Regional Reproductive Health & HIV Officer at UN High Commissioner for Refugees

General Background

The incumbent is responsible for all technical support, coordination, policy development, monitoring and evaluation, and advocacy for the UNHCR Reproductive Health (RH) and HIV programmes in the East and Horn of Africa.

The Regional RH Officer for East and Horn of Africa, will be a member of the regional team, will coordinate and provide technical support to a regional network of country level RH and HIV focal points, Health, Nutrition, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV), community-based protection staff as well as Protection and Programme Officers. The RRH Officer should ensure that UNHCR RH & HIV policies and programmes meet minimum UNHCR and international standards, to prevent infection and minimise reproductive health related mortality and morbidity among populations of concern in emergency as well as in stabilised situation. The incumbent plays a major role among the regional team in the region, supporting all issues related to RH with a focus on maternal and newborn health and family planning. He/ she should ensure the lessons learnt and tools from the Gates-funded maternal and newborn care and family planning projects are disseminated and systematized in UNHCR’s programmes in the region. He/she should also support the roll-out of the new operational guidelines (3) in maternal health, family planning and adolescent health in the region with the aim of improving coverage and quality of related services. The incumbent will be the focal point for Reproductive health, and HIV, including protection issues (e.g. HIV discrimination, stigma, mandatory testing) and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as well as the health response to SGBV. He/she will ensure that RH and HIV are integrated across protection, nutrition, food security, community services, gender and age, public health, water and sanitation, shelter, and the environment.

Purpose and Scope of Assignment

Reinforce coordination and implementation of quality and reproductive health and HIV activities, ensuring that the full minimum initial service package for reproductive health are provided in new refugee emergencies and that comprehensive quality reproductive health and HIV services are progressively integrated into primary health care and provided to the refugee population.

Under the supervision of the Senior Regional Public Health Officer and working closely with the Public Health Officers and reproductive health/HIV staff at country level, the incumbent will be responsible for providing technical support, coordination, policy and planning, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation on reproductive health and HIV for refugees in the region.

These include:

• Act as focal point for RH&HIV in the region, provide technical support to UNHCR country operations and partners to improve all aspects of reproductive health and HIV services to refugees based on countries specific needs and resource assessments.
• Liaise with national and regional authorities of the host country when planning and implementing RH activities in refugee camps and among the surrounding population, where appropriate.
• Liaise with other sectors (protection, community services, camp management, education, etc.) to ensure a multisectoral approach to reproductive health and HIV.
• Ensure the lessons learnt and tools from the Gates-funded maternal and newborn care and family planning projects are disseminated and systematized in UNHCR’s programmes in the region.
• Create/adapt and introduce standardised strategies for reproductive health and HIV which are fully integrated within PHC.
• Take measures to support the operationalisation of UNHCR's guidance in maternal health, family planning and the adolescent reproductive health toolkit
• Introduce/enforce standardised protocols for selected areas (such as syndromic case management of STIs, referral of obstetric emergencies, clinical response to survivors of sexual violence, counselling and family planning services. etc.).
• Monitor all reproductive health and HIV indicators in the region and provide feedback to countries on improving quality of data collection as well as programming.
• Support the use of the Balanced Scorecard in monitoring the quality of RH services
• Support analysis of maternal death audits in the region along with the Public Health Epidemiologist identifying gaps in maternal health programming and making recommendations to address these gaps and supporting their implementation
• Monitoring and Progress Controls
  • Undertake regular missions to refugee sites in order to analyse, monitor, evaluate and supervise the implementation of reproductive health and HIV services delivery.
  • Write mission reports with main findings and actionable recommendations
  • Organise the collection, analysis and distribution of epidemiological information regarding the reproductive health status of the refugees. This includes support for evaluations, surveys and studies.
  • Maintain regular email and telephone contact with staff in the field including organising regular teleconferences on specific themes

Qualifications and Experience

Education

University degree in medical studies (e.g. medical doctor, nursing,midwifery) essential with Masters of Public Health or similar qualification desirable.

Consideration will be given to candidates without a clinical qualification if they have relevent social sciences, anthropology or related degree with substantial reproductive health related field experience and a Master Degree in Public health or related area

Work Experience

• At least two years experience working in clinical practice or related work
• At least six years’ experience in Reproductive Health and HIV programming mostly in resource limited settings
• Experience working with refugees and/or in humanitarian settings highly desirable
• Experience in East Africa region is an added advantage
• Excellent writing and reporting English skills

Key Competencies

• Strong knowledge of reproductive and HIV programming in resource constrained settings
• Project or grant management skills
• Analytical and report writing skills
• Good communicator with strong interpersonal and negotiation skills to deal with different country contexts with persons of diverse cultural backgrounds
• Strive to live up to high ethical and professional standards;
• Team player with service-oriented attitudes