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, health

Please access UNICEF Sierra Leone information here and here

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of this consultancy is to assist the implementation of planned activities jointly with Child Health Program, MoH and Kenema District Health Management Team (DHMT) in their efforts to operationalise the CSAP, more specifically in the below areas.

• Strengthening Child Survival governance and coordination at the national and district level to ensure the continuum of care to reduce the under-five mortality rate.
• Strengthening the newly established National Child Health Programme (NCHP) under the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) Directorate

Specific Tasks:

• Support in strengthening the child survival coordination mechanism (TWG-meetings) at national (quarterly) and Kenema (monthly) levels.
• Support mop-up training of PHU workers on IMNCI/iCCM strategy.
• Support for quarterly Integrated IMNCI/iCCM Supportive Supervision and Mentoring and capturing of assessment data presentation during TWG meetings.
• Technical support for Monthly and quarterly monitoring of quality improvement activities in PHUs using the IMNCI / iCCM guidelines and WHO QI standards.
• Support strengthening the PHU/CHW sensitive integrated supply chain with capacity building for quantification, prepacking, procurement, last mile distribution, and monitoring for rational use, and timely reporting through CHIS/DHIS2
• Support Kenema DHMT in conducting quarterly CHC in-charges’ evidence-based performance review and planning meeting.
• Support with program (PMVs) and quality assurance monitoring visits
• Prepare updates and briefs and participating in UNICEF and MoH regular coordination meeting.
• Support with coordination for Donor visit to implementation sites in Kenema district.
• Support project visibility and Human-Interest material preparation in coordination with UNICEF Comms and MoH (NCHP, Kenema DHMT)
• Support documentation and dissemination of lessons learned from the La Caixa-UNICEF project.

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

• A first university degree in Health Sciences, Medicine, Nutrition or Higher Diploma in Health/MNCH discipline
• Advanced degree in Public Health is an added advantage.
• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible field experience in MNCH/Child Health with demonstrated skills in iCCM/IMNCI, QoC training, supervision, and mentoring.
• Experience in national and regional coordination and management of Child Health
• Experience in providing clinical services at primary health care facility level in the Sierra Leone’s context.
• Experience in health data collection, analysis, assessment, monitoring, and evaluation.
• Experience in team working in culturally diverse contexts.
• Familiarity with the UN system, including similar prior work in the UN system, is desirable.

Other required skills

• Excellent analytical and organizational skills, including effective communication and people skills; ability to communicate and coordinate with various stakeholders and to express ideas and concepts concisely and clearly in written and oral form.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

If you would like to know more about this position, you are strongly encouraged to review the complete Job Description here:  VA TOR – Child Health Consultant.pdf

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: 

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

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 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.