Regional PHE Advisor

Terms of Reference for Regional Public Health Emergency Adviser (PHEA)

Background

The Government of Ethiopia (represented by Federal Ministry of Finance) and Government of United Kingdom (represented by FCDO) signed a memorandum of understanding for a three-year technical assistance (TA) project named Building Resilience in Ethiopia – Technical Assistance (BRE-TA). The TA supports ‘the Government of Ethiopia in leading and delivering an effective, more self-financed and accountable response to climate and humanitarian shocks.  BRE-TA works with the government of Ethiopia to establish capacity for managing crisis in a sustainable way. Funded by FCDO and USAID and at around £26m over three years (2019-2022), the programme delivers high-quality TA in four key areas: Public Health Emergencies (PHE), Disaster Risk Management (DRM), Shock Responsive Safety Nets (SRSN); and Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) – each with respective government lead sectors. Oxford Policy Management (OPM) is the Managing Agent and works closely with each of BRE-TA’s government counterparts in the implementation of this TA program.

The PHE workstream supports the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) and extends technical assistance (TA) to Regional Health bureaus and Public Health Institutes upon the request of FMOH-EPHI to build a resilient health system capable of preparing for and responding to public health and nutrition emergencies. These emergencies could range from infectious diseases, mass causalities, to acute malnutrition from manmade and/or natural disasters. The technical input aims at strengthening capacity of the government system to assess and identify risk, predict, prepare, and prevent likely events; and respond to emergencies faster and effectively to reduce morbidity and save lives.

One aspect of the above TA is improving surge capacity for coping with public health emergencies either from natural and/or man-made causes such as floods, drought, conflict, Covid-19 and other outbreaks of diseases. The ongoing conflict, drought, and associated displacement with disruption of basic health and other social services including access to water and sanitation have burdened the health system. The multifaceted impact from Covid-19 with forecasts of heavy rainfalls and floods from El Nino exacerbate and overstretch the health system.

Purpose

This TA is to extend the technical support to Somali Regional Health Bureau to improve its surge capacity in public health emergency management.  The support aims at providing technical advice for managing and recovery from Covid-19 and other health and nutrition emergencies through proposing mechanisms which are fit for purpose and foster the building of better public health and nutrition management system in the region.

The PHE Advisor will closely work with BRE-TA team, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Ministry of Health and Somali Regional Health Bureau in implementation of Covid-19 response and other priority activities described as described below:

General objective of the TA

To strengthen the emergency response and recovery from Covid-19 and other shocks through providing TA to strengthen robust coordination mechanisms; information management and improving institutional capacity which are the key elements of advanced recovery system. This will shape the response and recovery efforts to be on the right path which in turn attribute to bring the desired outcome aligned to the principle of ‘Building Back Better’.

Main responsibilities and tasks

• Provide TA to the Regional Health Bureau in managing health and nutrition risks and impacts such as Covid-19 pandemic including to;
• Identify gaps and needs and prepare action plan for delivery of preventive, control, and response public health interventions to special settings of drought, conflict, and displacement
• Advise on mechanisms to strengthen cluster coordination for timely and effective delivery of response
• Identify indicators and develop tools for data collection to map status of health systems and services to inform development of strategy for short- and long-term health system recovery
• Advise to incorporate conflict sensitivity and gender inclusive programming in the response and recovery
• Provide TA on hazard risk assessment and risk informed health care delivery and system recovery planning
• Support and guide establishment of context-aligned early warning alert and surveillance system EWARS o bridge disruption of routine surveillance system in conflict affected areas t
• Facilitate and promote the aggregation and joint analysis of data across different sections of Public Health Emergency Operation Centers (PHEOCs) at regional and sub regional level
• Advise on mechanism to develop surge capacity using feasible approaches such as task shifting, doubling of skills and initiatives for volunteer program
• Monitor progress of activities through supportive supervision, review meetings, and evaluation; and prepare periodic reports to inform decision-making process
• Document lessons and experiences of the response and recovery and facilitate to make best use of the findings to revise strategies
• Contribute to establish regional public health institute including facilitating the preparation of the necessary document for the regional council’s endorsement
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Regional Health Bureau and Health lead of BRE program.

Reports to: Public Health Emergency (PHE) workstream manager (BRE-TA); Director Public Health Emergency

Duration: 6 months (with possible extension)

Location: Somali Regional Health Bureau, Jigjiga

Modality: Individual Contract

Core competencies required

• Able to work well both independently and with diverse teams.
• Good communication, networking and organizational skills
• Effective verbal and writing and presentation skills.
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences

Functional Knowledge and Skills

• Hands-on experience in Health Disaster Risk Management /HDRM specially disease outbreak and disaster response at national and sub-national levels.
• In-depth knowledge of PHE management and national health policies
• Knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction strategies (International, regional and national level
• Sound knowledge and experience on establishing surveillance system in emergency setting
• Excellent negotiation skills and ability to engage with health authorities and donors
• Assessment, analysis, planning and personnel management skills

Educational Qualifications, Experience and Skills

• Essential: A university degree (BSc or MD) in Public Health, Public Health Nursing, Medicine, or Environmental Health; and graduate degree (Masters, PhD) in Public Health, General Epidemiology, Human Nutrition or Field Epidemiology from an accredited institute.
• Desirable: Additional training in emergency management, humanitarian principles, health system resilience and diseases surveillance and response.

Experience:

• At least five-year experience in technical and coordination role in health including forecasting, preparing for, and managing public health emergencies due to man-made and natural disasters at national and sub-national levels. Previous hands-on field work in drought, displacement and conflict settings in the region or similar context elsewhere in the country or abroad is an advantage. Previous work with humanitarian agencies is an asset.

Skills:

Language:

•  Excellent knowledge of spoken and written English, Amharic, and Somali languages.  Other Skills (e.g., IT); Knowledge of Microsoft Office, electronic data collection and analysis softwires /applications (such as ODK, GIS).