Health Officer, NOB, Port Moresby, PNG, post #43850

POSITION IS OPEN FOR NATIONALS OF PNG ONLY. UNICEF Papua New Guinea is seeking to recruit a national Health Officer to provide professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for the MNCAH including Prevention of Parents to Child Transmission (PPTCT) of HIV and Pediatric AIDS care component of Health Program within the Country Program of cooperation from development planning to delivery of results, preparing, executing, managing and implementing a variety of technical and administrative program tasks to facilitate program development, implementation, program progress monitoring, evaluating and reporting of results.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, an advocate

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does  in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children's rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favouritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society's most disadvantaged citizens  addressing inequity not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Job organizational context:

This is a fixed-term position in the UNICEF Papua New Guinea Country Office based in Port Moresby. The UNICEF Papua New Guinea is a small to medium-sized country programme with an annual throughput of approximately USD 17 million to support the Government of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea towards equitable realisation of children's rights, including during emergencies. Papua New Guinea, a lower-middle-income country (GNI US$ 2430 in 2013) in the Asia-Pacific region, is heavily dependent on its extracting resource-based economy with no or very little economic diversity. It is one of most unique countries in the world on social and demographic fronts having huge ethnic diversity with over 800 languages, and sporadically living population in hilly terrains. The persistently prevailing state of poor governance, institutional and organisational capacity constraints, violence and social/community insecurity and the recent economic hardships caused slow progress in development efforts. UNICEF is one of the largest UN agencies in the country and its support encompass the areas of health, nutrition, education, HIV&AIDS, WASH, child protection and social inclusion. UNICEF's support is aligned with the government's visions, policies, and strategies, and the UNDAF 2018-2022.

Papua New Guinea is one of the few countries in the South East Asia and the Pacific regions that was off-track to achieve MDG-4 with still high level of preventable child deaths  the under-five mortality rate was 57 per 1000 live births as reported by the UN Inter-agency Group of Mortality Estimates (IGME) in 2015. The poor obstetrical and new-born care, low immunization coverage, and high rates of common childhood illnesses are the major causes of child deaths in PNG. It has the highest number of HIV infections in the Pacific region. The Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health (MNCAH) is, therefore, one of the critical components of UNICEF country programme of cooperation within the Health Section led by the Chief of Health.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose for the job:

The Health Officer reports to the Health Specialist (P-3) for supervision. The Health Officer provides professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for the MNCAH including Prevention of Parents to Child Transmission (PPTCT) of HIV and Pediatric AIDS care component of Health Program within the Country Program of cooperation from development planning to delivery of results, preparing, executing, managing and implementing a variety of technical and administrative program tasks to facilitate program development, implementation, program progress monitoring, evaluating and reporting of results.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Support to program development and planning

• Conduct and update the situation analysis for the development, design and management of health related programmes. Research and report on development trends (e.g. political social, economic, health) for higher management use to enhance programme management, efficiency and delivery of results.
• Contribute to the development and establishment of sectoral programme goals, objectives, strategies, and results-based planning through analysis of health needs and areas for intervention and submission of recommendations for priority and goal setting.
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical programme transactions, preparing materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support programme planning, results based planning (RBM), and monitoring and evaluation of results.Prepare required documentations and materials to facilitate the programme review and approval process

Program management, monitoring and delivery of results

• Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss operational and implementation issues, provide solutions, recommendations, and/or to alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and decisions. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts to assess programmes and to report on required action/interventions at the higher level of programme management.

•  Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), and verify compliance with approved allocation and goals, organizational rules, regulations, procedures, as well as donor commitments, standards of accountability, and integrity. Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management and stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution

Technical and operational support to programme implementation

•  Conduct regular programme field visits and surveys, and share information with partners and stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
•  Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners, and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes, and best practices on health-related issues to support programme implementation, operations and delivery of results.

Networking and partnership building 

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with health sector government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to enhance programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to deliver concrete and sustainable results.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships/alliances, and support fund raising for health programmes.

• Participate in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) on health programmes to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNDAF operational planning and preparation of health programmes/projects, and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF’s position and strategies with the UNDAF development and planning process.
• Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders.

• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
• Assist with oversight of research and ensure results are available for use in knowledge products.

• Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Education: A University Degree in public health/nutrition, paediatric health, family health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, biostatistics, socio-medical, health education, epidemiology or other health related sciences is required.
• Experience: A minimum of 2 years of professional experience in public health/nutrition planning and management and/or in relevant areas of maternal and neonatal health care, health emergency/humanitarian preparedness, at the international level and/or in a developing country is required. Experience in health/nutrition program/project development in UN system agency or organization is an asset
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required.  Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The technical competencies required for this post are….

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.