Senior Regional Public Health Officer

Before submitting an application, UNHCR staff members intending to apply to this Job Opening are requested to consult the Recruitment and Assignments Policy (RAP, UNHCR/HCP/2017/2 and the Recruitment and Assignments Administrative Instruction (RAAI), UNHCR/AI/2017/7 OF 15 August 2017.

Senior Regional Public Health Officer

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
The Senior Regional Public Health Officer will ensure that UNHCR¿s health and nutrition programmes meet minimum UNHCR and international standards and minimise avoidable mortality and morbidity among populations of concern. The incumbent plays a crucial role in programme coordination, planning, monitoring including data analysis and evaluation, promoting capacity-building of UNHCR personnel and partners, and advocacy, information and communication on public health and nutrition-related issues. 

The Senior Regional Public Health Officer liaises with UNHCR country offices, Public Health and HIV Section, Regional Bureau/Desk. S/he supports and provides guidance to the network of UNHCR health and nutrition focal points and officers as well as to Implementing and Operational Partners, National Governments, Ministries of Health, UN agencies, and refugee and other persons of concern to UNHCR¿s communities.

FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT
Accountability
- UNHCR¿s country operations in the region are technically sound and thus better able to meet the needs of refugees.
- Immediate respond to refugee emergencies is ensured.
- Public Health programs provided to refugees and other PoCs are based on UNHCR and internationally recognised and most up-to-date standards and policies.

Responsibility
- Support the prioritization of the Primary Health Care strategy focusing on preventive and essential curative health, including mental health, reproductive health, HIV and nutritional components.
- Ensure that there is a viable standard Health Information System in place for data collection, analysis and interpretation to serve as evidence base for planning and interventions.
- Ensure nutritional survey and other assessments for food and nutrition are adequately conducted and implemented.
- Guide and support country offices in developing up-to technical programmes, based on international and UNHCR standards for quality public health programming.
- Provide technical assistance to UNHCR country offices and partners in development, integration and mainstreaming of appropriate and cost-effective public health, reproductive health and HIV prevention, treatment and care, mental health and nutrition.
- Ensure technical standards are being met in country operation and where required, support development of multi-year country sector strategies and programme plans adapted to the context.


- Undertake direct monitoring and quality assurance missions to ensure that sector programming is sound and cost-effective.
- Ensure active involvement in all aspects of programme monitoring and evaluation with a main emphasis on checking levels of implementation and impact vis-à-vis resource inputs to measure cost-effectiveness and re-orient the  programme as appropriate.
- Support UNHCR country staff in co-ordinating Public Health and HIV activities in line with UNHCR¿s role as UNAIDS co-sponsor and ensure that decisions are implemented as agreed upon.
- Work closely with UNHCR programme, field and protection staff to identify priority health issues and key data requirements for programme planning and monitoring to ensure that minimum UNHCR and international standards are being met. 
- Update and disseminate good practices on public health, nutrition, mental health, HIV and reproductive health among partners.
- Ensure implementation of UNHCR health information systems and support countries with analysis of public health data.
- Support linkages of public health to WASH programmes in the region.
- Share relevant guidelines and information materials on refugee HIV, reproductive health, general health and nutrition with local and international partners.
- Support country-level health focal points to promote the establishment of Refugee Committees to enable their active participation in the process of health planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
- Ensure effective coordination with regional bodies, governments, UN partners and represent UNHCR in regional fora related to refugee health and nutrition.
- Deliver training, capacity building, coaching for UNHCR and partners to strengthen response in emergencies, support synergies and integration into national health, water services and deliver technically sound programmes.
- Ensure that UNHCR is meeting the role as UNAIDS co-sponsor by coordinating and advocating for HIV and refugee issues with National AIDS Control Programmes, UN Joint Teams on AIDS, and major HIV donors.

Authority
- Enforce regional compliance with UNHCR Global Public Health Strategies, protocols and guidelines.
- Approve recommendations and advice on the technical capacity required of UNHCR and its partners in the region.
- Be the first point of call for emergencies and respond adequately.

ESSENTIAL MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
- A clinical background (nurse or MD) with postgraduate training in Public Health or Social Science.
- Minimum 8 years of previous job experience relevant to the function and in national/multinational organizations.
- Knowledge of public health, nutrition and HIV in humanitarian emergencies and development context including at least 5 years of experience with an international humanitarian organization dealing with large scale emergencies or displaced/refugee situations
- Exposure to UNHCR mandate, its priorities and principles.
- Proficiency in basic computer software such as MS Word and Excel.
- Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES
- Additional qualifications in Nutrition and WASH and a thorough understanding of the linkages with public health.
- Applied knowledge in UNHCR programme management, project formulation, its programme cycles and reporting standards.
- Knowledge of additional UN languages.


This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR Senior Regional Public Health Officer positions. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates. C001L3 - Accountability Level 3
C002L3 - Teamwork & Collaboration Level 3
C003L3 - Communication Level 3
C004L3 - Commitment to Continuous Learning Level 3
C005L3 - Client & Result Orientation Level 3
C006L3 - Organizational Awareness Level 3
M001L3 - Empowering and Building Trust Level 3
M002L3 - Managing Performance Level 3
M006L3 - Managing Resources Level 3
M005L3 - Leadership Level 3
M003L3 - Judgement and Decision Making Level 3
M004L3 - Strategic Planning and Vision Level 3
X005L3 - Planning and Organizing Level 3
X001L3 - Analytical Thinking Level 3
X008L3 - Stakeholder Management Level 3 <p>The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.</p>
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See below for this postion's Operational Context
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For those people applying for High Risk Duty Stations, we strongly encourage them – before deciding to apply- to read the country specific security and welfare country profiles which can be found on the Intranet under Support Services - Duty of Care (https://intranet.unhcr.org/en/support-services/duty-of-care.html). Ensuring staff are better informed is part of the increased attention UNHCR is paying to Duty of Care.

Staff after having applied to High Risk Duty Stations will have access to country specific information webinars with Field Safety Section (FSS) and Staff Welfare Section (SWS) colleagues and provided with a tool to test their psychological preparedness for serving in High Risk Duty Stations. Applicants who applied for a position in a High Risk country will receive, after the deadline for applications has expired, a joint invitation from the Staff Welfare Section (SWS) and the Field Safety Section (FSS) to participate in these webinars. During the Webinars, latest updates on security and well-being will be provided, and FSS and SWS will address questions raised by participants. Applicants are highly encouraged to benefit, when applicable, from all measures as they provide most up-to-date security and well-being information helpful to assess staff’s readiness to serve in a High Risk Duty Station. A Staff Welfare Officer will also be available, if and when required, to discuss with interested applicants the results of the psychological preparedness tool as well as readiness for assignment in High Risk Duty Stations.

The position is based in Dakar, Senegal, at the Regional Office for West Africa and involves frequent travel with a focus on the countries affected by the Mali crisis and the lake Chad basin, but also whenever needed, especially in emergency situations, travel to any of the 15 countries in the region. The priority is to provide public health related technical and managerial support to country offices in order to facilitate the protection and assistance of populations of concern living in both rural and urban areas.
The position is situated in the Programme Division; the incumbent is part of the management team and is supervised by the Head of Programme Division. The unit has the mandate to oversee, guide and monitor the programmes in the region in order to ensure the harmonization of programmes and high quality of services.  The Senior Regional Public Health officer participates in policy development and facilitates experience-sharing within the region  The position requires regular communication with HQ, countries in the region, sister UN agencies, local and international NGOs and other implementing partnerships. Open channels of communication with other teams and partners are important. The ability to seek consensus with others through a persuasive, flexible approach is also a must. Strategic planning and analytical thinking is also important. French is essential and English very important as both languages are official languages in the West Africa region. West Africa has experienced successive conflicts over the past decades, with a recent rise in terrorist activities and attacks which have a serious impact on the stability and security of the region. UNHCR continues to respond to the humanitarian crises in the Lake Chad Basin and Mali, which have also caused the displacement of a huge number of IDPs. At the same time, there are several long standing refugee situations with which the Regional Representation continues to deal, seeking long-lasting solutions search as naturalization or long term residency.  UNHCR estimates that there are around 1 million stateless persons in West Africa, and many more at risk of statelessness. Estimates easily reach 60 million individuals as people in the region are grossly undocumented.

Since September 1 2017, the Regional Representation for West Africa (RRWA) covers all the 15 ECOWAS Member States. In addition the Regional Representative is the Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Nigeria Situation.  Mixed Migration is also a new domain that the Regional Office has been dealing with since the second part of 2017.

UNHCR has more than 1000 staff in the 15 countries under the Regional Office. In Dakar alone there are more than 100 staff, made up of generalists and experts in their domains, namely, protection, programme, admin, finance, statelessness, registration, public health, environment, livelihoods, CBI and project control. While the asylum practice in the West Africa are rather generous, it is self-evident that the operational and political environments in the region present unique challenges (in terms of security, governance  and socio-economic outlooks) to the UN in general, and UNHCR in particular.  The Region houses a variety of political and UN coordination mechanisms that demand a significant amount of time to ensure that UNHCR remains relevant and exercises its partnerships relationships. Notable among these structures are United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, headed by an SRSG, the Regional UNDG, and Regional offices for WFP, UNICEF, OCHA, UNWOMEN, FAO, etc. Donors also have regional platforms in West Africa. In the Lake Chad Basin, the Boko Haram insurgency in North East Nigeria that spread into Cameroon, Chad and Niger has caused the displacement of over 2.5 million people, composed of 2.35 million IDPs, (of whom 1.9 million are inside Nigeria) and around 205,000 Nigerian refugees.  Despite important military advances in 2016, ongoing threats from Boko Haram in all affected countries as well as the absence of basic services continue to pose acute humanitarian and protection risks for those impacted by the crisis.

With regards to the Mali situation, a total of 144,206 Malian refugees are hosted in neighbouring Niger (60,154), Mauritania (50,966) and Burkina Faso (33,056); and 58,985 persons are internally displaced within Mali. As the crisis enters its sixth year since the outbreak of the conflict in northern Mali in late 2011, a resolution is not yet in sight. The security situation has deteriorated over the past two years, spreading also to Mali¿s central region. New displacement continues as well as refugee and IDP returns, and conditions remain unfavourable for a large scale repatriation of Malian refugees in security and dignity.  (183 words)

Please note that the closing date for all vacancies in the September 2018 Compendium is Thursday 18 October  2018 (midnight Geneva time).