UNICEF recruits 01 National District Health Systems Strengthening (DHSS) consultant

National District Health Systems Strengthening (DHSS) consultant, Kampala for six months

Job Number: 530495 | Vacancy Link

Locations: Africa: Uganda

Work Type : Consultancy

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

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 fair chance

Uganda is one of the over 190 countries and territories around the world where we work to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination place in a child’s path. Together with the Government of Uganda and partners we work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the objectives of the Uganda National Development Plan, and the planned outcomes of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework.z

Visit this link for more information on Uganda Country Office https://www.unicef.org/uganda/

How can you make a difference?

The consultant will report to the UNICEF HSS specialist and be required to liaise on a day-to-day basis with CFOs and the MoH Commissioner Planning, Financing and Policy. It is anticipated that frequent in-country travel will be required to undertake the planned assignment and achieve planned results

The District Health Systems Strengthening (DHSS) consultant will support the MoH, District LGs and district IPs including but not limited to AVSI Foundation, Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation and IntraHealth International with the implementation of the DHSS approach by providing technical support and strengthening capacity of relevant officials in the MoH, DHMTs and IPs.

Background:

The Ministry of Health (MoH) is implementing a five-year Health Sector Development Plan (HSDP 2015/16-2019/20), in line with the National Development Plan (NDP) II. The goal of the HSDP is to accelerate movement to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in line with the Sustainable Development Goals targets by 2030.  As such the HSDP aims to expand access to the Uganda National Minimum Healthcare Package (UNMHCP) to all Ugandans.

The HSDP provides overall strategic direction for the stakeholders in health, together with outlining their expected roles and responsibilities in attaining this strategic agenda. It in addition lays down the implementation framework within which the stakeholders contribute towards improving the health of the population. Furthermore, HSDP lays down clear coordination mechanisms for the various stakeholders.

The HSDP provides orientation to:

Business / investment plans for health services programs, system inputs (human resources, medicines, health infrastructure and others), parastatals and district multi-year plans by providing them with sector targets and priority interventions.

Sector budgeting process by providing the key investments that require financing and their related outcomes, and so influencing the operational planning process.

Under the country planning framework, all Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs) and Local Governments (LGs) are required to develop joint comprehensive annual workplans as a basis for resource mobilization and national development.

The MoH under the HSDP monitoring and evaluation framework adopted enhanced monitoring and evaluation to support evidence-based planning geared at improving governance and accountability of the health sector by enhancing coordination of the planning process through;

Introducing the district comprehensive health workplan and budget concept. Interventions and activities supported by the Health Development partners and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) should also be reflected in the District Annual plan.

Improving and harmonising planning tools and budgeting calendars.

Partner mapping and resource alignment with the sector priorities.

Identification of performance bottlenecks, key interventions, indicators and setting performance targets.

In the Country Program and Action Plan 2016-2020, UNICEF commits to supporting the Government to strengthen national capacity in monitoring and evaluation, including decentralized evidence-based planning and monitoring. UNICEF does this through the District Health System Strengthening (DHSS) strongly linked to the global UNICEF approach to health system strengthening which focuses at three levels namely the national, district and community levels. The Uganda Country Office DHSS approach focuses on four things including:

Improve availability, timelines and quality of health information at the subnational level

Improve District Health Management Team (DHMT) capacity to use data to inform planning, decision making and monitoring;

Ensure citizen voice is incorporated into planning and monitoring process and that functional feedback loops exist between the health system and communities and

Supporting continuous quality improvement at the facility level aimed at ensuring that while coverage of services improve, the quality of service offering improves in tandem.

At the heart of this approach is the use of a bottleneck analysis to support the planning and prioritisation of investments at the district level. Since the start of the CPAP, UCO has been implementing the DHSS approach by supporting and strengthening the capacity of the MoH to improve availability and timeliness of quality health information through support to the coordination and development of systems including data cleaning exercises, data quality assurance, development of the eHealth Policy and Strategy among others. UNICEF continues to work on developing a scalable community engagement model that will support planning and monitoring process while continuing to support community governance structures at the facility and hospital levels (Health Unit Management Committees and Hospital Boards)

With 135 districts as centres of implementation for the decentralized LG it has become a challenge to efficiently support the improvement of district capacity to use data and inform planning and decision-making monitoring. This means working with 135 teams with varying levels of capacities and resource (both financial and HR) endowments with unique health challenges as well as varying levels of competency in evidence-based planning, budgeting and performance monitoring.

Through the recruitment of this consultancy, UNICEF is supporting the MoH to enhance decentralised health service delivery, improve efficiency and effectiveness in delivery of Primary Health Care services and promote healthy living.

KEY TASKS:

In consultation with MoH, develop a method and accompanying tools for reviewing the development process, the quality and the utilization of the annual district comprehensive health plan by the DHMTs and development partners. Follow-up with MoH, targeted district local governments and implementing partners (IntraHealth, Baylor, AVSI) to collect available district health plans for FY 2019/2020 and the coordination/review tools employed by the districts. Review the plans using the agreed assessment tool and develop recommendations for strengthening the district health plans’ development process, their quality and use.

Based on the findings and recommendations of the review, provide technical support and strengthen capacity of the relevant officials in the MoH,  partners (IntraHealth, Baylor, AVSI), DHMTs in UNICEF tier one districts and UNICEF zonal office staff (1) to strengthen the quality and use of the 2019/2020 district health operational plans and (2) to develop the district health profiles/briefs for UNICEF tier 1 districts using latest evidence and the best practice in the field.

Develop and help implement a monitoring system to support MoH, UNICEF and its PCA implementing partners monitor the functioning of the DHMTs in tier 1 districts. Facilitate data collection for at least one round of implementation (one quarter), assess progress/challenges and suggest process improvements.

Document good practices and lessons learned with the implementation of evidence-based district health planning focusing on (1) the use of national data systems (e.g. DHIS, mTrac) and analytical tools and approaches supported by UNICEF (e.g BNA, DHSS progression model) and (2) health partners’ coordination.

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

Advance degree required, Master of Public Health, Strategic Planning, Public Policy

At least 5 years of professional experience working in public health and or related field, including the development of strategies, program management and training materials

Experience in supporting and coordinating project activities across a large organization and with other international partner organizations.

Experience in districts health system strengthening, data collection, analysis, and monitoring and evaluation.

Experience working with the national and district local governments in Uganda, and a strong understanding of Uganda’s health system.

Proven ability to manage relationships with Government Ministries, District Local Governments, National and district partners, donors including youth coalitions, universities, intellectual leaders, UN organizations, NGOs and the private sector.

Proven skills in communication, networking, strategic thinking, advocacy

Proven ability to conceptualize, plan and execute ideas as well as to transfer knowledge and skills.

Strong writing and communication skills and the aptitude to handle competing messages and priorities with multiple audiences

Ability to travel and work within Uganda

Fluency in written and verbal English is essential Application Procedure/Call for Proposals

Interested candidates are required to submit a technical proposal on how they intend to approach the work. The proposal should include a timeline, and methodology, based on the Terms of Reference. The proposal must also include detailed CV of the consultant, as well as a financial proposal, clearly indicating daily rate for professional fees. The financial proposal must be all-inclusive of all costs (consultancy fees and where applicable air fares, airport transfers, daily living expenses).  This is an international level consultancy and competitive market rates should apply.

Evaluation of Candidate:

The consultant will be competitively selected from a list of applicants based on their past experience of doing similar work (extensive experience in writing donor reports, in compiling and editing annual reports for various UNICEF offices).

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The competencies required for this post are….

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

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

Closing Date Fri Mar 20 2020 21:55:00 GMT+0100 (Paris, Madrid)