Jobs at:
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Vacancy title:
Health Specialist (Maternal, Newborn Health)
Deadline of this Job:
8th August 2016
Duty Station:
Kampala, Uganda
Job details:
Job Grade: NO-C
Reports to: Health Manager
Vacancy Number: 497958
About Us:
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is mandated by the UN general assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
Job Summary: The Health Specialist (Maternal, Newborn Health) supports the development and preparation of the health program/s and is responsible for managing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting of program progress of a sector of the health (e.g. nutrition, gender, maternal, neonatal, child survival/development) program/s within the country program. The incumbent provides technical guidance and management support throughout the programming processes to facilitate the administration and achievement of concrete and sustainable results according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM) and organizational Strategic Plans and goals, standards of performance and accountability framework.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Support to program development and planning:
Support/contribute to the preparation/design and conduct/update of situation analysis for the sector/s to establish a strategic plan for development, design and management of health related programs, including maternal and newborn health and emergencies. Keep abreast of development trends to enhance program management, efficiency and delivery.
Actively participate in strategic program discussion on the planning of maternal and newborn health program. Formulate, design and prepare a sector of the health program proposal, ensuring alignment with the overall UNICEF's Strategic Plans and Country Program and coherence/integration with UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDF), regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
Establish specific program goals, objectives and strategies and implementation plans based on results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM). Prepare required documentations for program review and approval.
Work closely and collaboratively with internal and external colleagues and partners to discuss strategies and methodologies and to determine national priorities/competencies to ensure the achievement of concrete and sustainable results.
Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes and to ensure integration, coherence and harmonization of programs/projects with other UNICEF sectors and achievement of results as planned and allocated.
2. Program management, monitoring and delivery of results:
Plan and/or collaborate with internal and external partners to establish monitoring benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators and measurement to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results for the assigned sector in maternal and newborn health programs.
Actively participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results.
Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
Actively monitor programs/projects through field visits, surveys and/or exchange of information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
Regularly monitor and verify the optimum/appropriate use of sectoral program resources (financial, administrative and other assets) confirming compliance with organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity and ensuring timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
Prepare regular/mandated program/project reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of program progress.
3. Technical and operational support to program implementation:
Offer technical expertise and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on interpretation, application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices and approaches on health and related issues to support program development planning, management, implementation and delivery of results.
Participate in discussions with national partners/clients/stakeholders to promote health and development issues especially in the areas of gender, emergency preparedness and maternal, neonatal and child survival and development.
Participate in emergency preparedness initiatives program development and contingency planning and/or to respond to emergencies in country or where designated.
Draft policy papers, briefs and other strategic program materials for management use, information and/or consideration.
4. Networking and partnership building:
Build and maintain effective close working partnerships with health sector government counterparts, national stakeholders and global partners/allies/donors/academia through active networking, advocacy and effective communication to build capacity and exchange knowledge/expertise to facilitate the achievement of program goals on children rights and social justice/equity.
Prepare communication and information materials for CO program advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund raising for health programs (maternal, neonatal and child survival and development).
Take part in and/or represent UNICEF in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on health and related issues to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF planning and preparation of health programs/projects ensuring organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda setting.
5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building:
Apply/introduce innovative maternal and newborn health approaches and good practice to build the capacity of partners and stakeholders and to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable program results.
Stay abreast and conduct research to provide evidence for implementation of best and cutting edge practices in health.
Assess, institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned.
Significantly contribute to the development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programs and projects.
Organize and implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results on health related programs/projects.
Key Result Areas:
Timely, regular data-driven analysis for effective prioritization, planning, development and results-based management for scaling-up specific Health interventions.
Technical expertise on specific Health interventions.
Technical and operational guidance provided to key government and non-government partners on scaling-up interventions, including the elaboration and implementation of detailed sectoral work-plans and budgets (downstream activities).
Monitoring, evaluation and reporting on specific Health interventions carried out through various field visits, in a timely manner, efficiently, rigorously and transparently in compliance with the established guidelines and procedures.
Government and non-government recipients accountable for UNICEF specific supply, non-supply and financial assistance.
Effective knowledge management through documentation and dissemination of lessons learned and implementation of appropriate capacity building activities.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
The applicant for the United Nations UNICEF Health Specialist (Maternal, Newborn Health) career vacancy should hold an Advanced University Degree in public health/nutrition, pediatric health, family health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, biostatistics, socio-medical, health education, epidemiology or other health related science is required.
At least five years of professional experience in public health/nutrition planning and management and/or in relevant areas of maternal and neonatal health care, health emergency/humanitarian preparedness, is required.
Relevant experience in health/nutrition program/project development and management in any UN system agency or organization is an asset.
Personal Competencies:
Core Values: Commitment, Diversity and Inclusion, Integrity
Core Competencies: Communication, Drive for Results, Working with People
Functional Competencies: Leading and Supervising (I), Formulating Strategies and Concepts (II), Analyzing (III), Relating and Networking (II), Deciding and Initiating Action (II), Applying Technical Expertise (III)
NB: UNICEF is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff; qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. UNICEF is a smoke free environment.
job application procedure
All suitably qualified and interested candidates who wish to join the United Nations UNICEF in the aforementioned capacity are encouraged to visit the link below to Apply.
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