Senior Health Specialist, (P5), Bujumbura, Burundi, #127117, Temporary Appointment, 364 days

 Senior Health Specialist P5 JD.pdf

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 champion

In Burundi, UNICEF has a very diverse portfolio of responsibilities but all with the same objective which is to assist the Government and other stakeholders to fulfill children’s economic, social, cultural, political, and civil rights. The UNICEF country program in Burundi aims to improve the lives of children and women in the following key areas: Child and maternal health, Nutrition, Education, Child Protection, Water, sanitation and hygiene, Social Policy and Advocacy, Adolescent empowerment and community resilience, and Humanitarian response.

How can you make a difference?

Under the overall guidance of the Deputy Representative Programme, the incumbent will be accountable for the evaluation of health community strategies, redesign of the approach, development of the new community strategic plan, and coaching the country during the first phase of its implementation. As head of these activities, the senior Health Specialist leads and supports the Department of Health Promotion, Demand for Care, Community and Environmental Health (DPS-DSCE) of the MSPLS to integrate gender equality across all aspects:

1. Data-driven and results-based management

• Conduct timely, data-driven analyses of community health, including epidemiological and gender assessments disaggregated by province, and district; evaluate the impact of Community Health strategic Plan (CHSP) implementation; and analyse stakeholder and intervention mapping to support the redesign and elaboration of a new CHSP.  
• Determine the health impact of community health investments in terms of mortality and lives saved for the five-year period following each scenario.
• Provide evidence to support advocacy efforts to draw greater attention to the impact of under investment in community health in Burundi.
• Providing evidence on the costs and benefits of investing in community health to inform a national roadmap for new community health strategy.
• Provide in-country leadership in data-driven prioritization and implementation of Health Community strategies and interventions.
• Provide technical and operational guidance and support to government and non-government partners for community health.
• Champion results-based management for community health including international and regional guidance.
• Understand Health community needs of vulnerable or marginalized community groups.

2. Upstream activities

• Redesign the new Community Health strategies and develop the national Community Health Strategic Plan 2024-2028, the Community Health Investment Framework, the Community Health Implementation Guide, and the roadmap for national commitment to Community Health.
• Provide in-country leadership on Health Community Policies, including advocacy for gender equality, with a particular focus on maternal, neonatal, and child Survival.
• Play an active role in broader Community Health strategies such as Sector-wide approaches.
• Advocate for and leverage resources for scaling up and replication of effective maternal, neonatal, and child Survival Health Community interventions.
• Provide technical leadership in Community Health and other UN harmonization processes.
• In line with Addis Abeba commitments of November 2026 and the new aid modalities, ensure that the Community Health sector component of the country programme is fully aligned with national priorities and plans.
• Strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Health and development partners in evidence-based community health policies and strategies and state-of-the-art modeling for investment planning, including bottleneck analysis, modeling the impact of corrective strategies on universal health coverage, impact modeling, costing, and financing scenario design.

3. Downstream activities

• Provide in-country technical, and operational leadership and guidance on scaling up key maternal, neonatal, and child Survival Health community intervention.
• Support the development, initial phase of implementation, and financing of detailed community work plans and budgets for scaling up the efficient community health approach.
• Collaborate with the Programme and Communication to ensure the development of effective communication strategies to support community-based approaches and social mobilization efforts.
• Conduct field visits to monitor the 1^st stages of implantation.

4.  Monitoring, evaluation, and reporting

• Collaborate with the Monitoring and evaluation officer to timely, efficiently, rigorously, and transparently monitor, evaluate, and report on Community Health strategies and impact.
• Analyze the bottlenecks, strategies, and impacts, calculate costs and financing based on the community health package, and estimate total fund’s needs, current available/spent resources, and financing gap for community health.
• Define the community health service packages and coverage scenarios (minimum, medium, and ambitious) to determine costs and projected financing scenarios at the national level in line with national objectives.
• Modeling and estimating the cost of implementing community health over the next 10 years.
• Ensure programme, sectoral, and/or inter-sectoral efficiency and delivery through a rigorous and transparent approach to evaluation.

5. Accountability

• Collaborate with the Operations Section and Government authorities to establish and maintain sound internal controls supportive of the Community Health programme and implementation.
• Ensure corrective action is undertaken to address bottlenecks identified during the above monitoring.

6.  Knowledge management

• Document and disseminate lessons learned in the areas of Health community level.
• Develop and implement country-specific national capacity-building community health strategies.

7. Rights-based programmes through a Results-Based Approach

• Promote the quality of rights-based community Health strategies through the formulation of programme goals and strategies and approaches, using results-based planning methodology and terminology.
• Bring coherence, synergy, and added value to sectoral or programme management processes using a results-based management approach to planning and design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

8. Promotion of UNICEF’s global goals

• Coordinate with UNICEF Regional Advisers and HQ Officers to ensure country office strategies are aligned with global and regional strategies.
• Effectively communicate and advocate for the promotion of UNICEF’s global goals.
• Collaborate with the Communication Officer to ensure the development of effective communication materials and strategies to support advocacy and fundraising efforts.
• Reinforce partnerships to further UNICEF’s global goals.

9. Partnerships and leveraging resources

• Maintain close working relationships with other UNICEF sectors, particularly nutrition, HIV and WASH, and programme communication to ensure integration of the community Health strategies with other sectors.
• Establish active and participatory partnerships with key community Health strategies stakeholders (Government, WB, GF, GAVI, WHO, other UN agencies, NGOs, bilateral agencies, donors, and national and international academic institutions) and interact with them at different stages of community Health strategies redesign and initial implementation stage;
• Liaise with UNICEF NatComs and other donors as appropriate to secure community health strategies funding.
• Provide technical support and guidance on appropriate technical, financial, and institutional capacity-building capacities to support the achievement of Community Health strategy goals.

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

• Master’s level with a degree in public health, health economics, social sciences, community health, or related discipline.             
• Ten years of professional work experience in community health. Strategic and Field work experience is required.
• Experience in programme/project management, and in policies and strategy design to address community approaches.
• Experience in knowledge management, gender mainstreaming, or a field relevant to international development assistance in Community Health.
• Experience working in the UN or other international development organizations is an asset.
• Fluency in French and English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset.

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

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 benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
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 promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. 

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female applicants and people with disability are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also 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.

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.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government 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.

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