Contract Duration-6.5 Months
Working arrangement: Home/ Remote Based
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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TERMS OF REFERENCE
UNICEF Afghanistan is commissioning the evaluation of Polio Programme in Afghanistan. The evaluation will serve as a critical tool for incorporating best practices, fostering continuous learning, and ensuring polio interventions better serve beneficiaries. These Terms of Reference (ToR) describe the primary purpose, objectives, scope, tentative evaluation questions, proposed methodological approach, associated risks, and qualifications for the polio expert required to undertake this evaluation jointly with the evaluation lead between June 2026 and November 2026.
Purpose: The purpose of this formative evaluation is to assess UNICEF Afghanistan’s Polio Programme (particularly from October 2024 onwards when the site-to-site campaign modality was implemented nationwide) and examine its strategies to address immunity gaps in Afghanistan (particularly in overcoming refusals and reaching hard-to-access populations). This evaluation aims to generate actionable insights to inform strategic and operational decision-making, ensuring that UNICEF’s interventions are evidence-based, context-specific, impactful, and makes best use of financial and human resources. The findings will guide the refinement of Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) strategies to address vaccine refusals, misinformation, and behavioural barriers. Moreover, the evaluation will contribute to strengthening gendersensitive programming by identifying and addressing gender-specific barriers to vaccination. It will also provide recommendations to optimize community engagement approaches, ensuring equitable access to immunization services and fostering social inclusion, particularly for vulnerable populations such as women, caregivers, and children in hard-toreach areas. The evaluation will comprehensively examine the programme’s relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, coherence, coordination, and impact, to the extent possible, while addressing humanitarian criteria of coverage. Key areas of focus include relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, contribution, sustainability, coordination, lessons learned and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems. The findings will provide insights into what worked well, what did not, and how future programming can better support children, women, and families in Afghanistan
If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:TMC0002276 TOR.pdf
Minimum requirements:
QUALIFICATIONS / SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE / EXPERIENCE/ COMPETENCIES (CORE/TECHNICAL/FUNCTIONAL) / LANGUAGE SKILLS REQUIRED FOR THE ASSIGNMENT
Education:
Master’s in public health (PHD Preferred), epidemiology, infectious disease control, immunization, global health security, health economics, biostatistics, or another relevant health or social science field
Work Experience:
- At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in public health, with a strong focus on immunization and polio eradication programmes
Knowledge/Expertise/Skills:
- High level knowledge and expertise in public health, with a strong focus on immunization and polio eradication programmes.
- Demonstrated experience in designing, implementing, and/or evaluating polio programmes, particularly in endemic or high-risk countries, is required.
- Strong familiarity with Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) strategies, surveillance systems (e.g., AFP surveillance), supplementary immunization activities (SIAs), and outbreak response is highly desirable.
- Demonstrated capacity to provide high-quality technical inputs, synthesize evidence, and generate actionable recommendations to inform programme improvement and policy is required.
- Experience working with UN agencies, governments, and partners in polio and broader immunization efforts is a strong asset.
Language Requirements: English
Desirable
- Demonstrated experience in designing, implementing, and/or evaluating polio programmes, particularly in endemic or high-risk countries, is required.
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
This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either a role with direct contact with children, a role that works directly with identifiable children’s data, a safeguarding response role, or an assessed risk role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) apply.
UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.
UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.
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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.
Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):
Remarks:
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.
Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.