Senior Officer, Health

Job Purpose

Under the direction and supervision of the Coordinator, Programs and Operations, the Senior Officer, Health will provide technical expertise in the thematic sector of health and wellbeing to the Country Cluster Delegation for Ethiopia and Djibouti (Addis CCD) and the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Ethiopia and Djibouti.

The Senior Officer, Health guiding and facilitating the implementation of health programming with Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) and the Djibouti Red Crescent (DjRC), working in partnership with National Society programme coordinators, project managers, and their teams..

The Senior Officer, Health will work with National Societies to ensure that health initiatives are aligned with national Ministries of Health strategies, national society strategies, and with the health and wellbeing pillar under the IFRC’s Strategy 2030.

Overall health programme management including contributing to proposal development, monitoring and reporting, coordination and accountability of health projects /programmes under the responsibility of the Addis CCD. It is further expected that the Senior Officer, Health will actively participate in coordination and cooperation mechanisms within the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and with external bodies as required.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Health Programme Management and Coordination

• Lead and coordinate the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of health and wellbeing projects under the Addis CCD.
• Provide strategic and technical input for proposal writing, reporting, and donor liaison related to health programs.
• Ensure that all health programmes align with IFRC policies, global health standards, and national health strategies of Ethiopia and Djibouti.
• Guide National Societies in developing and updating health strategies, operational plans, and emergency response frameworks.

Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM)

• Support national societies (NS) to conduct PHEM risk and capacity assessments and develop preparedness and response plans.
• Support NSs to lead risk assessments for outbreak-prone and cross-border areas for health threats through a one health approach.
• Support NSs to establish and enhance community-based surveillance (CBS) systems to detect and report public health threats.
• Support NSs to strengthen One Health surveillance by integrating human, animal, and environmental health data.
• Support NSs to work with cross-sectoral teams to ensure early detection, risk assessment, and timely response to emerging health threats with focus on cross border areas.
• Support the Rapid Response Team (RRT) in outbreak investigation, response, and coordination.
• Support NSs to conduct training and simulations for public health emergency preparedness and response through a one health approach with focus on cross border areas.
• Support NSs and governments to establish and maintain communication channels with neighbouring countries to enhance cross border coordination.
• Develop and implement capacity building programmes for facility and community health workers, volunteers and community representatives on public health emergency management through a one health approach.

Risk Communication & Community Engagement (RCCE) and vaccine demand generation

• Support NSs to develop and implement risk communication and community engagement strategies for public health emergency preparedness and response with focus on vaccine preventable diseases.
• Support NSs to lead community engagement initiatives to promote vaccine demand generation and address vaccine hesitancy including COVID-19 vaccines for priority groups.
• Support NSs to conduct awareness campaigns and capacity-building workshops for health workers, media, and community representatives.
• Support NSs to identify barriers to vaccine uptake and develop interventions to address misinformation and trust issues.
• Support NSs to strengthen social mobilization efforts to increase vaccination coverage.
• Support NSs to collaborate with national and local partners to harmonize immunization demand creation efforts.
• Support NSs in developing strategies to integrate COVID-19 vaccine into routine immunization.

Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

• Support NSs to monitor, evaluate and act on vaccine demand and hesitancy trends.
• Monitor IFRC RCCE programme implementation in Ethiopia and Djibouti to ensure accordance with the IFRC-network commitments and minimum actions for Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA), and relevant policies and guidelines and report on any issues that arise.
• Work closely with technical colleagues across the region, as well as inter-agency partners, to support the use of the most relevant social science research, impact surveys, and perception data to support the design of comprehensive and evidence-based community engagement strategies for vaccine uptake at country level.

Capacity Building and coaching

• Lead technical training and mentorship of National Society staff and volunteers on health programming, emergency response, and community health approaches.

• Identify National Societies capacity development needs and ensure that National Societies have appropriate training and ffacilitate institutional development of NSs through workshops, trainings, mentorship, coaching, and field visits to strengthen NS capacities.

• Support National Societies in quality assurance, accountability, and knowledge management processes related to health programming.

Stakeholder Coordination & Cross-Border Health Collaboration

• Facilitate coordination among government agencies, NGOs, UN agencies, CSOs, CBOs and community health structures.
• Strengthen cross-border collaboration on disease surveillance, information sharing, and joint response planning and implementation through a one health approach.
• Working with the Health teams, and RCCE Working Group members, support the compilation and updating of the 4Ws (Who does What, Where, and When) mapping at the country cluster level.
• Represent IFRC in national and regional health coordination meetings.
• Support the ERCS and DJRC in defining risk management frameworks, mitigation, and control measures.

Other Duties and Responsibilities

• Support Emergency operations in mainstreaming health needs in operation strategy
• Liaison with health ministries (together with National Society), WHO, Africa CDC and other institutions of health authority
• Technical capacity development of National Society staff and volunteers
• Perform any other work-related duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the line manager.

Education

Required:

• Advanced degree, master’s degree in public health, Medicine, Epidemiology, or a related field
• Relevant professional training courses Health Education and Promotion, Epidemiology, or a related field.

Preferred:

• IMPACT or equivalent knowledge

Experience

Required:

• At least 7 years of experience in public health emergency management, risk communication and community engagement, vaccine demand generation and vaccine hesitancy, One health approach
• Experience with International Federation policies, procedures and systems

Preferred:

• Experience in the use of data visualization software (Power BI etc.)

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

• Ability to analyze and use epidemiological data for decision-making
• Strong understanding of public health emergency preparedness and response
• RCCE and community-based surveillance,
• vaccine programs, and One Health approaches
• Excellent stakeholder coordination and communication skills.
• Ability to work in cross-border, multi-agency environments
• Ability to work independently and as part of the team
• Self-supporting in computers (Windows, spreadsheets, word-processing)
• Willing and able to work within established policies and procedures.
• Self-starter, proactive and able to work with minimum supervision.

Languages

• Fluently spoken and written English - Required
• Good command of another IFRC official language (French an advantage) - Preferred

Skills Required:

• Health / Medical