Strategic Planning, Capacity Building, Organizational Development, Project Management, Resource Mobilisation, Partnership Development, Finance & Administration, Health Innovation.

UNITAR is an autonomous body within the United Nations that was established in 1965 pursuant to a UN General Assembly resolution. UNITAR’s mission is to develop the individual, institutional and organizational capacities of countries and other United Nations stakeholders through high-quality learning solutions and related knowledge products and services to enhance decision-making and to support country-level action for overcoming global challenges.

On 28 November 2019, at its 60th session, the UNITAR Board of Trustees took note of and endorsed, the Operations Agreement between UNITAR and The Defeat-NCD Partnership (dated 23 July 2019) to host the secretariat of the Partnership. UNITAR houses the secretariat of the Defeat-NCD Partnership and other relevant strategic initiatives working in the field of noncommunicable diseases and addressing related risk factors - such as road crashes, deaths and injuries, and assisted technologies for improved health outcomes.

The Defeat-NCD Partnership is a multi-stakeholder partnership anchored in the United Nations and includes governments, multilateral agencies, civil society, academia, philanthropies, and the private sector. It was established in January 2018 to help tackle the most significant global health problems of the age: premature death, sickness, disability, and the associated social and economic impacts of selected non-communicable diseases (NCDs). It is based on the expert guidance and the technical norms and standards issued by the World Health Organization for managing NCDs.

The Government of Rwanda is part of the Governance Mechanism of The Defeat-NCD Partnership. Specifically, the Minister of Health is a member of the High-Level Council, and the NCD Focal Point, Ministry of Health, is a member of the Consultative Group.

The purpose of this assignment is to lead the activities of The Defeat-NCD Partnership in support of the Ministry of Health in Rwanda for the implementation, resource mobilization and reporting of the National NCD Strategy and Costed Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in Rwanda (2020-2025).

Further, the incumbent is responsible to help inform, shape, and align the service offering of The Defeat-NCD Partnership to be rolled out regionally in East and West Africa.

Specifically, this assignment will enable populations in Rwanda and the other priority countries to access a range of interconnected essential services and resources through four pillars of interventions:

• NCD National Capacity Building (Pillar 1): Work with governments and other in-country stakeholders to assess gaps in their NCD capabilities. Through technical support develop a multi-year NCD National Costed Action Plan. Facilitate engagement of relevant partners to ensure expansion of NCD services in line with national targets. The overall objective is to ensure that countries have institutional capacities, structures, systems, and financing in place to tackle NCDs.
• Community Scale-Up of NCD Services (Pillar 2): The Partnership aims to demystify, democratise, decentralise, and where safely possible, demedicalise NCD service provision. Enable the earlier screening and management of risk factors as well as the mitigation of established disease, at the community level. By increasing the use of self-care interventions, improve patient compliance, resulting in better treatment and health outcomes. The overall objective is to bring more of the necessary prevention and management of NCD services directly to the communities and people who need them most.
• Affordability and Accessibility of Essential NCD Supplies (Pillar 3): To make the provision of NCD supplies simpler and more cost-effective by designing a Marketplace to create a fair, competitive environment that serves the interests of both buyers and suppliers. Using market-sizing and price-tracking studies, the Marketplace’s methodology will correct current market failures due to information imbalances. It will also help address regulatory bottlenecks in an appropriate manner. The overall objective is to enable the consistent provision of affordable essential NCD medicines, diagnostics, and equipment in low-resource countries.
• Sustainable NCD Financing (Pillar 4): Governments need to invest more in health, with a greater share allocated to finance their national costed action plans for NCDs. While cost savings can be achieved by linking NCD programming with other conditions and improving service delivery and by reducing the cost of NCD supplies, additional and innovative financing will be needed outside of the ongoing aid support and expanding fiscal allocations. The overall objective is to establish a long-term sustainable financing model for NCD programming in low-resource countries.

Within the delegated authority and under the direct supervision and guidance of the Technical Specialist (Country Support), the Programme Coordinator for Rwanda will perform the following duties:

• Prepare progress reports for the implementation of the National NCD Strategy and Costed Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in Rwanda (2020-2025) in support of the Technical Working Group (TWG) meetings.
• Prepare bi-annual implementation reports and the required policy briefs in support of the Multisectoral Committee meetings.
• Prepare and circulate the meeting minutes and lead on the follow-up of agreed action points following the TWG and Multisectoral Committee meetings.
• Update and standardise the M&E framework, indicator, and assessment tool that will be used for the regular M&E and reporting of the National NCD Strategy and Costed Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in Rwanda (2020-2025).
• Support the development of a fit-for-purpose forecasting tool of NCD supplies in support of the ministry of health and other institutions and manage their annual demand of NCD medicines and diagnostics in Rwanda.
• Report quarterly on the availability and affordability of NCD medicines, diagnostics, and other such NCD medical products as may be needed to build a pipeline through regular consultation with national health programmes, and field projects of relevant donors.
• Identify emerging trends in the supply chain of NCD medicines and diagnostics and using this data to provide technical assistance and support to Rwanda.
• Support the Ministry of Health in developing policies for the reduction of NCD related risk factors starting with the over-use of alcohol and physical activity.
• Lead the assessment of learning and capacity building for NCDs at the Ministry of Health in Rwanda.
• Develop content for e-learning as identified in the workplan of the Partnership and as per the assessment of learning and capacity building needs.  
• Prepare a comprehensive resource mobilisation plan in support of the Defeat-NCD Partnership Programme in Rwanda and for the implementation of the National NCD Strategy and Costed Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in Rwanda (2020-2025).
• Raise % of funds (to be agreed before signing the contract) in support of the National NCD Strategy and Costed Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in Rwanda (2020-2025).
• Lead on implementing and reporting against projects of the Defeat-NCD Partnership in Rwanda.
• Provide continuous programmatic and technical support to Rwanda Biomedical Center as per the NCD division's workplan.

• Update and standardise the M&E framework, indicator, and assessment tool that will be used for the regular M&E and reporting of the National NCD Strategy and Costed Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in Rwanda (2020-2025) by 30 July 2022.
• Prepare progress report (January - June) in support of the meeting of the TWG by 30 July 2022.
• Prepare progress report (July - September) in support of the meeting of the TWG by 30 September 2022.
• Prepare progress report (October - December) in support of the meeting of the TWG by 20 December 2022.
• Organise the 3 TWG meetings, prepare and circulate the meeting minutes and other required action following the meeting.
• Organise 2 national multisectoral committee meeting, prepare and circulate the meeting minutes and other required action following the meeting.
• Utilise the available mapping of health facilities and eLMIS, to connect and build fit-for-purpose forecasting tool in support of the ministry of health and other institutions and manage their annual demand of NCD medicines and diagnostics in Rwanda by 30 July 2022.
• Prepare a comprehensive resource mobilisation plan in support of the Defeat-NCD Partnership Programme in Rwanda and for the implementation of the National NCD Strategy and Costed Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in Rwanda (2020-2025) by 15 August 2022.
• Report quarterly on NCD medicines, diagnostics, and other such NCD medical products as may be needed to build a pipeline through regular consultation with national health programmes, and field projects of relevant donors.
• Develop content for e-learning in support of the roll-out of the forecasting tool by 30 July 2022.
• Lead the assessment of learning and capacity building for NCDs at the Ministry of Health in Rwanda by 30 September 2022.
• Develop content for e-learning as identified in the workplan of the Partnership and as per the assessment of learning and capacity building needs by 30 September 2022.
• Prepare 5 project proposals for fund raising based on the developed resource mobilisation plan (one per month).
• % of funds signed upon and approved in support of the Rwanda country programme (amount to be agreed upon before signing the contract).
• Conduct research and background documents in support of the Ministry of Health for the development of policies for the reduction of NCD related risk factors starting with the over-use of alcohol and physical activity.
• Prepare for national and international NCD related celebrations as required by 30 August 2022.

• Timely and quality submission of deliverables.
• Activities implemented with a high degree of effectiveness and efficiency.
• High degree of professionalism demonstrated by the individual contractor.

The incumbent will report to The Technical Specialist (Country Support) - The Defeat-NCD Partnership

Skills and Competencies expected from the individual:

• Excellent analytical skills - ability to quickly understand and internalize complex partnership topics.
• Excellent understanding of the pharmaceutical procurement and supply practices.
• Attention to details, tact, discretion, and diplomacy.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to promote consensus and to promote innovations.
• Computer literacy with emphasis on databases and data management and Excel proficiency.

Minimum qualifications and experience required:

a. Education:

• Advanced postgraduate degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) in Epidemiology, Public Health along with a bachelor's degree in pharmacy, Medical Logistics, Medical Procurement or related subject.

b. Work Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional work experience in the following areas of Strategic Planning, Project Management, Resource Mobilisation, Health Innovation, and supply chain is required.
• Experience in private sector preferably in an information technology/ecommerce company is desirable.
• Relevant international experience and ability to effectively work with national partners, communities, and international partners from diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Track record of undertaking high-level strategic engagement, resource mobilization and managing implementation with representatives of countries, implementing partners, and donors for programmes within the East Africa region is preferred.

c. Languages

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Working knowledge of another United Nations official language is preferred. (English and French are the working languages of the United Nations.  Other UN languages are Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Spanish).