Nature Action-One Health Programme Officer at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Duties and Responsibilities

Organisational Setting

The United Nations Environment Programme is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. UNEP Africa Office represents the organization and coordinates its work in the region. We work to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of interventions in response to regional, sub-regional and national needs. We also ensure better coherence and coordination in the effective delivery of environmental capacity-building and technical support at all levels in response to country needs and priorities.

Under the overall guidance of the Deputy Regional Director of the UNEP Africa Office and the direct supervision of the Regional Sub-programme Coordinator for Nature Action in the Regional Office for Africa, in collaboration with the Regional Sub-programme Coordinators for Chemicals and Pollution Action, climate change, science-policy, environmental governance, as well as the AMCEN secretariat, and in close coordination with the One Health Team at UNEP headquarters, the individual contractor will be responsible.

• Support the stocktaking of existing initiatives and emerging opportunities on One Health-related initiatives in the region.
• Collaborate with science policy in undertaking environmental assessments and mapping of environmental risk drivers to health, as well as potential environmental solutions in support of member states.
• Collaborate with pollution/waste to ideate and document for policy uptake by member states, pollution/waste solutions to one-health from an enterprise lens.
• Collaborate with climate change to ideate and document for policy uptake by member states, climate action solutions to one-health from an enterprise lens.
• Collaborate with environmental governance to support the setting up of cross-cutting, coherent enabling policies that drive integration of environment solutions for health.
• Support continental processes in driving the uptake of above environmental solutions into continental policies and strategies through the Africa Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).
• Support the uptake of environmental solutions to one-health by UNRCs / UNCTs across Africa.
• Support the development of an internal strategy for UNEP’s engagement on One Health-related initiatives in the region and globally.
• Participate and assist in the coordination of Quadripartite activities in the region as well as other One Health activities that UNEP is involved in with other members of the Quadripartite and beyond, including by contributing to the implementation of the Nature for Health and AMR MPTF projects.
• Contribute to One Health agenda setting and propose, advise on and review approaches and specific studies relevant to the development of a global approach to reduce environmental aspects of health risk, including risk of zoonotic pandemics, pollution, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
• Contribute to the preparation of various written outputs for UNEP and the Quadripartite, e.g., draft background papers, analytical notes, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, strategic documents, guidelines and policy recommendations etc.
• Support the development, resource mobilization, implementation and evaluation of assigned programmes/projects related to One Health, including by contributing to the preparation of funding proposals and project concept notes, etc. and keep the Regional Office and the One Health Team abreast of developments in Africa.

Qualifications/special Skills

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in the fields of environment, ecosystem health, microbiology, or other closely related sector is required. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in project or programme management is required in at least two of the following fields, with experience in the rest being desirable: One Health; ecosystem health; health systems; antimicrobial resistance; microbiology, ecotoxicology, emerging infectious diseases and zoonoses; public health; animal health; social, economic and behavioural sciences relating to One Health. Ability to facilitate workshops is highly desirable.

Languages

• English, and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat. For this position, fluency in English and French (both oral and written) is required; knowledge of another UN official language is desirable.