UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, HOPE

Vacancy Announcement

Consultancy Title: iSC Continuous Improvement and NLWG strengthening Consultant Section/Division/Duty Station: PG/Health/Immunization/iSC, Programme Division, NYHQ

Duration: 17October 2024-31 November 2025- 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. 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.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/Assignment: 

UNICEF seeks a consultant to update & develop workforce development materials, strengthen S/NLWGs, support professionalization of supply chains, & foster gender integration in immunization efforts. The consultant will also work on continuous improvement initiatives & collaborate with a wide range of partners. The consultancy assignment will be supervised by the Health Specialist, Immunization Supply Chain & the consultant will collaborate with a wide range of partners in iSC2, regions & countries.

Scope of Work:

Capacity/workforce development & S/NLWGs/Governance strengthening materials:

Capacity/workforce development & S/NLWGs/governance systems set up & strengthening initiatives:.

Strategic planning & continuous improvement initiatives:

UNICEF’s gender & supply chain approach & interventions:.

Contributions into Gavi Alliance 6.0 iSC HR/governance mechanism strategy:

Evidence generation:.

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

Deliverables/ Outputs / Delivery Deadline

1. Action plan report (up to 10 pages) showing reviewed materials and outline of proposed updates and new materials development developed / 31 October 2024    
2. 40 supply chain modules are reviewed and inputs provided /30 May 2025
3. Updated S/NLWGs/iSC governance set-up and strengthened materials presented/ 30 November 2024
4. New S/NLWGs/iSC governance set-up and strengthened materials developed/31 Dec 2024
5. Facilitated 2 webinars and 2 global/regional multi-country capacity/workforce development workshops on cross-cutting iSC functions/30 Sept 2025
6. Facilitated 5 F2F countries’ iSC capacity/workforce development initiatives, such as training of iSC staff at national and sub-national level/31 Oct 2025
7. Facilitated 1 webinar and 1 global/regional workshop on country S/NLWGs/governance systems strengthening on cross-cutting functions /31 Jan 2025
8. New NLWGs and corresponding SNLWGs set up in 5 countries/31 Aug 2025
9. Facilitate training in 5 at NLWG and corresponding SNLWG level, with a specific focus on operational data use in vaccines and cold chain equipment utilizing the NLWG starter kits/31 Jul 2025
10. Conduct 1 webinar on SCIP introduction to multiple countries/28 Feb 2025
11. Onboard SCIP to 10 countries/30 Jun 2025
12. SCIP functionalities error report (up to 15 pages) and potential mitigation suggestions presented/31 Oct 2024
13.  New SCIP version requirements inputs document (up to 10 pages), informing new tool requirements development prepared/30 Nov 2024
14.  Finalized cIP guidance and accompanying workshop agenda and templates/31 Mar 2025
15. Landscape report (up to 20 pages) of evidence- and context-based iSC professionalization interventions developed/31 Jan 2025
16. Proposed framework (up to 10 pages each) for 3 countries which reflect institutions with potential for collaborative engagements on iSC professionalization presented/28 Feb 2025
17.  Contextualized implementation concept note developed for each of 5 countries on high-impact professionalization interventions/30 Mar 2025
18. Facilitate the training of the NLWG & sub-NLWGs in 1 country with the concept note on high impact iSC professionalization/31 Jul 2025
19. UNICEF’s Gender considerations in immunization supply chains guidance and call to action are revised and inputs provided (up to 20 pages)/28 Feb 2025
20. Contextualized implementation concept note developed for each of 5 countries on gender mainstreaming in iSC/30 Mar 2025
21. Facilitate the training of the NLWG & sub-NLWGs in 1 country utilizing the concept note developed to support the implementation of gender considerations in iSC activities/31 Aug 2025
22. Landscape report (up to 20 pages) of previous Gavi Alliance’s HR/workforce/governance mechanisms’ interventions, outputs/impact, and lessons developed/31 Dec 2024
23. Input report (of up to 10 pages) to inform Gavi Alliance 6.0 iSC HR/governance mechanism strategy and implementation plan presented/31 Jan 2025
24. 2 news articles (of about 500 words each), 2 case studies (of about 5 pages each) and 2 academic articles (of about 3000 words) on evidence from implementing capacity building/workforce development and S/NLWG/governance strengthening efforts in countries created/30 Nov 2025
25. Input document (up to 5 pages) for 2025 country iSC continuous improvement report developed Input document (up to 5 pages) for 2025 state of countries’ S/NLWGs presence and functionalities report presented / 30 May 2025
26. 1 news article (of about 500 words) and 1 case study (of about 5 pages) on evidence of implementation and roll-out of SCIP tool prepared/ 30 Jun 2025
27. 1 news article (of about 500 words) and 1 case study (of up to 5 pages) on evidence of iSC professionalization support to countries prepared/ 31 Aug 2025
28. 1 news article (of about 500 words), 1 case study (of up to 5 pages), and 1 academic article (of about 3000 words) on evidence of gender-mainstreaming in iSC interventions in countries developed/30 Nov 2025

Qualifications

1) 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. Additional qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master’s degree. Proficiency in spoken and written English is required.

2) Work experience

At least 8 years of experience in international public health programming including at least 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. Very good experience and knowledge of countries’ iSC capacity/workforce development interventions, including potential for impact and challenges. Very good experience and knowledge of countries’ iSC governance/S/NLWGs strengthening practices, and related challenges. Very good experience of the effective vaccine management (EVM) approach (and overall comprehensive vaccine management approach) including conducting EVM assessments, developing and tracking the continuous improvement plans (cIPs) Knowledge of iSC professionalization and gender mainstreaming practices in iSC and broader health systems. Experience with engaging multiple stakeholders at countries’ national and sub-national levels, including communicating ideas in a collegiate manner. Experience with developing high quality technical documents including academic articles, case studies, news articles etc. 

Requirements:

• Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and provide Personal History Form (P11) Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal that will include:
• Cost per deliverable or lumpsum for the whole deliverables as indicated in 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 values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

 To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

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.

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 or individual contract 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 and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors 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.