National Consultant - Preparation for Joint External Evaluation, Mongolia

Purpose of the Consultancy

A short-term consultant is being recruited to provide technical support to prepare International Health Regulations (IHR) Joint External Evaluation (JEE) missions in Mongolia in 2023. This support will include collection, management and preparation of background materials to support the assessment of IHR capacity areas set out in the revised 3rd JEE tool.

Background

The JEE is one of four components of the IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. It is a voluntary, multi-sectoral process involving the participation of international experts to assess country capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to public health risks. The JEE allows countries to identify urgent health security needs; prioritize opportunities to enhance preparedness, detection and response capacity; set national capacity-strengthening priorities; and allocate resources based on evaluation findings.

The JEE is conducted with a common JEE tool by an international team of experts, in coordination with multisectoral national stakeholders. As such, it is an objective, standardized international assessment of national capacity and serves as an important platform to engage with current and prospective donors and partners including UN agencies and local and international nongovernmental organizations to target resources effectively.

A JEE should be periodically carried out by countries and areas as part of continuous learning for improvement, with guidance to countries to repeat the JEE every four to five years. Since the launch of the JEE in 2016, 15 Member States in the Western Pacific Region have conducted their first JEE.

Planned timelines

Start date: 21 August 2023 End date: 20 December 2023

Work to be performed

Method(s) to carry out the activity

Under the direct supervision of the WHO Representative of Mongolia, and support of WHE Teams in Regional and Country Offices and in collaboration with MOH and WHO country office in Mongolia the consultant will:

Output 1. Support the preparation of the JEE: 1.1. Support development/update of briefing materials, presentations to guide the preparation and conduct of JEE in the country 1.2. Conduct and develop a report of stakeholder analysis for each of the functional areas of the JEE to identify where partner support enables access to capacities that are not fully available in-country. 1.3. Prepare an inventory and compile documentary evidence required to assess progress in IHR core capacity implementation against the JEE toolkit. 1.4. Organize separate technical briefing sessions for health, animal health, biosecurity, port authorities, food safety, chemical and radiation safety authorities and other IHR stakeholders to raise awareness of the JEE and their contribution to the self-assessment process.

2. Organize documentation of the JEE. 2.1. Create a repository to compile and review the available documents, mapping them to the documents identified in the JEE and required for JEE, and identify potential gaps in core capacities 2.2. Create or adapt a data collection tool to be populated and enable preliminary self-assessment scoring.

3. Support the conduct of Self-Assessment and preparation for the formal external evaluation. 3.1. Facilitate a multisectoral workshop to begin the process of completing self-assessment tool, addressing the JEE questions 3.2. Draft multisectoral workshop and JEE mission agendas for the national workshop and field trip and provide materials to support the self-assessment process to the national counterpart 3.3. Incorporate the information gathered into the background narrative of the self-assessment report. 3.4. If required and in collaboration with JEE country focal point, engage other others sectors, animal health, biosecurity, port authorities, food safety, chemical and radiation safety authorities and other IHR stakeholders to provide guidance to self-assessment process. 3.5. Support the drafting of the self-assessment report. Ensure that each of the JEE functional area teams are fully briefed in the final response to their questions so that they are able to present their area to the external team. 3.6. Support each functional area team to develop their presentation slides using WPRO template. 3.7. Support organization of a pre-departure debriefing to the national government

Deliverables:

Deliverable 1: Briefing materials developed for countries on steps to take to conduct JEE. Deliverable 2: Updated technical presentations on JEE and self-assessment for national workshop Deliverable 3: Report on stakeholder analysis for each of the functional areas of the JEE. Deliverable 4: Summary report for each functional area to support development of overall JEE report Deliverable 5: Report of this consultancy on works performed and key achievements.

Specific requirements

Education

Essential: Advanced educational degree (Masters or above) in public health or medicine.

Experience required

Essential: At least 7 years of related experience, at the national and international levels, in the field of health emergency preparedness and response, country capacity strengthening and assessment, outbreak management and response coordination. Desirable: Practical experiences in preparation and support for JEE implementation in countries. Experience of designing and conducting IHR relevant simulation exercise at regional or international level.

Skills and technical knowledge:

Strong understanding of IHR monitoring and evaluation framework tools. Excellent skills in planning and conduct of exercises for evaluation of IHR core capacities Strong experiences in facilitation, training and oral presentation skills Demonstrated ability to identify and manage difficult situations, to lead and direct multidisciplinary and multinational staff.

Language requirements:

Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English is essential. Working knowledge of other UN languages is an advantage.

Place of assignment

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Medical clearance

The Consultant will provide a medical certificate of fitness for work.

Travel

The Consultant is expected to undertake in-country travel as the need arises and upon approval by the supervisor.

Additional Information:

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level. • Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted. • A written test may be used as a form of screening. • If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review. • For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int. • WHO is committed to workforce diversity. • WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco. • Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged. • WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice. • WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates. • Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority. The execution of the work under a consultant contract does not create an employer/employee relationship between WHO and the Consultant. • WHO shall have no responsibility whatsoever for any taxes, duties, social security contributions or other contributions payable by the Consultant. The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by WHO.

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