Purpose of the Consultancy

The consultancy will provide technical support to the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) to strengthen regional health emergency prevention, preparedness, response, and resilience. The consultant will contribute to activities that advance operational readiness, support the development of International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacities, facilitate linkages between regional and global initiatives, and support programme monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and reporting.

Background

The adoption of the amended IHR and the WHO Pandemic Agreement, including provisions on equity, solidarity, and cooperation, represents an important step in embedding operational readiness within regional health security. These developments create momentum for the Western Pacific Region to strengthen collective readiness for future health emergencies, with an emphasis on prevention, preparedness, response, and resilience. Building on this momentum involves reviewing existing capacities and systems and identifying additional measures that can support public health emergency readiness. This includes strengthening functions needed to initiate and sustain an effective emergency response, such as surveillance, community protection, clinical care, access to health products, and emergency coordination.

Regional emergency capacities and systems are being further developed in line with mechanisms established globally under the IHR amendments and the WHO Pandemic Agreement, such as the Coordinating Financial Mechanism and the Global Supply Chain and Logistics Network. These efforts also take into account the diversity of the Region and the value of regional cooperation. The WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO) coordinates this work through the Asia Pacific Health Security Action Framework (APHSAF), which provides a platform for Member State engagement. APHSAF draws on established networks including the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre Network (EOC-NET), Emergency Medical Teams, IHR National Focal Points, WHO collaborating centres, research and manufacturing networks, and national public health agencies. Regional initiatives are also connected with global mechanisms such as the Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC), BioHub, i-MCM-net, and pandemic financing systems. Supporting these linkages involves preparation of technical reports, proposals, frameworks, and meeting documentation.

This consultancy will contribute to these processes through technical drafting, donor reporting, M&E framework development and reporting, and supporting initiatives on equitable access to medical countermeasures (MCMs) and mechanisms to share biological materials and information across the region.

Deliverables

The consultant will work in close collaboration with technical teams across WPRO, relevant regional entities and initiatives, and WHO headquarters.

Output 1: Support regional readiness through IHR core capacity development and priorities identified by APHSAF Stakeholders.

Deliverable 1.1: Landscape assessment of regional operational readiness assets/tools.
Deliverable 1.2: Documentation of consultation process.
Deliverable 1.3: Paper on operational readiness options, building on landscape assessment.
Deliverable 1.4: Support to develop communication materials on operational readiness and prioritised options.
Deliverable 1.5: Support development and implementation of APHSAF Stakeholders Meeting 2026.

Output 2: Support regional emergency programme monitoring & evaluation (M&E) framework.

Deliverable 2.1: Support operation of the M&E framework and associated data collection tools.
Deliverable 2.2: Development of M&E database to store and manage data.
Deliverable 2.3: Development of templates for data visualisation and reporting.

Output 3: Develop at least two donor reports and funding proposals in support of the Emergency Management and Administration (MGA) lead and maintain the tracker for the GHEC project

Deliverable 3.1: Draft donor reports or funding proposal documents.
Deliverable 3.2: GHEC tracker updated monthly.

Output 4: Connect regional initiatives with global initiatives such as i-MCM-net, regional manufacturing initiatives and BioHub

Deliverable 4.1: Summary reports and meeting documentation.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential: Advanced university degree in a health-related discipline, medicine, or social science from a recognized university.

Experience

Essential: Minimum 10 years’ experience in the health and private sector working on development, manufacturing supply chain, and/or access to MCMs including experience at international level.
Desirable: Prior emergencies WHO and/or UN Common System experience. Have a record of delivering successfully in a timely manner for WHO. Experience drafting UN/WHO reports, donor reports and funding proposals

Skills and knowledge

• Understanding of APHSAF, IHR amendments, WHO Pandemic Agreement deliberations and/or equitable access to MCMs.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, organize, and coordinate report writing with different international partners.

Languages and level required

Expert knowledge of English.

Location

Off-site: Home-based

Travel

International travel foreseen to Manila/WPRO and to attend the global i-MCM-Net Partners meeting (location to be confirmed).

Remuneration and budget:

a. Remuneration : Payband level B – USD 9,000 (monthly)
b. Duration: 11 months, February to December 2026 (with possible extension based on funding availability)

Additional Information:

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