Migration Health Officer – Epidemic Preparedness and Response 80 views0 applications

Position Title : Migration Health Officer – Epidemic Preparedness and Response

Duty Station : Goma, Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Classification : Professional Staff, Grade UG

Type of Appointment : Special short-term ungraded, Three months with possibility of extension

Estimated Start Date : As soon as possible

Closing Date : 18 September 2019

Established in 1951, IOM is a Related Organization of the United Nations, and as the leading *UN agency in the field of migration, works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and**non-governmental partners. IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. It does so by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.*

Internal and external candidates will be considered for this vacancy. For the purposes of this vacancy, internal candidates are defined as staff members holding a regular, fixed-term or short-term graded or ungraded contract, including Junior Professional Officers (JPOs), staff on Special Leave Without Pay (SLWOP), and staff members on secondment/loan released by the organization, unless otherwise specified in their contract. Staff members holding a regular, fixed-term or short-term graded contract will not retain their contract type if appointed to an ungraded position.

Context:

IOM supports the Ministry of Health (MoH) to strengthen health service capacity at the border points to effectively prevent, detect and respond to the infectious diseases and other public health threads. IOM provides; integrated surveillance and disease control training for the frontline health staff working in border areas, necessary medical and health commodities for the border posts, analyses and reports on population mobility trends in priority health zones to inform preparedness efforts, as well as risk communication assistance to sensitize cross border population and neighbouring communities. IOM is an active partner of the Ministry of Health (MoH) in supporting Point of Entry (PoE) Surveillance during outbreaks, including the current 10th Ebola outbreak in North Kivu (2018-2019).

Under the direct supervision of the Migration Health Coordinator, and overall supervision of the Emergency Coordinator and Chief of Mission (CoM) the successful candidate will be responsible and accountable for the development and implementation of epidemic preparedness and response activities across multiple provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Core Functions / Responsibilities:

1. 1.Develop, coordination and implementation of IOM’s epidemic preparedness and response activities in DRC, including identification of geographic areas of intervention, conducting assessments, and developing interventions.
2. Strengthen epidemic preparedness and response capacity of staff at national, provincial and field locations.
3. Support and actively be engaged with the Health Cluster Emergency Preparedness and Response Working Group. This includes developing and coordinating specific outbreak preparedness and response programming, including developing strategies, identifying geographic areas of intervention, developing activities such rapid response teams and outbreak response activities including contact tracing, in coordination with the Health Sector lead and World Health Organization (WHO) medical logistics, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), epidemiology and Operations teams.
4. Support and actively engage in all platforms for epidemic preparedness and response, including the preparedness working group.
5. Coordinate closely with internal and external partners including the Ministry of Health (MoH), the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Ebola response team, and others to promote and ensure harmonization of preparedness activities.
6. Develop an action plan for epidemic preparedness and response activities based on IOM’s projects and in line with IOM and donor regulations.
7. Develop/adapt health facility, point of entry, and referral system assessments tools and lead assessments in priority provinces and health zones.
8. Develop/adapt training material on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR)
9. Organize trainings for health workers at health facilities, point of entry staff, and Ministry of Health staff on key topics including IPC and IDSR.
10. Contribute to the development of standard operating procedures, guidelines and other technical documents for epidemic preparedness and response.
11. Coordinate with MoH, CDC, WHO to promote cross-border collaboration focusing on enhancing preparedness, surveillance and response at the major Points of Entry (POEs) (airports) including the organization of cross-border meetings, trainings, and workshop for government officials and partners.
12. Identify procurement and logistics needs for strengthening preparedness capacities of health facilities and points if entry including POE kits, IPC kits, and others.
13. Support organization and facilitation of population mobility assessments including population mobility mappings and population flow monitoring; identify geographic areas for population mobility assessments; analyse findings and prepare reports.
14. Coordinate and provide trainings for IOM national health staff on emergency preparedness and response.
15. Represent IOM at coordination meetings with key stakeholders such as other UN agencies, local government, donors and other stakeholders to promote delivery of best practice in an emergency response setting.
16. Perform such other duties as may be assigned.

Required Qualifications and Experience:

Education

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Epidemiology or a related field from an accredited academic institution with a bachelor’s degree in Medicine and four years of relevant professional experience; or

• Medical Doctor with a university degree in epidemiology or public health or a related field from an accredited institution with a minimum of four years of experience in supporting the district or national health surveillance program.

Experience

• Operational and field experience in outbreak preparedness and response, in public health, epidemiology, and risk communication interventions;

• Knowledge of Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) measures for outbreak response and preparedness;

• Operational and field experience in migration, refugee and displaced persons’ health-related issues, programme development, including experience in evaluating health programs and protocols;

• Knowledge of structures and functions of national and international health agencies, donors and organizations;

• Familiarity with the health sector in the African region, with DRC experience an advantage.

Languages

For this position, fluency in French and English is required (oral and written). Working knowledge of local dialects in DRC is an advantage.

Note

* This position requires frequent travelling to other locations

1 Accredited Universities are the ones listed in the UNESCO World Higher Education Database

(https://whed.net/home.php).

Required Competencies:

Values – all IOM staff members must abide by and demonstrate these three values:

• Inclusion and respect for diversity: respects and promotes individual and cultural differences; encourages diversity and inclusion wherever possible.

• Integrity and transparency: maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct.

• Professionalism: demonstrates ability to work in a composed, competent and committed manner and exercises careful judgment in meeting day-to-day challenges.

Core Competencies – behavioural indicators

• Teamwork: develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results.

• Delivering results: produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely

manner; is action oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes.

• Managing and sharing knowledge: continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate.

• Accountability: takes ownership for achieving the Organization’s priorities and assumes responsibility for own action and delegated work.

• Communication: encourages and contributes to clear and open communication; explains complex matters in an informative, inspiring and motivational way.

Managerial Competencies – behavioural indicators

• Leadership: provides a clear sense of direction, leads by example and demonstrates the ability to carry out the organization’s vision; assists others to realize and develop their potential.

• Empowering others & building trust: creates an atmosphere of trust and an enabling environment where staff can contribute their best and develop their potential.

• Strategic thinking and vision: works strategically to realize the Organization’s goals and communicates a clear strategic direction.

IOM’s competency framework can be found at this link. https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/about-iom/iom_revised_competency_framework_external.pdf

Competencies will be assessed during a competency-based interview.

Other:

• Internationally recruited professional staff are required to be mobile. For this staff category, candidates who are nationals of the duty station’s country cannot be considered eligible.

• The appointment is subject to funding confirmation.

• Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment or visa requirements and security clearances.

• No late applications will be accepted.