VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

Organization: UNICEF

Health Specialist (NEONATAL), L4, Regional Office, Kathmandu, Nepal

Job no: 512960

Position type: Fixed Term Staff

Location: Nepal

Division/Equivalent: Kathmandu(ROSA)

School/Unit: Regional Services Div (SAR), Kathmandu

Department/Office: Reg Serv – Prog Section, Kathmandu

Categories: Health, P-4

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.

Purpose of the Post:

Under the direct supervision of the Maternal and Child Health Specialist, P-4, and overall guidance of the Regional Adviser Maternal and Child Health, the incumbent of the post will be accountable for working with UNICEF country offices to improve newborn survival and health by scaling up interventions and accelerating progress in South Asian countries. Specifically, in close coordination with UNICEF country office teams, supports preparation of implementation plans, devise and monitor performance metrics and advice on technical aspects of improving newborn survival and health to achieve global goals, regional targets and country aspirations for improving newborn health. Equity focused approaches and those which focus on gender equality will be especially prioritized. The role will also combine technical work on newborn and maternal health given their significant overlap. The incumbent will be the regional lead for the implementation of the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP), the Every Mother Every New-born (EMEN) approach, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-UNICEF joint project on improving maternal and newborn health. The post will also serve as lead for the elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV-AIDS and Congenital Syphilis focal point for UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA).

How can you make a difference?

• Lead timely, regular data-driven situational analyses, country program planning and monitoring of the state of newborn health, neonatal mortality and the implementation status of the BMGF-UNICEF joint project on maternal and newborn health.
•  Provide leadership on data-driven prioritization and implementation of newborn survival and health strategies and interventions within UNICEF South Asia Region.
•  Provide technical and operational guidance and support to government and non-government partners for the acceleration of national level scale-up essential newborn care services and quality improvement of maternal and newborn services in all UNICEF ROSA country offices.
• Monitor program and project implementation strength as per standard methodology and formats.
• Advocate for and support efforts to leverage resources for scaling-up and replication of effective neonatal survival interventions within countries, including the acceleration of access, use and effective coverage of quality maternal and newborn health care for the attainment of ROSA regional targets.
• Provide technical guidance to country offices for the inclusion of high-impact interventions for maternal and newborn survival and health development in the health sector components of UNDAF and other UN harmonisation processes.
• Progress tracking and performance management of the ENAP, EMEN and the BMGF-UNICEF project regionwide and provide timely evidence-based recommendations for adjustment.
•  Provide strategic guidance and programme support as needed on programming for the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS and of congenital syphilis.
•  Provide country office teams guidance on advocacy and partnerships building for the development of context responsive national and sub-national newborn health policies and programs.
• Provide in-country technical and operational leadership and guidance on scaling-up key interventions within the scope of the BMGF maternal and newborn health project.
• Undertake field visits to monitor maternal and newborn programmes and facilitated periodic programme reviews with UNICEF teams and their partners for both the UNICEF ROSA Newborn Headline Result and for the elimination of MTCT of HIV/AIDS and Syphilis, with particular emphasis improving effective coverage among under-served populations.
•  Support development and adoption of innovative program strategies and technologies that reduce program delivery bottlenecks and improve quality of maternal and newborn services.
• Document and disseminate lessons learned of scaling-up services to improve newborn survival, quality of maternal and newborn care interventions and of efforts to improve partnerships for strengthening maternal and newborn health care delivery systems along the home to hospital continuum of care.
•  Share good practices in equity based and gender equality programming, and scaling up good newborn care and systems strengthening practices at the national and regional level.
• Collaborate with Monitoring and Evaluation officers to timely, efficiently, rigorously and transparently monitor, evaluate and report on newborn health program effectiveness and impact.
• Ensure programme, sectoral and/or inter-sectoral efficiency and delivery through a rigorous and transparent approach to evaluation.
• Participate in major evaluation exercises, programme and sector review meetings with government counterparts and partners as related to the assigned areas of responsibilities.
• Submit timely reports to donors and other partners that meet contractual obligations and UNICEF standards and methods.
• Ensure UNICEF, government and non-government staff understand and comply with the BMGF-UNICEF project financial rules and guidelines for smooth implementation, monitoring and reporting.
•  Ensure corrective action is undertaken to address bottlenecks identified during the project monitoring, in close coordination with the country teams and partners.
• Document and disseminate lessons learned.
• Develop and implement country-specific national capacity building strategies.
• Explore areas and opportunities for country office staff development, including training and opportunities for cross fertilization with UNICEF staff from other project countries in South Asia and other regions.
•  Provide technical leadership and coordination of relevant operational research, thus contributing to the knowledge base in maternal and newborn health (and related HIV-AIDS areas as needed).

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university (Master’s) degree in Public Health or a related discipline. Clinical training in pediatrics or obstetrics preferred.
• Eight years of relevant professional work experience at national or international level. Clinical and technical knowledge of maternal and newborn health required.
• Experience in project and performance management in a public health context.
• Experience of working in the UN or other international development organization is an asset.

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.

Last date to apply: Jun 08 2018

HOW TO APPLY

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