Job Description

From 1996 to 2016, Nepal experienced considerable improvements in maternal health and child survival, declining the Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) from 50 to 21 per 1000 live births and the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) from 539 to 239 per 100,000 live births. Despite the progress, several systemic and programmatic problems exist, making it challenging to meet the SDG target of 70 per 100,000 live births for MMR and 12 per 1000 live births for NMR by 2030.Still significant percent (70%) of mothers die due to preventable pregnancy and childbirth related obstetric complication.

 Sudur Pashchim Province and Karnali Province have significant neonatal mortality rates, with 25 per 100,000 live births and 11 per 1,000 live births, respectively. Similarly, the infant mortality rate in Karnali is 27 per 1000 live births, whereas it is 33 per 1000 live births in Sudur Pashchim Province (NMICS2019). In both provinces, the national protocol of eight ANC visits is quite low, being the lowest among other provinces. i.e. 0.9 and 0.01 percent. Furthermore, Karnali Province has the lowest institution delivery rate (62%) and the high early child marriage rate (24.1%) among other provinces.

 DoHS, MoHP is focusing on providing high-quality Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health (MNCAH) services through effective and efficient program execution that adheres to global and national MNCAH guidelines. The UNICEF country office has been assisting the Family Welfare Division (FWD) in developing and updating the MNCAH national guidelines, SOPs, and protocol for quality MNCAH services, while the UNICEF Field Office Nepalgunj is assisting Karnali and Sudur Pashchim provinces in evidence-based planning, programming, designing, and implementation of provincial policy, guidelines on MNCAH, as well as facilitation and coordination support.

How can you make a difference? 

The consultant will provide support to improve equitable access to quality Maternal, Newborn, child and adolescent Health by strengthening capacity of health service providers, health managers and municipality and province level stakeholders including demand creation to access quality health service at community level.

The Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) consultant will assist Nepalgunj field office in successfully implementing planned activities providing extensive on-site technical assistance to health institutions; increasing the ability of health managers at the municipal/provincial level; and municipal health system strengthening ensuring quality and sustained interventions. Further, he/she will proactively contribute his/her expertise and support the Field Office through program monitoring, capacity development of MNCAH service providers at service delivery points, capacity enhancement of municipal health managers for evidence-based planning budgeting through bottleneck analysis, and advocacy to decision makers for local allocation of resources to improve maternal and child health. MNH consultant will work as a dedicated human resource under the direct supervision of a health officer, Nepalgunj field office. The Health Section in Kathmandu will provide technical guidance and mentorship.

Duration of Contract: The total duration of the contract is for 11 months starting from 01 October 2022.

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

• Bachelor’s in nursing/BSc nursing medicine, public health and Master’s in Public Health will be an added advantage.
•  Minimum 3 years professional experiences in heath sector especially on maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health
• Skill Birth Attendant trained candidate is preferable
• Updated knowledge on MPDSR, IMNCI, QI, KMC, Care for small and sick newborn, PMTCT, SRHR, HP-MSS etc
• Good leadership, communication, and negotiation/advocacy skills.
• Experience of engagement with local and provincial government in project administration is essential
• Good writing skills in English and Nepali.
• Computer skills (word, power point, excel etc)
• Qualified female candidates from respective province will be prioritized

Remarks:  

Request to submit financial proposal as per deliverable in Nepalese currency. Please propose your monthly professional fees in NPR

Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.  Candidates from under-represented ethnic groups are strongly encouraged to apply. 

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment.