Regional Health Programme Officer (COVID-19) - P3 at International Organization for Migration (IOM)

IOM works with partners, government and civil society to:

1. Assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration and mobility
2. Advance understanding of migration issues
3. Encourage social and economic development through migration; and
4. Uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants and mobile populations.

IOM’s Regional Office for the East and Horn of Africa supports and monitors the following countries: Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Through a team of specialists, the Regional Office supports the development, implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation of projects and initiatives undertaken by country offices and regional programmes.

In April 2021 the East and Horn of Africa regional office launched its STRATEGIC RESPONSE

AND RECOVERY PLAN 2021 (SRRP). The plan is a follow-up of the 2020 IOM regional Strategic Preparedness Response to COVID 19, which set out the region’s priorities in response to the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020.

IOM is supporting East Africa community (EAC) Secretariat with the implementation of a regional project “WASH and health promotion sensitization and awareness on COVID- 19 and other communicable diseases in the EAC region”. The overall goal of this project is to increase awareness and enhance health and hygiene protective behaviours and practices to prevent the spread of zoonotic and water-borne infectious diseases including COVID-19, in selected high risk areas along transport and water way corridors in Partner States (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda and South Sudan).

The project will also install fixed handwashing facilities in each selected country. It is expected that more than 1 million of people will be reached with health and hygiene promotion initiatives in 6 countries and 19 fix handwashing facilities installed in selected hotspot areas along migratory routes including transport and waterway corridors.

In addition to this, IOM is currently implementing the regional programme “EU Response to Health and Socio-economic Impact of COVID-19 in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Region”. The overall objective of the multi-partner project is to contribute to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the IGAD countries responding to the call for international support made by IGAD Heads of States, Health and Finance Ministers. Under the overall technical leadership of Ministries of Health and WHO, IOM will contribute to Objective 2 (increased access to health and socio-economic support for vulnerable groups) of the project, namely:

1. Deliverable 2.1: Health response capacity and continuity of essential health services ensured
2. Deliverable 2.2: WASH services provided in selected sites
3. Deliverable 2.3: GBV and gender-responsive actions integrated in the COVID-19 response.
4. Deliverable 2.4: Final beneficiaries are sensitized through awareness raising activities and community engagement

IOM’s current health programming is aligned with the IOM SRRP and relevant global and regional health plans of concerned stakeholders and agencies including the Regional Economic Commission (EAC and IGAD). Furthermore, the regional programmes are contributing to the achievement of the regional migration strategy for East and Horn of Africa addressing the health component.

Under the overall supervision of the Regional Director, in coordination with the Regional Thematic Specialists (RTS), the Regional Health Assessment Programme Coordinator (RHAPC) for Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Regional Migration Response Plan (RMRP) Coordinator, and under the direct supervision of the Regional Migration Health Specialist for East and Horn of Africa , the successful candidate will provide substantive support for the effective coordination and implementation of the two regional health related programmes, namely the IOM IGAD/UNOPS project “EU Response to Health and Socio-economic Impact of COVID-19 in the IGAD Region” and the EAC/IOM/GIZ “WASH and health promotion sensitization and awareness on COVID- 19 and other communicable diseases in the EAC region”.