Northern Red Sea region is critical to particularly avoid resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases, which have been relatively under control.
In the 2016 EPI review, most of the health facilities visited had EPI micro plans. These plans need to be updated to ensure the interventions include the high risk communities identified. The planned outreach activities have not been implemented regularly, the supervision and mentorship from the Zonal Ministry of health has been weak. The immunization equity assessment will reveal some of the other key bottlenecks to achieving the REC strategic approach.
Assignment Tasks
The General objective of this assignment is to conduct equity assessment in three Regions (Gash Barka, Northern and Southern Red Sea) and support the development of context specific action for addressing immunization inequity. The specific objectives include:
A set of recommendations for programs / districts to include or consider in the annual action plans for high risk communities not be left out
Expected Deliverables
Deliverables expected for the consultancy are:
Final consultancy report on delivery of key tasks identified in the work plan, including recommendations, challenges, gaps & best practices – by end of six months
Timeframe for the Consultancy:
Estimated total work days for the Consultancy = 30 days (one and half month)
Estimated total days for the Consultancy = 43 days (one and half month) as this includes week end and travel time.
Qualifications of Successful Candidate
Competencies of Successful Candidate
Communication (II), Working with People (II), Drive for Results(II), Leading and Supervising(II), Formulating Strategies and Concepts(II) and Analyzing (III)
To view our competency framework, please click here.
Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above (including travel and daily subsistence allowance, if applicable). Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.
How to apply:
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=506464