One Health Focal Person (NOB)

Contract

This is a No grade contract. More about No grade contracts.

Background and Justification

In the context of the WHO Health Emergencies incident management system, at the country level, the incumbent will coordinate and implement technical activities directed towards surveillance of outbreaks and health emergencies, scale up the implementation of evidence-based interventions, facilitate policy and decision-making processes through improved health information coverage, analysis and quality throughout the full cycle of the incident.

Objectives of the Programme and of the immediate Strategic Objective

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

Organizational Context

In the country of assignment, reporting to the Team Lead, and based on priorities set by the Incident Manager and the WHO Head of Country Office, and working closely with counterparts at the respective regional office and HQ, the incumbent will act as the technical expert for the surveillance program. S/he will provide technical oversight for developing strategic and operational plans, the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of public health policies and programs pertaining to surveillance and control of emerging and re-emerging infectious and zoonotic diseases particularly those with epidemic and pandemic potential. The incumbent will work in close collaboration with relevant technical officers at the national level and sub-national levels.

Summary of Assigned Duties (Describe what the incumbent has to do to achieve main objectives; include main achievements expected)

During your deployment, you may be relocated to another duty station, and your duties may be modified, based upon the technical needs of the Program

1. Review and update the concept for forming the one-health platform for South Sudan and its terms of reference.
2. Follow up, support, and facilitate formation of the multisectoral one-health platform for control of zoonotic diseases and other diseases like cholera that require multisectoral response.
3. Organize a workshop to orient the one health platform and formally launch the platform to commence work in South Sudan.
4. Engage the one health platform to conduct a situation analysis for developing the one-health plan and to identify priority activities for the one-health strategic plan.
5. Conduct stakeholder consultations (national and sub-national level) to inform the process of developing the national one health plan including costing, validating, and testing of the one health strategic plan.
6. Support development, costing, validation, testing, and launching of the one-health Plan for South Sudan
7. Develop a resource mobilization strategy for the one health plan and engage the relevant stakeholders to launch the one health plan for South Sudan.
8. Perform other duties related to establishment of the one health platform and finalizing the one health plan for South Sudan.
9. Facilitate the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) including participation in the process of verification and risk assessment on reported public health events.
10. In collaboration with other team members, conduct real-time analysis of outbreak intelligence data and contribute to the development of guidelines, tools, and trainings both at national and subnational levels.
11. Perform any other incident-specific related duties, as required by the functional supervisor.

2. Deliverables

1. Fully constituted and functional multisectoral one-health platform for control of zoonotic diseases and other diseases like cholera is formed for South Sudan with clear terms of reference to guide the functioning and operations.
2. Resource mobilization strategy for the one-health plan of South Sudan developed.
3. One health Plan for South Sudan is developed, costed, validated, tested, and launched to be implemented by one-health platform

Educational Qualifications

Education:

Essential: First university degree in epidemiology, statistics, database management or public health from an accredited/recognized institute.

Desirable: Master's degree in health-related field or quantitative epidemiology or specialized training in communicable diseases.

Experience

Essential: At least 5 years experience, at the national level, quantitative epidemiology and the implementation of public health surveillance, outbreak investigation and response in humanitarian settings. Experience in engaging multisectoral and multidisciplinary stakeholders to develop strategic and operational plans for the prevention and control of emerging and re-emerging infectious and zoonotic diseases particularly those with epidemic and pandemic potential.

Desirable:

Prior humanitarian working experience at field level with WHO, other UN agencies, health cluster partners, recognized humanitarian organizations or with an international nongovernmental organization with expertise in disaster and outbreak response and One Health.

Functional Knowledge and Skills

• Describe the essential knowledge and the skills specific to the position
• Demonstrated knowledge of surveillance and monitoring systems as related to emergency response relief operations, complemented by skills in the field of epidemiological or statistical data collection, assessment, analysis and the evaluation and monitoring in a public health context.
• Proven ability to multitask across various planning and implementation processes within a highly demanding environment.
• Demonstrated knowledge, competency and professional skills on the public health aspects of infectious disease control, epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response with particular attention to application of an all-hazard approach in the context of the International Health Regulations and the use of event based and indicator-based surveillance, as well as descriptive epidemiology and principles of public health in communicable disease surveillance and response.
• Knowledge, skills, and experience in engaging multisectoral and multidisciplinary stakeholders to develop strategic and operational plans.

WHO Competencies:

1. Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
2. Producing results
3. Ensuring the effective use of resources
4. Teamwork
5. Communication

Use of Language Skills

Excellent knowledge of English. A Working knowledge of another WHO official language would be an asset.

Other Skills (e.g. IT)

• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office applications.
• Working knowledge of online data collection applications, statistical analysis packages (Stata, SPSS, etc).
• Working knowledge of GIS mapping software (or similar) would be an asset.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test may be used as a form of screening.

• In the event that your candidature is retained for an 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.

• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.

• Staff members in other duty stations are encouraged to apply.

• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.

• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.

• WHO's workforce adheres to the WHO Values Charter and is committed to put the WHO Values into practice.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• WHO has a mobility policy which can be found at the following link: http://www.who.int/employment/en/. Candidates appointed to an international post with WHO are subject to mobility and may be assigned to any activity or duty station of the Organization throughout the world.

• Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.

• *For WHO General Service staff who do not meet the minimum educational qualifications, please see e-Manual III.4.1, para 2

• This is a national function. Only Nationals of the Republic of South Sudan should be considered.