Health and Nutrition Assistant

Eligibility criteria

Minimum age: 22 years old. Applicants must be nationals of or legal residents in the country of assignment.

Description of task

Under the direct supervision of the Public Health Coordinator, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Coordination
  • Coordinate public health, reproductive health, nutrition and HIV activities in Mantapala in support of the Government’s responses and in conjunction with other UN Agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other partners, including development actors to ensure delivery of public health and nutrition services to beneficiaries (Persons of Concern and host community) meeting UNHCR and/or nationally recognized up-to-date standards and policies;
  • Lead and support health coordination meetings with UNHCR health implementing partners, in close coordination with the DHO/ MoH and programme section;
  • Support inter-sector collaboration throughout all stages of programme cycle between public health and nutrition with WASH, education, environment, shelter, and protection in order to promote synergies and maximize impact;
  • Support Zambia Country Operation to respond and catalyze engagement of other actors in line with Memoranda of Understanding with major partners including World Food Progamme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNICEF; this includes the development or updating of country-specific plans of action to delineate the roles, responsibilities and contributions of other actors;
  • Support operational collaboration with WFP including the design and implementation of Joint Assessment Missions and corresponding Joint Plans of Action in line with global commitments on targeting of assistance to meet basic needs and data sharing to support assistance distribution (in collaboration with programme and protection colleagues).
• Assessment
  • Support the planning, implementation, analysis, dissemination and use of nutritional surveys (Standardized Expanded Nutrition Surveys, SENS) and post-distribution monitoring exercises (in collaboration with WFP) as well as health assessments in Mantapala;
  • Conduct risk analysis of epidemic prone diseases (including cholera and external ventricular drain, EVD);
  • Advocate for the inclusion of refugees and other PoCs in national surveys such as demographic and health surveys, multi-indicator cluster surveys, AIDS indicator surveys including where possible a separate sample for refugees allowing for comparisons and trend analysis.
• Planning, Strategy Development and Resource Mobilization
  • Provide guidance and make recommendations on the overall strategy and focus of public health and nutrition programmes including ensuring public health strategic approaches are developed in a multi-sectoral and coordinated manner in cooperation with Government, UN Agencies, and NGOs and other humanitarian partners with due consideration to the approaches outlined in the Global Compact on Refugees and in support of the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG3;
  • Update the Health strategy in line with UNHCR Public Health and Nutrition Strategy (2019-2023) /MoH-GRZ Health Strategy (2017-2021);
  • Ensure public health strategies inform and are included in multi-year, multi-partner solutions strategies and in funding appeals such as regional refugee response plans or other humanitarian appeals;
  • Support the development and monitoring of country specific medium to long term inclusion plans in support of the Ministry of Health and other relevant Ministries (e.g. Social Welfare) and in partnership with development and other actors including the World Bank, Regional Development banks, International Labour Organisation, UNICEF, WHO and major donors;
  • Work with stakeholders, including UN Agencies, NGOs, Ministries of Health and academic institutions in the development of public health response plans associated with refugee movements (including in repatriation programmes);
  • Support (in liaison with UNHCR’s Communication/Programme/other Units, Government Counterparts and Partners) the development of comprehensive Social and Behavioural Change (SBCC) strategy for Mantapala;
  • Update referral SOPs (in concert with stakeholders) with specific focus on engaging focal persons at various health facilities along the referral pathway as well clarifying partner roles and responsibilities; follow-through with dissemination activities with stakeholders as well as well as sensitization of refugees regarding referrals;
  • Technically support (in liaison with MoH and other stakeholders) the development/updating of outbreak preparation/response contingency SOPs;
  • Ensure public health strategies inform and are included in multi-year, multi-partner solutions strategies and in funding appeals such as regional refugee response plans or other humanitarian appeals;
  • Support proposal writing and other resource-mobilization activities.
• Implementation
  • Ensure consultation with communities seeking the diverse views of men, women, girl and boys, adolescents, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities and LGBTI in as-sessing needs, designing, implementing and monitoring responses in line with UNHCR’s policy on age, gender and diversity mainstreaming;
  • Support partners in the implementation of the Public health programmes, including Malaria, Reproductive Health, HIV and Mental Health and Nutrition;
  • Ensure implementation of appropriate country protocols and guidance, as well as ensuring adherence to UNHCR specific guidance for public health programming;
  • Support Pharmaceutical supply management (including forecasting, reception of pharmaceuticals, inventory, storage of pharmaceuticals hand-over to MoH as well as ensuring accountability for their use;
  • Coordinate and follow up on medical referrals to Lusaka from all three refugee settlements;
  • Promote applied research and programme evaluation to enable the identification of gaps in programme implementation and standards, and to further promote evidence-based activities and guidance;
  • In line with policies for Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP), ensure PoCs have access to feedback and accountability mechanisms relating to public health and nutrition services including the collection and analysis of data on the satisfaction of PoCs with these services.
• Emergency Response
  • Support robust and timely emergency responses to new refugee influxes or outbreaks or other situations in line with the Public Health Emergency Toolkit and UNHCR’s Emer-gency Handbook and the SPHERE Handbook as MoH/ WHO guidance tools.
• Monitoring
  • Ensure that health care service delivery, including nutrition for refugees, is based on internationally accepted standards and policies, developing guidelines for use by UNHCR and partners if necessary;
  • Ensure implementation of the UNHCR Health Information System and other relevant data collection tools including the balanced scorecard, maternal and neonatal death audits, Health Access and Utilization Survey and other corporate tools where relevant; support the analysis, interpretation and use of public health data;
  • Guide and support partners to use the UNHCR Health Information System and collect UNHCR Core Standards and indicators related to health, review monthly health data and compile periodic technical reports as well as the Annual report on the health situation;
  • Support development of Health Informations System (HIS) data collection/ monitoring tools and ensure tracking and reporting of basic health indicators;
  • Support advocacy efforts within DHO/ MoH to disaggregate data by refugees and nationals in key areas in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;
  • Participate in joint border monitoring activities for health as needed;
  • Support audit preparedness and related activities for health sector.
• Reporting
  • Prepare regular sectoral reports and submit material for preparation of periodic project monitoring reports as required;
  • Ensure adequate reporting, timely updates and briefings to Donors and Management;
  • Ensure quality and timely inputs to global reports such as the UNHCR Annual Public Health Report and the Joint Programme Monitoring System report for UNAIDS;
  • Share with local and international partners relevant guidelines and information materials on programming relating to refugee public health and nutrition activities.
• Capacity strengthening
  • Undertake and/or support capacity building needs assessments of UNHCR staff and partners and develop approaches to address capacity gaps including identifying internal and external training opportunities;
  • In conjunction with the Public Health Section in Headquarters, Global Learning Centre and external actors, support development of capacity strengthening tools and materials including webinars, e-learning materials and online learning tools.
  • Plan, organize, facilitate and participate in workshops in conjunction with Bureaux, Public Health Section in headquarters, Global Learning Centre and external actors.
• Advocacy
  • Work with others in UNHCR to advocate for refugees, returnees and other persons of concern access to local public health, reproductive health (RH) and HIV, Mental Health and Psycho-social Support (MHPSS) and nutrition services (including food assistance where relevant) and lobby for inclusion of refugees, returnees and other persons of concern as a specific group in Government policies and plans related to health, RH and HIV as well as major donor programmes such as the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria;
  • Explore options for reducing cost of health services for PoCs; includes advocacy for engagement of private and faith-based health facilities through Memoranda of Understanding;
  • Advocate and communicate on the health and nutrition situation of populations of concern, within UNHCR and among partners donors, other agencies and the Government especially advocacy regarding gazzetion of relevant health facilities.
• Representation
  • Represent UNHCR in Health Coordination and other meetings including inter-sectoral groups such as Technical Working Groups for MHPSS and nutrition.
  • Attend regular meetings in Lusaka on HIV/AIDS programme and liaise/coordinate with all stakeholders for implementation;
  • Represent the Health sector during donor visits.
• Perform any other duties as required by the supervisor.

Qualifications/Requirements Required degree level: Technical/Vocational diploma Education - Additional Comments:

• A Clinical Degree (medicine or nursing or equivalent); post graduate training in public health is an advantage.

Required experience: 24 Months Experience remark:

• At least 2 years of experience in Public Health programmes in preferably refugees’ settings and having international experience is an asset.

Language skills:

• English(Mandatory), Level - Fluent

Area of expertise: General human medicine (with clinical experience), Public health Area of expertise details:

• Experience working with a multi-sectoral team especially UN Agencies and Ministry/Department of Health in Public Health programmes.

Driving license: No Competencies values:

Accountability, Adaptability and Flexibility, Client Orientation, Commitment and Motivation, Commitment to Continuous Learning, Communication, Creativity, Empowering Others, Ethics and Values, Integrity, Judgement and Decision-making, Knowledge Sharing, Planning and Organizing, Professionalism, Respect for Diversity, Self-Management, Technological Awareness, Working in Teams

Application procedure:

* Not yet registered in the UNV Talent Pool?

Please first register your profile at https://vmam.unv.org/candidate/signup. Important: After creating your account, complete all sections

of your profile and submit it. Then go to ‘My Page’ at https://vmam.unv.org/candidate/mypage and click on the ‘Special Calls’ hyperlink.

Lastly, select the special call to which you would like to apply.

* Already registered in the UNV Talent Pool?

Please first update your profile at https://vmam.unv.org/candidate/profile. Then go to ‘My Page’ at

https://vmam.unv.org/candidate/mypage and click on the ‘Special Calls’ hyperlink to select the special call to which you would like to

apply.

Application deadline: 15 April 2020