Senior Health Cluster Expert

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility for rapid response to emergencies. International Medical Corps rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.

PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT:

Save the Children, Merlin and the International Medical Corps have formed a consortium to support the World Health Organization, as lead agency of the Global Health Cluster, to ensure more predictable, timely and effective implementation of the cluster approach at country and global level. This project is supported by DG ECHO and will run over a period of 24 months, starting in May 2013. The project has a global scope, but will prioritise support to the WHO Africa (AFRO) and Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) regions. The consortium is seeking to form a team of trained health cluster support experts that can be deployed on short notice to ensure that key health cluster functional roles, including cluster coordination and information management, are filled as quickly as possible after large emergencies are declared. Additional results expected of this project are technical support of health cluster staff through brief country visits, training of health cluster coordinators, and promotion of better practices through formal evaluation of cluster implementations. In addition, experts will contribute to building up their respective agency’s capacity to support the health cluster, under the IASC Transformative Agenda. The successful candidates will be part of a team of six deployable staff, two from each of the consortium agencies, supported by a dedicated project manager and working in close partnership with the Global Health Cluster Secretariat and the WHO Regional Offices for Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. Four of the positions will focus on health cluster coordination, and two on information management/public health surveillance.

KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The post holder will perform health cluster support work during 75% of his/her project time, as follows: 1. Be deployed on short notice (72 hours) to newly declared or ongoing emergencies, and for a duration of up to 3 months, to either activate or ensure staffing continuity for key health cluster functional roles, including health cluster coordination and information management, at either country or sub-country level. The deployment decision will be taken jointly by the consortium and the GHC Secretariat and be accompanied by clear terms of reference; 2. Where relevant in the absence of a WHO public health officer responsible for cluster activities, perform relevant duties and assignments at country level; 3. During deployment, work within the cluster lead agency (typically WHO) to implement cluster response protocols and ways of working under existing health cluster guidance and the WHO Emergency Response Framework; carry out typical cluster functions, including coordination and information management; and ensure clear and effective communication between cluster partners, WHO, OCHA and other relevant stakeholders; 4. Carry out or join short (<3 weeks) technical support visits to health clusters in the Africa and Eastern Mediterranean Region in order to support less experienced cluster staff or assist with specific needs (e.g. information management, management of disease outbreaks or displacement waves); 5. Prepare training materials, facilitate and assist with the organisation of a regional health cluster coordinator training course, in collaboration with the Global Health Cluster Secretariat; 6. Initiate and facilitate a regional lessons learned workshop to review experiences and evaluations of recent cluster responses; write and disseminate a workshop report; 7. During non-deployed time and subject to time availability, support remotely health clusters in country, the Global Health Cluster Secretariat and the WHO Regional Office with cluster related activities, including roll-out of cluster performance monitoring tools; analysis of performance data and support with compiling evaluation documents; and other processes to improve quality.

During the remaining 25% of his/her time, the post holder will work within his/her consortium agency to support ongoing health advisory work and improve the agency’s ways of working with the cluster system. Illustrative roles and responsibilities for this level of effort will include; • Conduct needs assessment for selected IMC countries of operation to asses the program staff capacities for humanitarian aid architecture, health cluster engagement and related activities; • Design and deliver trainings to respond to the needs of program staff for strengthening health cluster knowledge and action for IMC staff and counterparts; • Identify and introduce results measures for health cluster capacity for IMC program staff.

QUALIFICATIONS and EXPERIENCE: -Master’s degree in public health or epidemiology required. Medical, clinical officer or nursing degree preferable. -Significant experience in the humanitarian health sector is required, along with documented (a) leadership of large health programmes within an NGO or the United Nations system (health cluster coordination role candidates) or (b) coordination of surveys, surveillance systems and other health data collection, management and analysis initiatives in humanitarian settings. -Candidates should additionally be able to demonstrate experience and strong proficiency in at least two of the four following competencies: 1. Hands on experience in coordination of emergency responses and working within the cluster system. 2. Development of response strategies, flash appeals, proposals, etc., in collaboration with the Health Cluster agencies so as to advance sector advocacy, programming coherence and fundraising efforts. 3. Control of infectious diseases, including response to key epidemic threats. 4. Technical support in the areas of epidemiology, health information management, rapid needs assessment, surveys and surveillance.

Duty station The post holder will be based at his/her consortium agency (a different home duty station may be negotiable for exceptional candidates). The post holder’s project staff time will be divided approximately as follows: - 25% working within the consortium agency; - 25% working within either the GHC Secretariat at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, or a WHO Regional Office (Brazzaville or Cairo): post holders will be seconded to either regional office based on their experience and language skills; - 50% deployed to cluster functional roles, or travelling for brief technical support visits.

Reporting The post holder will report to the lead staff member within his/her consortium agency responsible for humanitarian health, and will be effectively part of the agency’s health advisory team. Save the Children as the lead agency of the consortium will recruit a dedicated project manager for this project, with whom post holders will work closely in order to ensure overall project performance targets are met. During secondment, the role holder will work closely within his/her team (either the Global Health Cluster Secretariat and or the WHO Regional Office Emergency Health Action team) and temporarily also report to a designated staff member within the secondment team. During deployment, the role holder will report to the health cluster coordinator or the cluster lead agency head (e.g. WHO Representative), as appropriate. A consortium partnership agreement with WHO will govern the above arrangements.

How to apply:

APPLICATION PROCEDURE To officially begin the application process, qualified candidates please go to our career page http://careers.internationalmedicalcorps.org/careers.aspx , noting where you noticed the position you are applying for and complete the online employment application form.