Senior Policy and Programme Adviser, Environment and Health Policy and Governance - Montesquieu Institute

The aim of the Division of Communicable Diseases, Health Security, and Environment is (i) to assist countries in the Region to design, establish and run effective health programmes that are able to tackle the burden of communicable diseases in the country, including antimicrobial resistance, and to achieve regional elimination/eradication goals; (ii) to assist countries in developing disease surveillance systems, preparedness for, and response to public health emergencies, in line with the requirements of the International Health Regulations and specific country risks; (iii) to conduct routine health risk intelligence, risk assessment of reported events and, on request, to provide timely and effective support to countries of the European Region; (iv) to determine and monitor environmental risks to health as well as environmental determinant of health, and propose relevant research projects, health interventions and partnership to tackle the acute and long-term health impact of environmental changes, including climate change; (v) to ensure, within EURO, the availability of state-of-the-art competency to provide high level technical support to Member States of the Region, in collaboration with Headquarters and in close partnership with relevant institutions of the Region; (v) to promote WHO leadership in communicable disease control, health security, and health and environment programmes, including through relevant research and use of WHO norms and standards.

In this context the Division of Communicable Diseases, Health Security & Environment, specifically aims to address the public health challenges posed by environmental determinants of health, water and air quality, climate change, transports, and the food chain. This work is conducted in close collaboration with the Division of Non Communicable Diseases, the Division of Health Systems, and in partnership with all relevant partners and institutions, globally and in the European region.

Purpose of the Post: To support the WHO engagement in international environment and health governance, including in particular multilateral environmental agreements, through coordination of the work of EH technical programmes in relevant governance mechanisms; to advise and guide on healthy and equitable policies, measures and strategies in public health and health systems and in other sectors, and involvement of stakeholders with clear lines of accountability and transparency. To design, organize and implement policy activities facilitating the integration of health consideration in decisions, planning and investments of Member States affecting natural and built environments, particularly including transport and mobility.

Description of duties: Under the guidance of the relevant supervisors, the incumbent will assume the following responsibilities and achieve the following objectives:

A. Core responsibilities in assisting Member States in relation to environmental health issues, the policies in other sectors with impact on health and in particular, related to transport and health, as part of country efforts to strengthen health systems include:

support the WHO engagement in multilateral environmental agreements, through coordination of the work of EH technical programmes in relevant agreements;

supporting Divisional efforts to implement follow-up of the commitments taken through declarations at the various Ministerial Conferences on Environment and Health;

dialogue with and advice to policy makers on healthy and equitable policies, measures and strategies. Advise and guide on responsibilities in public health and health systems, roles of other sectoral policies on health, and involvement of stakeholders with clear lines of accountability and transparency;

articulate consistent ethical and evidence-based policy and advocacy positions and develop and implement innovative approaches, adapted to regional/country needs, in the selected technical areasl;

technical assistance with the development of mechanisms, instruments and tools (such as national health strategies and policies, monitoring and evaluation, performance assessment and performance management and approaches to enhance effectiveness of stakeholder involvement) as well as the estimation of the required resources (human, financial, infrastructure and technological) and knowledge (i.e. through research, evaluation, performance measurement and knowledge management) to build understanding and capacity for improving and assessing issues relating to environment and health, i.e. leading policy development and coordination, transforming information into intelligence and applying this to the development and assessment of health policies and strategies; mobilizing its legal and regulatory powers to attain health system goals; recommending that the health system is designed to adapt to changing needs; exerting influence across other sectors than health and advocating for better health

advocacy, knowledge transmission and advice for the enhancement of the capacities and skills of health ministries and other authorities in carrying out their functions, and in particular in areas related to transport and health.

B. Core responsibilities in providing intellectual and technical leadership and guidance in directing the development of environmental health issues in other sectors, include:

acting as the WHO EURO content expert and focal point for health issues in cross sectoral policies and partnerships;

ensuring technical quality and competence in areas of cross sectoral policies and partnerships, through coordination of relevant work carried out by EH technical programmes and to be responsible for the overall timeliness and quality of all programme deliverables of both country and inter country work plans;

developing regional plans to implement global and regional strategies in the area of environmental health in all policies and harnessing European and other experience and knowledge (e.g. including influencing other sectors to incorporate health concerns in their policies and enhance effectiveness of donor and other stakeholder involvement), documenting gaps therein for the definition of the research agenda on the subject matter;

ensuring consistency and cohesiveness with the WHO guidelines, approaches, and messages, contributing to the WHO normative function in specific technical areas assigned to the incumbent;

coordinating international activities with relevant organizations and partners in the specific technical areas assigned to the incumbent, with particular reference to the implementation of the Transport, Environment and Health Pan European Programme;

managing and synthesizing related knowledge to build the evidence base for dissemination to Member States as required;

producing authoritative and relevant policy papers and briefs on the subject matter;

documenting and rendering explicit the pros and cons of various policy options applicable to cross sectoral health issues in terms of their implications and their impact on the level and distribution of health, responsiveness, and financial protection based on country experiences;

provide technical support and direct advice on technical information and data on disasters and emergencies in the area of environment and health, including the impact of the event on health; data analysis and preparation of reports to facilitate information sharing, decision-making and response to events. Liaise with relevant experts to ensure broadest dissemination possible to international community and general public.

C. Core responsibilities as a Senior Adviser:

to provide leadership and managerial oversight to the work of staff as assigned to the technical area;

to mobilize resources to efficiently deliver services/products within country and intercountry workplans;

to be responsible for the allocation of resources within country and intercountry workplans in coordination with the Strategic Objective Facilitator (ensure availability of funds and monitoring of dates and budget constraints):

to perform the general management of the programme's professional and general service staff, as first level supervisor (to include monitoring of workload, funds availability, performance management, and to establish mechanisms which ensure proper coordination within the team regarding travel, holidays), including, in liaison with the Head of Country Office, technical programme staff based outside Copenhagen;

to regularly monitor and assess the performance of the work through evaluation and reporting.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Essential: Advanced university degree in medicine, environmental health, public health, engineering or natural sciences or related areas relevant to the post.

Desirable: Doctorate or additional post-graduate qualification in public health, environmental sciences, public policy, engineering, life sciences or health related disciplines.

Skills: Functional skills and knowledge Essential:

Sound technical understanding of a broad range of environment and health issues.

Demonstrated ability to develop new initiatives and programmes at the international level.

Resource mobilization capacities.

Knowledge of standard text, spreadsheet and presentation software applications.

Desirable: In depth knowledge of political, social and health systems of countries in the European Region. Knowledge of the WHO and UN system.

Competencies: see WHO Global Competencies model at http://www.who.int/employment/competencies/en/

Ensuring the effective use of resources: Establishes measures to monitor resources and progress of activities as planned. Monitors costs and seeks to use the most cost-effective methods. Identifies, organizes and effectively manages the financial and human resources needed to achieve results. Identifies priorities and defines realistic objectives and timelines.

Creating an empowering and motivating environment:Ability to provide staff with clear direction and support in meeting objectives. Provides staff with regular feedback, recognizes good performance and addresses performance issues. Motivates staff to achieve individual and team goals.

Producing results: Ability to produce high-quality results and workable solutions that meet client needs. Acts appropriately without prompting and makes things happen; handles problems effectively.

Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond: Ability to work collaboratively with team members and counter parts inside and outside the organization to achieve results. Encourages co-operation and builds rapport among fellow team members at all levels.. Actively encourages people from different parts of the Organization to work together.

Communicating in a credible and effective way: Excellent writing ability, as reflected in a history of high-quality and concise technical reports. Excellent presentation skills, as reflected in a history of high quality technical and policy related presentations in international fora

Experience: Essential: At least ten years working experience in environment and health issues, at national and international levels, attaining senior managerial rank, including three to five years of practical experience in implementing or advising on key domains of environment and health or public health, and experience in the operations of relevant environmental agreements; experience of advising on environment and health technical issues and emergencies in lower and middle income countries. Track record of relevant publications in environment and health and other related fields.

Desirable: Experience in working in multi-national environment and health partnerships and/or implementation of multilateral environmental conventions and agreements concerning health.

Languages: Essential: A very good command of the English language and working knowledge of another WHO official language and/or WHO EURO official language.

Desirable: Knowledge of other WHO EURO languages.

Additional Information: Similar positions at the same grade may be filled using this vacancy notice.

WHO has an on-line recruitment system, therefore ONLY applications submitted on-line at www.who.int/employment/en will be accepted.

All on-line applications are automatically acknowledged. If you do not receive an e-mail within 24 hours confirming receipt of your application, you should verify your on-line profile. In case of repeated difficulties, contact by e-mail HrsRecruitment@euro.who.int indicating the vacancy title and number in the subject line.

Annual salary: (Net of tax) USD 80,629 at entry level at single rate USD 86,791 at entry level with primary dependants Post Adjustment: 65.4 % of the above figure(s). This percentage is to be considered as indicative since variations may occur each month either upwards or downwards due to currency exchange rate fluctuations or inflation.

A written test and interviews may be used as a form of screening

.

Vacatures worden iedere nacht automatisch samengesteld op basis van officiele publicaties. Vacatureteksten kunnen hierdoor gedeeltelijk engelstalig en op sommige punten onvolledig zijn.