Emergency Specialist (Cholera Response Coordination), P3, 6 months, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Contract

This is a P-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 121,529 USD and 159,132 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Safety and Care

One year following the resurgence of cholera in the country of Haiti, according to official data from the Ministry of Health (MSPP), 69,114 suspected cases (of which 12,174 tests received and 33.51% positivity rate) and 1,053 deaths have been reported which now touch all departments of the country. This epidemic is occurring in a country that is already suffering from a political and economic crisis, with a security situation that prevents the population from accessing the most basic services, particularly water, sanitation, and hygiene, as well as first-level health services. Cholera has devastating effects on populations due to its short incubation period, from two hours to five days, where some infected people develop severe dehydration that can lead to septic shock and death within hours.

This comes amidst an overall challenging context, due to a prolonged political turmoil following an assassination of a president, escalating armed violence including in the capital city resulting in significant protection issues, threats of natural hazards, food insecurity and malnutrition crisis. These issues have resulted in a large outflow of Haitians looking for safer situations but depleting country capacities. This has been seen also in the Haitian government who has seen a large outflux of people including health professionals inc. doctors and nurses. At the community level mechanisms from the previous crisis have been put in place however capacities require frequent training as previous experts for both national and international counterparts (INGOs and the like) have left the county. In these conditions, the risk of the disease persisting for many years and our inability to fully curb transmission and eliminate cholera seems unavoidable.

UNICEF Haiti is committed to support the Government of Haiti through an integrated and equitable multisectoral approach to cholera preparedness and response as cluster/area of responsibility lead for WASH, Education, Nutrition and Child Protection.

In health, UNICEF focuses focus on preventing cholera deaths, both in facilities and communities; and ensuring continuity of essential health services during cholera outbreaks through capacity building of healthcare workers, raising communities’ knowledge of home and community management of diarrhea with oral rehydration salts (ORS), strengthening cholera referral pathways, and procurement and delivery of Oral Cholera Vaccines (OCV), ORS and other essential cholera supplies. In WASH, UNICEF strengthens hygiene knowledge and practice, and access to safe water, including in health-care facilities, schools and communities to break the chains of transmission. In SBC, UNICEF focuses on ensuring wide dissemination of best practices for hygiene practices and engaging actors across sectors on integrating best practices within their regular programmes.

These entails prepositioning and replenishing essential cholera supplies and mobilizing further investments for supplies and technical support to the national response. UNICEF also engage at-risk communities in awareness raising, readiness, and response activities through innovative approaches, such as case area targeted interventions (CATI) and rapid response teams (RRT). Finally, UNICEF works in partnership with the Ministry of Health and WHO to support disease surveillance, particularly at community level.

Lessons learned from the response to the current outbreak have highlighted the importance of being prepared to respond early and quickly on the onset of a cholera outbreak in order to stop disease transmission chain and preventable deaths.

How can you make a difference?

Under the direction and guidance of the Chief Emergency, UNICEF Haiti is seeking a suitable candidate for the post of Cholera Emergency Response Coordination Officer not only to coordinate the country office response internally across the sectors mentioned above, but also to facilitate the work of different partners to ensure the complementarity of their actions. He/she will be responsible for monitoring surveillance data produced by the Ministry of Health, WHO and partners, deploying rapid response teams to investigate and initiate response, promoting emergency response actions and plan for early recovery, prevention, preparedness and risk reduction, as well as supporting implementation of the cholera outbreak response plan.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Under the supervision of the chief of emergency, and in close collaboration with the sections for Health, Social and Behavioural Change (SBC) and WASH, the key services and tasks of the incumbent to be provided/undertaken during this temporary appointment is as follow:

Cholera response preparedness and coordination:

1. Lead UNICEF’s cholera response and preparedness activities internally, with the Ministry of Health and other relevant sector/clusters such as Health, WASH and Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) coordination mechanisms.

2. Ensure collaboration of UNICEF sectors, particularly Health, WASH and SBC, Supply and HR to ensure integration of the cholera emergency response. This entails to (1) facilitating an internal cholera task force comprised of Health, SBC, WASH, operations staff, (2) managing Cholera preparedness and response internal and external meetings - proposing relevant agenda items and assembling presentations, scheduling, and sharing minutes, (3) acting as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the capacity of country stakeholders to respond to cholera outbreaks.

3. Supporting the Government of Haiti with emergency preparedness and response to cholera outbreaks.

4. Liaising with international and national humanitarian/development partners, health and WASH cluster/sector and RCCE global and regional coordination platforms

5. Contribute to development of Humanitarian Programme Documents (HPD) or embedding cholera humanitarian response elements in existing PCAs, that enable the deployment of Rapid Response Teams (RRT) and Case Area Targeted Interventions (CATI) teams and other innovative interventions to respond to cholera outbreaks on a timely matter.

6. Provide technical support to UNICEF and partners including the development/sharing of protocols, guidelines and training materials for surveillance, early warning and alert systems, case management, establishment of cholera treatment centres, community-based interventions, communications, social mobilization and forecasting, procuring and distribution of supplies.

7. Map out current available resources for the Cholera response and identify gaps/needs across sectors (health, education, social protection etc.); building on existing efforts by country stakeholders and partners to track deployment/administration of supplies, availability of financial resources (current/on the pipeline), human capacity etc.

8. Participate actively in the national outbreak task force and contribute to decision making processes.

9. Document and manage knowledge of UNICEF Haiti response to previous cholera outbreaks, highlighting best practices and lessons learned to inform responses.

10. Coordinate and monitor RRT and CATI done by implementing partners, ensure promptness and completeness are monitored and corrective actions taken.

11. Provide technical support to the development of concept notes and proposals for emergency funds

12. Share regular detailed situation reports and summary of trends analysis with the Chief of Emergency and Country Office Emergency management team.

13. Update UNICEF Haiti cholera emergency response plan, including financial needs and urgent staffing requirements (re-deploying country office staff, SURGE etc.).

14. Provide inputs to the preparation of all cholera emergency response portfolio reports for management, donors, budget reviews, programme analysis, and annual reports

15. Participate in Cholera monitoring and evaluation exercises, as well as in health, WASH and SBC sectoral reviews, as applicable. Identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of country stakeholders and partners.

16. Advocate for and organize in collaboration with MoH and WHO an after-action review exercise once the cholera outbreak is officially declared closed, or as needed, with regional office and HQ support.

17. During low season, liaise regularly with WHO and Ministry of Health to keep informed about surveillance data updates/dashboards and, where applicable, support surveillance with a focus on community structures in the main hotspots (active surveillance and early warning).

18. Provide technical support to planning and preparedness actions, as well as support verification of cholera/AWD reports and rumors.

19. Contribute to development contingency Humanitarian Programme Documents (HPD)

20. Assess supplies gaps in the main hotspots and coordinate the pre-positioning of cholera supplies from all programmes (health, SBC and WASH) with the support of the Supply section.

21. Assess training needs the main hotspots in collaboration with Health, SBC and WASH sections and plan for refresher sessions about cholera outbreaks management for partners and UNICEF staff.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in public health, health, WASH, emergency coordination or disciplines relevant to working on public health and outbreaks, preferably in humanitarian settings and/or complex environments.

  • Bachelor's degree complemented with two (2) additional years of relevant work experience can be considered in lieu of advanced university degree.
• A minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional work experience at national and/or international levels in areas related to outbreak response, public health and other health, WASH and health emergency coordination and response contexts.
• Demonstrated experience in providing technical assistance to governments on the implementation of outbreak responses is required.
• Demonstrated experience in leading and/or working with multidisciplinary teams and playing facilitating/coordination roles in a complex/multi-cultural context is required.
• Familiarity with the UN system and international response to cholera outbreak (Global Task Force to Control Cholera) is highly desired.
• Knowledge of different aspects of the cholera outbreak preparedness and response in Haiti (WHO guidance, international standards, national policies and strategies) is highly desired.
• Excellent writing skills and demonstrable experience in qualitative and quantitative epidemiological information analysis, program monitoring and reporting is an asset.
• Fluency in French and English is required. Knowledge of another UN language or the local language (Haitian Creole) is highly desired.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

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 (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.

Remarks:

Eligible UNICEF International Professional (IP) and National (NO) internal Staff Members on Fixed-term, Continuing or Permanent contracts applying to a Temporary Appointment, which is dedicated to L3 or L2 Response, may be able to retain a lien and their fixed-term entitlements. The conditions of the temporary assignment will vary depending on the status of their post and their current tour of duty, and relocation entitlements may be limited as per the relevant policies.

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government 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.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Please note that this is a non-family duty station. The successful candidate for this emergency recruitment MUST be available to commence work within 31 days of receiving an offer.