The mission of the Division of Health Emergencies (WHE) is to build the capacity of Member States to assess, prevent and manage health emergency risks, and lead and coordinate the international health response to contain outbreaks and to provide effective relief and recovery to affected populations.The WHE Division brings together and enhances WHO's operational, technical, and normative capacities in outbreaks, emergencies, and risk analysis to address all health hazards across the risk management cycle in a predictable, capable, dependable, adaptable, and accountable manner. The Programme is designed to operate within the broader humanitarian and emergency management architecture in support of people at risk of, or affected by, outbreaks and emergencies, consistent with ways that strengthen local and national capabilities.
The Risk Communication and Community Engagement Programme (RCCE) is responsible for ensuring that people and stakeholders are enabled and empowered to take informed decisions that protect them from health emergencies. To do so RCCE communicates risks and preventive measures, engages communities and community actors, manages rumors and misinformation, builds country capacities, and supports country responses, and positions RCCE as an evidence-based technical area of work.
Description of Duties:
The Incumbent Will Perform the Following Duties:
Liaise with partners to ensure collaborative implementation of community engagement strategies at the national and subnational level, ensuring the findings are integrated into technical and operational decision-making.
Provide technical and operational support to overall Community Engagement in health programmes' activities aligning with technical and operational priorities and objectives; and delivering through existing national and local structures.
Ensure community engagement strategies and implementation plans are coordinated, and well executed, drawing upon behavioral and social sciences so that community concerns, sociocultural beliefs and practices impacting public health interventions are addressed.
Work closely with technical teams to assess the integration and effectiveness of community engagement practices within technical guidelines according to the context, identify strengths, weaknesses, and gaps; design interventions to address weakness and gaps e.g.
Contribute to building the national capacity through participation in needs identification, development, operationalization and implementation of a capacity building and training plan.
Conduct formative research on community engagement and support policy dialogues.
Contribute to the development of community engagement guidance documents and tools -to engage CSOs and community groups - and support country adaptation and use.
Regularly compile briefs on progress of activities implemented under projects, including the preparation of web stories, photo essays or advocacy materials.
Required Qualifications: Education:
Essential: University Degree in public health, sociology, development sciences or a health-related field.
Desirable: Master's degree in public health, health promotion, social sciences, or development sciences.
Experience:
Essential: At least two years of relevant experience in applying multidisciplinary approaches in health promotion, community engagement, and social mobilization.
Experience in emergency and health outbreak context.
Desirable: Prior work experience with WHO/UN.
Skills:
Excellent communication skills: the ability to clearly present ideas and concepts both orally and written.
Knowledge and understanding of public health approaches related to community engagement; an understanding of emergency response; ability to coordinate multidisciplinary and technical inputs into designing community engagement strategies and plans.
Excellent interpersonal skills: the ability to build relationships and work with stakeholders and partners.
Strong planning and organizational skills: ability to generate, analyze and appropriately apply findings from qualitative research to planning and project design; the ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary and multicultural environment with tact and diplomacy; an ability to meet tight deadlines; an ability to efficiently and effectively coordinate activities and tasks to meet specific objectives.
Use of Language Skills:
Essential: Excellent knowledge of English. Excellent knowledge of Arabic.
Other Considerations (e.g. Physical Workplace Condition, if other than normal office environment; IT Skills; etc.
