General Background

Ethiopia currently hosts almost 800,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers over five regions. The refugees and sheltered in 26 camps, several rural settlements as well as in urban areas including urban Addis Ababa.

UNHCR, through multiple partnerships including with Administration of Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA), national and international NGOs as well as regional health bureaus offers refugees with access to health services in an equitable manner with the hosting population. The health services offered include camp-based primary healthcare services both facility and community-based as well as referral care services to regional and national level secondary and tertiary health care services.  Health services are offered through partners and coordinated with other UNHCR sectors.

UNHCR¿s role in the health sector include coordination among partners to ensure uniformity in coverage and mitigate gaps, coordination with regional and national health authorities in order to further integrate refugees into national health programs and systems, monitor health status of refugees through implementation of a functional health information system, build capacity of UNHCR and partner staff, advise senior management on health-related matters among others. 

UNHCR-program is seeking to recruit Assistant Public Health Officer to be part of the public health team based in its representation office. The Assistant public health officer will report to senior public health officer based in Addis Ababa and work in collaboration with nutrition and WASH teams in Addis Ababa and in the sub-offices. The incumbent collaborates with program, protection, CBI, social inclusion, livelihood and supply units, among others. There is no supervisory responsibility.

Purpose and Scope of Assignment

Coordination and Partnership

• Assist in the co-ordination of public health, reproductive health, and HIV activities in support of the governments 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 (POC and host community) meet UNHCR and /or nationally recognized and most up-to-date standards and policies.
• With support from the supervisor, support the Operation to define the level and scope of UNHCR¿s involvement in public health responses in terms of overall and operational objectives during emergency situations and beyond.
• In line with the Global Compact on Refugees work with governments and humanitarian and development partners to ensure a complementary approach to meet the health needs of POCs.
• Represent UNHCR in health coordination and other meetings including inter-sectoral groups such as health cluster and other Technical Working Groups.
• Engage in relevant partnership fora, including in line with UNHCR¿s role as a UNAIDS co-sponsor of the Joint Program on AIDS and co-lead with WFP of the Division of Labor area of HIV in Humanitarian Settings.
• Support emergency responses to new refugee influxes or outbreaks or other situations in line with the Public Health Emergency Toolkit and UNHCR¿s Emergency Handbook and the SPHERE Handbook.

Strategic planning and development

• Contribute to the implementation of UNHCR¿s Strategic Plan for Public Health and adaptation at country level.
• Work with others in UNHCR to advocate for refugees, returnees and other POC¿s access to local public health, reproductive health (RH) and HIV, MHPSS and nutrition services and advocate for inclusion of refugees, returnees and other POC as a specific group in government policies and plans related to health, RH and HIV as well as major donor programs such as the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria.
• Contribute to public health strategies addressing known gaps in health and nutrition programming based on country-specific needs assessments with due consideration to neonatal and maternal health care, TB and viral hepatitis, palliative care, health services for LGBTI individuals, health and protection services for persons selling sex and programming for persons with disabilities including access to assistive technologies and appropriate associated services.
• Support the 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.
• 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 programs).
• Maintain and update contingency plans for potential epidemics, refugee and returnee movements.

Technical integrity and risk mitigation

• Update and disseminate standard practices on public health, MHPSS, nutrition, HIV and reproductive health among partners.
• Support the prioritization of primary health care (including preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative care)
• Monitor, in close co-ordination with other humanitarian actors, that health care services provided to POC are based on Ministry of Health, UNHCR and/or internationally recognized and most up-to-date standards and policies.
• Support the adaptation of UNHCR internal operating procedures to ensure they are in line with UNHCR and/or international standards and improve efficiency of program activities; this includes - but is not limited to - referral health care, medicines and medical supplies procurement and management, medical resettlement and resettlement of persons with health needs, cash-based assistance for health care coverage and referral between units and inter-sectoral collaboration.
• Monitor and support compliance with, and integrity of, all public health standard operating procedures in conjunction with Project Control and Program staff and in line with delegated authorities, including flagging to senior managers when these are not in line with global guidance or not being followed.

Collaboration

• Support linkages of public health to WASH programs throughout all stages of the program cycle including in outbreak preparedness and response, emergency responses to refugee influxes, WASH in health facilities, and menstrual hygiene management.
• Support inter-sector collaboration throughout all stages of program cycle between public health and nutrition with WASH, education, environment, shelter, and protection in order to promote synergies and maximize impact.
• Assist with the review and analysis of relevant project proposals and budgetary submissions presented by UNHCR partners within the context of the UNHCR programming cycle.
• Seek the diverse views of men, women, girls and boys, adolescents, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities and LGBTI in assessing needs, designing, implementing and monitoring responses in line with UNHCR¿s policy on age, gender and diversity mainstreaming.
• Contribute to the 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.
• Advocate for the inclusion of refugees and other POC 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 over time.
• Support national health systems to disaggregate data by refugee and nationals in key areas based on country specific needs in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
• Assist in the monitoring of public health and nutrition programs against standard UNHCR and international indicators, to ensure that programs are evidence-based and implemented in a comprehensive and cost-effective manner.
• In line with policies for Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) ensure POC have access to feedback and accountability mechanisms relating to public health and nutrition services including the collection and analysis of data on their satisfaction with regards to public health and nutrition services.
• Draft regular sectoral reports and submit material for preparation of periodic project monitoring reports as required by the office at country level.
• Provide timely updates to enable adequate reporting and briefings to donors and management.

Capacity Building

• Support capacity strengthening of UNHCR and its implementing partners to address public health, nutrition, reproductive health, HIV, MHPSS programming in a coordinated, multi-sectoral way and disseminate relevant guidelines and information materials.
• 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.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Monitoring and Progress Control

• The Primary Health Care strategy is supported and prioritized focusing on preventive and basic curative health, including mental health, reproductive health and HIV.
• There is a viable standard Health Information System in place for data collection, analysis and interpretation to serve as evidence base for planning and interventions.
• The programming exercise to draw proposals and budgets related to public health.
• Health integration strategy is developed in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
• Technical support missions are conducted on regular basis in the country.
• Monthly health coordination meetings are conducted with all relevant partners.
• Immediate respond is provided to refugee emergencies.
• UNHCR is an active member of UNAIDS as a cosponsor and respond to HIV needs.

Job Requirements

Minimum Qualifications

Education & Professional Work Experience

Years of Experience / Degree Level

• For P1/NOA - 1 year relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or no experience with Graduate degree; or no experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education

• Medicine, Medical Science, Medical Doctor, Nursing, Public Health, Midwifery or other relevant field.
• (Field(s) of Education marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience

Essential

• Knowledge of public health, reproductive health and nutrition
• Good communicator with strong interpersonal and negotiations skills.

Desirable

• Additional qualifications in Nutrition and WASH and a thorough understanding of the linkages with public health and Food security.
• Ability to coordinate a range of diverse actors and activities to achieve a common objective in the area of Public Health.
• Knowledge of statistical software (MS Excel, MS Access, Epi-Info etc.)
• Budgeting, planning, programming, managerial skills, ability to work with various teams
• Proven coordination experience with multi-sectorial stakeholders and interlocutors
• Working experience in refugee/IDP context will be highly relevant

Core Competencies

• Accountability
• Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Client & Result Orientation

Managerial Competencies

• Empowering and Building Trust
• Judgement and Decision Making
• Managing Resources

Cross-Functional Competencies

• Analytical Thinking
• Planning and Organizing

Stakeholder Management

• Functional Skills
• MS-Monitoring & Evaluation
• MD-Public Health Epidemiology
• MD-Reproductive Health
• MD-Community Health - Health Data Collection/Analysis/Interpretation

UN-UNHCR's Mandate/Policy and Global Strategic Priorities

(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements

• For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.

Position Competencies

• Competencies as defined in Job Profile

Language Requirements

• Knowledge of "English" is essential.

How to Apply

 Additional Information

Please note that UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, training or any other fees).

An eliminatory or complementary written test for shortlisted candidates may be conducted which will be followed by competency-based interview

Female Candidates are encouraged to apply.

Applicants must be nationals of, and be locally recruited within the country of their employment.

 Interested and qualified applicants can apply through the link