NTD Advocacy, Partnerships and Mentorship Officer

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The specific objectives of the UCN cluster to which the ESPEN programme contributes, are to: (i) provide leadership on disease control coordination, partnership and resource mobilization, especially for NTDs amenable to preventive chemotherapy; (ii) contribute to the development of WHO disease control technical products, services and tools, including the adoption of new technologies and innovations; (iii) support generation and use of strategic information for action and decision making including optimizing investment; and (iv) provide or facilitate the provision of technical support in the deployment of WHO technical products and services and institutional capacity building, including support to national disease programmes and regulatory authorities.
Using an innovative gender-intentional approach, the MMM program aims to increase the overall coverage, effectiveness and impact of NTD interventions by ensuring the program support for women to overcome gender barriers in access to leadership while also acquiring skills and resources that enable them to be influential leaders and agents of change. The program integrates a gender lens into the design and implementation of the critical program components, including (a) Mentorship Program Design & Selection of Awardees, (b) Mentorship Program Implementation and (c) Mentorship Program Mgt., Review, and Evaluation.
Mentorship Program Design & Selection of Mentees: The gender-intentional approach of the MMM program incorporates outreach and recruitment strategies that avoid reinforcing the marginalization of some groups who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination based on, for example, socio-economic status, location, ethnicity or disability.
Mentorship Program Implementation: To foster the mentees’ capacity to exercise leadership for gender equality and to be influential leaders and agents of change, the gender-intentional approach to mentorship prioritises programs that address gender barriers to advancing in leadership roles and aim to increase gender equality in representation and decision-making in leadership.
The Mentorship Program’s Management., Review, And Evaluation component includes gender-intentional measurement, learning and evaluation. The program's long timeframe and annual cycles, with multiple cohorts over time, provide an excellent opportunity for capturing learnings on how to effectively design and implement a mentorship program that advances women in leadership and creates an impact on NTDs and across the health sector. The multiple cohorts will also allow for course corrections and continuous improvements over time.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

Under the direct supervision of the WHO/AFRO/ESPEN team leader and the overall guidance of the Director, Universal health coverage/Communicable and non-communicable diseases (UHC/UCN) Cluster, the NTD Advocacy, Partnerships, and Mentorship Officer will coordinate the MMM program activities. S/he will work with the other relevant teams and programmes across clusters or departments, especially those related to NTDs and to mentorship/gender mainstreaming within WHO, United Nations agencies, national authorities, and other partner organizations. S/he will also liaise closely with the Menttium, ASTMH, The END Fund, and other collaborating partners of the program.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

The duties of the NTD Advocacy, Partnerships and Mentorship officer include the following:

I. MENTORSHIP PROGRAM DESIGN AND MANAGE STEERING COMMITTEE

• In liaison with Menttium, coordinate the design of the mentorship program to ensure sufficiently gender-intentional approaches, including the criteria and profile of the mentors and mentees and support the matching of the mentee and mentors
• Develop a Gender Integration Plan for the MMM program;
• Coordinate all technical and logistical preparations to convene and host the mentorship program Steering Committee and the MMM Selection Committee meetings.

II. MENTORSHIP PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION: APPLICATIONS, LAUNCH, ENGAGEMENTS, AND SUPPORT

• Manage the launch, dissemination and the Request for Applications (RFA) process
• Support the matching of mentors to mentees, the program’s launch and support for the mentee and mentors;
• Identify and develop a database of free or low-cost training, development programs, high-profile institutions, etc. to offer to mentees.

III. COORDINATION AND PARTNERSHIP MECHANISMS IN SUPPORT OF NTD

• Support the coordination and partnership mechanisms at national and sub-national levels in support of NTDs amenable to preventive chemotherapy.
• Support enhanced functioning of technical expert advisory groups at the regional and national-level levels, including the Regional Programme Review Groups and National NTD Task Force;
• Coordinate the documentation and sharing of best practices with NTD partners and stakeholders regarding NTD interventions and progress toward regional milestones and targets.

IV. ADVOCACY AND COMMUNICATIONS TO PROMOTE NTD INTERVENTIONS SCALE-UP

• Support intensified high-level advocacy, stakeholder engagements and communications to promote NTD Scale-up at the regional and country levels;
• Enhance engagements and external relations with other regional & global entities and collaborators to accelerate NTD scale-up;
• Strengthen external communications using a mix of channels, tools, and approaches to promote NTD scale-up.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Education
Essential: First university degree in social sciences, public health, communication, international relations, or other relevant fields.

Desirable: Training certificate in mentorship, gender mainstreaming, communication or advocacy will be an advantage.

Experience

Essential:

• A minimum of 5 years of professional national and international experience in project management in international development, public health, private sector, or comparable experience.
• Experience in project management experience and managing steering committees or other governance structures
• Experience working in/with developing countries.
• Experience contributing to the design, management and reporting of international development programmes or projects;
• Proven experience in writing advocacy documents and in the coordination of partners, including the production of communication materials.

Desirable:

• Experience in leadership development and/or mentorship program management
• Previous financial and/or mentorship program experience will be an advantage.
• Diverse work experiences, incorporating private sector, NGOs, other UN, or governmental Health related agencies, will be an advantage.

Skills

WHO Competencies:

1. Producing results
2. Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences Communication
3. Building and promoting partnerships across the organisation and beyond
4. Teamwork
5. Ensuring the effective use of resources.

Functional Skills and Knowledge (Describe skills and knowledge specific to the post):

• Thorough knowledge of the principles, techniques and practices of mentorship and gender-intentional approaches to gender mainstreaming
• Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural environment.
• Strong interpersonal, representational and organisational skills, with proven ability to facilitate and strengthen the involvement and collaboration of a broad range of internal and external partners.
• Ability to establish and maintain organisational, local, and international partnerships. Excellent analytical and writing skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills complemented by the ability to conceptualise ideas and advocate consensus.
• Integrity, tact and discretion to work and achieve goals under pressure.
• Sound understanding of the impact of NTDs on social and economic development and its burden on populations.
• Good knowledge of WHO mandates and goals in the NTD-related area of work is an asset.

Use of Language Skills

Essential: Expert level of English or French with working knowledge of the other.
Desirable : Intermediate knowledge of Portuguese.
The above language requirements are interchangeable.

Computer skills:

• Expertise in word processing, spreadsheets, and data analyses
• Excellent report writing and presentation skills.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.
• Staff members in other duty stations are encouraged to apply.
• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
• WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• WHO has a mobility policy which can be found at the following link: http://www.who.int/employment/en/. Candidates appointed to an international post with WHO are subject to mobility and may be assigned to any activity or duty station of the Organization throughout the world.
• Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.