Country: South Sudan
Closing date: 05 Feb 2017
Background
The world's newest nation, South Sudan, is faced with myriad of challenges, some of which stretch back to historical marginalization and under-development and others which have arisen more recently, including those due to the conflict which erupted in December 2013. As a result, multiple and interlocking threats, including conflicts and inter-communal violence, economic decline, disease, and climactic shocks, there are increased humanitarian needs across South Sudan. It is estimated that these shocks have affected at least 8.7 million people, with conflict and violence directly affecting more than 7.2 million people and an additional unprecedented 4.8 million people have been projected to suffer from severe food insecurity. Of those affected by the crises in South Sudan, at least 4.6 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. Nearly 2.3 million people – one in every five people in South Sudan - have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict began, including 1.65 million internally displaced people and more than 634,000 people who have fled the country as refugees.
Over the years, the Republic of South Sudan has been one of the riskiest places in the world for women to become pregnant and for children to be born. Many children do not survive beyond their first birthday (i.e. Infant Mortality Rate = 79 in 1,000 livebirths) as they are at high risk of dying from preventable and curable diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, neonatal infection, preterm delivery, pneumonia, vaccine preventable diseases, and water-borne illnesses. Malnutrition is also a major underlying cause of morbidity and mortality. The Lancet Series on Maternal and Child Nutrition, 2013 published that globally almost half (45%) of all deaths in children aged under five are caused by malnutrition. The serious impact that malnutrition has around the world on child mortality was made clear in the study, which found that malnutrition was responsible for around 3.1 million deaths in children under five annually.
This situation in South Sudan was further exacerbated by the conflict that started in December 2013. More than 1.69 million people are displaced internally within South Sudan with over 200,000 IDPs living in Protection of Civilian (PoC) sites across the country. The vulnerabilities of the population have been heightened by recurrent displacement, severe food insecurity, and disease outbreaks such as cholera, measles and malaria, all of which have been seen in the last two years.
The conflict has also greatly intensified an already high burden of malnutrition. Acute malnutrition levels were as high as 36 per cent before the conflict. As per the 2010 Household Survey, 28 per cent of children are underweight, 31 per cent stunted and 23 per cent wasted. In terms of Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices, only 45 per cent of children 0-6 months in South Sudan are exclusively breastfed. 5.8 million People are moderately or severely food insecure. The bulk of this acutely food insecure population (57 per cent) is located in the Greater Upper Nile states of Unity, Jonglei and Upper Nile.
Maternal and child mortality rates are extremely high in South Sudan. The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) is 2,054 per 100,000 live births – this translates to one in seven women dying due to pregnancy related complications. Just to put this figure into context, the first health Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is aimed towards reducing MMR to 70/100,000 live births by 2030. Relevant contributing factors include very low antenatal care visits, with only forty per cent of mothers receiving at least one antenatal care visit, and only 17 per cent make the 4 or more visits as recommended. Less than 20 per cent of deliveries are attended by skilled birth attendants, and only 12 per cent of deliveries occur in health facilities. Although South Sudan has seen a reduction in childhood mortality rates, the infant mortality rate is estimated at 79 per 1,000 live births, while the under-five mortality rate is estimated at 108 per 1000 live births. Neonatal mortality rate is 43 deaths per 1000 live birth, meaning that 55% of deaths in infancy occur during the first 28 days of a child's life. A 15 year-old girl has a higher chance of dying at childbirth than completing her education in South Sudan.
The already fragile health system in South Sudan has been worsened by the current crisis which resulted in the destruction of 43 per cent of health facilities in conflict-affected areas, leading to disrupted provision of health services in three states (Jonglei, Unity, and Upper Nile) and a deterioration of the overall health condition of the population. This is consistent with data from the national Health Management Information System (HMIS) indicating that over 2.4 million people suffered from malaria in 2015 which was an increase of 61 per cent over the 2014 figure of 1.5 million. 2015 saw an unprecedented malaria outbreak among IDPs in Unity and Upper Nile state. The scale of the outbreak was extremely high in Bentiu PoC where the malaria incidence (cases per 10,000) increased exponentially from 7 in week 1 of 2015 to 595 in week 42 of 2015 with a peak incidence of 752 in week 37 of 2015. Although the attack rate was high in Bentiu PoC, the highest caseload of malaria was seen in Northern Bahr El Ghazal (264,222) followed by Central Equatoria State (257,872) with these two States representing a proportionate morbidity of 46% and 44% respectively. Overall, a total of 44 counties in the seven stable states have reported elevated number of malaria cases.
Immunization coverage in South Sudan is still very low, and has decreased since the outbreak of conflict, leading to accumulation of large number of un-immunized children which poses the risk of measles, wild polio and other vaccine preventable diseases outbreaks. The coverage is extremely low in Jonglei, Unity state and Upper Nile states with coverage of OPV 3 at 11 per cent, Penta 3 at 10 per cent, TT2+ at 6 per cent and BCG at 19 per cent. Two cases of vaccine derived polio were also confirmed in Unity State (one in Bentiu PoC another one in Mayom county).
The risk of epidemic disease outbreaks remains high and is negatively impacted by displacement, poor sanitation and lack of clean water. Potential risks include cholera, measles, hepatitis E, diarrheal diseases, acute respiratory infection, and malaria. Cholera is endemic in South Sudan and the 2015 cholera outbreak resulted in 1,818 cases and 47 deaths. The institutional capacity to manage these outbreaks and other health related issues such as complicated pregnancies is limited. While the number disease cases fluctuates and is reported weekly, currently 214 health facilities out of 410 (59 per cent) are no longer functional in Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity States.
Humanitarian needs for WASH services remain urgent and acute. The large-scale displacement of IDPs to areas without sufficient access to safe water and adequate sanitation has greatly increased their vulnerability to waterborne diseases. Likewise, in communities hosting displaced people, there are limited shared water resources and access to sanitation are often in disrepair from over usage. South Sudan has been affected by cyclic cholera outbreaks since 2006. Due to the preventive activities that were undertaken, the scale of the 2015 cholera outbreak was much lower compared to the previous ones. Regardless, the outbreaks of 2014 and 2015 revealed that cholera was prevalent in heavily congested suburbs and peri-urban areas where access to safe water is limited including Juba in Central Equatoria, Jonglei and Eastern Equatoria States.
Sustainable and reliable water sources and sanitation facilities are required to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, in areas where the vulnerable groups fleeing from conflict and hunger are located. Most of the vulnerable groups have resorted to drinking contaminated water from the road side and from ponds which are contaminated with human waste due to high rate of open defecation. Open air defecation poses the risk of faecal oral contamination due to inadequate promotion of improved hygiene practices.
Purpose of the Position
The objective of this position is to provide program support in the implementation of the multi-year DFID funded project for Provision of an Integrated Nutrition, Health, and WASH Child Survival Package.
Specific Tasks
The staff member will be responsible for the following tasks;
1. Ensure proper knowledge management of DFID HARISS project through data collection and analysis, complete and accurate reporting, documenting lessons learned, challenges and success stories of the project.
2. Establish and manage a monitoring system for the DFID HARISS project based on the project targets and indicators and monitor progress trends and provide feedback to Programme Sections on trends of implementation to achieve target results.
3. Contributes to the analysis of key indicators from project sites by compiling data, analysing and evaluating information, providing regular updates and writing chapters of the analysis of the DFID HARRIS project.
4. Compile quarterly project budget spend and forecast for DFID HARISS project and Support programme sections in monitoring of budget utilization and compliance and provide timely feedback on grant utilization trends.
5. Participates in inter-sectoral collaboration with other programme colleagues. Assists in development of appropriate communication and information strategy to support and advocate for Health, Nutrition and WASH interventions 6. Ensures the accurate and timely input of project information and issues status reports for monitoring and evaluation purposes.
7. Facilitate all interactions between DFID and UNICEF on issues related to the project in terms of regular updates to the Donor Relations Specialist/RM, section heads, DFID and UNICEF management, prepare updates and provide required information to DFID focal point through RM/Donor relations.
8. Support Programme sections on development of DFID HARRIS Project Cooperation Agreements (PCA), development of partners work plans, documenting Partner's implementation progress reports.
9. Coordinates with respective sections program specialists/officers in the preparation and consolidation of donor's quarterly progress reports. Prepares project briefs and programme/project status reports required for management, board, donors, budget review, programme analysis, annual reports, etc.
10. Supports the RM/Donor Relations when required in all DFID HARRIS related activities and liaise with UNICEF program specialists/officers, implementing partners and relevant government counterparts on the implementation process.
Qualifications of Successful Candidate
Education
Work Experience
Language
Competencies of Successful Candidate
Core Values
Core Competencies
Functional Competencies
Remarks
* The successful candidate for this emergency recruitment MUST be available to commence work within 31 days of receiving an offer.
* Please note that is a non-family duty station.
Employment is conditional upon receipt of medical clearance, any clearance required, the grant of a visa, and completion of any other pre-employment criteria that UNICEF may establish. Candidates may not be further considered or offers of employment may be withdrawn if these conditions are unlikely to be met before the date for commencement of service
How to apply:
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=502298