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The need to fight animal diseases at global level led to the creation of the Office International des Epizooties through the international Agreement signed on January 25th 1924. In May 2003 the Office became the World Organisation for Animal Health but kept its historical acronym OIE. The OIE is the intergovernmental organisation responsible for improving...
Positioning and reporting
Under the authority of the Director General, the Programme Officer will work under the direct supervision of the OIE Sub-Regional Representative for Eastern Africa and in collaboration with the Capacity-Building Department, the Status Department and the Engagement and Investment Department (World Fund) at the OIE Headquarters in Paris. He/she will work in close cooperation with other Regional Representatives, and other officers involved in similar activities (in particular in West and Central Africa and in Eastern Europe).
Context
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is an intergovernmental organisation recognised by the World Trade Organization as the reference Organisation for intergovernmental standards concerning the sanitary safety of international trade of animals and products of animal origin and zoonoses, and is in charge of improving animal health, veterinary public health and animal welfare worldwide, as well as transparency of the global animal disease situation. The OIE maintains permanent relations with nearly 75 international and regional Organisations and has 13 regional offices around the globe.
Since the adoption in 2015, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, of the global strategy for the control and eradication of peste des petits ruminants (PPR), both OIE and FAO are supporting member countries in addressing the challenges of controlling this transboundary animal disease (TAD) in order to achieve worldwide eradication by 2030.
In Africa, one of the key challenges in meeting this objective is the availability of a qualified veterinary workforce at all levels of implementation of the global strategy, i.e. continental, regional, national, but especially at field level, where disease surveillance needs to be conducted and animals (sheep and goats) need to be vaccinated to break the cycle of transmission of the virus from one animal to another and from one herd to another. The training, skills and equipment of veterinary paraprofessionals (VPP, as defined by the OIE), in addition of those of (graduate) veterinarians, will be critical in years to come if the disease is to be brought under control in all 49 affected countries in Africa.
The OIE is implementing several initiatives aimed at supporting the development of a qualified and skilled veterinary workforce, with a particular attention to the category of veterinary paraprofessionals (VPPs). In Eastern Africa, these initiatives will have a particular focus on the eradication of peste des petits ruminants (PPR).
The main project under the incumbent’s responsibility is “The Prevention and Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases for the benefit of smallholder farmers” (PCTAD), financed through the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The PCTAD programme pursues several objectives to be attained by the end of 2024, one of which is to “control and eradicate peste des petits ruminants” through the following outputs:
Selected countries have analysed their PPR situation and their capacities to control PPR in the context of the PPR Global Control and Eradication Strategy (GCES) and PPR Global Eradication Programme (GEP) 2018 – 2023. This may concern several of the countries covered in the (wider) eastern Africa region: Burundi, Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and/or Uganda.
Veterinary paraprofessionals operate in an environment that enables PPR control; this entails supporting countries to establish an enabling environment for the Veterinary Workforce through the OIE PVS Veterinary Legislation Support Programme (VLSP), to improve its VSB regulatory framework and put into place an enabling environment whereby the trained VPPs can be recognised by and work within the national Veterinary Services (both the public and private components).
Veterinary paraprofessionals are trained and equipped to support PPR control and eradication through a cascade approach to training of VPPs, starting with identified national training institutions, delivering training based on curricula that are compliant with the OIE Competency Guidelines for VPPs and the OIE Curricula Guidelines for VPPs.
In selected countries, small ruminants are regularly vaccinated in hot-spot areas through programmatic support to the implementation of best-practice mass vaccination of small ruminants in high risk areas, with the aim of reaching a post vaccination immunity level of at least 70% to break the virus transmission cycle.
The incumbent will be responsible for the implementation of this programme in the Eastern Africa region, also working in close cooperation with staff entrusted with the (PPR) Global Eradication Programme (GEP) and the OIE’s global VPP Programme. The incumbent will take a technical lead to support countries in PPR disease control and eradication efforts, and in VPP training and deployment.
Job description
The Regional Programme Officer contributes to the OIE’s strategy on PPR disease control and eradication as well as on veterinary paraprofessionals (VPPs) by participating in the implementation of related OIE sub-regional activities in Eastern Africa. He/she is responsible for providing technical support to the countries of the sub-region and contributing to the management of activities related to the OIE PPR GCES and GEP, with a focus on the role of VPPs. In addition, he/she contributes to the promotion of these activities in the sub-region and ensures stakeholder outreach and engagement.
Responsibilities and activities
Qualifications and experience
Required qualifications
Desirable qualifications and experience (assets)
Requirements
Technical skills
Additional skills
Knowledge of Portuguese, Arabic or Kiswahili is considered an asset ;
Interpersonal skills
Working conditions
The incumbent will be based at the OIE Sub-regional representation in Nairobi, Kenya. This post requires flexibility to travel internationally and long hours in a seated position at a computer.
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