Humanitarian Support Professional (HSP), Public Health Promoter/ Community Mobiliser

Closes: 31 July 2011

Salary: £23,090 - £29,954 net* per annum (net = take home pay. Oxfam will meet the tax and social security liabilities of the post-holder in addition to net salary).

Contract type: Open-ended position

Location: home-based with deployments globally; likely to be away from home for 9 months per year

NB: This is an unaccompanied post.

Please submit CVs in English.

OXFAM PURPOSE: To work with others to overcome poverty and suffering.

TEAM PURPOSE: Oxfam's Public Health team provides advice and support to the Humanitarian Department, Regional Management Centres and country programmes to enable them to respond effectively and appropriately when implementing humanitarian water, sanitation , health and hygiene (WASH) programmes.

JOB PURPOSE: To work with others to support communities affected by emergencies, mobilising them to act to protect themselves from threats to their life, health and dignity.

REPORTING LINES:Post holder reports to: To an Oxford based Public Health Adviser. While overseas, HSPs are line managed by the relevant programme manager and task managed by health advisers. Staff reporting to this post: Includes staff working in health promotion and community mobilisation in the country to which the HSP is deployed.

BUDGET RESPONSIBILITY: may be responsible for tracking sectoral expenditure and providing budget forecasts.

BACKGROUND: Oxfam is committed to providing timely humanitarian assistance to those affected by conflict and natural disasters and to increasing programme impact by strengthening the effectiveness and accountability of our humanitarian work.

The Humanitarian Department in the International Division provides advice and support to regions on humanitarian programming, including Disaster Risk Reduction, preparedness and response and post emergency recovery. Support with management and administrative services is also provided to enable country and regional offices to mount major operational relief programmes.

HSP's are deployed by the Humanitarian Department from their home base to work in Oxfam's humanitarian programmes around the world. While the length of each deployment will vary, the post holder is likely to be working in field programmes for at least nine months in each year.

Oxfam's public health interventions focus on WASH and the post holder will lead and manage field base Public Health Promoters who work closely with communities, assisting them to be active partners in Oxfam's WASH programmes.

Key Responsibilities

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:The post holder may be required to do some or all of the following during deployments, depending on the context.

Support for Public Health initiatives in Oxfam's Humanitarian response programmes

1. As part of a multi disciplinary team, carry out rapid and ongoing assessments of the public health risks faced by communities affected by emergencies. Make recommendations for response interventions which are consistent with Oxfam's policies and guidelines.

2. Identify and assess the current resources and capacity of national counterparts, humanitarian agencies and government authorities to respond to the public health needs arising from the emergency. Identify any unmet needs likely to present risks to the health of the affected population.

3. Lead and task manage a team of national and international public health promoters to Implement and monitor appropriate health promotion interventions in emergency contexts. Budget design and tracking for sectoral activities is part of the remit of the team leader.

4. Implement health promotion initiatives appropriate to the context. This will involve working in close collaboration with engineering colleagues to ensure that technical and social aspects of water and sanitation and malaria control programming are closely integrated and with food security and livelihoods colleagues to maximise the potential for cohesive programming.

5. Involve women and men in the affected populations in the assessment, planning, implementation and monitoring of public health activities and play a key role in ensuring that communities are informed and consulted about Oxfam's work and have opportunities to give their views on, and influence programme activities.

6. Work with others to ensure that gender, protection and HIV mainstreaming issues are addressed in public health initiatives.

7. Contribute towards planning and proposal writing in order to provide clear objectives and establish indicators for monitoring and evaluating the programme including indicators relating to participation and gender.

Capacity Building

8. Recruit and supervise public health promotion staff when on deployment. This may involve the writing of job profiles, work schedules, objective setting and appraisals.

9. Build the capacity of Oxfam staff and partners through mentoring and coaching , on the job supervision and informal and formal training. Contribute to the joint facilitation of inter-agency training initiatives where appropriate.

Programme Learning and Reporting

10. Write regular reports adhering to OGB reporting formats at intervals to be decided by the programme co-ordinator. A short final report is required at the end of each deployment.

11. Document and disseminate good practice examples from programme deployments.

Coordination and representation

12. Act, on occasion, as the local project manager coordinating public health activities within Oxfam and with external agencies. Share good practice examples from Oxfam PH programmes at inter-agency coordination meetings.

13. Represent OGB to other agencies and authorities, including the WASH cluster where this is operating, and if appropriate provide briefings to Oxfam staff and supporters and to the media in agreement with the local manager, the Oxfam Humanitarian Department and Media Office.

Contributing to programme quality standards

14. Ensure that work aims to meet Sphere Standards and adheres to Oxfam's emergency guidelines and protocols.

15. Ensure that all work is carried out in a way that is sensitive to community needs and promotes the full and equal participation of women.

16. Be familiar with and abide by Oxfam's Code of Conduct and other regulatory codes such as the Red Cross Code of Conduct, Partners in Aid Code, Oxfam International protocols and the Inter- agency Field Co-operation Protocol.

17. Contribute to programme reviews and evaluations where appropriate.

When not on assignment, the post holder will:

1. Undertake written assignments and research work to document experience and build up institutional learning on aspects of emergencies, as requested.

2 . Undertake public speaking, media work and training on humanitarian work as requested.

3. Deputise for Oxford based public health advisers as appropriate and in discussion with the team coordinator.

Skills and Competence

Essential:

1. Graduate qualification or equivalent in one of the following, or a related discipline: social sciences, environmental or public health, community development.

2. Substantial overseas experience of which a considerable part should involve recent experience of Public Heath emergencies.

3. Ability to work in a participative way with communities; strong counterpart/ training skills

4. Strong assessment, analytical and planning skills.

5. Experience of task managing small teams and of training and capacity building.

6. Good communication and interpersonal skills. Sensitivity to cultural differences and the ability to work in a variety of cultural contexts and communicate with a diverse range of people .

7. Sound understanding of the importance of gender and participation in programme implementation; sensitive to the needs of displaced and disadvantaged populations.

8. Committed to humanitarian principles and minimum standards for Humanitarian response

9. Good spoken and written English; demonstrated ability to learn another language. Ideally the candidates should be able to communicate fluently in at least one of the following languages: French or Spanish.

Desirable:

1. Ability to work effectively under stress in emergency situations, in a leadership role and/or as part of a team. Experience of having led or coordinated inter-agency initiatives would be an advantage.

2. Ability to work effectively independently with minimal support on research assignments in line with Terms of Reference provided.

3. Familiarity with a range of computer programmes.


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Additional Information

This job description is not incorporated in the employment contract. It is intended as a guide and should not be viewed as an inflexible specification as it may be varied from time to time in the light of strategic developments and following discussion with the post holder. The post holder will be expected to work to agreed objectives which should facilitate the achievement of the key responsibilities in accordance with the performance review process
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