Senior Emergency Health Coordinator (National position)

Background/IRC Summary:  

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is at work in over 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. The IRC has been operating in Thailand since 1975 and currently assists  displaced persons in Tak, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi and Mae Hong Son provinces.

The IRC is preparing to support the Royal Thai Government to provide humanitarian assistance should a large-scale influx of displaced persons arrive in Thailand seeking protection due to the turbulent situation in Myanmar following the 01 February 2021 military takeover.  

Job Overview/Summary:

The Senior Emergency Health Coordinator provides leadership and facilitates processes that will ensure a well-coordinated, coherent, strategic, and effective Health response by a mobilized, organized and adequately resourced groups of agencies, organizations, NGOs, local communities, and other stakeholders.  In support of the government, act as interface between humanitarian Health partners and duty bearers to ensure Health related needs of the affected population are properly covered.

Major Responsibilities:

Coordination:

• Ensure health preparation and response approaches and actions align with Royal Thai Government policies and procedures.
• Represent the Health Sector in inter-sector coordination mechanisms at country/field level, contribute to jointly identifying critical issues that require multi-sectorial responses, and plan the relevant interventions with the other sectors concerned.
• Ensure Inclusion of existing Health humanitarian partners in all Health -related preparation and response.
• Identify urgent technical gaps and training needs in relation to technical standards and protocols for the delivery of key health services to ensure their adoption and uniform application by all Health Sector partners.
• Convene and facilitate consultative and results-oriented meetings in line with the principles of partnership. Organize and conduct joint support missions to field operations.
• Maintain information on all current and potential Health partners, their capacities and areas of work (including Who, What , Where and by When). Provide consolidated feedback to all partners and the other sectors.
• Ensure that the Health Sector produces and disseminates to partners, donors, government and other stakeholders regular updates, technical reports, bulletins and briefings on the health status of the affected people, response activities, resources mobilization, achievements, challenges and the remedial actions when necessary.
• Serve as focal point for inquiries on the Health sector response plans and operations.
• Ensure appropriate coordination between all Health partners, through establishment/maintenance of appropriate Health sector coordination mechanisms, including working groups at the national levels;
• Secure commitments from Health humanitarian partners in responding to needs and filling gaps, ensuring an appropriate distribution of responsibilities within the Health Sector, with clearly defined focal points for specific issues where necessary;
• Ensure effective links with other sectors and represent the interests of the Health sector in discussions with the Inter-Sectoral Coordinator and other stakeholders on prioritization, resource mobilization and advocacy

Assessment and Analysis and Standards:

• Ensure effective and coherent Health assessment and analysis, involving all relevant partners
• Manage, coordinate and be the overall lead within the Health Sector or at Inter-Sector level for rapid health needs assessments, as well as participatory assessments.
• Facilitate health partner coordination and involvement in health and other related sector assessments (e.g. nutrition, WASH), planning, information, interventions, monitoring and quality assurance, and regularly report on health services delivered to the affected population.
• Ensure that Health sector participants are aware of relevant policy guidelines, technical standards and relevant Government standards and policies.
• Ensure that Health responses are in line with existing policy guidance, technical standards, and relevant Government legal obligations.

Planning and strategy development:

• Lead the development, in cooperation with the Health Sector Members, contingency planning for potential new influx of refugees in Thailand and other interagency planning.
• Health assessment and analysis; development (adaptation of generic standards) of standard assessment formats;
• Identify gaps in the field of WASH and conceptualize how sectoral needs can be met through collective delivery
• Developing/updating agreed Health response strategies and action plans and ensuring that these are adequately reflected in higher level preparedness and response plans
• Drawing lessons learned from past health activities and revising strategies and action plans accordingly;
• Developing an exit, or transition, strategy for the health interventions and key sector partners.
• Ensure full compliance with national and international Norms and Standards, oversee that Cross-Cutting issues are mainstreamed in the Health Sector Response and implementation plans.

Monitoring and reporting:

• Ensure adequate monitoring mechanisms are in place to review impact of Health interventions and progress against implementation plans. This specifically needs to include an analytical interpretation of best available information in order to benchmark progress of the emergency response over time.
• Ensure adequate Health impact reporting and effective information sharing to demonstrate the closing of gaps.
• Coordinate the development, adaptation and implementation of an Indicators' Monitoring Framework to ensure adequate implementation of the Health Sector Plans

Advocacy and resource mobilization:

• Identify core Health advocacy concerns, including resource requirements, and contribute key messages to broader advocacy initiatives;
• Advocate for donors to fund Health actors to carry out priority emergency Health activities in the sector concerned, while at the same time encouraging Health actors to mobilize resources for their activities through their usual channels.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Country Director
Position directly supervises:  May supervise sector coordination team should scale of situation require
Indirect Reporting: Inter-Sector Coordinator (UNHCR)

Other Internal Contacts: Deputy Director of Programs, Sr. Health Coordinator, Health Coordinator, Sr. Environmental Health Manager, Senior Awards Management Coordinator, Regional Emergency Coordinator
Other External Contacts:  Health representatives from implementing agencies and other actors, Inter-Sectoral Coordinator and other Sector Coordinators (WASH, Food, Shelter, NFI, etc…),