National Consultancy to strengthen Water

at  UNICEF

Job no: 573148
Contract type: Consultant
Level: Consultancy
Location: Venezuela
Categories: WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)

* CANDIDATES THAT HAVE ALREADY APPLIED DO NOT NEED TO REAPPLY *

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, opportunity
In healthcare facilities (HCFs) and communities where water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are lacking, it is not possible to ensure adequate key infection, prevention and control (IPC) practices and precautions, such as hand hygiene, one of the most cost-effective measures to stop the chain of transmission of infections. Access to basic WASH services in health facilities is an essential requirement to address quality of care, infection prevention and control; there is also a growing need for emergency preparedness, epidemic management and climate change resilience. Since 2019, UNICEF WASH in Venezuela has supported 280 health facilities (both primary and secondary level of care) to improve their access to WASH services and practices; this implementation has been cross-sectoral to the Health and Nutrition section, monitoring its results to ensure that in the critical points of mother and child care and in the nutritionalrecovery spaces there are at least basic WASH services that benefit boys and girls, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and infants (MEL), caregivers, health personnel (at all levels of care) and community members. A crucial activity in the comprehensive implementation of WASH-IPC in HCFs has been the constitution or reactivation of Hospital IPC Commissions, expanding them to also integrate crucial health personnel who operate or maintain WASH services (cleaning, maintenance and/or general services personnel, clinical and/or health engineering) and community.
The WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) shows that around half of the world’s health facilities lack basic hygiene services with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizers at the point of care to patients and in the bathrooms of these centers. The report also shows that only 53% of healthcare facilities have access to a protected source of water and, of the countries with available data, 1 in 10 healthcare facilities in the world had no sanitation service. Also, many healthcare facilities lack protocols for basic cleaning and safe segregation and disposal of healthcare waste.
These data highlight the need to continue investing in the improve of WASH services in HCF to mitigate the impacts not only of pandemics and epidemics but also the day-to-day IPC. For this to happen, capacity must be created within the responsible government institutions. In collaboration with WHO, UNICEF developed the WASHFIT tool (now version 2) to help the government and its partners make incremental improvements and scale up WASH in HCF. Over the past few years, UNICEF has been supporting countries to build staff and government capacity to carry out WASHFIT implementation in more than 50 countries.
UNICEF Venezuela is now seeking a consultant to continue supporting the WASH&CEED section in Sucre, Bolívar and Delta Amacuro states to provide technical support on WASH IPC capacity building and implementation follow-up in prioritized HCF. The consultant is expected to provide support to all three prioritized regions, based on demand, but also on planning and needs. The consultant will also collect learnings and experiences on implementation and, in coordination with the central office and direct supervisor.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

• First university degree in medicine, nursery, engineering, public health, or other health related field and Advanced university degree in Public health, Epidemiology, Infectious diseases, Paediatrics, Neonatology, Obstetrics, or Sanitary Engineering
• Minimum of 3 years of relevant experience at the health-related field.
• Experience with developing training materials and delivering associated learning opportunities and platforms.
• Technical and Financial Proposal with general adherence to the Terms of Reference with the following travel plan

Desirable:

• At least 2 years of proven experience in the implementation of WASH-IPC strategies in HCFs.
• Experience developing training materials for Water, sanitation and hygiene, public health or health topics and fostering active groups.
• Experience working in humanitarian Organizations, Civil Society Organizations or Public Sector in WASH-IPC related fields.

SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE:

Essential:

• Demonstrable skills in communication, both for producing and disseminating WASH-related content and for capacity building sessions and meetings, are essential.
• Strong ability to coordinate across diverse teams and to respond effectively to technical queries to encourage WASH technical guidance.
• Familiarity with health sector dynamics and protocols.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with multidisciplinary and multi-level teams.
• Demonstrated ability to rapidly integrate and review technical information.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Excellent organizational, team and interpersonal/communication skills.

Please refer the Job description for details