Technical Support Consultant - Roll Back Malaria

THIS IS A ROSTER VACANCY.  APPLICANTS WHO MEET THE INITIAL SELECTION CRITERIA WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR ASSESSMENT.  THOSE WHO PASS THE ASSESSMENT WILL BE PLACED ON THE ROSTER TO BE ENGAGED FOR ASSIGNMENTS WHEN REQUIRED.

ROLL BACK MALARIA PARTNERSHIP

The past fifteen years have seen tremendous gains in reducing the burden of disease and progressing towards malaria elimination. Between 2000 and 2015, global malaria incidence fell by 37 percent and mortality rates by 60 percent. Over 6.2 million deaths were averted, primarily among children less than five years of age. Since 1998, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) has been central to the global fight against malaria. It has been essential to mobilizing these unprecedented resources and scaled up innovative interventions and to put the world on to a path of eliminating malaria.

The Country / Regional Support Partners Committee (CRSPC) is one of its key partnership mechanisms. The purpose of CRSPC is to implement a formal partnership mechanism to facilitate and harmonize timely support from the RBM Partnership mechanisms to achieve established targets.

The Technical Support consultant shall work for the RBM Harmonization Working Group/  C ountry Regional Support Partnership committee to facilitate and support the development of a differentiated funding proposal application to the Global Fund (GF) to access resources for the respective national malaria programme. The countries to be supported present highly complex technical, epidemiological and political contexts for malaria prevention and control implementation. This significantly enhances the complexity of the funding application process and requires a senior and experienced consultant to manage this process, able to command the respect of senior government officials and partners. The resource allocations are high, in many cases over US$100 million.

As well as an in-depth knowledge of the technical aspects of malaria prevention and control in endemic countries, the assignment requires highly developed negotiation skills and a proven track record in achieving consensus across multiple stakeholders. The consultant will be expected to visit the country as necessary during the support period.

• Carry out a comprehensive review of country programme documentation (Strategic Plan; Operational Plan, Work plans; Gap analysis, etc.);
• Review existing support and conduct partnership mapping of current activities, resources and anticipated changes including all existing Global Fund malaria grants.
• Lead the comprehensive programmatic and financial gap analysis for the request with partners, clearly outlining the need for funding through the GF funding proposal including for vector control (LLINs and IRS), case management (diagnosis, treatment and management of severe malaria, SMC, IPTP, programme management, behavior change communication and monitoring, evaluation and surveillance
• Lead high-level discussions with senior management, partner representatives and other key stakeholders to broker consensus on prioritisation of national strategies and interventions for inclusion in the funding proposal.
• Undertake a technical review of chosen strategies and interventions to ensure that they are technically sound, feasible to implement and will achieve sufficient impact;
• Work closely with national programme senior management and partners to support the development of the differentiated application for malaria and liaise with senior ministry of health staff as appropriate  
• Synthesize multiple application components including gap analysis, budget and work plan and ensure uniform style and ensure all pieces are fully integrated into a comprehensive, high quality application;
• revise the application on the basis of feedback received during the review process;
• support the submission of the application to the CCM, with prepared discussion points to support the application;
• conduct a final review of the application to make sure that it is complete and of high quality;
• provide support to the country to address Technical Review Panel or Global Fund Secretariat requests for clarifications (if relevant);
• write and submit a report to the RBM HWG/PCRSC outlining in detail the application development process and suggesting lessons for future support for application development.

Monitoring and Progress Controls

Key Deliverables:

• Revised malaria programmatic gap analysis
• Draft grant funding application for The Global Fund submission, according to the needs and specific context of the relevant country.
• Final grant funding application that is prioritized, technically sound, feasible to implement and impact oriented.
• Final report to Manager analyzing support for application development process including recommendations for improving future support to countries.

• Advanced university (master’s) degree or Bachelor’s Degree, preferably in public health or social science.
• Specialization, experience or sound understanding of international development and the political agendas as related to malaria is preferable. 

Essential: 

• With master's degree at least 7 years or with Bachelor's degree minimum 9 years of relevant experience preferably in the development, implementation and/or management of health projects.
• Documented experience of working in complex and politically and technically challenging situations to achieve consensus and effectively manage change, complemented by a proven track record in the development and/or evaluation of policies related to public health, preferably in the area of malaria.
• Documented experience in resource mobilization at national and international levels, through partnership development and with a focus on results.
• Extensive experience of the technical interventions for malaria prevention, case management, control and elimination.
• Proven track record of success in supporting Global Fund applications and familiarity with current GF procedures and processes

Desirable:  

• Experience in implementing / evaluating technical malaria control interventions
• Knowledge of broader health policies and National Malaria Control Programmes
• Knowledge of the Roll Back Malaria Program 

• Fluency in English is required.  
• Working knowledge of French desirable.  
• Knowledge of other UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish) and local languages an asset.

• Demonstrated team leadership / team-building experience
• High level negotiation / diplomatic skills and political astuteness
• Ability to facilitate discussions between different stakeholders and foster consensus on complex technical issues
• Experience in successful resource mobilization from multilateral sources
• Planning and Organizing
• Communication
• Strategic analysis
• Proposal writing
• Experience working in national and international environments
• English or French fluency and ability to write clearly and concisely.
• Results oriented

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

PLEASE INCLUDE A ONE PAGE COVER LETTER WITH YOUR APPLICATION.

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• Strengthen UNOPS role in operationalizing the Sustainable Development Goals with particular emphasis on health, environment and economic development.
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