.

Qualifications

OBJECTIVE OF THE OFFICE/DEPARTMENT

This requisition is for employment at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO)

The Special Program on Comprehensive Immunizations (CIM) is responsible for the promotion and coordination of technical cooperation and alliances to support Member States in achieving a sustainable and equitable reduction of morbidity, mortality, and burden of disease from vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD) through prevention, control, and elimination strategies. CIM seeks to revitalize Member States’ immunization programs through the application of innovative approaches, strategies, and best practices.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

Under the general supervision of the Assistant Director (AD) and the direct supervision of the Executive Manager, Comprehensive Immunizations (CIM), the incumbent is responsible for, but not necessarily limited to, the following assigned duties:

1.    Provide policy, strategic, technical, and programmatic advice for the timely development and implementation of CIM’s evidence-based program of technical cooperation with Member States and partner organizations, taking into account   PAHO/WHO’s Governing Bodies mandates and the Organization’s Strategic Plan.

2.    Provide first-level supervision of CIM’s core technical teams to achieve the highest level of excellence by setting clear work objectives, use of timely performance reviews and feedback, regular communication, and solving interpersonal or technical conflicts; monitor changes in workload to ensure equitable distribution of work to maintain optimal efficiency and output as well as job satisfaction; redistribute work when necessary; and follow up on any deviations in work output;

3.    Support the Executive Manager in the development and dissemination of a whole range of key documentation, including policy, strategic and technical briefs, analyses and reports, ensuring their clarity, coherence, quality and timeliness;

4.    Lead the adoption of innovative approaches on surveillance, vaccination coverage analyses, identification of barriers to immunization access, integration with Primary Health Care, communication and community engagement;

5.    Guide the identification and incorporation of evidence-based innovative tools, technologies and interventions in CIM’s technical cooperation, ensuring their timely and effective uptake in countries, in close coordination with PAHO Country Offices and relevant partner organizations;

6.    Coordinate the development of CIM’s multisectoral strategies with Member States and key stakeholders, and the Program’s internal inter-programmatic initiatives, including participation at Interdepartmental Working Groups and Task Forces, among others;

7.    Guide the development and implementation of effective community engagement strategies, interventions and best practices to help build community trust for national immunization programs, in close consultation with relevant stakeholders, and collaboration with Country Offices;

8.    Guide the effective development and implementation of strategic communication, social mobilization and advocacy activities to build and maintain confidence in immunization programs, and address the impact of misinformation on immunization behavior, making use of new technologies and modes of utilization by the population, including the use of behavioral science;

9.    Support the Executive Manager (EM) in building and fostering partnerships with key actors at the government level, private sector, civil society and academia, and coordinate the preparation of project profiles and proposals to mobilize resources with potential funders;

10. Assist the EM in the development of cross-cutting strategic policy directives, position papers, statements and briefings in accordance with the Organization’s priorities;

11. Coordinate the preparation of the core technical teams’ activities related to the Organization’s Biennial Work Plan (BWP), and Human Resources Plan, as required; support and ensure the timely monitoring, reporting and evaluation of results and accomplishments for the benefit of the Member States and the Organization;

12. Represent the Executive Manager at official missions and meetings with government officials, national counterparts, donors, partner organizations, UN agencies, and other relevant stakeholders, as needed;

13. Provide a stable managerial framework that demonstrates credibility, trust and value to Member States, clients and humanitarian and other donors, while optimizing staff performance; provide advice, when called upon, to institutions of Member States in the area of expertise;

14. Promote a culture of ethical behavior and integrity in accordance with the Organization’s Code of Ethical Principles and Conduct to ensure a culture of respect, responsibility, accountability, and compliance;

15. Perform other related duties, as assigned.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

Essential: A bachelor’s degree in a health science and a master’s degree in public health, epidemiology, international health development or in any other field related to the functions of the post, from a recognized institution.

Desirable: A PhD. or M.D. degree would be an asset.

In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position.  WHO, only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. PAHO will also use the databases of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation http://www.chea.org and College Navigator, found on the website of the National Centre for Educational Statistics, https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator to support the validation process.

Experience:

Essential: Thirteen years of combined national and international experience in leading and managing public health programs, including solid experience working on immunizations. Extensive knowledge and professional experience in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Experience in negotiations with large institutions and in resource mobilization and partnership development, ideally in the field of international public health. Experience should include progressively responsible demonstrated skills in management, diplomacy, and negotiations at high level.

Desirable: Experience in a United Nations organization or any international organization would be an asset. Proven success in resource mobilization efforts would be an asset.

SKILLS:

PAHO Competencies:

·       Overall attitude at work: Maintains integrity and takes a clear ethical approach and stance; demonstrates commitment to the Organization’s mandate and promotes the values of the Organization in daily work and behavior; is accountable for work carried out in line with own role and responsibilities; is respectful towards, and trusted by, colleagues and counterparts.

·       Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences: Relates well to diversity in others and capitalizes on such diversity – Treats all people with dignity and respect. Relates well to people with different cultures, gender, orientations, backgrounds and/or positions; examines own behavior to avoid stereotypical responses; considers issues from the perspective of others and values their diversity.

·       Teamwork: Advocates for collaboration across the Organization – Creates and encourages a climate of team- working and collaboration across the Organization; sees cooperation as a key Organizational priority and creates collaborative systems and processes to achieve Organizational goals. Actively identifies and tackles disagreements between internal and external counterparts that compromise the Organization’s goals and mandate; diplomatically facilitates the resolution of conflicts between others and ensures strategic partnerships with a range of key stakeholders; maintains and extends an effective collaborative network of individuals inside and outside the Organization.

·       Communication: Share knowledge – Articulates the Organization’s strategic objectives when formulating and delivering information and presentations and adapts presentation methodology to address the needs of different audiences.  Shares decisions and directives of senior management and communicates them in a manner that ensures both understanding and acceptance; shares knowledge and best practice at the three Organizational levels (country, regional and global), as necessary.

·       Creating an empowering and motivating environment:  Provide direction/Support, motivate and empower others – Oversees and provides teams and departments with clear managerial directions which are translated from Organizational strategy.  Builds a performance culture in the Organization; contributes to setting Organizational performance goals and standards; monitors Organizational performance against milestones and strategic goals; identifies and nurtures talent as appropriate. Promotes autonomy and empowerment throughout the Organization; inspires enthusiasm and a positive attitude in people towards their work and contribution to the Organization’s success.

·       Ensuring effective use of resources: Strategize and set clear objectives/Monitor progress and use resources well – Sets specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely objectives for own team and/or the Organization; systematically analyses and anticipates priority projects for own team and allocates necessary resources to achieve them; identifies the cross-Organizational resources needed for large- scale projects in line with key Organizational objectives.  Anticipates foreseeable changes and adapts own and team’s projects in the face of unforeseen circumstances and/ or challenges; creates measures and criteria to monitor progress of overall projects against key Organizational objectives; creates cost-effective solutions for the Organization.

·       Driving the Organization to a successful future: Constructive leadership style/ Set the vision and build commitment – Leads and develops a road map for successfully achieving real progress in the Organization’s mandate, including consultation with key stakeholders; demonstrates respectful, trustworthy, transparent and accountable behavior in order to develop a reliable and coherent identity for the Organization. Creates a coherent Organizational vision of shared and successful goals; fosters a culture of vision and long- term goals, recognizing and rewarding efforts to maximize the Organization’s value.

Technical Expertise:

·       Technical: Extensive expertise at a decision-making level in vaccine preventable diseases, public health, epidemiology, global health, and resource mobilization; experience working with national and international immunization or disease control programs, extensive knowledge of public health problems and cost-effective interventions for eliminating and controlling vaccine preventable diseases, including monitoring and performance assessment in the health or social sector.

·       Managerial: Extensive expertise in progressively responsible positions in the management of a large public or private institution on administrative and technical matters. Demonstrated ability to provide strategic leadership to technical, organizational, managerial and analytic work of national immunization and disease control programs; capability to communicate effectively with  high level audiences, technical professionals and the general public; Courtesy, tact, sensitivity to manage confidential information and ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people of different professional levels, discipline, nationalities and cultural backgrounds; resourcefulness, initiative, highly developed judgment and interpersonal skills to deal with difficult situations and sensitive areas.

·       Administrative: Skills and experience in program management, resource mobilization (including fundraising and partner collaboration) and in financial management for the delivery of expected results.

Languages:

Very good knowledge of English or Spanish with a working knowledge of the other language.  Knowledge in French and/or Portuguese would be and asset.

IT Skills:

Demonstrated ability to effectively use current technology and software, spreadsheets and presentations, as well as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and management information systems. Other IT skills and knowledge of software programs such as Microsoft Excel, Outlook, OneDrive, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint, and Word are considered essential.

REMUNERATION

Annual Salary: (Net of taxes)

US $92,731.00 post adjustment

Post Adjustment: 63.5% of the above figure(s).  This percentage is to be considered as indicative since variations may occur each month either upwards or downwards due to currency exchange rate fluctuations or inflation.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level.

Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to PAHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and e-Manual.

For information on PAHO please visit: http://www.paho.org

PAHO/WHO is an ethical organization that maintains high standards of integrity and accountability. People joining PAHO are required to maintain these standards both in their professional work and personal activities.

PAHO/WHO also promotes a work environment that is free from harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and other types of abusive behavior. PAHO conducts background checks and will not hire anyone who has a substantiated history of abusive conduct.

PAHO/WHO personnel interact frequently with people in the communities we serve. To protect these people, PAHO has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse. People who commit serious wrongdoing will be terminated and may also face criminal prosecution.

PAHO/WHO is committed to workforce diversity. PAHO/WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

PAHO/WHO offers an attractive compensation package including an annual net salary and post adjustment, which reflects the cost of living in a particular duty station and exchange rates (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance).  Other benefits include: 30 days annual leave, dependency benefits, pension plan and health insurance scheme. Benefits for internationally recruited staff may include home leave, travel and removal expenses on appointment and separation, education grant for dependent children, assignment grant and rental subsidy.

Candidates appointed to an international post with PAHO are subject to mobility and may be assigned to any activity or duty station of the Organization throughout the world.

All applicants are required to complete an on-line profile to be considered for this post.

Candidates will be contacted only if they are under serious consideration. A written test and/or interview will be held for this post.  The post description is the official documentation for organization purposes.