Officer, Health

Vacancy No.S17708Category of ContractNationalPosition TypeNationalApplication Deadline10/06/2026Job Posted On27/05/2026Duty StationTegucigalpaCountryAMERICAS Different LocationsDuration6 months

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is a membership organisation, consisting of the world’s 191 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, acting through more than 160,000 local branches or offices and with 14 million community-based volunteers. They are supported by the IFRC Secretariat, which works to support, coordinate and represent the action of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies worldwide. Together, the members and their Secretariat are known as the “IFRC network”.

Each National Red Cross and Red Crescent Society is an independent national organisation dedicated to saving lives, promoting community health, safety resilience and well-being, and building inclusive societies. As auxiliaries to the public authorities in the humanitarian field, National Societies support their authorities to reduce risks, protect human dignity, delivery assistance and improve the lives of vulnerable people, while always acting in conformity with the Fundamental Principles.

Their unparalleled local presence, combined with the IFRC Secretariat’s role in global coordination and response, brokering knowledge, strengthening capacities, mobilising resources and representation, form the world’s largest and most effective humanitarian network.

In the Americas, the IFRC Secretariat is organized through a group of support services and technical functions, and geographical configurations of Country Cluster Delegations and Country Delegations. The Country Cluster Delegation (CCD) in Central America covers 5 countries.

Job Purpose

The Health Officer supports the CCD Programs and ARO technical lead in delivering technical assistance to National Societies, in planning and implementing preparedness and emergency response interventions and other public health issues and creating coherence with regular health programs. S/he will support and follow up on capacity building efforts by supporting the technical supervision and following up on the advice to country-level health staff and will ensure that health interventions maintain IFRC standards and are implemented using an integrated public health approach under the guidance of their Technical Manager.

The post holder supports the health interventions during emergencies but also in development projects, programmes and plan; providing technical support related to health for the implementation of the Global Thematic Programmatic Partnership (GTPP) in selected countries in Central America. S/he provides support, assistance on aspects of health and care, including MHPSS and water and sanitation according to the needs identified by the Line Manager and Technical Manager .

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Emergency Health

  • Support local health assistance in emergency and disasters and ensure that the health components of emergency appeals and DREFs are implemented, as well as Early Action Protocols (EAP);
  • Support the development of early action protocols related to health, including coordination with NS, PNS, Climate centre, Ministries of health, etc including overseeing the development of feasibility studies and health risk assessments and promote exchange of experiences among the Central American NS
  • Establish and follow up the health risk profile of countries and update these profiles in collaboration with relevant colleagues and advise the CCD team on the need for potential DREF interventions related to health
  • Support epidemiological and outbreak response monitoring
  • Support, assist the completion of health information into platforms, systems, and other monitoring instruments in coordination with the ARO Technical Lead
  • Provide technical support to national societies in the region including providing technical guidelines, procedures, methodologies, and tools to country-level counterparts for the effective planning and implementation of their emergency health actions; with particular attention to National Societies taking part of the Global Thematic Programmatic Partnership (GTPP) towards successful capacity building and overall NS development in health related matters
  • Support the monitoring of emergency operations and health related programmes and projects
  • Under supervision of the Regional Health Lead, trainings related to physical and mental health in emergencies to NS in Central America

Project Management and other programmes

  • Follow up on the technical support to Guatemala RC and Panama RC from a health perspective related to the Global Thematic Programmatic Partnership (GTPP) and other programs (i.e. TOMALI, climate and health, anticipatory action and health )
  • Check projects (if needed) on consistency and compliance, especially with policies, procedures, standards, methodologies, instruments, theories and practices related to health
  • Provide effective program and project management support as budget holder for health-related projects / programs assigned by their line manager

Community Health

  • Support NS to systematize best practices and building case studies on health initiatives to support quality, scalability, and cost-effective actions shared within the Membership,
  • Lead capacity building processes in NS regarding monitoring of health programmes, including community health, prevention, and communicable diseases among others

Reporting, Lessons Learnt and Knowledge Sharing

  • Support in documenting lessons learnt and good practice and in sharing with internal and external partners, and ensure learnings are shared among the rest NS of Central America
  • Participate in compilation of information (e.g. capacity or stakeholder mapping, needs assessments), consultations and intervention design for donor proposals for the CCD Central America

Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

Professional Relationships, Expertise, and Professional Development

  • Establish and maintain effective professional working relationships with national and international staff in country, regional and global offices, and, with counterparts in national Red Cross societies, International Committee of the Red Cross, government offices, academic institutions, and donor agencies
  • Maintain a high degree of skill and knowledge in health and care, be an expert and a person of reference for health and care.
  • Be part of and contribute to develop a network and systems for knowledge sharing including best practices
  • Participate in regional initiatives of the ARO Health Department where this is linked to programmatic approaches of the Central America Cluster Delegation

Education

Required

Bachelor’s degree in a health or care related discipline

Medical Degree or post-graduate degree in public health (MSc, MPH), nursing or paramedical sciences from an internationally recognized university or other major post-graduate qualification with a significant educational component

Preferred

Diploma or training in Public health, or Health in Emergencies, Epidemic Control and or other related thematic area or Equivalent experience in Health in emergencies, Epidemic control operations or projects (2 years)

Experience

Required

5 years of experience in Public health or Emergency Health

2 years of working in health interventions with a CEA approach (designing, developing and/or implementing RCCE strategies, building trust, infodemic, etc.)

2 years of project management experience

Experience with monitoring and evaluation of health projects/programs

Demonstrated experience in report writing and presentations

Preferred

Experience with a government department, national/state level NGO or international bi-lateral or multi-lateral organization

Experience working within the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement

Experience in resource mobilization and partnership development

Work experience across the Central American= region

Experience in team management including distance management

Curriculum development for volunteers and staff

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

Required

Demonstrated skill in analytical and strategic thinking

Knowledge and understanding health trends and priorities in the Americas

Self-supporting in computers and relevant software

Valid passport

Ability to travel at short notice within the Delegation

Team Building skills

Ability to work in a cross cultural and cross functional environment

Ability to work under stressful conditions, meet deadlines and travel extensively to support field operations or training

Good knowledge of disaster management and humanitarian assistance concepts and debates

Knowledge of mechanisms, tools and guidelines for programming and coordination at different levels

Fluently spoken and written Spanish

Competencies, Values and Comments

VALUES: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability

CORE COMPETENCIES: Communication; Collaboration and Teamwork; Judgement and Decision Making; National Society and Customer Relations; Creativity and Innovation, Building Trust

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: Strategic Orientation, Building Alliances; Empowering others

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