OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The key role of Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR)Cluster at the WHO Country office in South Africa is to strengthen national capacities for better protecting people from epidemics and other health emergencies. In addition, to ensuring that populations affected by emergencies have rapid access to essential life-saving health services, including health promotion and disease prevention. To fulfil the EPR cluster and the WHO Country office’s mandate, funding has been sourced from the Pandemic Fund. The pandemic Fund was set up in April 2022, when the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors requested that the World Bankbegin exploring the process to develop and set up a new fund. The pandemic fund’s core mandate is to provide additional long-term financing to strengthen critical pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capabilities in low-and middle-income countries through investments and technical support at the national, regional, and global levels.In this regard, the WHO Country office in SouthAfrica, as an implementing entity of the pandemic fund, is therefore hiring aproject provincial officer to support the implementation of the Pandemic Fundgrant.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

1. Coordinate and provide support to the EPR Team lead and Project staff to ensure the implementation of the activities in the pandemicfund grant.2. Manage pandemic fund grant agreements, including negotiation, execution, and Amendments between the WHO Country Office and Provincial Implementers of the grant.3. Provide technical support to the EPR team lead and Project staff to ensure WHO associated activities are implemented in the pandemic fund grant. 4. Support and inter-agency committees or task forces to oversee the implementation and evaluation of the integrated surveillance systemand facilitate information sharing and decision-making.5. Support the procurement development infrastructure and technological systems that will enable the implementation of an electronicintegrated disease surveillance system; including data collection &reporting tools and the development of software that enables the transmission,storage, analysis, and reporting of surveillance data.6. Support implementation of Event Based Surveillancesystems including structured reporting of events and response across all levels(community, local, district, province and national).7. Support Incorporation of data from environmentalmonitoring systems into disease surveillance efforts to assess the impact of climate variability on human and animal health outcomes.8. Support strengthening of the Network for GenomicsSurveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) by capacitating the seven genomics laboratories in the network with protocols, reagents and bio informatics system to survey Influenza virus, especially high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI)and One Health emergent pathogens and AMR.9. Support the expansion and utilization of the Public Health Bulletin of South Africa (PHBSA) as the tool to distribute surveillance information to all the stakeholders.10. Support respiratory pathogens sentinel syndromic surveillance expansion to all 9 Provinces.11. Support the delivery partners to finalise operational plans, access funding and to execute the plans timeously. 12. Participate in and report back during scheduled governance and steering committee meetings on the pandemic fund implementation progress. 13. Conduct regular field mission visits to engage with delivery partners and assess progress towards implementing the pandemic fundaction plan. 14. Perform all other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (such as public health, public administration, management). An accredited academic course, training and/or certification in programme planning or development implementation or monitoring and evaluation is required if not included in the degree qualification.
Desirable: An advanced university degree (master’s level or above) in public health, public administration, management, administration, or related field.

Experience

Essential: A minimum five years’ experience providing programme or project management services in public-sector, international development, or public health programmes at the national level.
Desirable: Experience working with UN organization and knowledge of WHO processes and policies.

Skills

• Delivering public health programmes.• Facilitating strategic planning processes.• Results-based management and monitoring and evaluationwith a sound understanding of work planning and monitoring.• Analytical skills and logical thinking.• Excellent oral and written communication, including forreports, presentations and technical documents. • Computer skills – Knowledge of wordprocessing, spreadsheet and data analysis, browsing and information searchingon the internet.

WHO Competencies

Teamwork
Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
Communication
Creating an empowering and motivating environment

Use of Language Skills

Essential: Expert knowledge of English.
Desirable:

REMUNERATION

Remuneration comprises an annual base salary starting at ZAR 1,122,788 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable) and 30 days of annual leave.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test and/or an asynchronous video assessment may be used as a form of screening.

• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.

• According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible.

• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.

• The WHO is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The WHO recruits and employs staff regardless of disability status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, race, marital status, religious, cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, or any other personal characteristics.

• The WHO is committed to achieving gender parity and geographical diversity in its staff. Women, persons with disabilities, and nationals of unrepresented and underrepresented Member States (https://www.who.int/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) are strongly encouraged to apply.

• Persons with disabilities can request reasonable accommodations to enable participation in the recruitment process. Requests for reasonable accommodation should be sent through an email to reasonableaccommodation@who.int

• An impeccable record for integrity and professional ethical standards is essential. WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.

• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• For information on WHO’s operations please visit: http://www.who.int.

• WHO also offers wide range of benefits to staff, including parental leave and attractive flexible work arrangements to help promote a healthy work-life balance and to allow all staff members to express and develop their talents fully.

• The statutory retirement age for staff appointments is 65 years. For external applicants, only those who are expected to complete the term of appointment will normally be considered.

• Please note that WHO’s contracts are conditional on members of the workforce confirming that they are vaccinated as required by WHO before undertaking a WHO assignment, except where a medical condition does not allow such vaccination, as certified by the WHO Staff Health and Wellbeing Services (SHW). The successful candidate will be asked to provide relevant evidence related to this condition. A copy of the updated vaccination card must be shared with WHO medical service in the medical clearance process. Please note that certain countries require proof of specific vaccinations for entry or exit. For example, official proof /certification of yellow fever vaccination is required to enter many countries. Country-specific vaccine recommendations can be found on the WHO international travel and Staff Health and Wellbeing website. For vaccination-related queries please directly contact SHW directly at shws@who.int.

• This is a National Professional Officer position. Therefore, only applications from nationals of the country where the duty station is located will be accepted. Applicants who are not nationals of this country will not be considered.

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Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements