Call for consultant: TechNet21 website and community

Universal Health Coverage and the Life-Course (UHL) Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals (IVB) Essential Programme on Immunization (EPI) Unit

5 November 2021
Call for consultation

Purpose of the Consultancy
To provide technical support with the TechNet21 Website and is community.

Background

Immunization supply chain and logistic systems (ISCL) are critical to immunization services to ensure the availability of appropriate equipment and an adequate supply of high-quality vaccines and immunization-related materials to all levels of the programme.  The World Health Organization (WHO) supports Member States in strengthening national ISCLs that serve as the backbone of routine delivery systems for the Essential Programme on Immunization (EPI), as well as to facilitate the preparation for new vaccine introduction. 

The www.TechNet-21.org website enables immunization professionals to learn about and discuss the latest developments in immunization. The website offers the following tools:

  • Forum—a place for users to share experiences, coordinate activities, and discuss recent developments in immunization.
  • News—information on the latest immunization news, new job and proposal listings, and an immunization events diary.
  • Resources—a variety of immunization-related resources, including a library of journal articles, photographs, videos, useful links and tools.
  • Reviews—where members can submit reviews of WHO Performance, Quality and Safety (PQS)-prequalified products, and read the reviews of other members.
  • Network—an area for colleagues to connect with others in the TechNet community.


Objective of the work

The consultant is to provide technical support to key deliverables of the WHO Essential Programme on Immunization (EPI) Unit in the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals (IVB) with:

a) support in increasing the quantity and value of the community engagement on the TechNet-21 website;

b) support the community in delivering quality services, and

c) support with the development and implementation of the communications and social media strategy (partner management, website moderation, content management).  

Deliverables and schedule of payment

  1. * Deliverables and Schedule of payment
    S. No. Deliverable Expected delivery date
    Output 1: Provide technical support to the coordination, and development of TechNet-21's English and French Telegram groups to support mobile-based communities of practice
          		1.1: TechNet-21 Community (EN).
    1.2: TechNet-21 Communauté Francophone (FR).
    1.3: TechNet-21 announcements (EN).
    1.4: Immunization Supply Chain - TechNet-21 (EN).
    1.5: COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction – TechNet-21 (EN).
    1.6: Introduction des vaccins contre la Covid-19 (FR).
    1.7: WHO Costing, Budgeting, Financing and Delivery of COVID-19 Vaccines (EN).
    1.8: OMS - calcul des coûts, budgétisation, financement et livraison des vaccins COVID-19 (FR).     		Monthly report
    Output 2:
    Organize and promote online events on important immunization topics     		2.1 In Q1 2022, organize and promote webinar series on vaccine refrigerators and technology (EN).
    2.2 In Q2 2022, organize and promote webinar series on product traceability (EN).     		Monthly report
    Output 3:
    Provide technical support to the coordination and promote the TechNet Conference 2022 (Q4 2022)     		3.1 Promote the conference to ensure the highest possible level of awareness and interest.
    3.2 Provide technical support to coordinate the delivery of designated events.
    3.3 Provide technical support to coordinate the conference registration and pre- and post-communications activities.
    3.4 Provide technical support to coordinate the translation of events, distribution of conference materials, and publication of event recordings.     		Monthly report
    Output 4:
    Manage social media tools for TechNet/21     		Activity 4.1: Support the development of the 2022 communications plan for TechNet-21, aligned with the three-year strategic vision for TechNet.
    Activity 4.2: Manage social media channels to successfully promote TechNet.
    Activity 4.3: Draft quarterly social media review.     		Monthly report
    Output 5:
    Manage the production of new technical content     		Activity 5.1: Initiate new topic pages and website functionality, as agreed with WHO focal point.
    Activity 5.2: Implement the Roadmap for the three-year strategic vision for TechNet.
    Activity 5.3: Provide technical support in meetings of the Partnership of Immunization Networks.     		Monthly report
    Output 6:
    Support the TechNet-21 community     		Activity 6.1: Moderate new registrations.
    Activity 6.2: Moderate all new website content.
    Activity 6.3: Ensure forum posts are correctly categorised, tagged and linked.
    Activity 6.4: Respond promptly to all requests for support sent to the TechNet Moderator.
    Activity 6.5: Provide support to the coordination of weekly technical reviews with the website administrator to fix technical bugs and identify enhancements.     		Monthly report
    Output 7: Ensure all processes are documentedActivity 7.1: Ensure current SOPs for community management are fully updated and in line with working practices. 30/11/2022

 

development of a standardized approach to measles rubella risk assessment including the role of CDC immunity gap methodology and complementary modelling and geographical information systems (GIS) approaches for assessing country-level and sub-national measles risk assessment. 

 Specific requirements

- Qualifications required:        

  • Advanced degree (Masters level or above) in Information Management, International Relations, Communications or related field.
  • Demonstrated understanding of goals, operations and priorities of routine immunization.

- Experience required:

  • At least three years working with international organizations, ideally within the field of immunization.
  • Project management experience and skills.
  • At least five years of community management experience, including in social media and forum moderation.
  • At least three years of experience with web content management and localisation systems.

- Skills / Technical skills and knowledge:

  • Excellent knowledge of immunization topics (in particular, supply chain and logistics) and key partners in global health (Gavi, UNICEF, WHO, AMP, JSI, PATH, Gates Foundation).
  • Familiarity with HTML.
  • Excellent knowledge of Joomla administration tools and plug-ins.

- Language requirements:

  • English – Read/Write/Speak at an advanced level
  • French – Read/Write/Speak at an advanced level


Essential proposal content

Cover letter/statement of interest justifying candidature and how the aforementioned requirements are met.

CVs of proposed project personnel.

Annotated Budget - separating proposed fees from travel/reimbursable costs - for the various deliverables.

Place of assignment

The applicant will be home-based.

Timeline and Duration

The contract is expected to last until 30 November 2021 and corresponds to a full-time equivalent of 100%.  Pay scale will be defined according to the level of expertise of the selected candidate.

 Medical clearance

The selected Consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work.

 Travel

The Consultant is NOT expected to travel.

Application Process
Qualified applicants should submit all proposals - including budget, along with their CV and a cover letter in English, by 25 November 2021 to Dan Brigden at email: brigdend@who.int copy to Maria Rojas at email: rojasm@who.int. 

Applications received after this date will not be accepted.

In the email subject line, please put “Consultancy, TechNet 21”.

Only successful candidates will be contacted.  CVs received from this posting may be used to fill other current and future openings requiring a similar skill set.

Award of contract
The award shall be made to the bidder whose proposal best meets the requirements of the request for proposals in terms of demonstrated expertise, quality and cost.  If multiple persons will be involved, all team members will be required to demonstrate the absence of any conflict of interest.

WHO reserves the right to contact bidders subsequent to submission of proposals and prior to award for clarifications.  Revisions may be permitted after submission of a proposal, and prior to award.

WHO reserves the right to reject any or all proposals submitted.

WHO shall not be responsible for any costs incurred by the bidders in preparing, submitting or presenting its proposal.

The contract will be awarded on: 15 December 2021 (at the latest).