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Background and Justification :

A lower middle income country with a population of 2.01 million,Lesotho invests more than 15 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in the social sectors. The focus is on the 765,000 children under the age of 18, with 426,000 adolescents aged 10-19 years and 198,482 under five. Nearly six out of every 10 people (57% of the population) live below the national poverty line of US$1.50 per day^[ and just over 65 per cent of children are multidimensionally poor. Unequal wealth distribution compounds the levels of poverty: Lesotho Gini coefficient value is 0.54,showing high levels of income inequality. Other vulnerabilities faced by the people include stunting (35.5%), high levels of HIV (25% prevalence the 2nd highest in the world) and a high neonatal mortality rate (36%). Only 11% of children under the age of five meet the minimum acceptable diet, 51% suffer from anaemia. In 2019, at least  2,000 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition. Moreover, recent droughts exacerbate chronic food insecurity, affecting at times up to a third of the population (508, 125) in the current drought through early 2020), deteriorating the livelihood base and resulting in income insecurity that disproportionately affects women.

The Child Survival and Development Program is a key component of the Country Program and UNDAF (2019 2023). The focus of the country programme is to meet quality standards in achieving impactful results for children. The Country Programme is implemented through a Decade Approach: Decade 1 (Young Children Survive, Thrive and Attain Learning Outcomes); Decade 2 (Children and adolescents are protected from violence, HIV and have improved learning outcomes), Social Inclusion (Reducing Child Poverty, Enhancing Equity and Social Protection) and one Cross-Sectoral outcome (Programme Effectiveness) with the components of : Advocacy, Research and Evaluation; Communication and Partnerships; and Coordination, Planning and Monitoring.

The Child Survival and Development component envisions that by 2023, young children, particularly the most vulnerable, benefit from gender-responsive equitable social programmes. The component supports multiple SDGs, particularly goals 1 to 6, underpinning national efforts to reduce maternal and under-five mortality

Purpose of the assignment :

The UNICEF LCO is recruiting this contractor to maintain continuity of technical support following a recent vacancy in the Section. The Maternal and Child Health Contractor will report to the Chief of Child Survival and Development (CSD) for supervision. They will provide professional technical, operational and administrative assistance for the implementation of the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and PMTCT component areas within the Government of Lesotho-UNICEF 2020-2021 rolling workplan especially for facilitating programme development, implementation, programme progress monitoring, evaluating and reporting of results.

Scope of Work :

Goal and Objective :

The overall objective of this contractor is the provision of technical support for the implementation of maternal, newborn and child health and PMTCT components of the joint GoL-UNICEF 2020/2021 rolling workplan. It would entail close work interactions with the Family Health Division (FHD) of the Ministry of Health, and other relevant CSO counterparts in the health sector. Â The major responsibilities include :

• Support to program development, planning, and reporting ;
• Program management, monitoring and delivery of results ;
• Technical and operational support to program implementation ;
• Networking and partnership building ;
• Support to capacity building.

Activities and Tasks :

1. Support to programme development, planning, and reporting :

• Liaise with the FHD/MoH to update the situation analysis for the development, design and management of MNCH, ECD and PMTCT related programmes for the 2021 AWP ;
• Participate in relevant Technical Work Groups Village Health program, SRH/PMTCT etc. ;
• Support the planning and reporting process of multi-year grants within the MNCH sector ;
• Support to UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and Joint UN Task Team on AIDS (JUNTA) planning and reporting ;
• Support to UNICEF planning and year-end reporting processes, as required.

2. Programme Management, monitoring, and delivery of results :

• Manages and coordinates technical support around MNCH/PMTCT ensuring it is well planned, monitored, and implemented in a timely fashion to adequately support scale-up and delivery ;
• Â Ensures risk analysis and risk mitigation are embedded into overall management of the support, in close consultation with UNICEF programme sections, Cooperating Partners, and governments ;
• Ensures effective and efficient planning, management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the MNCH/PMTCT sector within the country programme ;
• Support towards resource mobilisation efforts through the development of proposals.

3. Technical and operational support to programme implementation :

• Conduct regular programme field visits and surveys, and share information with partners and stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results ;
• Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners, and other country office partners/donors on the application of strategies, processes, and best practices on health-related issues to support programme implementation, operations and delivery of results ;
• Provide technical and operational support to partners in humanitarian situations.

4. Support for capacity building Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders.

5. Other tasks as assigned by Supervisor ;

Work relationships : In the execution of this assignment the contractor will work closely with the larger CSD team (nutrition, EPI, WASH, HIV) and other UNICEF Programme staff under the supervision of the Chief, CSD.

Outputs/Deliverables :

 Payment : Monthly payments will be made each month upon submission of a report and invoice, based on the pre-approved workplan deliverable.

Desired profile :

• A university degree in one of the following fields is required: public health/nutrition, nursing, pediatric health, family health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, biostatistics, socio-medical, health education, epidemiology, or another relevant technical field ;
• A minimum of two years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required: public health/nutrition planning and management, maternal and neonatal health care, or health emergency/humanitarian preparedness ;
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization or government at national level is considered as an asset ;
• Fluency in English and Sesotho is required.

Administrative issues :

• The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts ;
• The contractor will work on their own computer(s) and materials in the execution of this assignment ;
• The work of the contractor is office based; but is required to visit districts for supervision and monitoring purposes ;
• The contractor payment is in monthly lump sum inclusive of living allowance for field trips only and professional fees (field travel will be supported with UNICEF transport) ;
• As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. 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 ;
• Please also see UNICEF Standard Terms and Conditions attach ;
• Contractors are not entitled to payment of overtime. All remuneration must be within the contract agreement ;
• Contractors are required to certify that they are covered by medical/health insurance. Contractors who are required to travel beyond commuting distance to duty station(s) shall also certify that their medical/health insurance covers medical evacuations.

Risks :

UNICEF Lesotho 2019-2022 Country Programme Document (CPD) was developed with a risk-informed programming lens to support sustainable programs, considering assumptions for the pro-ject success.  The development of the CPD, through which this activity will contribute to, analysed the vulnerabilities, systems, capacities, resources, and looked at the risks beneficiaries may face to prevent the risk or mitigate the impact. The risks associated with the implementation of this activity are minimal and below the global threshold set by UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office. The risks will be managed through constant monitoring, providing early warning of potential issues in programme implementation, and advocacy with GOL officials. All reasonable and likely risks should be identified and a relevant risk response and possible mitigating action defined.

How to Apply :

Qualified candidates are requested to complete an application including profile to the respective advertisement on https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/ Please indicate your ability, availability and financial proposal/quote to complete the terms of reference above.

Rates must be submitted in the local currency and include all expenses related to the assignment (e.g. consultancy fee, travels, living allowance for field trips only)

Submission of proposals

Interested persons will be required to submit the following documents :

1. A cover letter, CV and online consultants application form ;
2. A financial proposal indicating deliverable based fee ;
3. The financial proposals of only those candidates, who are found technically responsive, will be opened ;
4. Please note, offers without financial proposal will not be considered ;
5.  Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF selection process will lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.

If you have not been contacted within 2 months of the closing date please accept that your application was unsuccessful. Regret emails will be sent only to shortlisted/contacted candidates.

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.