Contract

This is a Volunteer contract. More about Volunteer contracts.

Mission and objectives

The WHO Country Office in the Republic of Moldova was established in 1995, in Chisinau. The original goal was to provide continuous support to health authorities and partners in improving population health through evidence-based, sustainable public health and health care interventions as well as to advice on health in all policies. Over the years the Office has been the focal point for all WHO activities in the Republic of Moldova. In 2011 the WHO Country Office profile was upgraded. The Office is now under the leadership of a WHO Representative/Head of Country Office and is scaling up the level of activities to support national policy development.

Context

In the context of the WHO Health Emergencies incident management system, at the country level, the incumbent will provide mental health and psychosocial services through the implementation of contextually and culturally relevant stress management programmes to staff members and consultants in the WHO country offices.

The mission of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme (“The Programme”) is to help countries, and to coordinate international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies.

In the context of the WHO Health Emergencies Incident Management System (IMS), at the country level, the incumbent will provide technical advice for all WHO strategic categories and related public health programmes.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Regional Staff Counsellor or his/her designated mandated representative(s), and under the overall guidance of the Incident Manager, the WHO Representative, the UN Volunteer will:

• Perform ongoing psychosocial status and needs assessments to identify the major stressors experienced by WHO staff members and consultants during their deployment;
• Provide culturally sensitive psychosocial support through individual and group counselling for Staff Members and their immediate family members;
• Provide preventative and mitigating stress and crisis management training during the three phases of the mission: pre-deployment, during deployment and post-deployment;
• Travel regularly to the field sites of the WCO in order to promote, plan and implement preventative and mitigating stress management activities;
• Facilitate teambuilding and cohesion through formal and informal interventions;
• Enhance social or peer support networks and assist with training and capacity building activities;
• Respond to critical and security incidents by conducting assessment on the impact of the event, developing appropriate interventions, and make recommendations for follow-up or referral purposes;
• Advice management on stress mitigating strategies and activities to enhance the welfare of staff members and consultants;
• Maintain detailed records of activities and provide comprehensive reports on a monthly basis to the HQ and regional office;
• Support the Regional Staff Counsellor and perform any other incident-specific related duties, as required by the functional supervisor;
• During deployment, the duty station may change, and duties may be modified, based upon the technical needs of the Programme.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UNV mandate within their assignment and promote volunteerism through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate part of their time to the following suggested activities:

• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/expected outputs:

• The mission of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme (The Programme) is to help countries, and to coordinate international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies;
• The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counterparts, including Implementing Partners (IPs);
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment;
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.

Eligibility criteria

Age

27 - 80

Nationality

Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment.

Requirements

Required experience

5 years of experience in area of mental health and psychosocial support services; some of which gained in outbreak and health emergencies context, is required;

• Additional training or experience in a broad range of related fields, such as alcohol/substance abuse, stress management, critical incident stress and cross-cultural communication;
• Prior relevant work experience in WHO/UN system, health cluster partners, relevant nongovernmental or humanitarian organizations, is desirable;
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office applications
• Good knowledge of MHPSS during emergency situations;
• Proven ability to accurately assess psychosocial or mental health needs, risks and protective factors;
• Advance knowledge in provision of psychosocial support and counselling services in a professional and confidential manner;
• Demonstrated knowledge in designing and delivering contextually and culturally appropriate trainings and information sessions on a wide range of stress-related issues;
• Ability to manage crisis situations involving diverse actors and stakeholders;
• Ability to effectively work in multi-cultural environments under stressful conditions