Health specialist at UNICEF | August 2024

Health specialist: Community Health and Integrated Immunization, NOC, TA, Zanzibar, Tanzania # 00129744

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built, we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, health

Improving primary healthcare is central to achieving the targets set in the global SDG 3, Africa agenda 2063, Tanzania’s Health sector strategic plan V and Zanzibar’s Health sector strategic plan IV. UNICEF Tanzania’s health program is aligned with these strategies with the mandate to address persistent newborn and child mortality and morbidity and recognizes the critical need for strong primary Health Care (PHC) systems to achieve this through expanded coverage and quality of promotive, preventive, and curative health intervention, including supporting the government efforts to strengthen ECD services. Zanzibar’s health policy explicitly stipulates the significance of investing in primary healthcare and highlights the priorities including increased coverage of primary healthcare for all according to the essential healthcare package and strengthening community health by transforming and officiating CHW as a healthcare carder.

In recent years, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with UNICEF and other partners have been investing in PHC interventions to strengthen the leadership and management practices, the implementation of integrated supportive supervision and outreach and enhancing data generation, visualization, access and use for evidence-based planning and advocacy. With the launch of the Community Health Roadmap on Zanzibar in December 2023, UNICEF also plays a critical role in strengthening coordination and governance for strong, integrated community health services as part of PHC.

Immunization is one of the most cost-effective PHC interventions available to improve child survival and with emerging evidence and diseases, the scope of vaccination programs continue to expand. On Zanzibar, immunization coverage has been lower than on Tanzania’ mainland with declines attributed to service disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. Significant inequities in coverage between districts are also observed. While Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) have played an important role in community sensitization and mobilization for immunization service uptake, as well as identifying zero-dose and under-immunized children, their role needs formalizing.

How can you make a difference? 

UNICEF is a key partner to the Zanzibar Ministry of Health in providing technical and financial assistance to for strengthening integrated PHC services at community and facility levels, inclusive of immunization. Continued support is needed through a dedicated Community health and integrated immunization specialist who can assist the Ministry of Health to address critical gaps in capacity to realise its goals. The specialist will collaborate closely with colleagues across departments in the Ministry of Health and across UNICEF sections to realise the multisectoral nature of PHC.

In light of the above background, UNICEF is therefore seeking to recruit specialist in Community health and integrated immunization to work with the Health team in Zanzibar for 364 days

Scope of work.

The Community health and integrated immunization specialist will report to the Health Specialist in UNICEF Zanzibar Fielf Office with technical support provided by the Health specialists for Integrated PHC, Immunization and Community Health Specialists in Dar es Salaam. The specialist will contribute to leadership in the designing, development, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of UNICEF’s Health program on Zanzibar, inclusive but not limited to community health and immunization. The specialist will work closely with other health section colleagues to achieve the section’s outcomes stipulated on the country document but also collaborate with other sections especially the SBC section and nutrition to promote community mobilization and program integration to achieve UNICEF’s goals and objectives for the country. He/she will support and embrace the health system strengthening building blocks which form the basis of the sustainable and scalable programs. Specific areas of the scope of work are outlined below.

1. Support to programme development and planning

Lead the development, planning and budgeting of strategic PHC activities for the Zanzibar Field Office, with specific focus on community health and immunization. He/she will contribute to the designing and integration of Health specific Early Childhood Development interventions across all service delivery platforms.

2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

Manage and monitor activities to ensure realisation of results through collaboration with other UNICEF sections especially the SBC section and nutrition to ensure integration.

3. Technical and operational support to programme implementation

Make quality contributions to the development and implementation of PHC with focus on Integrated health services at health facilities, Outreach and community based through strong collaboration with internal and external partners. Provide technical support to government and NGOs at the national and subnational levels. The specialist will work closely with MoH and expected to spend at least 50% of the time physically at the Ministry of Health to provide technical and advisory assistance in planning, capacity development, implementation and monitoring, to facilitate effective mplementation and increase access to health services to children and mothers.

4.Networking and partnership building

Builds strong partnership with government and NGOs to realise the rights of children and ensure strategic and effective program implementation.

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

Contributes to the identification of new approaches for improving program delivery with emphasis on project management, evaluation, and community participation based on the Human Rights framework and cross-sector approach.

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

Minimum requirements:

Education:

Advanced university degree (minimum Master’s level or MD) in Medicine, Public Health, Child Health, Community Health or other field relevant to Primary health care programming

Work Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant work experience at the national or international level in planning, programming, implementation monitoring and evaluation of primary health care/immunization/community health programmes.
• Proven expertise in managing, monitoring, and evaluating health program implementation
• Proven work relations with national, regional, district and sub-district government structures on Tanzania mainland and/or Zanzibar
• Experience in Primary Health care and community health program.
• Knowledge of the principles of immunization programmes.

Skills:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is essential.
• Strong analytical skills
• Excellent facilitation skills, negotiation skills, and oral and written communication skills.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Swahili is required.

Desirables:

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency.

• Background/familiarity with Emergency programming.
• Experience of working with and engaging CHWs is an asset.
• Strong analytical skills and research experience

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Builds and maintains partnerships,(1) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness(1) , Drive to achieve results for impact (1), Innovates and embraces change (1), Manages ambiguity and complexity (1) Thinks and acts strategically (1) Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

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.

We offer a wide range of measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable candidate, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.