Consultancy: Information Management Specialist, (IMS) Dakar, WCARO, 11.5 months

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, hope

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection and development. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. 

BACKGROUND

In 2020, UNICEF procured 1.9 billion doses of vaccines for 102 countries, enough to reach 45 percent of the world’s children under five years of age. This incredible milestone calls for equally effective stock management at all levels of supply chain and ideally at service delivery points to ensure children, especially those in under-served, urban poor, conflict-affected and hard-to-reach areas, have access to life-saving vaccines, when needed.

A well-functioning supply chain is essential for the success of the immunization programmes with effective stock management at its heart. However, an analysis of global data indicated that most low and middle-income countries performed below the minimum standard for adequate vaccine stock management[1]. Recent data by WHO and UNICEF show that each year at least one-third of countries experience one or more vaccine stock-outs lasting for at least one month or more[2].

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent massive global vaccination drive bring stock management to a new level of urgency and offer a unique opportunity to ensure quality and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and strengthen and enhance the routine immunization (RI) stock management practices.

Against this backdrop, UNICEF, WHO and Gavi launched a joint initiative under Thrive360 to strengthen stock management capacities, encourage feedback loops, leverage existing systems, and integrate data sources in one platform. The aim is to enable National Logistics Working Groups (NLWGs) and other partners to have relevant, reliable, and updated information for data-driven planning and decision-making in one place.

How can you make a difference?

Under the direct supervision of the regional immunization/supply and logistics/cold chain specialist/manager and in close coordination with the Immunization Specialist – Data Analytics, the incumbent will support the collection, review, quality assurance, analysis and visualization of vaccine stock data from respective country offices. The IMS will:

1. Support the regional office in the collection, quality-assurance, analysis, feedback and presentation of COVID-19 and routine vaccine stock and consumption data. This include mapping dataflows, driving smart demand for data use and continuous feedback to country offices.
2. Ensure Vaccine Management Specialists in country offices have the necessary tools and capacity to effectively support NLWGs and EOCs in data-driven planning and decision making.
3. Support countries to review data quality, draw recommendations, develop improvement plans and track progress on monthly basis.
4. In consultation with country office focal points, develop a comprehensive plan with attainable targets to expand stock and consumption data collection to all countries in the region. The plan should include a bottleneck analysis, identify key obstacle preventing countries from reporting and outline the specific support required by each country. At least 90% of the countries in region should report stock data with 10 months of consultancy.
5. Support countries need assessments and the deployment/expansion of context-centered vaccine inventory systems in all levels of the immunization supply chain (especially at secondary and lowest distribution stores).
6. Support VM specialists or other country focal points in strengthening vaccine monitoring mechanisms by facilitating cross-learning and experience sharing.
7. Support the integration of iDash and Thrive360 and its deployment in country offices as a single source of relevant iSC data (Vaccine stock and consumption tracking, EVM and maturity model assessments, eJR, RI coverages, COVID-19, UCC, trends and country profiles among others)[3].
8. Map or where the work is already ongoing, collaborate with T4D or relevant team on the status of current in-country digital solutions (eLMIS, HMIS, SBCC) including the availability of track and trace policies, verification solutions.
9. In collaboration with T4D or relevant team, provide technical support to country offices to strengthen eLMIS/DHIS2 expansion and ensure country systems are TSS compliant and follow minimum interoperability standards.
10. Organize capacity development workshops and provide remote on-the-job training to country office focal points.
11. Conduct in-depth data analysis to identify areas with higher number of un/under immunized/zero-dose children for targeted technical assistance (conflict affected, hard-to-reach, urban poor etc).
12. Produce infographics, presentations and other visual information products to strengthen data-driven planning and decision making at regional offices, across partners and country offices.
13. Develop strong partnerships/networks with relevant stakeholders (GAVI, WHO, MoPHs, national EPI agencies, UNICEF country and field offices, donors and other relevant stakeholders). This includes the regular exchange of information and cross-validation of data.
14. Any other relevant activities in consultation and discussion with the supervisor(s) without deviating from the scope of this consultancy.