Job Description

Terms of Reference 

Designation:    Gender Consultan

Organization:   William J Clinton Foundation (WJCF), Bhopal

Location:          Telecommute 

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture

CHAI in partnership with its India affiliate, William J. Clinton Foundation's (WJCF) has been working in India since 2004 in close partnership with and under the guidance of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) at the central and state levels on an array of high priority initiatives aimed at improving health outcomes. Currently, WJCF programs support government initiatives on HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis, vector borne diseases, COVID-19, antimicrobial resistance, cancer and non-communicable diseases, sexual and reproductive health, family planning, immunization, malnutrition, anaemia, childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia, oxygen, access to safe drinking water, diagnostics and surveillance, health financing, and digital health.

Talent is the fundamental driver of WJCF’s success in helping save lives and reduce the burden of disease. WJCF’s organizational values reflect its relentless endeavour of hiring, nurturing, empowering, and celebrating diverse and high calibre individuals who come together to work as cohesive teams. WJCF places a high premium on providing its staff with an enabling environment that encourages entrepreneurship, humility, respect, equal share of voice and fosters high impact innovation to address some of the most challenging healthcare issues.

Aout the Program

India’s Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is one of the largest public immunization programmes in the world. It caters to 27 million infants and 30 million pregnant women. The programme provides access to vaccines against 11 Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPDs) at the national level and against one VPD at the sub-national level.

Under the strong leadership of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and state governments, the immunization ecosystem has demonstrated a proactive commitment to achieving universal immunization coverage in the country in recent years. This includes health system strengthening to increase coverage, introduction of new vaccines, rolling out of digital data systems, digitization of vaccine cold chain and inventory management, and health worker capacity building. MoHFW plans to scale up a digitized beneficiary management system (UWIN) for Routine Immunization, introduce new vaccines in the UIP, and reduce Zero-dose children.

Based on the NFHS-5 data, the number of Zero-Dose children (those who missed pentavalent 1 vaccine after birth) in India stands at around 1.6 million. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan contribute the largest share of zero-dose children in the country. Building a top Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030), India aims to reduce the number of Zero-Dose children by 30% by 2026.

roject Background

WJCF’s immunization program supports the MoHFW’s UIP at the national level and in the focus states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. The programme also supports the state governments on broader operational aspects such as planning, capacity building and systems improvements for immunization service delivery.

In Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, the programme provides catalytic support for achieving and sustaining 90% FIC. The programme focuses on setting up effective program management & review mechanisms, identifying pressing challenges as well as best practices in RI, enhancing impact of well performing interventions, developing & deploying effective solutions to pressing challenges and undertaking multi-year planning for long term immunization systems strengthening. WJCF plans to increase its focus on two aspects to drive immunization coverage: one, strengthening of review quality and decision making through improved data analytics and capacity building, two, zero dose learning through hypothesis testing and iterative solutioning

In Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the programme also provides support to strengthen urban immunization systems and improve urban coverage in select cities in collaboration with the MoHFW and the state governments. Guided by the MoHFW’s City Embrace Model, the programme focuses on solving for systemic & hyperlocal challenges by conceptualizing & implementing contextual solutions.

Position Summary

Gender is a prominent determinant of children’s Zero Dose status underpinned by a complex interweaving of socio-economic elements and healthcare discrepancies. This underscores the overarching influence of gender dynamics on immunization outcomes, highlighting the pressing need to address gender-based determinants to improve child vaccination coverage. WJCF recognizes that making progress towards the zero-dose target will require focused efforts to address and overcome gender-related barriers to immunization

We are looking for a dedicated, experienced, and versatile Gender Consultant to guide us in integrating gender perspective into the overall Zero Dose Strategy and Implementation plan. The Gender Consultant is expected to lead and support the initiatives for gender analysis, gender mainstreaming in intervention design, and deployment of bottom-up participatory approaches with a gender lens. This role involves collaborating with multidisciplinary teams including behaviour science, monitoring & evaluation, research, and state teams to ensure that project interventions are gender sensitive and intentional.

he ideal candidate must have expertise in gender and health, experience of strategizing and implementing gender and health interventions in a public health setup, the ability to analyze quantitative and qualitative data critically, and excellent verbal, and written communication skills. They must have expertise in developing and utilizing gender mainstreaming tools and methods

he candidate must be able to function independently and flexibly. We place great value on qualities such as resourcefulness, responsibility, tenacity, independence, energy, and work ethic.

Responsibilities

Provide guidance and expertise to the program team on recognizing  gender issues and disparities and Support and guide the project team on integrating gender sensitive, appropriate strategies in the design and implementation of the intervention to promote inclusivity in zero dose learning.

Consistently applying a gender lens, guiding the team at each stage of the project, helping identify drivers, facilitating a thorough root cause analysis, aiding in the ideation, conceptualization & design of interventions and learning from the ongoing processes, to proactively course-correct through a gender perspective, ensuring the overall project to be gender transformative.

Conduct desk research to draw hypotheses on the quantum of gender disparities, and how and why gender is impacting immunization outcomes and lead gender integration and inclusion of gender and equity-related indicators in qualitative and quantitative research and intervention plans.

Support the team in analyzing data through a gender lens. Identify intersectionality between gender and other socio-economic factors like gender and caste, gender and income, etc. to identify the most vulnerable and marginalized population from immunization and overall health perspective.

Lead gender mainstreaming in intervention design on zero-dose learning and management and governance improvement through gender analysis.

 Develop gender mainstreaming tools for the team and support the field team in utilizing the tools.

Provide guidance and support to the team for the gender-based data collection.

Facilitate capacity building of internal team and project staff on gender sensitivity and mainstreaming.

Support sensitization and capacity building of program managers and health workers about the inequities in the zero-dose challenge and empower them with the necessary tools to deal with gender inequities and the impact of gender on immunization coverage and services.

Develop a monitoring framework for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming activities and capacitate the project team to provide regular reports on the same at periodic intervals as specified.

Advise on the development and incorporation of gender sensitive indicators including data collection and reporting mechanisms for regular data sets on Immunization Program

Support documentation of gender-informed approaches, interventions, and their impact for project reports, publications, etc and help in the dissemination of the same to various stakeholders.

Perform other duties assigned by the program leadership.  

Qualifications

Advanced degree in Gender Studies, public health, social sciences, or related field.

Proven experience in integrating considerations into health-related projects.

A minimum of five (5) years’ of relevant experience in designing, managing, and implementing health programs with a strong gender focus

Excellent knowledge of gender issues, particularly in the context of health and development.

Expertise in gender analysis tools and methodologies.

Strong analytical (qualitative and quantitative) skills and communication (written and verbal) skills.

Entrepreneurial mindset, including the ability to self-motivate while working in a high-pressure, limited structure, and multicultural environment.

Capability to drive an independent workstream in the context of a broader team project, and an ability to break down and solve problems through quantitative thinking and analysis.

Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.

Willingness to travel if required even to remote places in India.

Preferred

Experience of working on gender and equity-related aspects of immunization or public health in low and middle-income countries.

Experience in multilateral organizations, donor agencies, or international development agencies.

Experience in qualitative and quantitative research and publication on public health and immunization challenges with a focus on gender.

Location and Duration

The consultant is expected to work remotely with need-based travel to the field and WJCF offices across three states and in Delhi. The consultant will be engaged for a duration of 180 days across 18-24 months. 

To apply, please share your resume with your details or share your updated resume with details such as (Current CTC, Expected CTC, Current Location and Notice Period) to careers@wjcf.in with the position name mentioned in the subject line. 

About Company

All Jobs posted by: William J Clinton Foundation (WJCF)