• Country: New York, USA
• No of vacancies: N/A
  
• Salary: N/A
• Organization: UNICEF
• Gender: Both
• Deadline: 2024-01-18

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

In 1974, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), governments and collaborating NGOs initiated the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). This visionary initiative was set out to protect children worldwide from deadly diseases like measles, polio, and diphtheria through widespread vaccination efforts. Since its inception, the EPI has played a pivotal role in reducing child mortality by over 80%, saving innumerable lives.

This accomplishment, spanning from the eradication of smallpox to the elimination of two-thirds of polio strains, ranks as one of humanity’s most profound success stories. It demanded immense coordination, unwavering political determination and the tireless work of thousands — often in harsh conditions. While many may be unfamiliar with the name or the existence of the EPI, it is the reason billions of us exist today.

The 50th anniversary of the EPI coincides with a time when, due largely to disruptions caused by COVID-19, conflicts, and climate change, new outbreaks of childhood diseases are reemerging. In the past three years alone, a staggering 67 million children missed their routine vaccinations, marking the most significant setback in three decades. Simultaneously, trust in vaccines and the institutions responsible for their delivery has waned, leaving more children vulnerable and tragically resulting in loss of life. Understanding the evolution, accomplishments, and challenges of the EPI is not only essential for appreciating the immense significance of childhood immunization, but also for addressing current crises like pandemics and climate change.

Historically, UNICEF played a pivotal role in the advocacy, design, implementation, and monitoring of immunization. And using the opportunity of EPI@50, UNICEF intends to celebrate, strategize and create a vision for a future EPI, advocate, establish new partnerships, optimize its operations and ensure that UNICEF is fit for future.

The initiative’s primary objective is to develop a detailed account of UNICEF’s role and participation in EPI and role in vaccination as a whole – tracing milestones, shifts, shortcomings, and triumphs that will also inform and serve as the backbone for multiple knowledge products. EPI@50 also aims to gather essential documents and chronicle the experiences of former and current staff, healthcare workers, scientists, and leaders who, over the past five decades, have tirelessly worked to ensure every child receives life-saving vaccines.

The Senior Health Advisor within the Immunization Strategy & Management unit will be the contract supervisor for the assignment.

Scope of Work:

Immunization Section’s goal is to generate a historical account of UNICEF’s immunization work and its contribution to global vaccination efforts. The envisaged scope of work includes:

1. Compiling key milestones in the history of immunization and EPI;
2. Developing a framework for capturing UNICEF’s qualitative contribution to global immunization efforts and EPI;
3. Identifying and establishing a repository of key documents (such as strategies, policies, agreements and others) that might be relevant for the history of the programme, including documents produced by UNICEF;
4. Capturing and documenting UNICEF’s contributions to global immunization efforts and EPI, including the development of a timeline with key dates and benchmarks. Among other things, this will include the identification and interviewing of UNICEF employees (current and former), health workers, and other key informants that could provide critical knowledge and information about the programme (and recording)
5. Development of a report with the full account of UNICEF’s qualitative contribution to EPI, as well as an editorial to be signed by UNICEF’s ED and published in multiple media.

The consultant is expected to work under the supervision of the Senior Immunization Advisor, and in collaboration with staff in the Division of Data and Analytics, the Division of Global Communication and Advocacy.

Reference documents:

• History of the future
• 1946–2006: Sixty Years for Children
• UNICEF’s Immunization Roadmap
• A Brief History of Vaccination

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

• Agreed structure of the final report and methodology for interviews, draft repository of documents developed.      – By12 February 2024
• Framework for capturing UNICEF’s contributions to EPI developed.

Framework and structure for interviews with staff presented. – By 20 February 2024

• Draft document repository, including interview records presented. – By 1 March 2024
• Draft report, Draft editorial for UNICEF ED developed. By 15 March 2024
• Final report, Editorial for UNICEF ED and Repository of Documents developed. By 30 April 2024

Qualifications

Education:

A Master’s degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Health, Knowledge Management, History or related fields

Work experience:

• At least ten years of experience in the area of communications with demonstrated ability to conduct research, documentation and interviews;
• Experience in investigating and documenting public health topics and/or immunization are considered an asset;
• Experience with editorials and publications in large medias is considered an asset

Competencies/Knowledge:

• Strong writing and communication skills in English.

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