ABH Partners Plc is a leading consultancy and human resources sourcing firm in Ethiopia with about 15 years of experience in supporting the implementation of development programs and projects. ABH exists to fuel synergistic societal growth by harnessing local knowledge and international standard. Dedicated to the betterment of societal development, technical assistance, and knowledge management, ABH has gained credibility and industry experience in the development sector in general. ABH partners would like to invite applicants who meet the below requirements to apply for the position of Regional COVID-19 vaccination Technical Assistant.

Required Number: 24

Duty station: Amhara, Oromia, SNNP,  Gambella, B.Gumuz, Dire Dawa, Harari, Addis Ababa, Afar, and Sidama

Salary: Attractive

Level: NOC

Duration: 18 months

Reporting to: RHB/ZHD EPI team lead 

Expected Start Date: Immediately after concluding the contract agreement

  1. Background and Justification

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).  COVID-19 was initially reported from Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and currently the disease is a global pandemic affecting all countries, including our country, Ethiopia. The global COVID-19 pandemic has been exerting high negative impacts on the health, social and economic wellbeing of people in our country. World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, WHO’s highest level of urgency. On 11 March, WHO made the assessment that COVID-19 could be characterized as a pandemic? On March 13, the first confirmed COVID-19 case was declared by the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia. The MoH, in collaboration with partners, has been working on the prevention and response of COVID-19 pandemic to halt its spread and reduce the negative impact of the pandemic. So far Ethiopia received more than 12million doses through COVAX dose sharing, bilateral donations from countries and self-financing through AVAT. The COVID-19 vaccine deployment has been undertaken in a phased approach based on population risk levels, global availability of COVID-19 vaccines, and operational feasibility. As a continued effort, the MoH has successfully launched COVID-19 vaccine at national, regional and city administrations level on 13th of March 2021 by vaccinating health workers and support staffs followed by next target group vaccination based on the prioritization. As at November 2021, close to 3.7m individuals has took their first jab of which 2.7m have been fully vaccinated. However, there is a huge unmet need due to multiple factors yet to be addressed. Demand and supply inconsistency due to global shortage of vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, and lack of resources, current country security situation, and the like are some of the factors affecting the full scale up of the vaccination program. Also, the COVID-19 cases and deaths are increasing which needs collective action to mitigate the pandemic and intensify the control and prevention measures.  The Ministry is expecting the next successive vaccine shipments to address the 40% (more than 40 million) of target population so that a lot of continuing activities remained to be performed for the national rollout and continued implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the process. 

   2. Purpose

To provide technical assistance on the regional COVID-19 vaccine Rollout and the overall coordination of the monitoring and evaluation process, advocacy communication and social mobilization activities, AEFI surveillance and monitoring, and the capacity building of zones/woredas regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. 

   3. Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the respective RHB MCH/EPI team lead, the technical assistant will support the sub-national COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the planning & coordination, vaccine supply, and distribution, preparation, training, monitoring, and evaluation of the implementation to access the vaccine for the targeted population group equitably including security compromised areas. 

Key responsibilities include, are not limited to, the following

• Provide technical support to the regional and zonal Technical Working Group (NTWGs) for COVID-19 vaccine national Rollout and participate in the meeting regularly.
• Support zones and woredas to establish and/ or revitalize the command post (Regional COVID-19 task force and TWGs to support the service delivery,  vaccine cold chain & logistics, demand generation, and communication, targeting (Microplanning), COVID-19 surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation of the coverage among at-risk groups and monitoring of vaccine impacts, safety of vaccine AEFI (Adverse Events following Immunization) detection and response.
• Support regional and zonal level regulatory offices and AEFI monitoring and reporting
• Provide technical assistance at all levels to estimate potential numbers of target population that will be prioritized for access to vaccines stratified by target group ad geographic location.
• Support in the development of microplanning exercise for COVID 19 vaccination deployment
• Provide technical support on evidence generation and quality data for action
• Provide technical assistance in training  Covid 19 vaccine
• Develop training plan that include key groups of participants, content topic areas, key training partners and training methods and conduct training vaccinators, supervisors and other who participate in the vaccination
• Develop and adapt existing surveillance and monitoring framework with a set of recommended indicators (Coverage, acceptability, disease surveillance etc.,,,) for COVID-19 vaccine
• Identify potential COVID-19 vaccine delivery strategies leveraging both existing vaccination platforms and non-vaccination delivery approaches to best reach identified target groups.
• Plan for handling AEFI if happens and make sure on the availability of AEFI kits and forms
• Capture and share lesson learned and good practices that can potentially leverage the routine immunization and outbreak response practices
• Participate in COVAX post introduction evaluation exercise
• Support continuation of routine immunization (RI) activities at all level
• Perform any other activity as required by MCH Director/ EPI focal
• Ensure the operationalization of COVID 19 precautions during immunization services provision
• Facilitate and monitor timely budget utilization and liquidation of COVID-19 implementation and other RI budget
• Frequent traveling to zones and woredas  as necessary
• Summit monthly report to the immediate supervisor (RHB EPI focal)
• Submit a detail final report at the end of the assignment.
• Conduct readiness assessment on regular basis till the start of the COVAX vaccination and identify areas for support (Regularly monitor regions readiness by completing RAT/VIRAT)

   4. Expected Deliverables and Time frame

   5. Reporting

The consultant will be directly recruited by third party HR firm, and reports to the respective RHB/ZHD EPI team lead.

   6. Payment Modality and Schedule 

The fees for this contract shall paid on monthly basis based on the submission of monthly reports against the deliverables indicated above.