Current vacancies

Consultancy Title: Supply Chain Optimization and Workforce Development Consultant 

Section/Division/Duty Station: Programme Group/Health Section

Duration: 15 February 2026 – 30 June 2026

Home/ Office Based: Remote

About UNICEF – 

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. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

The goal of immunizing children everywhere is premised on timely availability of vaccines and adequate reach of immunization services. Effective and efficient supply chains are critical to ensuring that lifesaving commodities are delivered to the most populations and associated challenges are well documented including inefficient last mile delivery, poor distribution systems, complex and duplicative supply chain structure etc.  

To mitigate against these challenges, UNICEF and partners support national and sub-national stakeholders to design and scale supply chain optimization initiatives including direct distribution up to the last mile, optimized storage and warehouse capacities & network including level skipping, change in frequency of supply, engagement of private sector and other actors in in-country distribution etc. As an example, the Direct delivery of routine immunization vaccines (and other PHC commodities) for equity (DRIVE) Initiative, an assured direct to health facility delivery through a social enterprise, is currently being implemented in five (5) countries contributing to increasing vaccine availability, reducing time spent on logistics by health workers, and contributing to higher coverage and targeting and reaching of underserved and zero dose populations.  

Integral to an efficient and effective supply chain, however, are different cadre of adequate, well-motivated, and professionally progressing immunization supply chain human resources. They ensure that the right quantities of vaccines (and related supplies) are forecasted for, supplied, received in-country, and cleared at the ports, stored in appropriate storage and temperature conditions at different supply chain level stores. To facilitate these, UNICEF and partners work with national and sub-national governments to conceptualize and implement context-specific capacity building, workforce development and professionalization initiatives.   

The Vaccine & Cold Chain Management workstream in UNICEF’s Health Centre of Excellence (CoE) will operationalize UNICEF’s Immunization Roadmap, Health Strategy 2030 and the new Gavi Alliance 6.0 iSC and Health systems strategy, providing technical expertise and support to countries in vaccine and cold chain management. To achieve this, UNICEF is seeking a Supply chain optimization and workforce development Consultant to provide supply chain optimization, workforce development/capacity building and supply chain professionalization support to the CoE and countries. The consultancy assignment will be supervised by the Senior Adviser, Vaccine and Cold Chain Management Unit and the consultant will collaborate with a wide range of partners in iSC2, regions and countries.

Scope of Work:

Under the supervision of the Senior Adviser, Vaccine and Cold Chain Management Unit, the Supply chain optimization and workforce development Consultant will support: 

Supply chain optimization: 

• Conducting a landscape analysis/desk review of current iSC system (primary store to health facilities/outreaches/mobile centres) including storage/transport/distribution locations and numbers, capacity, methodologies/mechanism, performance etc. 
• Introducing system optimization approach, methodologies, tools, processes etc. to in country stakeholders, using results of landscape analysis to identify potential alternative scenarios for optimization analysis 
• Using system optimization tools such as SCANNIT or similar tools to model, analyse, and compare alternative scenario options including for readiness for large cold chain warehouse projects
• Providing optimization recommendations for stakeholders’ consideration, based on analysis findings 
• Facilitating stakeholder consultations to review analysis findings and develop a phased costed implementation roadmap 
• Implementation of country stakeholders prioritized alternative scenarios 

Direct delivery of routine immunization vaccines (and other PHC commodities) for equity (DRIVE) Initiative implementation 

• Country stakeholders’ engagement/advocacy, initial implementation scope analysis and development 
• Country implementation readiness including contextualized models, sub-national implementation areas and roadmap 
• In-country (implementation) stakeholders sourcing- delivery partners’ onboarding, registration and readiness  
• DRIVE Initiative implementation support 
• DRIVE Initiative monitoring and evaluation. 

Workforce development/capacity building and supply chain professionalization 

• Contribute development and/or update (per EVM criteria/category/broader supply chain functions) of capacity building technical, management/leadership, and strategic modules (full, 2-pager and 1-pager summaries) using the format- introduction, key module objectives/agenda, content sections, and sub-sections, summary, and practice questions and answers 
• Use modules and other materials to build the capacity of national and sub-national stakeholders on critical and essential iSC functions, including in stock management, CCE functionality and monitoring, in-country distribution and iSC performance 
• Facilitate national and sub-national stakeholders to carry out HR landscape, gaps, needs analysis and workforce optimization initiatives 
• Working with in-country stakeholders, identify and scale context-appropriate iSC professionalization initiatives.  

CVM Gaps analysis and Gavi applications 

• Provide technical guidance to countries for conducting CVM gap analyses and preparing the rationale and supply chain elements of Gavi applications and cash grants. 

Evidence generation. 

• Contribute to the systematic documentation of evidence related to the implementation and scale-up of supply chain optimization and last-mile delivery initiatives. 
• Facilitate documentation of evidence from implementing workforce development, capacity building and supply chain professionalization initiatives at national and sub-national levels 

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Travel - Estimated $15,000

Qualifications

Education:

• An advanced University Degree in Engineering, Public Health, Supply Chain, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Business or Public Administration or related field is required., or other relevant fields.
• A Bachelor degree and 11 years’ qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master’s degree. 

Work experience:

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *:

• At least (8) years of experience in international public health programming including at least three (3) years in immunization and immunization supply chains, with experience in low- and middle-income countries. 
• Familiarity with in-country immunization supply chain processes and strengthening such as stock and logistics management, inventory policies, allocation, ordering and distribution strategies, temperature monitoring, waste management and other supply chain operations  
• Experience and knowledge of supply chain optimization tools to model and analyze alternative supply chain design scenarios 
• Experience with implementing in-country distribution (especially at the last mile) initiatives aimed at increasing product availability and access 
• Knowledge and experience with designing and implementing iSC capacity/workforce development and professionalization interventions, including potential for impact and challenges  
• Experience with engaging multiple stakeholders at countries’ national and sub-national levels
• Experience with developing high quality technical documents including academic articles, case studies, news articles etc.   

• Experience in planning, coordination and working with teams in different time zones is a must. 

Language Proficiency: 

• Proficiency in spoken and written English is required. Knowledge of other UN languages is an asset. 

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

- Upload copy of academic credentials

- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :

• • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability

- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.

- At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.

- Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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. 

Remarks:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants. Consultants are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.