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Job Title:  Health Project Officer

Organisation: United Nations Volunteers (UNV)

Placement Organization: International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

About US:

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. We work with partners to integrate qualified, highly motivated and well-supported UN Volunteers into development programming and promote the value and global recognition of volunteerism. UNV is administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and reports to the UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board.

About IOM:

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) was established in 1951, and its mission is to help ensure the orderly and humane management of migration, to promote international cooperation on migration issues, to assist in the search for practical solutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need. IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits both migrants and society in general. As the United Nations Migration Agency, IOM works with its partners to assist in meeting the growing operational challenges of migration, advance understanding of migration issues, encourage social and economic development through migration, and uphold the wellbeing and human rights of migrants. The IOM constitution gives explicit recognition to the link between migration and economic, social and cultural development, as well as to the principle of freedom of movement of persons. IOM has 174 Member States, eight countries holding Observer Status, and offices in more than 100 countries.

Context

IOM’s health programming in emergencies is anchored upon its Health, Border and Mobility Management (HBMM) Framework, which articulates IOM’s strategic role and objectives in the prevention, detection and response to communicable diseases in the context of widespread and multi-directional mobility. The overarching aim of the framework is to ensure that 1) governments and communities have the capacity to address the mobility dimensions of public health threats, and 2) affected and at-risk populations benefit from appropriate and timely support, through inclusive and rights-based approaches that leave no one behind.

During the last EVD outbreak in Uganda in 2022 , IOM supported the government of Uganda (GoU) and partners in harmonizing operations at the Point of Entries (PoEs), including the development of Standards of Operation (SOPs) for entry and exit health screening at the PoEs, IPC, population mobility and public health risk mapping, data information management on mobility flows, provision of supplies, support to human resources to facilitate screening at the PoEs, training of health/security border staff and enhancing cross-border coordination.

Currently, IOM has activated screening in some POEs, identification of at-risk POEs, coordinated with MOH, all levels of activity planning and implementation among others. IOM is planning to deploy surge teams from different countries with experience of Ebola response and its Regional Office in Nairobi to support the response. Besides, IOM has vast trained teams in the country and other countries that can be deployed to provide more support in the event that the outbreak spreads to other districts.

Specific to the current response, IOM Uganda is participating in the National Task Force meetings on Ebola, incident management teams meeting as well as in pillar-specific coordination meetings including the PoE working group pillar, surveillance pillar, Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE), and POE stakeholders meeting. Additionally, IOM is participating in the district task force meetings and other relevant coordination platforms at the national and local levels, where IOM has been requested by the authorities to support.

Job Summary:   This UNV assignment is part of IOM project programming initiative that aim at strengthening the health capacity of priority points of entry and cross-border locations to respond to the public health epidemic including SUDV and prevent cross-border transmission.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:   Under the supervision of the National Project Officer, the UN Volunteer will perform the tasks below;

• Supervise and oversee implementation of all preparedness and response activities at IOM supported POE to ensure quality control and quality assurance is mainstreamed in field-level coordination and implementation of planned activities, based on national SOPs.
• Undertake regular field visits to monitor and provide recommendations for improving the quality of supervision by the Field Assistants and performance monitoring, such as reviewing daily reports of alerts and ensuring IOM attendance at subnational coordination forums.
• Review POE health surveillance data on a daily basis to identify trends and vulnerabilities linked to provision of services and population mobility, make recommendations for improvement and ensure follow up action is instituted.
• Review POC data outputs for quality, timeliness, completeness, and provide feedback and follow-up to ensure data quality.
• Coordinate activities with Emergency Operations Center (EOC) partners including: MOH response coordinators, Incident Commander Emergency operation Centre, National Task force, district task force, WHO Incident managers, other UN agencies, and other MOH departments; thereby ensuring IOM technical input, presence and visibility in coordination forums.
• Provide guidance and input to points of entry working group, MOH Surveillance pillar presentations at the National Task force, district Emergency Operations Center and other coordination forums, and other forums, regarding technical outputs of POE
• Deliver in close coordination with surveillance Pillar and PoE working group training and capacity building of health and non-health stakeholders at POE and ensure correct implementation of relevant case definitions and SOPs.
• Assists MOH at National and sub-national/district level to develop contingency preparedness and response plans for POE in coordination with PoE working group and Surveillance teams. Plan and conduct simulation training exercises for the contingency plans.
• Cross-border coordination: facilitate and follow-up provincial surveillance cross-border coordination meetings and activities.
• Conduct population mobility mapping (PMM) and, together with Information Management teams, contribute to the production of interactive maps on mobility, affected areas, POE and to prioritize POE sites. Establish new POE sites and downgrade or replace sites as needed.
• Dissemination of information (POE/P, alerts, PMM, FMP, and other findings) once approved by IOM Uganda to relevant coordination fora and partners.
• Work closely with IOM Project Officer/ Field Assistant and logistics staff to ensure that POE structures are established and maintained in line with national guidelines and shortages in infection prevention and control (IPC) equipment are anticipated and mitigated.
• Follow-up on IOM project field targets, and any applicable Monitoring & Evaluation indicators.
• Provide daily updates and weekly reports including alert report and sitreps and updates to the mission, RO, Global office

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

Eligibility criteria

• Age
• 18 – 80

Required experience

• 3 years

Nationality

• Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment.

Assignment requirements

Relevant experience

• 5 years

Languages

• English, Level: Fluent, Required

Required education level

• Master degree or equivalent in Public health, Epidemiology or a related field from an accredited academic institution with a bachelor’s health related field.

Competencies and values

• Inclusion and respect for diversity: respects and promotes individual and cultural differences; encourages diversity and inclusion wherever possible.
• Integrity and transparency: maintain 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 – behavioral 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 – behavioral indicators level

• 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 and 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: work strategically to realize the Organization’s goals and communicates a clear strategic direction.

Skills and experience

• Experience in supporting the district or national health surveillance program.
• 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.
• Knowledge of risk communication is an advantage.
• Operational and field experience in migration, refugee and displaced people’s health-related issues, programme development, including experience in evaluating health programs and protocols.
• Experience in health programming, including programme conceptualization, analysis and implementation; resource mobilization.
• Knowledge of structures and functions of national and international health agencies, donors and organizations.
• Familiarity with the health sector in the African region, with Uganda experience an advantage.
• Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills.

Area(s) of expertise

• Communication, Crisis and emergency response, Health

Driving license

• –

How to Apply:

All candidates for the aforementioned United Nations Volunteers (UNV) job should apply online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 11th March 2025

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