Sexual Reproductive Health/Gender Based Violence Officer - Grade NOB

Contract

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

1. Background and Justification

South Sudan has continued to experience protracted humanitarian crises since 2013, orchestrated by cyclic trends of disasters and conflict. The current wave of acute food insecurity, famine, malnutrition, and their related risk of epidemic-prone disease, is driven by climatic shocks (floods and dry spells), insecurity (caused by sub-national and localized violence), population displacements, persistent annual cereal deficits, diseases and pests, economic crisis and hyperinflation. The protracted emergencies currently graded at UN Level 3 have resulted in mass population displacement, worsening food insecurity, malnutrition, and heightened risk of disease outbreaks leaving an estimated 8.9 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance (HRP 2022). Access to essential services has been cut off increasing dependency on humanitarian assistance. Available data posits that the country has suffered from a triple shock of sub-national violence, food insecurity, and flooding that began in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 depleting local coping mechanisms, and it is projected that the trends will continue into the last quarter of 2022 as evidence by the current floods in most states of south Sudan. It is expected that the floods and insecurity will further decimate people’s livelihoods and social services mechanisms sending more people into displaced camps where the risk of disease outbreaks is higher.

Objectives of the WHO’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Programme.

Since the start of 2022, South Sudan has suffered simultaneous outbreaks of diseases, including cholera, hepatitis E, meningitis, anthrax, and measles in most of the high-risk counties, with COVID-19, and malaria affecting all 80 counties. The mission of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme is to help countries, and coordinate international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies. The ongoing floods, acute food insecurity, and other humanitarian responses in the country are intended to ensure continuity of access to essential health and nutrition services, address the increased health needs, and prevent and respond to disease outbreaks in emergency locations in a fashionable and well-coordinated manner.

Purpose of the Position:

In the context of the WHO Emergencies Preparedness and Response program Incident Management System (IMS), the SRH/GBV Officer will work under the guidance of the EPR Team Lead to support SRH/GBV strategy implementation within the emergency programs, providing technical support to the Implementing Partners and relevant Ministry through, training and capacity building, assessment and design of programs, coordination, and support supervision in line with whom SRH/BGV approaches. Accordingly, the incumbent will contribute to the management of WHO’s programming activities on reducing GBV as well as SRH in the affected population, particularly among adolescents/young people, women, and key population groups in humanitarian settings.

Task Description

1. Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Emergency Team Lead or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the SRH/GBV officer will:
2. Strengthen the integration of GBV prevention and response and SRHR issues for women and young people within WHO emergency programming.
3. Support national partners to develop advocacy and policy documents, guidelines, and emergency SRH/GBV standard operating procedures to support responses.
4. Build the capacity of government and implementing partners to effectively diagnose gaps in GBV prevention and response, propose effective strategies to address existing bottlenecks, and support coordination of the multi-sectoral GBV prevention and response across humanitarian settings.
5. Accelerate efforts towards reducing the prevalence of GBV among disaster and conflict-affected populations.
6. In collaboration with MoH counterparts, and relevant cluster partners, ensure the quality of SRHR/GBV program/project design incorporating lessons learned, newly developed policies, and best practices and establishing appropriate execution and monitoring mechanisms and systems.
7. Design and deliver training on SRH/GBV to those in need including MoH, Partners, and community-based structures.
8. Help create and document knowledge about current and emerging trends and issues, by analyzing SRHR/GBV programs, projects, strategies, approaches, and ongoing experience for lessons learned and best practices, and sharing with management for use in knowledge sharing and planning future strategies.
9. Support partners’ capacity to generate quality SRHR/GBV data, analysis, and utilization for evidence-based decision making, policy and program formulation, monitoring, and evaluation in support of the integrated humanitarian response.
10. Analyze and interpret the political, social, and economic environment relevant to SRHR/GBV and identify opportunities for WHOs assistance and intervention. Keep abreast with new policy developments and strategies by analyzing policy papers, strategy documents, response plans, and development frameworks and preparing briefs and inputs for policy dialogue and technical assistance
11. Participate in relevant national and sub-national fora, enhancing WHOs SRH/GBV work to ensure that technical issues are incorporated into emergency response plans and frameworks.
12. Create substantive knowledge of SRHR/GBV issues in the response sets, assesses technical assistance needs in these areas, and advise on the suitability of programs and related interventions to meet these needs.
13. Participate actively in appropriate Cluster coordination mechanisms (e.g. Cluster, and Technical Working Group (TWG) and support and contribute to all joint programs/activities among the UN agencies.
14. Assist advocacy and resource mobilization efforts by contributing to the preparation of relevant documentation (i.e. Project summaries, capacity statements, communication products, and project proposals)

15. Facilitate the identification of resource gaps within the emergency programs and assist prepare project proposals for submission.

16. Qualifications and Experience:

Education:

Essential: Bachelor’s Degree in health, population, demography, development, gender, law, and/or other related social science fields.

Desirable: Specialized training on SRH and principles of protection and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence response in a humanitarian context from a recognized institution. institutions

2. Experience:

3. At least 2 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the field of emergency response.

4. Work experience in the field of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Gender-Based Violence.
5. Experience in program/project management including experience in large multi-sector programs.
6. Experience working with the Ministry of Health and within the Cluster systems is desirable.
7. Prior experience in the UN system is an asset
8. A thorough understanding of the UN system in general, and especially the WHO mandate.

9. Demonstrated ability to work in a team

10. Other desired/mandatory required technical knowledge.

Integrity, objectivity, and professional competence- Strong communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills- Effective time-management skills- Strong capacity to embrace cultural diversity and sensitivity to gender issues- Ability to maintain confidentiality and ensure constant data protection- Ability to work in a stressful environment.

4. Use of Language Skills

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

5. Other Skills (e.g. IT)

Knowledge of Microsoft Office software applications. Excellent presentation skills.

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.
• This is a National Professional Officer position. Therefore, only applications from nationals of the country where the duty station is located will be accepted. Applicants who are not nationals of this country will not be considered.

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