Case Finding Technical Officer

Background Information - UNOPS

UNOPS supports the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner.

Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices, always satisfying or surpassing our partners’ expectations.

With over 7,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, wherever they need it.

A flexible structure and global reach means that we can quickly respond to our partners' needs, while offering the benefits of economies of scale. 

Stop TB Partnership

UNOPS hosts the Stop Tuberculosis Partnership Secretariat (STBP) as of 1 January 2015, in Geneva, Switzerland. The vision of the Stop TB Partnership is to realize the goal of elimination of Tuberculosis (TB) as a public health problem and, ultimately, to obtain a world free of TB by ensuring that every TB patient has access to effective diagnosis, treatment and cure; stopping transmission of TB; reducing the inequitable social and economic toll of TB; and developing and implementing new preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic tools and strategies. The Stop Partnership is uniquely positioned to support the development and further implementation by partners of the current and future Global Plan, acting as a coordinator and catalyst for the range of partners engaged in the fight against TB.

Founded in 2001, the Stop TB Partnership's mission is to serve every person who is vulnerable to TB and ensure that high-quality treatment is available to all who need it. Our partners include international and technical organizations, government programmes, research and funding agencies, foundations, NGOs, civil society and community groups and the private sector

Although a treatable and curable disease, TB still kills more people than any single infectious disease. In 2015 1.8 million people lost their lives to the curable disease and only 6.1 million were reported as receiving treatment. While political commitment to end TB is increasing, a key challenge to find the 4.3 million people that are estimated to suffer from TB and MDR-TB but are “missed” because they are not diagnosed and/or reported to the National TB Programmes (NTPs). The missing people with TB usually include the most vulnerable and those without proper access to care, living in poverty or hard-to reach places (e.g. people living with HIV, children, women, miners or migrant communities). NTPs and their partners are increasingly focused on trying to close this gap and Stop TB Partnership’s Global Plan to End TB 2016-2020 as well as WHO’s End TB Strategy seek to ensure that all people who are suffering from TB are identified and can receive proper treatment.

To help catalyze the response to this challenge the Global Fund (GF) established, for its new funding cycle, a number of Catalytic Investments for different disease areas to help countries focus on where need is greatest. For TB, the clear priority area is reaching the missing people who have TB. In order to achieve this goal more ambitious and comprehensive approaches will need to be developed with and for NTPs and partners. Many tools and guidelines have been developed in recent years that have led to more high-quality and rapid diagnosis for TB, but these advances have proven to be insufficient for curbing the epidemic, as they often lack guidance on how to identify and implement locally tailored interventions. Effective interventions need to be tailored to local situations so as to address existing barriers to health services and target the key populations of people with TB who are missed.

The Stop TB Partnership has been commissioned by the GF to support countries involved eligible for Catalytic Investments and their TB case finding efforts to reach ambitious targets as part of their National Strategic Plans in the 2017-2019 period. 

Functional Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Team Leader of Innovations and Grants and in collaboration with the Country Support/Global Fund - Communities, Rights and Gender (CRG) team, the incumbent will coordinate and engage in providing support to selected countries to find the missing people with TB, through target setting, programming of new and bold interventions and monitoring of implementation and results. In particular, the incumbent will:

• Provide technical support to country programmes and partners on case finding strategies for GF funding requests development, during grant making, and implementation.
• Participate in international, regional and local meetings to provide input on interventions to improve case detection
• Coordinate and collaborate with partners and a roster of consultants to support finding the missing people with TB in matching funding in selected priority countries as part of the Strategic Initiative.
• Manage the development of new guiding documents/briefs - including a handbook for programmatic approaches to improve case detection, an implementation guide - to help countries plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate different strategies they will use to reach more missing people with TB based on TB REACH and other partner experiences.
• Coordinate and contribute to diverse activities around using existing data for action toward the targets surrounding case detection, including establishment of process indicators, development of baseline assessments, country visits and preparation of reports.
• Provide support to results dissemination of lessons learned and experience sharing through meetings and documentation for countries involved in the Global Fund’s Strategic Initiative.
• Regularly engage with Stop TB partnership teams as needed, especially TB REACH and Country Support/GF-CRG, the Global Fund Secretariat (especially country teams, disease and strategy teams) as well as countries and other relevant stakeholders of the TB community.
• Other relevant work as discussed with the Team Leader and executive management

Monitoring and Project Controls

Working Arrangements:

• The incumbent will be based in Geneva, Switzerland and can be expected to travel up to 25% of the time.

Expected Outputs:

• The activities described in Section 2 naturally lend themselves to the submission of deliverables. These include the:
  • Supporting the development of funding requests, reprogramming requests and workplans – as needed - that adequately address the gaps in finding the missing people with TB.
  • Preparation of desk reviews, targets and performance frameworks for countries focusing on ways to improve case detection.
  • Preparation of baseline assessment reports, final countries and catalytic funding summary reports.
  • Participation and active engagement in international, regional and local meetings to provide input in case detection.
  • Development of a handbook for programmatic approaches to improve case detection.
  • Production of an implementation guide describing how to implement standard interventions around case detection.
  • Written and oral dissemination of results and lessons learned on case detection activities with priority countries.

Education

• An university degree (Master or equivalent) in public health, health economics, global health, international development or other relevant disciplines, or
• A bachelor degree in public health, health economics, global health or other related health disciplines with 2 additional years of relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of a Master's degree.

Experience

• At least 5 years of experience in infectious disease management, ideally TB.
• Experience working with TB programs in one or more high TB burden countries is essential.
• Experience in the development and/or implementation of TB case finding and case detection initiatives is essential.
• Experience in/with working with any of the countries supported by the Global Fund’s Catalytic Investments on TB is desired.
• Experience/exposure to the TB REACH initiative is desired.

Competencies

Develops and implements sustainable business strategies, thinks long term and externally in order to positively shape the organization. Anticipates and perceives the impact and implications of future decisions and activities on other parts of the organization.

Treats all individuals with respect; responds sensitively to differences and encourages others to do the same. Upholds organizational and ethical norms. Maintains high standards of trustworthiness. Role model for diversity and inclusion.

Acts as a positive role model contributing to the team spirit. Collaborates and supports the development of others. For people managers only: Acts as positive leadership role model, motivates, directs and inspires others to succeed, utilizing appropriate leadership styles.

Demonstrates understanding of the impact of own role on all partners and always puts the end beneficiary first. Builds and maintains strong external relationships and is a competent partner for others (if relevant to the role).

Efficiently establishes an appropriate course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a goal. Actions lead to total task accomplishment through concern for quality in all areas. Sees opportunities and takes the initiative to act on them. Understands that responsible use of resources maximizes our impact on our beneficiaries.

Open to change and flexible in a fast paced environment. Effectively adapts own approach to suit changing circumstances or requirements. Reflects on experiences and modifies own behavior. Performance is consistent, even under pressure. Always pursues continuous improvements.

Evaluates data and courses of action to reach logical, pragmatic decisions. Takes an unbiased, rational approach with calculated risks. Applies innovation and creativity to problem-solving.

Expresses ideas or facts in a clear, concise and open manner. Communication indicates a consideration for the feelings and needs of others. Actively listens and proactively shares knowledge. Handles conflict effectively, by overcoming differences of opinion and finding common ground.

Languages

Fluency is English required and knowledge of French is desirable.
Knowledge of other UN official languages is an advantage.

Additional Considerations

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.