Senior Emergency Officer

Contract

This is a P-5 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 10 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 204,886 USD and 256,769 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.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The mission of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme (The 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. The WHE Response division (WRE) is responsible for rapidly detecting and responding to health emergencies while leveraging relevant national and international partnerships, ensuring that emergency-affected populations in acute and protracted emergencies have access to essential health services and that systems are maintained and strengthened in fragile, conflict and vulnerable settings while implementing at scale, proven prevention strategies for priority pandemic/epidemic-prone diseases. The Alert and Response Coordination Department (ARC) is responsible to provide end-to-end capacity for the detection, management, coordination and monitoring of acute public health emergencies, as well as the generation and dissemination of public health information around such events. It identifies potential acute events through early warning, provides risk assessment of such events, and delivers on the management, coordination and ongoing monitoring of acute events that require activation of an incident management structure at HQ. These include epidemics and acute humanitarian emergencies.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

Within the framework of the delegated authority, the incumbent is assigned all or part of the following duties which are performed according to the needs and agenda: - Coordinate technical and operational support from headquarters and other sources, in support of the Regional Offices and country-level operations for designated emergencies, in line with WHO's Emergency Response Framework and best practices, protocols and guidelines (e.g. IASC). - Facilitate and stimulate WHO and partners contributions in support of country response operations with particular attention to partnership, planning, human resources, logistics, resource mobilization, monitoring and information-sharing. - Promote and advance the overall strategic, operational and technical coherence and consistency of WHO emergency operations, including through strengthened support to the design of programmes and development of Humanitarian Response Plans. - Support and contribute to capacity-building, training activities and exercises to strengthen operational capacities of WHO and partners; maintain and update policies, technical standards, guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), ensuring adherence to interagency policies. - Monitor progress and effectiveness of WHO operations at global level in close collaboration with Health Information Management Department; undertake regular country-level support missions with Regional Office counterparts; advise senior management of related priorities and issues; and capture lessons learned and promote their integration into broader WHO policy and practice, especially in collaboration with the Policy Unit. - Provide regular (weekly) updates to senior management of key developments, challenges and operational implications for all Grade-3 and Grade-2 emergencies for which the staff member is the focal point; alert senior management of relevant operational and security issues at country level in a timely manner; contribute to the development of briefings for senior staff and to the development of communications products. - Represent WHO to external stakeholders, including donors and partners, with respect to specific country operations. - Participate in the HQ-level Incident Management Support Team (IMST) for emergencies, in support to Regional and Country Offices, as needed; deploy to emergencies, as requested. - As assigned, advise HQ departments and units in the development and review of information products and briefings, such as talking points for press briefings, donor-related briefs and reports and other communication materials, to enhance WHO and WHE visibility at time of emergencies. - Guide and motivate a team of technical specialists when required for the scale up of emergency response. - Perform other related duties as assigned, including replacing and backstopping for others as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: Advanced level university degree related to medicine, public health or emergency response, management or social sciences. Desirable: Specialization or specific training on health emergency management and epidemiology.

Experience

Essential: Ten years of experience at national and international levels in implementing and managing public health emergency response, including three years' field experience (health response to crises, health response support, health response program management, public health needs assessments, risk analysis, early recovery program monitoring, quality control). Desirable: Experience with WHO, UN or UN agency or a health cluster member organization including the development of global strategies, guidelines and tools for emergency actions.

Skills

- Proven experience and expertise in the management of the health response to humanitarian emergencies and outbreaks; - Extensive technical knowledge, and operational skills, including early recovery/transition, combined with knowledge of UN, interagency humanitarian systems and process. - Excellent communication skills to negotiate/ enlist cooperation from a broad range of actors from multi-disciplinary backgrounds. - Strong organizational skills complemented with ability to work in a proactive and independent manner, multi-task and produce results under pressure. - Diplomacy, tact and discretion.

WHO Competencies

Teamwork Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences Communication Producing results Moving forward in a changing environment Creating an empowering and motivating environment

Use of Language Skills

Essential: Expert knowledge of English. Desirable: Intermediate knowledge of French. Intermediate knowledge of other UN Languages.

REMUNERATION

WHO salaries for staff in the Professional category are calculated in US dollars. The remuneration for the above position comprises an annual base salary starting at USD 90,664 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable), a variable post adjustment, which reflects the cost of living in a particular duty station, and currently amounts to USD 5938 per month for the duty station indicated above. Other benefits include 30 days of annual leave, allowances for dependent family members, home leave, and an education grant for dependent children.

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 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.

• 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.