Coordinator, Health Cluster

Vacancy Notice No: EMRO/13/TA98 Title: Coordinator, Health Cluster (PD 346366) Grade: P4 Contract type: Temporary appointment Duration of contract:  One year	Date: 22 October 2013 Application Deadline: 31 October 2013 (2 day(s) until closing deadline) Currently accepting applications Duty Station:  Amman, Jordan   Organization unit: EM Eastern Mediterranean (EM) / EMRO Eastern Mediterranian Regional Office (EM/RGO) Emergency & Humanitarian Aid (EHA)/Department of Programme Managemetn (DPM)
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME : The objectives of WHO's emergency programme are to design and implement programmes that prepare the health sector to deal with emergencies and that improve health during and after crises. Within the emergency programme, the objectives of WHO's emergency response team are to support Member States by: (1) Promptly assessing health needs of populations affected by crisis, identifying priority causes of ill-health and death; preparing damage estimates and emergency response and rehabilitation plans; providing prompt, credible health information and ensuring the continuity of essential health services (2) Coordinating and monitoring emergency health relief efforts under the aegis of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Health Cluster, of which WHO is the lead agency (3) Ensuring that critical gaps in the health response are rapidly identified and filed (4) Revitalizing and building the capacity of national health systems to deal with preparedness, mitigation and response.
Description of duties: Purpose of the Post: To ensure a more coherent and effective humanitarian response for the Syrian Crisis by all international, national and local actors operating in the health sector, while simultaneously strengthening partnerships between NGOs, the international Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and UN agencies. Furthermore, this is spelt out as one of the four critical functions of the WHO Emergency Response Framework (ERF) with the goal of strengthening humanitarian coordination and improving humanitarian financing. Organizational Context: Under the direct supervision of the EHA coordinator and the general guidance of the Director of DPM, and in close collaboration with all stakeholders and partners engaged in the Syria Crisis, the Health Cluster Coordinator will ensure the good performance of the country Health Cluster by supporting the Humanitarian Principles and the Principles of Partnership. The country Health Cluster performance, in turn, will be monitored and evaluated according to the extent by which the activities and programmes of the cluster partners meet the health needs of the crisis-affected populations. Summary of Assigned Duties: The incumbent will perform the following duties: 1. Identify and make contact with health sector stakeholders and existing coordination mechanism, including United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), national and international organizations and civil society. 2. Hold regular coordination meetings with country health cluster partners, building when possible on existing health sector coordination forum. 3. Collect information from all partners on Who's Where, since and until When, doing What (4W) and regularly feed the database managed by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Provide consolidated feedback to all partners and the other clusters. 4. Assess and monitor the availability of health services in the crisis areas provided by all health actors using the Global Health Cluster (GHC) tool: Health Resource Availability Mapping System (HeRAMS). 5. Ensure that humanitarian health needs are identified by planning and coordinating joint, inter-cluster, initial rapid assessments adapting to the local context of the Initial Rapid Assessments (IRA) tool, as well as follow-up on more in-depth health sub-sector assessments, as needed. 6. Support the mobilization of Health Cluster Partners to contribute to establishing and maintaining an appropriate Early Watning and Response System, and regularly report on health services delivered to the affected population and the situation in the areas where they work. 7. Contribute to the joint health cluster analysis of health sector information and data (see points 3, 4, 5 and 6) leading to joint identification of gaps in the health sector response and agreement on priorities to inform the development (or adaptation) of a health crisis response stratey. 8. Inform the Cluster Lead Agencies (CLA) country level representative of priority gaps that cannot be covered by any health cluster partner and required CLA action as provider of last resort. 9. Ensure partners' active contribution to and involvement in joint monitoring of individual and common plans of action for health interventions; collate and disseminate this and other information related to the health sector in cluster sit-reps and/or regular Health Bulletins. 10. Represent the Health Cluster in inter-cluster coordination mechanisms at regional level; contribute to jointly identifying critical issues that require multi-sectoral responses, and support the planning of relevant synergistic interventions with the other clusters concerned. 11. Support joint Health Cluster contingency planning for potential new events or set-backs, when required. 12. Provide technical advice to Health Cluster Members in the development of the health sector components of Flash Appeal, Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP), Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) and Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) proposals and other interagency planning and funding documents. 13. Advocate adherence of standards and best practices by all Health Cluster partners taking into account the need for local adaptation as well as the use of the Health Cluster Guide to ensure the application of common approaches, tools and standards. 14. Identify urgent training needs in relation to technical standards and protocols for the delivery o key health services to ensure their adoption and uniform application by all Health Cluster partners. Coordinate the dissemination of key technical materials and the organization of essential workshops or in-service training.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Education: Essential: University degree in medicine and a master's degree in public health administration or related fields. Desirable: Post graduate studies in emergency management, international aid, humanitarian principles, health system recovery, and health cluster coordinator training.
Skills:  Competencies: 1. Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond; 2. Communicating in a credible and effective way; 3. Fostering integration and team work; 4. Producing results; 5. Promoting WHO's position in health leadership Functional Skills and Knowledge: - In-depth knowledge of emergency relief policies and practices within the UN, other UN-specialized agencies, donor agencies, national and international NGOs. - Sound knowledge of national disaster prevention and preparedness programmes. Other Skills: Proficiency in MS Office.
Experience: Essential: At least 7 years of combined national and international experience in managing and coordinating health humanitarian programmes in conflict or post-conflict countries. Desirable: UN, donors or NGO experience in humanitarian context.
Languages: Excellent knowledge of English.
Additional Information: - Applicants are kindly requested to pay attention to the screening questions as they will be used to screen out unqualified candidates. - Only qualified applicants with the relevant experience will be considered. - A written test/presentation and interviews will be used as a form of screening. The written test might be used as an eliminatory tool. - Other similar positions at the same level may be filled from this vacancy notice (this could be the base for rosters). - Interviews will include competency-based questions.
Annual salary: (Net of tax) USD 67483.00 at single rate USD 72467.00 with primary dependants	Post Adjustment: 44.1 % of the above figure(s). This percentage is to be considered as indicative since variations may occur each month either upwards or downwards due to currency exchange rate fluctuations or inflation.
A written test and interviews may be used as a form of screening
Online applications are strongly encouraged to enable WHO to store your profile in a permanent database. Please visit WHO's e-Recruitment website at: www.who.int/employment. The system provides instructions for online application procedures.
All applicants are encouraged to apply online as soon as possible after the vacancy has been posted and well before the deadline stated in the vacancy announcement.
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Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual. Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.