Risk Communication and Community Engagement Officer

Overview

Provide technical support for community engagement in health emergencies.

You have:

• University degree in health promotion/health education, development, sociology, medical anthropology, public health or in other health related field from an accredited/recognized institute.
• At least five years of relevant experience in risk communication, health promotion, community engagement and emergency management.
• Excellent knowledge of English.
• Knowledge of RCCE, social and behavioral change, crisis communication principles and best practice.
• Ability to work under pressure while producing results.

Contract

This is a NO-C contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be more than 3,598 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.

Purpose of the Post:

In the context of the WHO Health Emergencies Incident Management System (IMS), at the country level, the incumbent will provide technical, operational and coordination support on all aspects related to community engagement; ensure that community engagement is considered and planned throughout all phases of the incident management cycle and integrated within the risk management and risk mitigation procedures.

Objectives of the Programme and of the immediate unit or field activity (Overview of the programme):

The mission of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme is to build the capacity of Member States to manage health emergency risks and, when national capacities are overwhelmed, to lead and coordinate the international health response to contain outbreaks and to provide effective relief and recovery to affected populations.

Organizational Context (Describe the work environment, the role of the individual within the team – team member, specialist, adviser, facilitator, coordinator/manager, representative, expert, authority in the field, etc; available guidelines and degree of independence in decision making, and nature and purpose of contact within and outside the Organization):

The incumbent, technical focal point for community engagement, will report directly to the Technical Officer- EPR, under the overall guidance of the EPR Team Lead and Head, WHO Country Office. S/he will work closely with the relevant technical teams, ensuring that a) sociocultural factors are addressed in the formulation of public health interventions and b) frontline response staff with significant community interaction are prepared to engage effectively with affected and/or at-risk communities. S/he will work closely with Risk Communication Officer and the Communication Officer in the WHO Country Office (WCO) to inform the design and implementation of risk communication strategies, tactics and messaging. The incumbent has first line responsibility for adapting and implementing community engagement strategies as well as ensuring that national authorities have access to best available guidance on participatory approaches/methodologies relevant to the context, which build on existing national and local expertise and knowledge. The incumbent will identify and support national authorities to coordinate with key stakeholders and partners working at the community level to ensure that the community engagement and social mobilization strategies are technically and operationally aligned with public health measures, and that service delivery and quality issues are fed back into technical and operational decision-making.

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

1. Act as Risk Communication and Community Engagement focal point within the Emergency program

2. Provide technical and operational support to overall Health Education/Health Promotion activities instrengthening and mainstreaming community engagement and social mobilization strategies from the service delivery side; aligning with technical and operational priorities and objectives; and delivering through existing national and local structures.

3. Ensure community engagement and social mobilization strategies and implementation plans are evidence-based, coordinated, and well executed, drawing upon anthropology and related behavioural and social sciences so that community concerns, sociocultural beliefs and practices impacting public health interventions are addressed.

4. Develop or support the establishment of community listening systems to better understand risk and support health emergency response strategies that are in line with community needs, priorities, capacities, and expectation

5. Develop and update relevant information, education and communication materials in languages and formats easily used by national stakeholders and the public

6. Translate scientific information such as technical guidance, into actionable content (messages, tools and products) and engagement interventions for affected populations and specific communities for readiness and emergency response activities and manage clearance and publication process of the mentioned materials.

7. Work closely with health emergency technical teams to ensure broader response guidelines and guidance incorporates RCCE principles and best practice.

8. Monitor and proactively counter false rumors and misinformation, and address fears and concerns.

9. Support the development and implementation of RCCE capacity building strategies and plans by understanding and documenting training needs, developing materials and tools, and providing training and learning experience support to regions, countries and partners as required.

10. Work closely with technical teams to assess the integration and effectiveness of community engagement practices within technical SOPs according to the context e.g. surveillance, clinical care, vector control, etc. Identify strengths, weaknesses and gaps; design interventions to address weakness and gaps e.g. training/capacity building, supervision, tools, etc.

11. Collaborate with partners to ensure appropriate monitoring and evaluation tools and mechanisms for community engagement and social mobilization are in place at the national and subnational level and ensure the findings are integrated into technical and operational decision-making.

12. Contribute to building the national capacity through needs identification, development, operationalization and implementation of a capacity building and training plan.

13. Provide regular feedback to the incident management team, national authorities and partners on the adaptation of response strategies for effective and feasible community engagement in affected areas.

14. Where necessary, conduct formative research, and/or liaise with stakeholders/partners conducting sociocultural research.

15. Perform any other incident-specific related duties, as required by the functional supervisor.

Competencies (Describe the core, management or leadership competencies required - See WHO competency model – list in order of priority, commencing with the most important ones – identify a minimum of three and a maximum of five competencies):

1) Communicating in a credible and effective way.

2) Fostering integration and teamwork

3) Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond

4) Creating an empowering and motivating environment.

5) Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences

Functional Skills and Knowledge (Describe skills and knowledge specific to the post): Describe the essential knowledge and the skills specific to the position

• Excellent written and oral communication skills and ability to engage effectively with external partners including Ministries of Health, Donor Institutions, Civil Society and other stakeholders.

• Knowledge of RCCE, social and behavioral change, crisis communication principles and best practice

• Ability to independently develop, implement and measure evidence based RCCE strategies and plans

• Knowledge and understanding of public health approaches related to: community engagement; social mobilization; an understanding of emergency response; ability to coordinate multidisciplinary and technical inputs into designing community engagement strategies and plans.

• Knowledge of the changing health emergency landscape, governance, frameworks, and priorities

• Ability to work as a team player with excellent interpersonal communication and consensus building skills.

• Ability to work under pressure while producing results.

• Ability to think out of the box and to make innovative proposals related to RCCE. Tact, discretion and diplomacy.

Education (Qualifications):

Essential: University degree in health promotion/health education, development, sociology, medical Anthropology, Public Health or in other Health related field from an accredited/recognized institute.

Desirable: Training in public health, risk communication, health education, health communication, health promotion, strategic communication planning, social mobilization, participatory research, training and impact evaluation of community engagement/social mobilization interventions.

Experience:

Essential: At least five years’ of relevant experience, at the national level, in applying multidisciplinary approaches in risk communication, health promotion, community engagement and social mobilization programmes, emergency management part of which should include working in disease outbreak or health emergency context. Proven experience in the application of participatory models of engagement in the health context and the ability to adapt and innovate in emergency situations will be an advantage

Desirable: Prior humanitarian working experience at field level, with WHO/UN, health cluster partners, government recognized humanitarian organizations or with an international nongovernmental organization.

Languages:

Essential: Excellent knowledge of English.

Desirable : Knowledge of the local language(s)

Other Skills (e.g., IT):

• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft office applications.

Potential interview questions