Organization: UN Children"s Fund
Country: United States of America
Closing date: 11 Aug 2015
Background
Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 4 and 5 underscore global commitments to reduce child mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015. In many low-income settings, 10-20% of children die before the age of five and the death of mothers during childbirth takes place far too frequently. This is despite substantial evidence documenting the benefits of a range of simple, effective and low-cost interventions for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH). Too often, these high-impact interventions and the essential commodities they deliver fail to reach the women and children who need them.
In support of these efforts, the UN Commission on Life Saving Commodities (UNCoLSC) established a set of commitments to increase availability and access to 13 underutilized, high-impact commodities for women and children. This confluence of leadership and momentum has stimulated discussions around how to optimize the contributions of key financial and implementing partners. Effective global coordination is essential. In response to these issues, an RMNCH Steering Committee*comprised of key bilateral partners, country representatives, H4+ UN Agencies and others was established as a mechanism to enhance the alignment of the international response with country needs and resource gaps. This is supported by a new RMNCH financing mechanism (*RMNCH Fund) which provides a predictable and flexible pool of resources to support innovative and catalytic interventions to address key bottlenecks. A multi-UN agency Strategy and Coordination Team (SCT), comprised of representatives from UNICEF, WHO and UNFPA, provides coordination and technical support to facilitate this collective response.
An RMNCH Coordinated Country Engagement process has emerged from this Steering Committee as a high-level partnership between participating UN agencies, major development partners and interested countries (approximately 40 countries expected) to better coordinate technical and financial flows. The overall aim of the RMNCH Steering Committee and Fund are to contribute to reductions child and maternal deaths and accelerate progress towards MDGs 4 and 5. The broad objectives are to:
• To better align global initiatives, expertise and resource flows with country RMNCH needs
• To overcome country-specific bottlenecks and improve access to life-saving commodities and interventions
In partnership between Ministries, lead H4+ agency and the SCT, the following outputs are expected:
• To conduct a resource mapping of global and national RMNCH resources
• To address key programme and commodity-specific RMNCH barriers
• To track critical RMNCH bottlenecks in the access, availability and effective delivery of programs and commodities
A Results Framework that links activities of the RMNCH Steering Committee and Fund to reductions in maternal and child deaths must be developed and informed by a theory of change that investigates interdependent processes at a number of levels. Development on the Results Framework is ongoing at the global level and will require additional country-specific logical frameworks.
During 2015, the RMNCH will produce the following outputs:
• RMNCH Landscape Synthesis for 20 countries including Summary Reports
• Relational database of RMNCH indicators and reference materials from multiple levels – global, national, and sub-national
• Management of web-based visualization platform for monitoring global and national progress towards RMNCH targets
• Evaluation of longer-term outcomes / impacts of RMNCH interventions and funding
• Modeling of current RMNCH intervention deployment and coverage on projected lives saved using the Lives Saved Tool (LiST)
• Production of various research publications related to SCT activities and/or UNCoLSC recommendations.
The Database Management Officer contributes to the implementation of the RMNCH Strategy.
Purpose:
The Database Management Officer will support the work of RMNCH – specifically the collation, processing, entry, maintenance and analysis of information within the RMNCH database and archive for the Monitoring and Evaluation group.
Roles and responsibilities:
· Continuously update and maintain information within the RMNCH database including:
o Collate, organize and archive datasets provided by internal and external partners
o Process datasets including, but not limited to, reformatting data elements and file types, running data quality checks, and modifying or cleaning data elements as needed
o Transfer, enter or upload datasets into the primary RMNCH database
· Maintain and further develop database features to address SCT’s analytical needs. Examples include expanding database support for multiple languages, accommodating new types of indicators or other changes to the data model and structure.
· Continuously update and maintain custom analytical software utilizing RMNCH database data, including:
o Existing library of R scripts processing RMNCH data for the purposes of display in the online Dashboard
o Any new code required for SCT’s analytical activities
· Create and maintain comprehensive documentation of the proper database data entry and retrieval procedures.
· Create and maintain comprehensive documentation of the custom analytical software.
· Train internal and external users of the RMNCH database on proper data retrieval and access procedures.
· Liaise as necessary with the developers of the online SCT Dashboard to facilitate the evolving web-based implementation of RMNCH data visualization.
· Grant users access to RMNCH database as requested while maintaining privacy and protections as per internal standards.
· Maintain a current archive of reference materials (e.g. national reports, publications, etc.) used to generate the information stored in the RMNCH database.
· Articulate data quality, data management constraints, and possible analysis opportunities in an effort to contribute towards the following SCT activities:
o design, modification and maintenance of an integrated results framework
o implementation of the results framework and related analyses
o on-going data quality improvements and harmonization of external datasets
· Develop and test data entry forms as required
· Provide ad hoc fulfilment of data requests, research and analytical support as required
Duty Station
UNICEF New York Headquarters with possible travel.
Timeframe
Full-time
Start date: 24 August 2015 End date: 30 June 2016
Key competences, technical background, and experience required:
Education:
University degree in public health or administration, business administration, statistics or other relevant field or equivalent professional training or work experience
Experience
• At least two years experience as Data Officer/Manager or four years experience at the mid-senior level as Data Assistant with an international development organization, academic institution or comparable experience in the private sector. Working experience in a country in a developing context is desirable.
• Demonstrable work experience of increasing involvement and responsibility in database management or analysis
• Previous database management or analysis experience
• Monitoring and Evaluation experience is desirable
• Experience working in multi-cultural/national teams
Languages
An excellent knowledge of English and preferably a good working knowledge of French. Knowledge of other languages an asset.
Technical Skills
• Solid understanding of relational databases, in particular Microsoft Access
• Some experience writing code for Stata, SAS, Matlab or R required. Knowledge of R preferred.
• Understanding of in-country realities
• Oral and written communication
• Excellent knowledge of Excel
Core Competencies
• Gathering Information
• Solution-oriented analysis
• Communicating effectively
• Promoting Team Work
• A results-oriented approach
*Please see deliverables in attached chart.
How to apply:
HOW TO APPLY
Applicants are requested to send their submissions to <**pdconsultants@unicef.org>**with subject line:
“RMNCH Database Manager, Consultancy”by 11 August 2015, 5:00pm EST.
Applications must include:
· Cover letter,
· CV, and
· P-11 form (http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc)
· Proposal
· Indicate where you heard about this advertisement
Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in US$)to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.
NOTE: Files should not exceed 5.0MB limit
UNICEF is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
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