Risk Communication & Community Engagement at World Health Organization

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

The incumbent will act as the risk communication and community engagement focal point in the incident management system during outbreaks and emergencies and oversee the development, elaboration and implementation of the risk communication and community engagement plan as part of the health response operations.

Specifically, he/she will undertake the following tasks;

•  Provide technical guidance to countries on relevant risk communication and community engagement strategies and approaches for different emergencies, to ensure effective emergency response;
•  Strengthen evidence generation to inform RCCE interventions for efficiency and effectiveness, and provision of guidance in generating, analyzing and using evidence about community’s context, capacities, perceptions, and behaviors to inform emergency response;
•  Build capacity of country RCCE focal persons in community engagement and risk communication to ensure competent technical support to member states for emergency preparedness and response;
•  Coordinate the RCCE partner organization and institutions’ contribution, input, joint work plan development and harmonized implementation for effective emergency preparedness and response, through the multi-agency RCCE technical working group;
•  Support the joint RCCE partner activities at sub-regional and country level, and monitoring and evaluation of the joint workplan implementation;
•  Support collaborative RCCE approaches for harmony, integration, optimization during outbreaks and emergencies through various partner collaborative mechanisms at the Regional and WCO level;
•  Strengthen community led engagement and local capacity and solutions; provide guidance on facilitating community-led responses through the improvement of the quality and consistency of RCCE approache;
•  Provide on-site technical support in RCCE to country IMS when necessary, to ensure rapid and effective response;
•  Liaise closely with the HQ on risk communication and community engagement to ensure coherence of strategy, materials and messages. Ensure that technical materials produced by the country offices integrates risk communication principles and practice;
•  Perform any other related duties, as assigned by the functional supervisor .

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: University degree in Public Health, social sciences, behavioural sciences, development sciences, communications or public health from an accredited/recognized institute .

Desirable: Specialized training in health education, health communication, health promotion, community engagement or community Psychology .

Experience

Essential: At least five years of related experience, at the national and international levels, in risk communication and community engagement. Proven experience in in the development and implementation of risk communication and community engagement strategies and plans. Proven experience in coordination of multiple stakeholders in RCCE work.

Desirable: Experience in emergency management, disease outbreaks, and humanitarian emergencies; Prior working experience with WHO, the UN, health cluster partners, recognized humanitarian organizations or other international organizations, including at country level; Management or project management experience.

S kills:

• Excellent skills and knowledge in risk communication, community engagement, and risk mitigation. Effective coordination, negotiation, facilitation and consensus building skills.
• Ability to work under pressure while producing results. Ability to “think out of the box” and to make innovative proposals related to risk communication.
• Tact, discretion and diplomacy.
• Knowledge or understanding of WHO mandate and goals in the emergency incident management context.