Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Closing date: 15 Aug 2019
HEALTH ADVISOR FOR THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE MECHANISM
ROLE
These TORs detail the role that the health advisor will play in providing technical support for the health programme under the emergency response mechanism.
LEVEL OF EFFORT: Full-time
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
The Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa Program (TDDAP) aims to save lives and reduce the impact of disease outbreaks and epidemics.
The program addresses weak public health services, surveillance, cross-border coordination, communication, behaviours and infrastructure affecting the spread of disease. Delivered by WHO AFRO, DAI and a third-party monitoring supplier, TDDAP will strengthen health systems and institutions, including the World Health Organisation Africa Regional Office (WHO AFRO), to deliver better health security, and improve disease preparedness and response.
DAI Global Health is responsible for implementing the four-year TDDAP Project, a segment of the larger program, funded by the U.K Department for International Development, in six countries (Cameroon, Uganda, Côte D’Ivoire, Niger, Mali, Chad). The TDDAP Project will also provide an emergency response contingency mechanism should a pre-crisis situation arise across sub-Saharan Africa.
The DAI-led TDDAP Project will support country leadership and accountability for integrated health security planning using infectious diseases as an entry point for improved adherence to International Health Regulation standards. Specifically, DAI and partners will provide technical assistance to the four of the five TDDAP Outputs:
• Output 1 – WHO AFRO Reform – No DAI engagement
• Output 2 – IHR Capacities: Ensure policy and plans, capabilities and capacities, and accountabilities for delivery are established at the national, district, sub-district and community level; and support harmonization across other cooperating agencies in support of country strategy;
• Output 3 – Governance and Accountability: Strengthen civil society networks and governments to use data for better accountability; and
• Output 4 – Data, surveillance and evidence: Contribute to strengthening data and surveillance systems including at community level.
• Output 5 – Rapid Response: Provision of an emergency response contingency mechanism in a situation of pre-crisis
Core partners include ICI-Santé, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and Fondation Mérieux along with the Operations Partnership and UK-Med supporting ERM development in addition to resource partners, Institute of Development Studies, EHealth Nigeria, and DAI Global Health affiliate IntraHealth.
SCOPE OF WORK
A dedicated ERM desk and grants-based team is to be established in the UK (London) to support the ERM fund for the TDDAP program lead by the grants manager. This will consist of an emergency operations manager, who will lead on operational delivery of Output 5, working with the Health Advisor ensuring technical standards of the responses. The grants manager and grants coordinator will in turn support the grant processes, awards, donor reporting and grant administration for the ERM and ensure overall accountability towards DFID’s contract terms &conditions.
The ERM team will collectively undertake and support information gathering of alerts and make recommendations for the approval and release of any funding grants where appropriate, and as per agreed ERM protocols for identified in-country partner agencies/organisations (both national and international). The ERM activities will mitigate against the escalation of a potential or actual pre-crisis to that of a crisis outbreak scenario. Funding supports for activities under ERM by partners will be within the spectrum of assessment, investigation to control measures activities and will aim to develop the capability and capacity of identified partners, thus ensuring greater preparedness planning and resilience for any current identified or future outbreak alerts. The ERM team report further into an agreed ERM Committee, whereby the final decisions and approval for the release of ERM funds are made by DFID and Epi-Threats (which is a technical advisory group that convenes on a regular basis with DFID).
JOB PURPOSE
The DAI Health Advisor (HA) will provide overall technical direction and oversight to the ERM team and their associated activities. They will be responsible for the provision of technical input, which includes the review of proposals and their associated budgets; relevant ERM processes and protocols that are health focused; any grant activity recommendations and the validation of the decision making and reporting requirements.
They will manage multiple streams of work that are being implemented by the ERM team within the six priority countries, as well as other countries that are identified within the AFRO region, who meet the agreed ERM criteria. When required, the HA as the technical resource within the ERM team, will guide and support technical activities proposed by partners (both national and international), that are related to surveillance, further assessment of alerts, investigations, control measures and community engagement activities etc., that are required to be implemented to mitigate against the potential escalation of an identified outbreak from a pre-crisis to a crisis scenario.
They will also play a central role in assessing and building the local technical capacity of identified partners, both national and international, in areas related to the ERM response. This will include the facilitation off the direct delivery of technical trainings in country and the coordination of any external technical trainings when required and agreed by each of the country coordinators of the six priority countries.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
Fluent in English and French, both written and spoken, the post holder will be based in London with the ERM team and their position will involve some overseas travel, mainly to the six priority countries identified. They will support the country coordinators and the ERM team with technical assessments and training supports of identified partners both national and international within the priority countries and international partners for the other countries within the region.
The HA will liaise with all partners identified, to ensure that the activities undertaken are sound and they will provide advice and management support to the country coordinators and the ERM team during any pre-crisis scenario. They will brief the ERM team and when required the committee, on any pertinent technical issues and any changing circumstances, as and when they arise.
Prior to any travel, a context specific terms of reference will be drafted, that outlines the role of the HA and their expected responsibilities during their field visit, which will draw upon some or all of the responsibilities that are outlined below.
DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
• Act as the technical focal point within the ERM team and for the country coordinators.
• Ensure ERM grant activities are consistent with established best practices, acceptable international (WHO/SPHERE/CDC/MSF) and national standards.
• Appraise and feedback on all ERM grant and activity-related documents - i.e. proposals and reports, both narrative and financial, assessments, evaluations, reviews, etc.
• Undertake rapid appraisals and report on the activities for implementation that may be required in any pre-crisis scenario planning and propose practical activities required for implementation.
• Possess a high level of adaptability and be able to adjust to the constantly changing programmatic and working environment due to the diverse pre-crisis outbreak scenarios that are likely to present across the countries.
• Undertake technical and capacity assessments of identified partners.
• Develop and contribute to trainings in the priority countries, through the participation and facilitation at country level workshops, to help build the local capacity of partners in areas related to their response activities.
• Coordinate with the Country Coordinators of the six focus countries, to identify local technical training service providers.
• Undertake annual field visits to each of the priority countries and maintain strong communication with partners.
• Participate in external representation of TDDAP with various groups including other partners, coordination clusters, MoH and WHO.
• Participate in a rotational on-call system that is shared between the ERM team, noting that as the only technical reference point within the team, they may be called outside of the agreed on-call period.
• Perform other related duties, as assigned.
Program Implementation, monitoring and evaluation:
• Document processes and achievements to ensure that the grant response activities are captured and disseminated. This will include the continual re-evaluation of the activities and information, with resulting activity adjustments in keeping with new insights.
• Review monthly field reports and ensure appropriate follow up and decision making on data relevant to the partners activities.
• Participate in the preparation of any agreed monthly reporting to DFID and contribute to any internal reports as requested.
• Reports on any field visits and training deliveries undertaken.
Operations:
• Facilitate the direct delivery of training and knowledge transfer activities to help build the capacity of identified partners.
• Ability to assume non-medical responsibilities from time to time to cover for other team members.
• Comply with DAI’s policies and practice with respect to child protection, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.
ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS
Qualification
• Health professional Degree or Masters’ Degree in Epidemiology with at least five years of field experience, or an MPH with extensive epidemiology training and at least five years of field experience in outbreak response.
Experience:
• Conducting assessments, analysing and interpreting health data.
• Comfortable making technical decisions or recommendations autonomously.
• Awareness of the AFRO context and able to deploy for short periods of time, when required.
• Proven experience with cross cultural team and capacity building.
Skills:
• Excellent verbal and written communication in English and French required.
• Strong organizational and critical thinking/analytic skills, with the ability to prioritize.
• Proficiency with MS Word and Excel (minimum requirement).
DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS
Experience:
• In medical/biomedical background with familiarity with tropical and infectious diseases and a variety of control interventions that are used during an outbreak response.
• In developing/adapting training materials and their delivery, to a variety of audiences.
• Of working in insecure environments.
COMPETENCY
o Work well in and promotes teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, flexible and able to handle pressure well
o Strong participatory leadership and interpersonal skills.
o Ability to exercise sound judgment and make decisions independently
o Strong verbal and written communication experience
o Flexible, able to cope with stressful situations and frustrations
o Is a patient and good communicator (oral/written)
o Able to work independently and manage various tasks under tight deadlines and limited resources.
General
• Able to carry out the responsibilities of the role that they are assigned to, in a way which reflects DAIs commitment to safeguarding vulnerable groups and is in accordance with the organisations ‘Safeguarding Policy’.
• Is committed to DAIs vision, mission, values and approach.
• Understands that the management of risk is not just solely DAIs responsibility but is equally the responsibility of every staff member, and it is expected that they will play their part in:
o Finding out what DAI mean by risk, and by identifying, reporting and managing the risks associated with your role; and
o Operate within the policies, procedures and controls laid out by the DAI from time to time.
LAST DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS: 15th August 2019
Screening of applications will be done on a rolling basis
How to apply:
To apply please follow the link below:
https://chm.tbe.taleo.net/chm04/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=DAINC&cws=1&rid=4557