Big Catch Up Consultant – Strategic Planning and Programme Management for ESARO

Job Posting Organization:
UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, is a leading organization dedicated to promoting children's rights and well-being globally. Established in 1946, UNICEF has been operational for over 70 years, working in 190 countries and territories. The organization focuses on various aspects of child welfare, including health, nutrition, education, and protection from violence and exploitation. With a workforce of over 12,000 employees, UNICEF is the largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, relying entirely on voluntary contributions from individuals, businesses, foundations, and governments to fund its initiatives.

Job Overview:
The Big Catch Up Consultant will play a crucial role in supporting the final acceleration phase of the Big Catch-Up (BCU) initiative, which aims to recover and enhance immunization systems that were disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This position involves providing direct technical support to countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region, including Burundi, Comoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia. The consultant will focus on accelerating implementation, strengthening monitoring and reporting, ensuring accountability through dose reconciliation, and documenting lessons learned to inform future immunization recovery efforts. The consultant will also assist in the transition of catch-up vaccination into routine immunization systems, ensuring sustainability beyond the BCU period.

Duties and Responsibilities:
The consultant's duties will include coordinating and documenting support to country acceleration plans, reviewing country catch-up policies and strategies, identifying bottlenecks and gaps, tracking completion of priority BCU activities, supporting accountability and close-out processes, validating and triangulating datasets, documenting reconciliation outcomes, and developing close-out and transition implementation plans. The consultant will also be responsible for ensuring alignment with regional and global priorities, facilitating communication with national ministries of health and immunization stakeholders, and preparing high-quality technical reports.

Required Qualifications:
Candidates must possess a minimum of eight years of progressively responsible experience in international public health programme management, with at least three years of substantive experience in immunization programmes, preferably in low- and middle-income countries. They should demonstrate expertise in strategic planning, coordination, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of immunization programmes, as well as experience engaging with national ministries of health and a broad range of stakeholders. Strong communication and presentation skills are essential, along with proficiency in standard office software applications. Prior experience with a United Nations agency or other international organization is an asset.

Educational Background:
A Master's Degree or advanced university degree in Medicine, Public Health, Health Policy and Management, Social or Behavioural Science, or other related fields is required for this position.

Experience:
Candidates should have a minimum of eight years of progressively responsible experience in international public health programme management, including at least three years of substantive experience in immunization programmes. This experience should include participation in immunization programme reviews, microplanning processes, data analysis, and preparation of high-quality technical reports.

Languages:
Fluency in spoken and written English is mandatory. A working knowledge of French or Portuguese is considered an asset for this position.

Additional Notes:
The consultancy is remote and is expected to last from February 15, 2026, to June 30, 202

• Candidates must complete their profiles in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system, upload academic credentials, and submit a financial proposal reflecting costs per deliverable and total lump-sum for the assignment. UNICEF will cover any emergent travel expenses, and selected candidates must have current health insurance coverage at the time of contract award. Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of satisfactory deliverables, and UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment if deliverables do not meet required standards. Selected candidates must also confirm their fully-vaccinated status against COVID-19, although this requirement does not apply to those working remotely.