Job no: 559118
Contract type: Temporary Appointment
Duty Station: Kibondo
Level: NO-3
Location: United Republic of Tanzania
Categories: Health

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, Health

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy, and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education, and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

How can you make a difference?

The Health Specialist reports to the Health Specialist (Health Financing) P-3 for guidance and general supervision. The Health Specialist supports the development and preparation of the health programme and is responsible for managing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating, and reporting the programme progress of a sector of the health programme (e.g. gender, maternal, neonatal, child survival/development) within the country programme. The Health Specialist provides technical guidance and management support throughout the programming processes to facilitate the administration and achievement of concrete and sustainable results according to plans, allocation, results-based-management approaches and methodology (RBM), organizational Strategic Plans and goals, standards of performance, and accountability framework

KEY FUNCTION, ACCOUNTABILITIES, AND RELATED DUTIES/TASKS

Support the development of the health financing programme
Support and contribute to the preparation, design and updating of the situation analysis for health financing to establish a strategic plan for development, design and management of health-related programmes.
Participate in strategic programme discussions on the planning of health programmes. Formulate, design, and prepare a sector of the health programme proposal, ensuring alignment with UNICEF’s Strategic Plan, the Country Programme, as well as coherence/integration with the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), regional strategies, and national priorities, plans, and competencies.
Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss strategies and methodologies, and to determine health financing national priorities and competencies to ensure the achievement of the national objectives and UNICEF Country Programme
Programme management, monitoring, and delivery of results
Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews, and annual sectoral reviews with the government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results.
Actively monitor programmes/projects through field visits, surveys and/or exchange of information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress, identify bottlenecks, potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
Monitor and verify the optimum and appropriate use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative, and other assets) confirming compliance with organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity, ensuring timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
Prepare regular and mandated programme/project reports for management, donors, and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.
Technical and operational support to programme implementation
Provide technical guidance and operational support to government counterparts, implementing partners, stakeholders, and donors on the interpretation, application, and understanding of UNICEF health financing policies, strategies, processes, and best practices and approaches to improve health services delivery.
Participate in and provide technical inputs to the national and sub-national Public Finance Management (PFM) discussions, with a focus on establishing a PHC grant.
Undertake selected health sector budget analysis (e.g. identification of PFM bottlenecks affecting services delivery, efficiencies analysis) to inform UNICEF’s technical engagement with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance and Planning, and the President’s Office for Regional Administration and Local Government.
Draft policy papers, briefs, and other strategic programme materials on health financing for management use, information, and consideration.
Advocacy, networking, and partnership building
Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with health sector government counterparts, national stakeholders, as well as global partners, allies, donors, and academia for active networking, advocacy, and effective communication to improve health planning, budgeting and financial flows at the sub-national level.
Prepare communication and information materials to promote awareness, establish partnerships/alliances, and support national efforts on fundraising for health programmes (PHC, UHC and HSS).
Participate and/or represent UNICEF in appropriate technical working groups (TWGs), inter-agency discussions and planning on health-related issues to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on PFM in the health sector related discussions.
Support compelling use of finance data and evidence in advocacy materials and campaigns, including designing visually attractive infographics and data analysis on health planning, budgeting, and expenditures.
Collaborate with WHO, World Bank, other UN agencies and implementing partners to support country-level technical assistance on public financing, with a focus on revising the rules governing the Health Basket Fund funds utilization
Advocate for policy reforms, during strategic discussions with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance and Planning, the President’s Office for Regional Administration and Local Government
Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building
Review other countries experiences around priority topics (e.g. PHC grants reform, GAVI transition, financing health emergencies preparedness and response).
Document and disseminate lessons learned from national efforts in strengthening health systems and expanding UHC.
Represent UNICEF in relevant for a and disseminate research findings, policy briefs and other publications.
Forster the collaboration between academic institutions, the MOH and PORLAG to institutionalize capacity building activities for government officials and translate research findings into policy.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: health financing, health economics, health policy and/or management, public policy, or another relevant technical field.
A minimum of five years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required: health policy and planning, health financing, or health economics.
Experience working in Tanzania and in close collaboration the Government is considered an asset.
Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
Fluency in English and Swahili is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish) is considered an asset.
For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1), Works Collaboratively with others (1), Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1), Innovates and Embraces Change (1), Thinks and Acts Strategically (1), Drive to achieve impactful results (1), Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

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. All selected candidates will, therefore, 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.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, 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). Government employees that 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.

UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/.

This is a National Officer position and is open to nationals of the United Republic of Tanzania only.

Deadline: 16 Feb 2023 E. Africa Standard Time