National Consultant - Health Law, Lao/HSD

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1. Purpose

The World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in Lao PDR is looking to hire an experienced national lawyer consultant to provide legal supports to the Ministry of Health (MoH) to update existing laws and develop new laws in health sector.

2. Background

To promote health and well-being of the Lao People and contribute to reaching the Universal Health Coverage targets (UHC) in 2025 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in 2030, the Ministry of Health has developed 10 health laws and subsequent regulations under the health sector. These included Law on Health Care, Law on Hygiene, Disease Prevention, and Health Promotion, Law on Communicable Diseases, Law on Food, Law on Health Insurance, Law on HIV/AIDS Control and Prevention, Law on Medicine and Medical Products, Law on Tobacco Control, Law on Alcoholic Beverage Control and Law on Immunization.

In accordance with the current and future health needs in services provision of health promotion, disease prevention and control and treatment to the population, the Ministry of Health is updating existing laws such as Law on Health Care and Law on Health Insurance. At the same time, the Ministry of Health is also developing new laws, for example, Law on Public Health and Law on Primary Health Care.

In order to support the Ministry of Health throughout the process and ensure good coherence among departments in MOH and beyond the health sector to update existing laws and develop new laws, there is a need to hire an experienced national lawyer consultant to provide legal support in close collaboration with the international lawyer and WHO relevant teams in the WHO Representative Office in Lao PDR and WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific. This is to make sure that the laws are comprehensive, aligned with relevant laws in the health and beyond and enforceable in accordance with the Lao context.

3. Planned timelines (5 months)

• Start date: 01 July 2023
• End date: 30 November 2023

4. Work to be performed

The national lawyer consultant will report to and be guided by the WHO Country Office Coordinator, Health Systems Development (HSD) Team and relevant Technical Officers in the Team and beyond in collaboration with the related departments in the Ministry of Health to accomplish deliverables below.

Output 1: Provide legal support for update of Laws on Health Care and Health Insurance and development of Laws on Public Health and Primary Health Care in close collaboration with technical teams and legal experts in WHO Country Office and Regional Office, concerned departments in the Ministry of Health (MOH) and technical working groups for each law

Deliverable 1.1: Provide legal advice on the draft laws and the process to finalize and get them endorsed in alignment with the legal system of Lao PDR and support to MOH for close coordination with relevant line Ministries

Deliverable 1.2: Support responsible departments in MOH in organizing the consultation meetings within the Ministry of Health; and with the Ministry of Justice, Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and the National Assembly to develop, review and improve the draft revised Health Care Law; draft revised Health Insurance Law; draft Public Health Law and draft Primary Health Care Law by preparing the meeting agenda and necessary documents; developing the meeting reports and coordinating with WHO teams for logistics issues

Deliverable 1.3: Support MOH to revise the draft laws based on inputs from the consultation meetings

Deliverable 1.4: Facilitate coordination and support meetings among WHO teams, development partners and departments in health and non-health sectors as required

Output 2: Support for translation and interpretation for consultation meetings on the health laws

Deliverable 2.1: Translation of relevant legal and government documents related to the laws mentioned above and interpretation from Lao to English and English to Lao as required.

Output 3: Other legal support based on requests by the HSD team and beyond in WHO Representative Office in Lao PDR

Deliverable 3.1: Legal support for any other health laws supported by WHO Representative Office in Lao PDR based on requests from MOH as needed

Note:

• Upon finalization of the contract intellectual property of content and products shall revert to WHO.
• Any data or results may not be shared or distributed beyond the project team member without approval of the responsible officer in WHO.

5. Specific requirements

• Qualifications required:

Essential: University degree in law

Desirable: Master’s in law

- Experience required:

Essential: Minimum of two years of work experience in law development in Lao PDR

Desirable: work experiences in the government of Lao PDR or international organizations, work experiences in health law development

- Skills / Technical skills and knowledge:

• Expertise in the legal system and law development procedures in Lao PDR
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Proficient in standard MS Office software applications

- Language requirements:

Written and spoken fluency in English (Read – Write – Speak / "Expert" level)

6. Competencies

• Teamwork
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Good communication skills
• Producing results

7. Place of assignment

The contractual partner will be required to be based full-time at the WHO Country Office in Lao PDR or the Ministry of Health, Lao PDR to perform tasks.

8. Medical clearance

The selected candidate will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work.

9. Travel

The contractual partner will be required to travel within the country to provide technical, legal and administrative supports to improve of the draft laws.

Additional Information

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• If your candidature is retained for 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.
• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.
• 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.
• Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority. The execution of the work under a consultant contract does not create an employer/employee relationship between WHO and the Consultant.
• WHO shall have no responsibility whatsoever for any taxes, duties, social security contributions or other contributions payable by the Consultant. The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by WHO.
• The purpose of this vacancy is to develop a list of qualified candidates for inclusion in this advertised roster. All applicants will be notified in writing of the outcome of their application (whether successful or unsuccessful) upon conclusion of the selection process. Successful candidates will be placed on the roster and subsequently may be selected for consultancy assignments falling in this area of work or for similar requirements/tasks/deliverables. Inclusion in the Roster does not guarantee selection to a consultant contract. There is no commitment on either side.