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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, a vaccine
The Government of Malawi has been receiving support in the management of vaccines significantly from GAVI and other Donors over an extended period. Notwithstanding this fact, the proportion of children who are fully immunized at 12-months of age has remained relatively low. In 2005, only 59% of children aged 12–23 months were fully vaccinated by 12-months of age. Over the years, Malawi has sustained high routine immunization coverage of over 80% for childhood antigens, achieving a non-polio acute flaccid paralysis rate of 2.7% and a measles rate of over 2%. In 2010, there were outbreaks of measles countrywide. The major challenges faced by the programme include mobilization of resources for responding to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases and for introduction of new vaccines. The Ministry of Health (MOH) conducted a nationwide Measles Rubella Campaign in early 2017 which required the initiation of the plan for introduction of new vaccines e.g. TCV, COVID-19, IPV etc. at least nine months ahead of the campaign.
Malawi conducted an Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) assessment in 2016. While the results of the assessment showed good performance across all Immunization Supply Chain (ISC) levels, gaps were evident at the service delivery level in maintenance and stock management. The report and several other assessments done between 2014 and 2016 made recommendations on a number of programme components that need strengthening at national, district level and service delivery levels. A comprehensive EVM improvement plan was developed in 2016 to respond to the identified gaps.
The Improvement Plan focused on five areas :
- Temperature monitoring ;
- Cold chain equipment and cold chain equipment management; (3) Distribution ;
- Human resource development and
- Data management.
With the significant support the vaccine cold chain system is benefitting from, there is however a likelihood of significant wastage which are not recorded and appropriately addressed. Ordering systems between the health centres and the district hospitals are porous and likely to provide ways of wastage of the vaccines within the system, defeating value for money. Introduction of the Solar Direct Driven fridges from 2016 will ease the challenges of power cuts and therefore maintain right temperatures for vaccines. It is worthwhile to conduct a study to determine the impact these fridges may have on more effective cold chain management.
Maintenance of refrigerators installed in several health facilities has been seen as a challenge. Cold chain technicians do not have easy access to transportation to conduct preventive or curative maintenance. This disrupts the vaccination plans, affects performance indicators and ultimately may result in destroying the potency of vaccines rendering them unusable. Introduction of remote monitoring technologies is key in ensuring that performance of refrigerators is continuously being monitored.
In order to sustain quality vaccine management for effective immunization coverage in Malawi, provision of continued technical assistance to MOH is crucial. UNICEF Malawi Country Office therefore requires the services from a national consultant to support the EPI team to monitor, assist and improve the bottlenecks in the system. The national consultant will hence assist the EPI unit of MOH to improve the quality of cold chain management that will ultimately contribute to the reduction of vaccine wastage and improvement of effective immunization coverage.
How can you make a difference?
Under the direct supervision of UNICEF’s Health Specialist (Community Health), the consultant will work closely with the MoH’s EPI unit to strengthen planning and implementation of supply chain of EPI programme at zonal, district and health facility levels, including :
- Organize monthly coordination meetings and capacity building with central, regional and zonal officials and discuss on bottlenecks for geographic coverage, vaccines and cold chain status, micro-planning etc. ;
- Provide joint monitoring visits with EPI officials and provide feedback necessary for strengthening the system ;
- Participate in Country Programme planning to advice on cold chain supply requirements to provide technical advice on specifications/Terms of Reference, facilitating efficient procurement ;
- In liaison with the Health Speciality (Community Health), work with the supply section and maintain links with Supply Division on transnational shipments, deliveries, claims and appropriateness of supplies.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
- Advanced university degree from a recognized academic institution in one or more of the following areas is preferred: Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Project Management, Data Management and Analysis or related to supply and logistics operations in UNICEF programme areas. First university degree combined with relevant professional work experience and understanding of relevant functions may be considered in lieu of advanced university degree ;
- Minimum eight years progressively responsible professional work experience at national levels in supply management, vaccines programming including cold chain and vaccine management. Work experience managing large-scale projects, working with governments, working in resource-limited settings, monitoring and evaluating supply chains, and risk management, mitigation will be an asset ;
- Product knowledge on cold chain equipment, new cold chain technologies and understanding of the principles of vaccine management, knowledge and experience with data collection, data management analysis and reporting are essential. Knowledge of procurement processes and good distribution practice could be beneficial ;
- Fluency in English is required.
How to Apply :
Interested consultants should provide the following :
- Curriculum Vitae ;
- Brief technical proposal (no longer than five pages) demonstrating the consultant’s understanding of the assignment and approach/methodology to the assignment ;
- Financial proposal (using this template
Financial Proposal for Consultancy.xlsx) including a breakdown of their all-inclusive fees (including professional fees, travel, living cost, visa and other costs). Complete the attached form ;
- References details.
Click here TOR _CCVM.pdf to access the full Terms of Reference
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
View our competency framework at : UNICEF_Competencies.pdf
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.
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.