Summary

Title:   Regional COVID-19 vaccination Technical Assistant

Purpose: To provide technical assistance on sub-national COVID-19 vaccine Rollout and the overall coordination of the monitoring and evaluation process, advocacy communication and social mobilization activities, AEFI surveillance and monitoring, and the capacity building of zones/woredas and health facility levels regarding COVID-19 vaccination.

Duty station:  Amhara, Oromia, Benishangul Gumuz, Gambella, Harari, Diredawa, Addis Ababa, Somali, Afar, SNNP, and Sidama

No. of consultant: 24 

Reporting to: RHB/ZHD EPI team lead

Background and Justification

• Support regional and zonal level regulatory offices and AEFI monitoring and reporting
• Provide technical assistance at all levels to estimate potential numbers of target population that will be prioritized for access to vaccines stratified by target group ad geographic location.
• Support in the development of microplanning exercise for COVID 19 vaccination deployment
• Provide technical support on evidence generation and quality data for action
• Provide technical assistance in training Covid 19 vaccine
• Develop training plan that include key groups of participants, content topic areas, key training partners and training methods and conduct training vaccinators, supervisors and other who participate in the vaccination
• Develop and adapt existing surveillance and monitoring framework with a set of recommended indicators (Coverage, acceptability, disease surveillance etc,,,) for COVID-19 vaccine
• Identify potential COVID-19 vaccine delivery strategies leveraging both existing vaccination platforms and non-vaccination delivery approaches to best reach identified target groups.
• Conduct readiness assessment on regular basis till the start of the COVAX vaccination and identify areas for support (Regularly monitor regions readiness by completing RAT/VIRAT)
•  Plan for handling AEFI if happens and make sure on the availability of AEFI kits and forms
• Capture and share lesson learned and good practices that can potentially leverage the routine immunization and outbreak response practice Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 was initially reported from Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and currently the disease is a global pandemic affecting all countries, including our country, Ethiopia. The global COVID-19 pandemic has been exerting high negative impacts on the health, social and economic wellbeing of people in our country.
• As a continued effort, the MoH has successfully launched COVID-19 vaccine at national, regional and city administrations level on 13^th of March 2021 by vaccinating health workers and support staffs followed by next target group vaccination based on the prioritization. As at November 2021, close to 3.7m individuals has took their first jab of which 2.7m have been fully vaccinated. However, there is a huge unmet need due to multiple factors yet to be addressed. Demand and supply inconsistency due to global shortage of vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, lack of resources, current country security situation, and the like are some of the factors affecting the full scale up of the vaccination program. Also, the COVID-19 cases and deaths are increasing which needs collective action to mitigate the pandemic and intensify the control and prevention measures. The Ministry is expecting the next successive vaccine shipments to address the 40% (more than 40 million) of target population so that a lot of continuing activities remained to be performed for the national rollout and continued implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the process.

Purpose

• To provide technical assistance on the regional COVID-19 vaccine Rollout and the overall coordination of the monitoring and evaluation process, advocacy communication and social mobilization activities, AEFI surveillance and monitoring, and the capacity building of zones/woredas regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.

Responsibilities

•  Under the overall guidance and supervision of the respective RHB MCH/EPI team lead, the technical assistant will support the sub-national COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the planning & coordination, vaccine supply, and distribution, preparation, training, monitoring, and evaluation of the implementation to access the vaccine for the targeted population group equitably including security compromised areas.

Key responsibilities include, are not limited to, the following

• Provide technical support to the regional and zonal Technical Working Group (NTWGs) for COVID-19 vaccine national Rollout and participate in the meeting regularly.
• Support zones and woredas to establish and/ or revitalize the command post (Regional COVID-19 task force and TWGs to support the service delivery, vaccine cold chain & logistics, demand generation, and communication, targeting (Microplanning), COVID-19 surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation of the coverage among at-risk groups and monitoring of vaccine impacts, safety of vaccine AEFI (Adverse Events following Immunization) detection and response.
• Participate in COVAX post introduction evaluation exercise

Expected Deliverables and Time frame

Deliverables     – Deadline

• Submission of monthly progress reports       –    Monthly
• Submission of meeting minutes from COVID-19 coordination forums (regional ICC (Interagency Coordination Committee), the RITAG (Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group); and COVID-19 regional Technical Working Group (TWGs), etc.)   – Bi-weekly
• Regular update on functionality of sub-national (RHB and zonal) COVID-19 Taskforce and TWGs  –   Monthly
• Submission of trainings, monitoring and supervision reports –   Monthly
• Submission of documentation of the detailed process including lesson learned, best practices and human-interest stories (HIS)- Quarterly
• Submission of guidance/protocol for the rapid assessment to identify areas for support and improvement.    –   Bi-annual
• Support Data collection, analysis, and written report –   Bi-annual
• Report key findings from the readiness assessment for introduction and vaccination campaigns. – Monthly
• Share regular progress report of the sub-national (RHB and zonal) performance –  Monthly
• Develop and report COVID-vaccination implementation report including AEFI documentation and report.   – Quarterly
• Annual report and recommendations.  – Annually

Reporting

• The consultant will be directly recruited by third party HR firm, and reports to the respective RHB/ZHD EPI team lead.

Payment Modality and Schedule          

• The fees for this contract shall paid on monthly basis based on the submission of monthly reports against the deliverables indicated above
•  Support continuation of routine immunization (RI) activities at all level Perform any other activity as required by MCH Director/ EPI focal
• Ensure the operationalization of COVID 19 precautions during immunization services provision
•  Facilitate and monitor timely budget utilization and liquidation of COVID-19 implementation and other RI budget
•  Frequent traveling to zones and woredas as necessary
• Summit monthly report to the immediate supervisor (RHB EPI focal
• Submit a detail final report at the end of the assignment.

Job Requirements

Expected background and Experience

Suitable candidate: Technical and good communication skills, analytical skills to identify critical issues and good writing skills, knowledge and skills in the subject

Essential:

• First degree in any health science with specialized training (Masters) in public health or epidemiology.
• Over 5 years’ experience in Public health programs, preferably in Immunization and vaccine preventable disease surveillance.
• Prior experience of implementing or supporting routine immunization programs at least from woreda level to higher in a developing country.
• Previous experience in quantitative and qualitative assessments and data analysis is essential.
• Demonstrated experience providing technical assistance to governments on the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination and routine immunization activities.
• Fluency in English both speaking and written is a requirement. Fluency and Working knowledge of local language will be an asset.

Other Skills: Computer literacy: Proficient in use of Microsoft Office applications, and statistical software.

Desirable: Previous experience working with government at sub-national level, UNICEF or UN agencies. Familiarity or experience with immunization program will be an asset.

Note: 

• The consultant will be based at FMoH
• The consultant will not be provided lodging and/or meals
• The consultant will use his/her own materials, i.e. computer/laptop, phone etc.
• For the duty travel, the consultant will be provided rented car by abh partners PLC. and also DSA as per the guideline.
• The consultant will be paid monthly by ABH partners PLC upon completion of deliverables as indicated on this TOR and approved by the supervisor

Competencies required: 

1. Communicating in a credible and effective way
2. Fostering integration and teamwork
3. Building and promoting partnership and multi-sector
4. Moving forward in changing environment

• ABH Partners Plc will manage all the administrative issues and aspects based on HR’ policies and procedures.
• All remuneration must be within the contract agreement through the ABH Partners Plc
• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both ABH Partners PLc and the consultant.
• Travel will be facilitated and managed by the ABH Partners Plc.in agreement with UNICEF.

Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget

How to Apply

Applicants full fill the requirement, Please select the region for where you applied from listed regions .through CLICK HERE