Public Health Officer 102 views0 applications

Public Health Officer

UNHCR Programme Unit, Mogadishu, Somalia

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a Public Health Officer position within Mogadishu, Somalia in our Programme Unit.

The assignment will be within UNHCR’s Programme Section, which sits within the Representation Office in Mogadishu and supports Sub-Offices. This exciting position is a unique opportunity to gain experience working within the UN system and support people in need.

UNHCR is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. We are in over 125 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.

Title: Public Health Officer

Duty Station: Mogadishu

Duration: 1 year

Contract Type: UNOPS International ICA2 (equivalent to P3)

Closing date: 6^th February 2022

Start date: 1^st March 2022

Organizational Context

UNHCR continues to provide protection and assistance to its persons of concern (PoCs), including refugees, asylum-seekers, refugee returnees, and IDPs across the country – directly and through partners. Displaced families are in dire need of food, shelter, and Non-Food Items (NFIs), and are faced with multiple protection risks. Directly and through the UNHCR-led clusters, UNHCR continued to respond to the immediate needs of the families.

In terms of Health, UNHCR works in partnerships with public and private for nonprofit health facilities (Health centers and hospitals) to ensure that above mentioned PoCs have access to first and secondary/tertiary level health care services at the same level as nationals. UNHCR works with health partners that have agreements with selected facilities to attend to PoCs in need of medical assistance. Referral system in place in all locations.

Specific Operational Context in Somalia

The operational context in Somalia remains complex: In addition to the conflict that has lasted for decades, Somalia had to contend with floods, locust infestations, ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, insecurity leading to populations displacement as well as the current political situation and delayed elections. The security situation in the country remained volatile with regular attacks against military bases, as well as civilians.

The majority of the Somali population lost their livelihoods and have serious trouble meeting their basic household needs.

The Position

It is with this background that UNHCR is looking for an experimented Public Health Expert to work within the UNHCR’s Multifunctional Team to support health-related protection and assistance objectives of operations in Somalia.

The incumbent will perform under the direct supervision of the Senior Programme Officer and will benefit from technical supervision and support from the Senior Regional Public Health Officer at the Regional Bureau in Nairobi.

Work Relationships

The Public Health Officer is a member of a multidisciplinary team and will ensure that UNHCR’s public health programmes meet minimum UNHCR and global health standards in order to minimise avoidable morbidity and mortality among populations of concern (POC) and towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The incumbent provides strong and timely technical guidance to UNHCR senior management and partners including on the design and scope of UNHCR’s responses in health and nutrition, catalyses the engagement of other actors, supports resource mobilisation efforts, including with the private sector, and monitors the response. S/he has close contacts with internal and external stakeholders such as government counterparts, UN Agencies, NGOs and embassies/donors.

The incumbent should also ensure consultation with communities, seeking the diverse views of men, women, girls and boys, adolescents, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, including people with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities, in assessing needs, designing, implementing and monitoring responses in line with UNHCR’s policy on age, gender and diversity mainstreaming.

Public Health programmes include primary health care, secondary health care, community health, reproductive health (including HIV), nutrition, MHPSS and health information systems. In addition to public health staff, major operations may also have dedicated staff focusing on any of these components, but public health officers are expected to be very conversant with reproductive health programming and ensure that minimum standards are met. Depending on the size of the operation the incumbent may be expected to have major responsibilities for nutrition and MHPSS responses. The Public Health Officer will work with the (Senior) Programme Officer (or other designated staff member) to support operational collaboration and joint programming with WFP on nutrition and food security.

Duties and Responsibilities

· Ensure that UNHCR’s public health programmes meet minimum UNHCR and global health standards in order to minimize avoidable morbidity and mortality among populations of concern (POC) and towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

· Provide strong and timely technical guidance to UNHCR senior management and partners including on the design and scope of UNHCR’s responses in health and nutrition

· Catalyze the engagement of other actors, support resource mobilization efforts, including with the private sector, and monitors the response

· Co-ordinate public health, reproductive health, nutrition and HIV activities in support of the government’s responses and in conjunction with other UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other partners, including development actors to ensure delivery of public health and nutrition services to beneficiaries (POC and host community) meet UNHCR and /or nationally recognized and most up-to-date standards and policies.

· Support the Operation to define the level and scope of UNHCR’s involvement in public health and nutrition responses in terms of overall and operational objectives during emergency situations and beyond.

· Represent UNHCR in public health coordination and other meetings including relevant inter-sectoral groups such as Technical Working Groups (TWGs) for MHPSS and nutrition, reproductive health, community health, among others.

· Engage in relevant partnership fora, including in line with UNHCR’s role as a UNAIDS co-sponsor of the Joint Programme on AIDS and co-lead with WFP of the Division of Labour area of HIV in Humanitarian Settings.

· Contribute to development and/or implementation and monitoring of UNHCR’s Strategic Plan for Public Health and adaptation at country level.

· Work with others in UNHCR to advocate for refugees, returnees and other POC’s access to local public health, reproductive health (RH) and HIV, MHPSS, nutrition (including food assistance where relevant) and water and sanitation services and lobby for inclusion of refugees, returnees and other POC as a specific group in government policies and plans related to health, RH and HIV as well as major donor programmes such as the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria.

· Ensure, in close co-ordination with other humanitarian actors, that health care services provided to POC are based on Ministry of Health, UNHCR and/or internationally recognized and most up-to-date standards and policies.

· Establish and/or adapt UNHCR internal operating procedures to ensure they are in line with UNHCR and/or international standards and improve efficiency of programme activities; this includes – but is not limited to – referral health care, medicines and medical supplies procurement and management, medical resettlement and resettlement of persons with health needs, cash-based assistance for health care coverage and referral between units and inter-sectoral collaboration.

· Ensure adequate and accurate reporting, timely updates and briefings to donors and management.

· Support capacity strengthening of UNHCR and its implementing partners to address public health, nutrition, reproductive health, HIV, MHPSS programming in a coordinated, multi-sectoral way and disseminate relevant guidelines and information materials.

· Undertake and/or support capacity building needs assessments of UNHCR staff and partners and develop approaches to address capacity gaps including identifying internal and external training opportunities.

· Perform other related duties as required.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

The ideal candidate will:

• Possess a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field – Medicine, Medical Service, Medical Director, Nursing, Public Health or other relevant field

• Have minimum 6 years relevant experience with the Undergraduate degree; or 5 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 4 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree

• Certifications and/ or Licences in Epidemiology is desirable

• Must have knowledge of public health, reproductive health and nutrition in humanitarian situations.

• Additional qualifications in Nutrition and WASH and a thorough understanding of the linkages with public health and food security; and also ability to coordinate a range of diverse actors and activities to achieve a common objective in the area of Public Health is desirable.

• Have the ability to coordinate a range of diverse actors and activities in a short timeframe and organize and conduct formal and informal workshops/meetings for actors and stakeholders

• Have the ability for analysis of complex issues for the development of new methods/approaches requiring the identification and in-depth examination of numerous technical factors to provide solutions

• Have excellent communication skills with strong interpersonal and negotiation skills.

• Be fluent in English, with advanced writing and editing skills. Additional languages are desirable, but not essential.

• Have good analytical and report writing skills

• Must strive to live up to high ethical and professional standards

• Have good experience using the Microsoft Office suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).

• Demonstrate a genuine desire to learn and develop.

• Be highly organised and have good attention to detail.

• Be flexible, able to multi-task and to prioritise workload.

• Be a team-player with service-oriented attributes

Location

The successful candidate will be based with the team in Mogadishu.

Conditions

The assignment is for one (1) year (with possible extension) and the start date is in March 2022. It is a full-time role with working hours starting from 8.00am to 5:00pm Sunday to Thursday (40 hours per week).