Epidemiologist in Republic of Congo

UN VOLUNTEER DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT

COGR000024 -- Epidemiologist

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing volunteers.In most cultures volunteerism is deeply embedded in long-established, ancient traditions of sharing and support within the communities. In this context, UN Volunteers take part in various forms of volunteerism and play a role in development and peace together with co-workers, host agencies and local communities.In all assignments, UN Volunteers promote volunteerism through and social realities, as well as create a bridge between themselves and the people in their host community. This will makel the time they spend as UN Volunteers even more rewarding and productive.

 

General Information

Country of Assignment Republic of Congo Host Institute World Health Organization Volunteer Category International Specialist Number of Volunteers 1 Duration 12 Months Duty Station Brazzaville Assignment Place Family Duty Station 

 

 

Living Conditions

Living Connditions: A middle-income country, Congo is experiencing a particularly favorable development context with a stabilized macroeconomic framework because of the implementation of ambitious macroeconomic reforms. Economic growth averaged around 6% for over a decade. However, should the current decline in the price of a barrel of petroleum persists, it could hinder this dynamic. Note that the performance at the macro level contrast with the living conditions of populations which remain difficult. Unemployment, particularly among young people remains high and the cost of living is quite high compared to other countries in the sub-region. Food imports account for most of the coverage needs of the population in major cities.

Peace and security have improved considerably. However, the Congo has two security levels:

Level 2 in Brazzaville, Pointe - Noire and the Pool department

Level 1 The rest of the territory.

The UNV will be based in Brazzaville, the capital city. The city is quiet, everyday life in Brazzaville is safe and one can circulate freely. The food and non-food commodities are available. Medical facilities are up to standard. It is difficult to find a suitable apartment with basic security conditions and water supply. The apartments must be approved by the Department of Safety and Security in Brazzaville. Missions in regions where the beneficiaries are located are organized as needed. The WHO Regional Office is located South on the outskirt of Brazzaville. A shuttle is available to take staff members to and from work at scheduled hours.

 

Assignment Details

Assignment Title: Epidemiologist

 

Organizational Context & Project Description

WHO is the directing and coordinating agency for health within the United Nations System and operates at three levels: global, regional and country. The WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), in collaboration with Inter-country Support Teams, provides technical assistance, guidance and coordination to, and for 46 countries in the African region. AFRO fosters synergies with international partners and global and regional health initiatives.

The World Health Organisation Health Emergencies programme (WHE) was established in 2016. The WHE complements WHO’s technical and normative role but with new operational capacities and capabilities for its work in outbreaks and humanitarian emergencies. The vision of the programme is “protecting health and saving lives in outbreaks and emergencies”. Its mission is “to help Member States build their capacity 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 WHO regional office for Africa (WHO AFRO) WHE monitors, co-ordinates and responds to more than 300 alerts and rumours of outbreaks and events every year. These include major events such as humanitarian crises and associated displacement, floods and disease outbreaks. These emergencies present challenges not just to countries, but also to regional and global health security.

The Health Information Management (HIM) programme area of WHE focuses on three lines of work: public health emergency data science, authoritative situational analysis and risk assessment for known and unknown public health threats and improved reporting on public health emergencies through the development and dissemination of information products The WHO Regional Office for Africa is currently facing a high number of outbreaks and emergencies. The efficient implementation of control measures needs the availability in the affected countries of skilled human resources and the presence in the WHE Programme at the regional office of staffs to serve as back-up to the country teams and provide technical and managerial guidance to them.

The WHE programme collaborates closely with other departments and WHO disease-oriented programmes in WHO Country Offices, AFRO and WHO Headquarters, and with a wide range of UN organizations, international partners and experts, and WHO Collaborating Centres.

The Information Officer will provide direct support to the WHE Programme through coordination of documentation on outbreaks and other public health events in order to improve timeliness and accessibility of information, streamline communication and management between the different levels of the organization and better document the decision making process involved in event management.

 

Sustainable Developpment Goals: 3. Good Health and Well-being

UNV Focus Area: Securing access to basic social services

 

Task description

Under the overall guidance of the Regional Emergency Director and direct supervision of the HIM Programme Area Manager, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Participate in conducting risk assessments on acute public health events occurring in the region
• Assist in the drafting of reports on the response to major public health events
• Develop country profiles on acute public health events in the region
• Contribute to the development of suite of outbreak applications
• Produce standard operating procedures for epidemic intelligence in the WHO African region
• Any other duties as required by the WHE HIM programme area

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:

• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• 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 newly-arrived 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.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:

- Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerismby reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNVactivities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day)

- Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms ofvolunteerism in the host country

- Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they areundertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities

- Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNVpublications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.

- Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived 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.

 

Results / Expected Outputs

At the end of the assignment, it is expected that the UNV will have contributed to the WHO Health Emergencies Programme through detecting, assessing and reporting protecting health and saving lives in outbreaks and emergencies.

A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.

• The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counter-parts, including Implementing Partners (IPs);

• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment

• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development dur-ing the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.

 

Qualifications / Requirements

Required Degree Level: Master degree or equivalent

 

Education - Additional Comments

Type of Degree: Advanced degree in epidemiology, public health, or international health or degree in medicine, veterinary science, pharmacy, nursing, midwifery or related science or technical health profession

Desirable: Post-graduate training in epidemiology, public health or international development with good data management skills

Computer skills: Proficient in Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, Outlook and

 

Years of Required Work Experience: 36 months

 

Experience Description

Years of work experience: 3 to 5 years relevant professional work experience with proven organisational skills

Desirable: Professional experience in an international organisation

 

Language Skills

• English (Mandatory), Level - Fluent
• AND French (Mandatory), Level - Fluent

 

DoA Expertise

• Other health related experience (Mandatory)

 

Additonal Requirements for Area of Expertise

Epidemiology, Public Health, International Health, Medicine, Veterinary Science, Pharmacy, Nursing, Midwifery, or related science or technical health profession.

 

Need Driving Licence: No

 

Conditions of Service and other information

Condition of Service: Click here to view Conditions of Service

 

Conditions of Service for internationnal Specialist:

The contract lasts for the period indicated above with possibility of extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectation of renewal of the assignment.

A UN Volunteer receives a Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA) which is composed of the Monthly Living Allowance (MLA) and a Family Allowance (FA) for those with dependents (maximum three).

The Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA) is paid at the end of each month to cover housing, utilities, transportation, communications and other basic needs. The VLA can be computed by applying the Post-Adjustment Multiplier (PAM) to the VLA base rate of US$ 1,587. The VLA base rate is a global rate across the world, while the PAM is duty station/country-specific and fluctuates on a monthly basis according to the cost of living. This method ensures that international UN Volunteers have comparable purchasing power at all duty stations irrespective of varying costs of living. The PAM is established by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) and is published at the beginning of every month on the ICSC website http://icsc.un.org.

 

For example, kindly enter the link Calculator

 

In non-family duty stations that belong to hardship categories D or E, as classified by the ICSC, international UN Volunteers receive a Well-Being Differential (WBD) on a monthly basis.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are provided a settling-in-grant (SIG) at the start of the assignment (if the volunteer did not reside in the duty station for at least 6 months prior to taking up the assignment) and in the event of a permanent reassignment to another duty station.

UNV provides life, health, permanent disability insurances as well as assignment travel, annual leave, full integration in the UN security framework (including residential security reimbursements).

UN Volunteers are paid Daily Subsistence Allowance at the UN rate for official travels, flight tickets for periodic home visit and for the final repatriation travel (if applicable). Resettlement allowance is paid for satisfactory service at the end of the assignment.

UNV will provide, together with the offer of assignment, a copy of the Conditions of Service, including Code of conduct, to the successful candidate.

 

Application Code: COGR000024-2191

 

Application procedure

If you have not yet registered in the UNV Talent pool, please apply by registering your profile at https://vmam.unv.org/candidate/signup.

Important: Once you have created your UNV account by validating your email address, please complete all sections of your profile. Go to ‘My Page’ section of your profile, click on the ‘Special Calls’ hyperlink and select the special call you would like to apply. If you are registered in the UNV database, please update your profile at https://vmam.unv.org/ Go to ‘My Page’ section of your profile, click on the ‘Special Calls’ hyperlink and select the special call you would like to apply.

Application deadline: 13 August 2017.

 

Disclaimer

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme which welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We arecommitted to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture.