Thailand Operational Hub (THOH)
THOH is a UNOPS business unit under the UNOPS Asia Regional Office and it was
established to better support, develop and oversee the UNOPS portfolio of
projects in South East Asia and the Pacific.
The Hub comprises three main portfolios –THOH
Thailand, THOH Indonesia and THOH Pacific and provides a wide range of services
including Project Management, Transactional HR, Financial, and Procurement to
clients that include other UN entities, INGOs and governments/government
agencies donors. Most of THOH projects are implemented in South East Asia and
the Pacific.
Project Context and Background
The Republic of Palau is an
Island country located in the western Pacific Ocean approximately 550 miles
east of the Philippines. The country contains approximately 340 islands and has
an area of 466 square kilometers. CHCs are located on 5 islands; Kayanglal,
Babeldaob, Koror, Peleliu, and Angaur. The atoll of Kayangal is located between
2 and 5 hours by boat, north of the largest island of Babeldaob. The State of
Koror houses the main hospital and comprises a number of linked islands
connected by bridge to the south of Babeldaob. The islands of Peleliu and
Angaur are located to the south of Koror, and are accessible by boat (0.5 to 4
hrs). A small group of islands 200-380 miles southwest of the main islands make
up the States of Sonsorol and Hatohobei, serviced sporadically by ship, and
with no health service provision.
Health
services are primarily provided by the Ministry of Health through the Belau
National Hospital and the nine Community Health Centers (CHC) strategically
located around the islands. Primary care is intended to be delivered through
the CHCs with an integrated referral system for secondary care at the main
hospital in Koror.
Following a request from the
Ministry of Health of Palau, in order to better respond to current and emerging
healthcare needs and an increasingly growing population, UNOPS will be
supporting the physical rehabilitation of 6 health centers scattered across the
country. Support by UNOPS, will also assist in raising the quality,
availability and access of primary healthcare in Palau, provide adequate space
to enable client focused care delivery and outcomes for patients, and improve
working conditions, safety, efficiency and outcomes for both patients,
clinicians and staff.
The proposed
project is based on the shared vision of Palau Community Health Center’s
Governing Board in partnership with the Ministry of Health to enhance the
existing Community Health Centers in Palau to better serve the communities, by
ensuring availability of all required and additional services, accessible
locations and hours of operation, coverage for medical emergency during and
after hours, continuity of care and hospital admission, while at the same time
ensuring that no one is denied service due to inability to pay.
The goal for
this project is to build and maintain a sustainable health service delivery
system that responds to the unique needs of Palau’s population. This overall
goal is supported by the following objectives:
- Improve CHCs physical infrastructure to respond to
current and emerging healthcare needs
- Increase quality and access to primary healthcare and
broaden the scope of care at primary level in the CHCs
- Improve working conditions to support safe and efficient
service delivery
- Provide adequate space to enable patient focused care
delivery and excellent outcomes for patients, clinicians and staff
Expected outputs for this
programme are:
- Increased access, utilization, coverage and satisfaction
of primary and secondary healthcare services through the CHCs
- Adequately equipped and functional CHCs
- Meeting the Presidential Proclamation No. 18-227,
declaring 2018 as the Year of Good Health
- Meeting the indicators of the UN SDG3
- Ensuring good health services to support prosperity,
longevity and sustainable livelihoods in line with the development of Palau
The Project Manager
is responsible to produce/read the project initiation documents (PID), Legal
Agreement and have a thorough understanding of the terms, conditions, and the
respective roles and responsibilities of the partners/stakeholders to ensure
the project(s) products are capable of meeting the business cases for both UNOPS
and the client. Success of the project(s) and hence Project Manager will be
based on the Success Criteria of UNOPS engagements which are linked to the
below responsibilities. The project
would rely on a number of external suppliers for its successful delivery,
managing tight timeline with some flexibility. The project manager is
responsible for all aspects of the project life cycle.
The scope of the project includes the retrofit
design of six community health centres and their construction. A preliminary assessment has been carried out
by UNOPS which outlines the requirements for the project. This will form the basis of the PID which
defines the scope of the project. It will
include procurement of design services, design management, procurement of construction
works contracts, and quality assurance during construction supervision.
The Project Manager is responsible for all
aspects of the project life cycle. S/he must be able to apply, with some degree of autonomy, the below
duties and responsibilities of the project success criteria. The Project Manager will be supported by a
full time Project Engineer, working collaboratively as a two person team,
together with support from UNOPS in the region, and in close collaboration with
the Ministry of Health. The Project
Manager should also refer to the Project Engineer’s ToR.