UN Children’s Fund – Health and Nutrition Officer, NO-2/P-2 (Individual Contractor)

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BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION

The UNICEF Botswana Country Programme 2017-2021 aims to support the Government of Botswana in carrying out its mandate to reduce child poverty in all its dimensions, including support to HIV prevention, care and support for adolescents. Health and Nutrition falls under the Child Poverty programme component, and primarily seeks to contribute to reduction of stunting and newborn mortality.

Botswana has made significant strides in providing accessible health and nutrition services through government-led health sector and social development investments. However, equity and quality of services remain as challenges in the health sector. Malnutrition remains a key challenge, with an estimated 22 per cent of children monthly monitored at the child welfare clinics being stunted, and 70 per cent of all under-5 deaths occurring in the first month of life, mostly from preventable and/or manageable newborn complications.

UNICEF Botswana is supporting the Government of Botswana to address implementation bottlenecks and to generate evidence in the two key areas of Health and Nutrition. Specifically, the Health and Nutrition support for 2018 focuses on development of a comprehensive nutrition information system; implementation of community Infant and Young Child Feeding promotion through an integrated Early Childhood Development approach; updating of guidelines for Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition; and support to improving newborn health quality of care.

UNICEF Botswana seeks to recruit an individual contractor as Health & Nutrition Officer (NOB) for a non-renewable duration of 7 months maternity cover, to ensure timely achievement of 2018 results as set out in the Annual Work Plan. Working under the direct supervision of the Deputy Representative, the contractor will be the technical lead in Health & Nutrition, and will work closely with other sectors to optimize results for children.

SCOPE OF WORK

• Objective:

The overall objective of the assignment is to support continued implementation of activities and the achievement of results in the health and nutrition programme, providing sound technical support to the Ministry of Health and Wellness at national level and the relevant government and civil society structures in the UNICEF-supported districts.

Specific tasks:

Specific responsibilities of the assignment include, inter alia:

Nutrition

• Working closely with the Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, provide technical oversight in development of a robust nutrition information system that captures nutritional status and performance of key interventions to address malnutrition.

• Provide technical support to Government and civil society partners at national and district-level for implementation of community Early Childhood Development initiatives, ensuring adequate representation of nutrition in the technical content and delivery of services.
• In collaboration with the Social Policy Specialist and Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, provide technical support to evaluation of key nutrition intervention(s) for under-fives.
• Identify and facilitate areas of collaboration or convergence with other UNICEF programmes in Social Policy, Education, Child Protection, and HIV as appropriate.
• Timely solicit and optimize further nutrition technical support as needed from the UNICEF Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESARO).

Health

• Working collaboratively with WHO and the Ministry of Health and Wellness, organize and proactively provide technical support to improve newborn health care services.
• Timely solicit and optimize further health technical support as needed from the UNICEF Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESARO).

Other general responsibilities

• Complete all reporting requirements for Health & Nutrition at country, regional and headquarters level.
• Facilitate participation and representation of UNICEF Health and Nutrition programme in implementation of the joint UN Sustainable Development Framework (2017-2021) and work plan.
• Conduct programme field monitoring and exchange information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support, take appropriate action to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution.

• Prepare required documentation/material to facilitate programme reviews, adjustments and approval processes.
• Liaise with local authorities, UN partners, NGOs, civil society and academia at the national and sub-national level in the different stages of programme development and implementation, to ensure feedback and follow up on recommendations and agreement.
• Represent UNICEF in external meetings related to UNICEF’s health and nutrition mandate

3. Work relationships:

The individual contractor will be stationed in UNICEF Botswana and will work under the supervision of the Deputy Representative. They will primarily provide support to the Department of Public Health in the Ministry of Health & Wellness, and work collaboratively with other Government and non-government partners as relevant. Technical support will be available to the candidate from UNICEF Regional Office as needed, on request.

• Outputs/Deliverables:

By the end of the assignment, it is expected that the following key deliverables will have been achieved:

• Nutrition Information System developed and piloted in two districts.
• Implementation of the community ECD intervention underway in selected district(s).
• Evaluation of supplementary feeding program underway
• A mentorship programme for frontline providers of newborn health care services developed.
• Positive partnership with relevant stakeholders maintained.
• Field monitoring undertaken and followed up upon as required.
• All statutory processes, including reporting and reviews, completed in a timely and quality manner.

Please note that a performance plan will be developed by the contractor in collaboration with supervisor, and will guide technical evaluation of deliverables.

PAYMENT SCHEDULE

The contractor will be paid monthly based on the approved monthly report. The incumbent will be eligible for all official travel related allowances as per UNICEF travel policy. As per UNICEF DFAM policy, no advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary.

DESIRED COMPETENCIES, TECHNICAL BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE

1. EDUCATION

University degree in Public Health, Nutrition, Child Development, Community Development, or other relevant disciplines.

2. WORK EXPERIENCE

• Two years of professional work experience in planning, programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health and/or nutrition programmes.
• Professional work experience in a programme management function or a technical expert capacity in child survival and health care.
• Experience coordinating and/or convening different partners towards a common goal.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a

3. COMPETENCY PROFILE

i) Core Values (Required)

Commitment

Diversity and Inclusion

Integrity

ii) Core Competencies (Required)

Communication [II]

Working with People [I]

Drive for Results [I]

Functional Competencies (Required)

Formulating Strategies and Concepts [I]

Analyzing [II]

Applying Technical Expertise [II]

Learning and Researching [II]

UNICEF competency framework can be found here https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

HOW TO APPLY

Interested consultants should follow the link below to apply online.

https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=513290

REMARKS

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

Duration: 7 months (1st July 2018 – 31st January 2019)

Duty Station: Gaborone

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.