Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Officer

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

The World Health Organization (WHO) plays a crucial role in global health governance. It has dedicated staff in various field and regional offices worldwide. WHO advises governments on technical issues and helps scale up essential health services. The organization collaborates with governments, NGOs, civil society, academia, and the private sector to improve population health. WHO has six core functions: i) providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed; ii) shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge; iii) setting norms and standards, and promoting and monitoring their implementation, iv) articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options, v) providing technical support, catalyzing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity and vi) monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.

In Bangladesh, WHO supports the government in developing and strengthening public health systems. They provide evidence-based guidelines, capacity building, and policy shaping to enhance health services. WHO Bangladesh focuses on seven areas namely i) continuum of care throughout the life course; ii) surveillance, preventions, and control of communicable diseases; iii) preventions and control of major non-communicable diseases iv) sustainable development and healthy environment; v) Emergency preparedness, response, and recovery, vi) strengthened health system and vii) Partnership for health development.

Additionally, WHO Bangladesh extends its support to the Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Settlements (FDMN) in Cox's Bazar district. They coordinate with different sectors including health, WASH, protection, nutrition, and sector partners to provide technical assistance and ensure minimum standards are met for enhancing the health system and emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.

This is an excellent opportunity for young people to contribute to the WHO’s work to by coordinating and guiding risk communication efforts across the response in the Rohingya camp. With these attributes, WHO as the co-lead to Risk Communication and Community Engagement Technical Working Group under the Health Sector plays a vital role in safeguarding public health and minimizing the impact of emergencies on affected communities through risk communication interventions on public health and social measures. Furthermore, the learnings from the diverse team will help the individual to grow as a professional within the humanitarian sector.

With the overall guidance of the Head of Sub-office (HoSO) and under the direct supervision of the Public Health Officer the incumbent will work at WHO Emergency Sub-Office, Cox’s Bazar to support the development and implementation of effective communication strategies and sharing of accurate, timely, and understandable information to convey health risks to sectors and partners and promote appropriate actions in the FDMN camps through the provision of technical assistance. The detailed job description is as follows-

The function encompasses developing and implementing effective communication strategies, RCCE products to convey health risks and necessary actions to the public, governments, and stakeholders with focus on the Rohingya camps and the adjacent host population, working in close collaboration with the Social and Behavioural Change (SBC) partners, CWC working group, WASH Sector, Health Sector, and other relevant partners and stakeholders for the Risk Communication and Community Engagement Technical Working Group (RCCE TWG) under the Health Sector.

1. Oversee the development, elaboration, and implementation of the risk communication plan as part of the health response operations.
2. Coordinate with key stakeholders such as national authorities, UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and civil society organizations to identify key health hazards in the relevant con-text and develop relevant information, education and communication materials in languages and formats applicable for the stakeholders, including Rohingya and host communities and community health workers in crisis-affected communities and at health facilities as needed.
3. Utilize available WHO resources, materials, and personnel necessary to ensure coherence of strategy, materials, and messages.
4. Monitor and proactively counter false rumours and misinformation among crisis-affected community members and address fears and concerns in close coordination with RCCE TWG.
5. Integrate findings from focus group discussions and other feedback from community engagement activities into risk communication activities and products.
6. Lead and maintain quality control for risk communication products such as public information; brochures, leaflets, and posters; radio and TV scripts; guides for stakeholders for risk communication; and other (innovative) communication approaches and ensure their literal and cultural translation.
7. Contribute to resource mobilization and donor communication in the arena of risk communication.
8. Monitor and evaluate communication efforts, collecting feedback, and adjusting strategies to enhance public understanding, trust, and adherence to recommended health measures.
9. Support WHO Country Office as needed on Risk Communication and Community Engagement arena.
10. Perform any other task as assigned by the supervisors.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:

• Strengthen knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities. • 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 newlarrived 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;

• Accountability • Adaptability and Flexibility • Building Trust • Client Orientation • Commitment and Motivation • Commitment to Continuous Learning • Communication • Ethics and Values • Integrity • Planning and Organizing • Professionalism • Respect for Diversity • Working in Teams

• Public Health Communications at national or sub-national level. • Experience in humanitarian response with a good contextual understanding of the Rohingya refugee response • Experience in UN agencies, International Organizations, NGOs, etc esp. in an emergency setting.

SKILLS:

• Functional Knowledge and Skills: • Excellent interpersonal skills, tact, discretion, and diplomacy. • Ability to effectively work with government, development partners, and collaborating agen-cies. • Ability to collaborate with different institutions, organizations, and personalities from the Government, NGO, and private sectors, ability to work independently and creatively, will-ingness to travel. • Ability to work in a cross-cultural environment and in a team. • Computer skills in Image/ Graphics processing, MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint including analytical software. • Strong verbal and written communication skills.

Cox's Bazar is a district of Bangladesh and it is famous for fishing port and tourism. It is one of the most-visited tourist destinations in Bangladesh. The beach in Cox's Bazar is an unbroken 120 km (75 miles) sandy sea beach with a gentle slope, making it the second longest sea beach in the world. The climate of Cox's bazar is similar to the rest of the country. The climate of Bangladesh is generally determined by its location in the tropical monsoon region: high temperature, heavy rainfall, generally excessive humidity, and distinct seasonal variations. It is further characterized by the location in the coastal area. Historically Cox’s Bazar, like other parts of Bangladesh, is a safe place to live. Since August 2017, with the large scale Rohingya influx from Myanmar, Cox’s Bazar is seen as a district with a humanitarian crisis. Culturally Cox’s Bazar is very diverse and well-known for its traditional heritage. The communications systems in Cox’s Bazar is well developed and the district is well-connected with other cities. All the national mobile networks are operational in Cox’s Bazar. Walking within Cox’s Bazar city is only allowed during day time. Travel by rickshaw is also permitted within Cox’s Bazar only during day time. Cox’s Bazar has a domestic airport and is currently classified as a family duty station (Security Level 3-moderate; Hardship category-D). Accommodations are safe, clean and comfortable, but basic. The UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials.