National Consultancy - Post Discharge Community Follow-Up of Newborns (Part-time), UNICEF Ghana

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture., coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

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For every child, the right to Health 

In Ghana, UNICEF cooperates with the Government and other partners to defend the rights of children and help them fulfill their potential. With offices in Accra and Tamale, the UNICEF team seeks to achieve results in strategic programme areas. The overall goal is for every child to survive and thrive, to live in a safe and clean environment, to learn, to be protected from violence and exploitation, and to have an equitable chance in life. The current Country Programme of cooperation is aligned with the Government priorities, the UN Sustainable Development Partnership (UNSDP) and Key Results for Children (KRCs) in the West and Central African Region (immunization, nutrition, learning outcomes, ending child marriage and ending open defecation). UNICEF main strategies include evidence-based advocacy, system strengthening, integrated programming across sectors, emergency preparedness and response, and innovation.

How can you make a difference? 

In 2022, Ghana adopted the WHO Standards for Improving Quality of Care for Small and Sick Newborns (SSN) in Health Facilities as part of national efforts to reduce newborn mortality and advance progress toward the SDG targets. A key gap identified in the quality-of-care landscape was the high number of post-discharge neonatal deaths occurring at the community level. Small and sick newborns often remain clinically fragile after discharge, and many families face challenges—such as distance, limited transport, or financial constraints—that prevent them from returning to health facilities for essential follow-up care. With support from UNICEF, the Ghana Health Service piloted a community-based follow-up model for small and sick newborns in 2024. The model ensures that newborns discharged from health facilities are systematically linked with Community Health Officers (CHOs), who conduct home-based follow-up visits to monitor the health and wellbeing of both mother and baby. This reduces the burden on families to travel back to facilities. Specialist newborn nurses and doctors in district hospitals provide ongoing mentorship to CHOs to strengthen early identification and management of newborn complications.

Since 2024, a total of 3,900 healthcare providers—including nurses, midwives, and CHOs—across 44 of Ghana’s 261 districts have been trained to implement this model of care. Overall, referral linkages between health facilities and communities have been strengthened. In 2025 alone, 4,000 small and sick newborns and their mothers benefited from this intervention

The purpose of this consultancy is to develop national standard operating procedures and training materials for the post-discharge community follow up of small and sick newborns. These tools will guide Ghana’s scale-up of this follow-up of newborn model, drawing on lessons and evidence from the pilot implementation. The consultant will also support the capacity building of regional level trainers across the country. 

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the TOR attached here  ToR-Community Follow-up on Newborns .pdf 

Work Assignment

1.  Organise an inception meeting with stakeholders to obtain feedback on the proposed methods and implementation plans.

2. Draft a national Standard Operating Procedures document for the Newborn Post-discharge Follow up initiative following a review of the pilot and interviews with key stakeholder.

3. Conduct a consultative meeting with key partners to obtain inputs form experts to further develop the SOPs.

4. Conduct validation meeting with key stakeholders and prepare a final document to be shared with Ghana Health Service and UNICEF.

5.  Develop refined Powerpoint slides and PDF version of training materials for capacity building of healthcare workers (paediatricians, newborn care nurses, midwives, community health nurses), based on the materials used during the pilot.

6.  Facilitate training of trainers (ToT) of national and regional level trainers on follow up of newborns at community level and submit a final report with recommendations

 

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

Minimum requirements:

• Education: An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: public health/nutrition, pediatric health, family health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, biostatistics, socio-medical, health education, epidemiology, or another relevant technical field
• Work Experience: 
  • At least 7 years professional experience in working within the newborn care in Ghana with proven experience in newborn clinical care, as well as community health systems 
  • Good understanding of the Ghana’s health context especially Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent, Health and Nutrition (RMNCAHN) services
  • Prior experience in similar assignments
  • Previous work experience in developing training materials or SOPs especially in the areas of RMNCAHN, and/or community work
• Skills 
  • Demonstrated capacity in community health or public health program and policy development, evaluations in relevant fields, including data collection from health workers
  • Strong analytical and facilitation skills with experience in high-level stakeholder engagement
• Language Requirements: English

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:  

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable female are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.