Purpose of consultancy:

The WHO European WBE initiative was launched successfully in April 2023 and the scientific, policy and partnership work has expanded with an increase in demands from member states and WHO’s partners for technical assistance, policy tools and guidance on new investment options to accelerate the transition to wellbeing economies.  There is a need for a consultant roster to respond to this increased demand in an agile way and to maintain the leadership role, capacities and impact that WHO Europe has established in this field of work.

 The intended impact of the work in 24/25 is to:

• leverage and shape how national governments & authorities generate new revenue and redirect existing spend into heath, equity and well-being policies and interventions.
• Support 10 countries to implement wellbeing policies investments and budget

Background:

Widening health and social inequities are having fatal consequences, undermining people’s trust in institutions and threatening future prosperity. With ongoing pressures on public budgets, now more than ever countries need new ways to invest in well-being, equity and healthy societies while maximizing the benefits for everyone.

The WHO European Well-being Economy Initiative, led by the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development (Venice, Italy), is engaging economy and finance sectors to invest in health equity and well-being including through fiscal policies and novel investment mechanisms connected with indicators of well-being and prosperity beyond GDP. WHO works to demonstrate the co-benefits of these investments for achieving sustainable and inclusive development. The intended impact is to leverage and shape how national governments and authorities generate new revenue and redirect existing spend into heath, equity and well-being policies and interventions. This builds on

• Regional Committee Resolution: Accelerating progress towards healthy, prosperous lives for all, increasing equity in health and leaving no one behind in the WHO European Region EUR/RC69/R5 including around bringing “social values of solidarity, equity, social justice, inclusion and gender equality into mainstream fiscal and growth policies, so that no one is left behind due to poor health”
• The Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development recommendations to heal the social fractures exacerbated by the pandemic and specifically to promote investment in health for all as a public good for recovery and resilience.
• The WHO European Regional High-Level Forum on Health in the Well-being Economy which showed and shared actions and solutions to shift investment, spending and resources into well-being economies with health at their core, as well as the outcome statement from the forum.
• The first meeting of the Finding Common Ground initiative which aims to catalyse a shift towards more fiscally resilient and healthy societies through finding common ground between health, central banks and public finance.

4. Deliverables:

Consultants will contribute to achieving these results by working with the EURO WBE Team on identified deliverables related to current priorities of

•  Developing new modelling tools for use by banks and finance which shape fiscal and economic policies that improve health equity and well-being, while showing the co-benefits of health and health equity to fiscal stability and economic well-being
•         Designing and launching of an Impact Investment Alliance, which will convene ministries of health and finance along with investors to unlock investment into healthy ageing, youth mental health and inclusion, and rural proofing for health equity
•         Producing scientific tools and evidence and deliver country technical assistance and intercountry knowledge exchange on well-being economy policies, governance, investments, metrics and modelling.

5. Qualifications, experience, skills and languages:

 Educational Qualifications:  

 Essential: Master degree in public health, economics, or other relevant field

 Desirable: PhD public health, economics or other relevant field

 Experience: 

Essential: at least 5 years of experience in policy or research such as producing evidence reviews, reports and analysis for decision makers in relation to the priorities identified below, or in policy implementation. Experts with more experience are also invited to apply and consultants would be selected for tasks based on complexity.

Desirable: Experience working with countries across the WHO European Region

 Skills/Knowledge:

Essential: Knowledge of current evidence and policy issues and skills in the following priorities

1.  Data analysis relevant to health, finance and economy including
2. Econometrics and modelling
3. Systems methods and automated data systems
4. Measurement of well-being & prosperity beyond GDP
5. Economic appraisal of multiple benefits spanning human, social, economic and planetary well-being
6. Economic policy and investment including
7. Macroeconomics, trade, labour, social protection, innovative economic development for equity, and industrial strategy;
8. Well-being budgeting, laws and governance structures,
9. Finance including taxation, innovative instruments such as bonds, Environmental/Social/Governance (ESG) or impact investing
10. Evaluation of macro-level policy with a focus on the social and economic determinants of health
11. Thematic priorities across health, finance, economy such as Healthy ageing, Youth mental health and inclusion, urban/rural inequities & Gender equity
12. Innovative models of health and social care which deliver well-being and equity including anchor institutions and services designed to meet people’s health and economic or social needs at the same time

 Skills in qualitative or quantitative research and track record in producing evidence reviews, reports, and analysis for health, social and economic policy-makers and institutions

Strong written and communication skills in English

Desirable: more than one area of expertise and experience from the thematic priorities and with a greater level of integration and sophistication – E.g. experts with proven track record of undertaking macroeconomic analysis modelling in developed and transition economies within Europe applied to at least one or more of the following policy issues e.g. youth mental health, aging societies  etc.

 Languages and level required (Basic/Intermediate/Expert):

Essential: Expert knowledge of English