Emergency Operation Centre Specialist at Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO)

• Program Results/Impact Delivery
  • Assist and work closely with the Emergency Operation Centre Management Lead as well as the priority country government and Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partners to deliver:
  • Strengthened Polio Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs), to ensure effective partner collaboration with federal/local government ownership and commitment. The program will contribute to improvements in services delivered as well as coordination and management of the EOCs. The program team will focus their analyses and actions to help deliver the critical components of an effective and accountable EOC.
  • Empowered local communities with local volunteers building community support/demand for successful cVDPV2 outbreak response and holding authorities accountable for results. The volunteer community engagement will enable a more rapid scale up of outbreak response activities, and critically, ensure that these efforts are sustained once the program ends.
  • Agile program monitoring and learnings to develop and improve on a Polio EOC Playbook, address critical operational and partner collaboration challenges and continuously improve Polio EOC operations, functions and processes.
• Thought leadership partner
  • Actively participate both in the development and execution of the Polio EOCs in Africa programme approach, workplans and activities. Contribute to ongoing monitoring and evaluation efforts to capture core learnings and insights from VSO's work strengthening Polio EOCs and creating highly effective community engagement/local volunteering to support community engagement, ownership and demand for vaccination/outbreak response campaigns.
• People Management
  • Assist their Emergency Operation Centre Management Lead as a co-leader of their Core Team in priority countries. EOC Specialists are expected to continuously build their programme leadership capabilities to enable them to deputise for the EoC Management Lead.
  • Safeguarding, Security and Risk Management
• Collaboration

Desired Skills and Experience

Essential criteria

Knowledge/qualifications/Experience:

• Health systems and/or health delivery experience and expertise working to improve health programme effectiveness and efficiency in Africa, Asia or Latin America
• Previous experience working with strong programme teams in challenging country and/or multicultural environments
• Strong interpersonal skills that will enable them work as a trusted advisor with other Polio EOC leaders and partners
• Strong political and cultural awareness and sensitivity
• Knowledge and understanding of the role of volunteerism in development, including previous volunteering experience
• Knowledge and understanding of social inclusion, social accountability, and resilience

Skills/Abilities:

• Strong leadership skills, including the ability to inspire teams and partners
• Strong personal relationship skills with substantial experience in networking and influencing a diverse range of stakeholders
• Graduate degree in relevant course of study including but not limited to public health/epidemiology, biomedical sciences, business public administration, international development.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and/or French (additional language abilities particularly African languages are welcome)

Desirable Criteria:

• Previous experience working with or knowledge of emergency operations centers (EOCs) in Africa or other regions.
• Knowledge of and experience of working in priority countries.