Consultant (Global Health Security)

Position Title: Consultant (Global Health Security)

Duty Station: IOM Philippines Country Office (Cotabato City)

Classification: Consultant

Type of Appointment: Consultancy, eight months

Estimated Start Date: 1st week of May 2024

Closing Date: 29 February 2024

Established in 1951, IOM is a Related Organization of the United Nations, and as the leading UN agency in the field of migration, works closely with governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental partners. IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. It does so by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.

Context:

Established in 1951, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners to promote humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s health program in BARMM aims at strengthening the resilience and responsiveness of the region’s health system and improving access to healthcare, as part of the organization’s strategy to alleviate the driver of unwanted migration, reduce health-related risks during displacements and migration cycle, and more broadly contribute to achieving peace and development objectives of BARMM. In line with this commitment, IOM has implemented various health-related projects that contributed to better health outcomes in BARMM, including COVID-19 response. With the USAID funded “BARMM Resilience Activity”, IOM is further seeking to strengthen its health programming in BARMM to bolster the region’s health systems and to provide a more comprehensive support to BARMM’s health sector. The overall objective of the “BARMM Resilience Activity” is to enhance the local capacity of the BARMM including the Ministry of Health (MOH) and its provinces and cities/municipalities to pursue key and cross-cutting reforms in health systems. It focuses on strengthening health systems to provide a more conducive setting to implement Tuberculosis (TB), Family Planning and Adolescent Reproductive Health (FP/ARH), and Global Health Security (GHS) programs.

The GHS component of the Activity aims to strengthen institutional capacity of BARMM to prevent, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks and diseases with pandemic threats, with the view to minimize incidences and impact of acute public health events. The technical interventions within the component of GHS include: mainstreaming One Health approach across human, animal and environment sectors to optimally address risks and prevent outbreaks (zoonotic disease); promoting risk assessment of health threats to develop behaviour change and policy interventions (Risk Communication and Community Engagement); strengthening of infection prevention and control in health facilities to reduce transmission of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR); improving biosafety and biosecurity in the field, in labs, on farms, animal markets and along value chains to reduce transmission of EIDs and AMR (biosafety/biosecurity); strengthening points of entry and border health in detection of and response to potential health hazards; strengthening the capacity of government, health and frontline workers effective public health risk prevention; institutionalizing coordination mechanisms for a more effective and timely response to public health emergencies; and, enhancing the capacity and performance of the local government’s public health emergency response.

Nature of Consultancy: The consultant is expected to serve as an advisory role to Global Health Security component of IOM’s USAID funded “BARMM Resilience Activity”, who provides expert, practical advice to officials and local health workers of the BARMM Government and strategic direction to IOM’s Migration Health Unit in Mindanao particularly the technical leads. He / she will play a vital role in addressing structural challenges, maximizing opportunities from health systems reforms, and promoting efficient inter- / intra-organizational coordination to enhance institutional capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks and diseases with pandemic threats. The successful candidate is expected to demonstrate high level of professionalism and competence in promoting evidence- and needs-based programming, ensuring contextualization, and accelerating integrated and holistic approaches to GHS, and to support institutionalizing best practices and positive outcomes emerged from the Activity within the Ministry of Health (MOH) – BARMM. The Head of the Sub-Office in Cotabato will provide the overall guidance, while the National Health Programme Coordinator (Deputy Chief of Party) will directly provide the administrative and technical supervision. He / she is required to report to the office of the MOH-BARMM at least three times a week and to IOM Cotabato office at least twice a week, unless determined otherwise in consultation with the National Migration Health Programme Coordinator.

IOM Project to which the Consultancy is contributing: IOM Migration Health Unit in Mindanao

Tasks to be performed under this contract:

a) Provide expert advice and strategic guidance to IOM and its sub-awarded partners, Ministry of Health (MOH) officials and health workers, BARMM government counterparts on the overall planning, implementation and development of GHS interventions that are aligned with global and national policies, standards and practices, promote integrated and holistic approaches, and are contextualized based on regional priorities and needs.

b) Offer technical guidance to the conduct of comprehensive assessment on BARMM’s GHS program, including but not limited to on service delivery needs and potentials, weaknesses and strengths, capacities and compliance with policy and regulatory requirements, data management and reporting, and cultural, social and economic determinants in accessing GHS services.

c) Review, analyse gaps, and provide recommendations on capacity-building interventions aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of policies, guidelines, protocols, and programs on GHS (i.e., DRRM-H, Migration Health Strategy, Surveillance and Epidemiology, Health Border and Mobility Management, Infection Prevention and Control, Biosafety and Biosecurity, etc) in consultation with stakeholders from the government, non-government and private sectors.

d) Review, analyze gaps, and provide recommendations on the establishment / enhancement of coordination mechanisms, networks, and referral for GHS (i.e., province-wide and regional laboratory network, Migration Health Network, etc) in consultation with stakeholders from the government, non-government and private sectors.

e) Identify, develop, and advise on effective strategies, technical tools, and SOPs for GHS programming.

f) Identify structural challenges and opportunities, review and analyze relevant health data and information, and provide recommendations for recalibration and improvements to GHS programming and for institutionalization of best practices emerged from the Activity.

g) Deliver supportive, regular supervision and mentoring to build technical capacity and attitudinal shifts of health workers on GHS.

h) Provide technical guidance to enhance and mainstream Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) approaches to GHS, scale up of Data Quality Checks, and to strengthen evidence- and needs-based programming.

i) Engage closely with DOH, MOH and other key stakeholders in the health sector to gather insights and perspectives on GHS policies and programs, enhance buy-in, and to facilitate effective intra-/inter-coordination.

Performance indicators for evaluation results

• Percentage of task completion specified in the ToR based on supervisors’ performance evaluation. Tasks are divided into technical assistance (40%), coordination, liaison, and networking to National, Regional, and Local stakeholders and partners (30%), and documentation and reporting (30%).
• Relevance of planning, organization and timeliness for managing and delivering progress reports and outputs.
• Quality revised and enhanced comprehensive GHS assessment and result analysis report.
• Number and quality of Policy briefs, tools, or policy/ guidelines evaluation reports of the reviewed policies and processes.
• Number and quality of mentoring sessions and interactions with key stakeholders at the National and Regional levels.
• Feedback from stakeholders on the quality of work and reports.
• Contribution to achieving project goals and objectives in BARMM, such as improved working groups and guidelines or policies, BARMM application of new knowledge, and effective service delivery.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Master’s or Higher degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, Medicine, International or Global Health, Health Care Management, Health Sciences, Health Policy, or any related field from an accredited academic institution with ten years of relevant professional experience, of which most are management or advisory roles.
• Specialization in areas of Global Health Security, Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology and Surveillance, Health Emergency, DRR for Health, Health Border Management, or Public Health is highly valuable.
• Diploma, Accreditation, or Certification related to GHS such as Basic and Advanced Epidemiology, Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP)- Frontline/ Intermediate/ Advance, One Health Approach, Health Emergency and Management, Disaster Risk Reduction, External Quality Assessment Program, Laboratory Information System (LIS), laboratory Biosafety and Biosecurity course, is encouraged.
• Prior working experience with the International Organization, UN, Development Organization, National and BARMM government is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with the issues, policies, structure, and context of the Global and Philippines on GHS is a must.

Languages

For this position, fluency in English and Filipino is required.

Note

The consultant must adhere to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Data Protection Principles (IN/138) and maintain confidentiality.

The consultant will be responsible to follow IOM writing guidelines and latest glossaries in all given assignments for accurate translation.

IOM is an intergovernmental organization, and as such is exempted from all taxes in the Philippines. Therefore, it is not obligated to retain any taxes that should be owed to the Government of the Philippines as part of the execution of this contract. It is the sole responsibility of the contractor to comply with any fiscal obligations that might be applicable.

Copyright

The ownership of intellectual products developed during this project will be shared with the government entities partaking in its creation, as well as IOM’s regional office. Government agencies and the cooperating agency must be warranted visibility and recognition, through the use of their logos in every document and any other material that might be a result of these intellectual production. Applications received later or that do not specify the name of the call will not be considered.

Required Competencies

Values

• Inclusion and respect for diversity: respects and promotes individual and cultural differences; encourages diversity and inclusion wherever possible.
• Integrity and transparency: maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct.
• Professionalism: demonstrates ability to work in a composed, competent and committed manner and exercises careful judgment in meeting day-to-day challenges.
• **Courage:**demonstrates willingness to take a stand on issues of importance.
• Empathy: shows compassion for others, makes people feel safe, respected and fairly treated.

Core Competencies – behavioural indicators level 1

• Teamwork: develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results.
• Delivering results: produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely manner; is action oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes.
• Managing and sharing knowledge: continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate.
• Accountability: takes ownership for achieving the Organization’s priorities and assumes responsibility for own action and delegated work.
• Communication: encourages and contributes to clear and open communication; explains complex matters in an informative, inspiring and motivational way.

IOM’s competency framework can be found at this link.

Competencies will be assessed during a competency-based interview.

Other:

The appointment is subject to funding confirmation.

Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances.