Technical Officer, Demand and Behavioural Sciences

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPD) Programme is part of and contributes to the work of the Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Non-communicablediseases (UHC/UCN) cluster in the WHO African region. The strategic agenda of the cluster is to reduce disease burden in the WHO African Region, by guiding disease control agenda in Africa, and using analytics to inform strategic investments and tailored interventions for disease control. This approach is underpinned by the guiding principles of comprehensive whole-of-society,people-centered, integrated approaches to disease control. The comprehensive whole-of-society approaches to disease control involve: (a) coherent implementation of triple response – technical response: implementing diseases specific normative guidance, promoting intervention mixes and deploying medical commodities; healthsystems response: building capacities of district service delivery systems in disease mapping and stratification, interventions tailoring, and sector/subsector planning; and multi-sectoralresponse: addressing socio-economic and environmental determinants of diseases through mobilizing non-health sectors, communities and stakeholders;(b) disease control partnership of publicand private sectors, health and non-health sectors; and (c) community involvement in prioritized high risk communities, focused on understanding and managing determinants of diseases, health services demand promotion and accountability by local health stewards. The people centered, integrated approaches to disease control involves: (a) integrated guidance on disease control for each health service delivery platform, a move away from stand-alonedisease specific guidance; and (b) integrated and efficient disease control investments in strengthening thecapacity of appropriate health services delivery platforms. These approaches will operate through the deployment of appropriate technologies and analytics toguide stratification of disease risks across population groups to develop anddeploy comprehensive packages of interventions appropriate to each targeted population group and health service delivery platform, as well as monitor population access, coverage and impact to leave no one behind.The specific objectives of the UCN cluster to which the VPD programme contributes, are to: (i) provide leadership on disease control coordination, partnership and resource mobilization; (ii) contribute to the development of WHO disease control technical products, services and tools including adoption of new technologies and innovations; (iii) support generation and use of strategicinformation for action and decision making including optimizing investment; and(iv) provide or facilitate provision of technical support in deployment of WHO technical products and services and institutional capacity building, including support to national disease programmes and regulatory authorities.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

The incumbent is assigned all or part of the following responsibilities which are performed according to the need and agenda to support the sub-region andcountries:Facilitate periodic assessments of health and vaccination behaviors via surveys and qualitative studies, identifying factors contributing to low vaccines uptake and supporting the design and evaluation of strategies to improve uptake; Support the use of data on behavioural and social drivers of vaccination to guide planning, implementation, and evaluation of tailored interventions to increase vaccination uptake;Support countries in media monitoring, digital listening, and gathering community feedback related to VPDs and vaccines to guide intervention;Contribute to the identification and mapping of stakeholders, monitoring and updating needsfor information or other support (e.g., capacity building in areas such as advocacyor dialogue-based interventions to address hesitancy) ; Support development and tracking implementation of WHO immunization communication and health promotion materials, guidelines, tools to the intended audiences; Support the planning and production of public information and communication materials such as, but not limited to newsletters, fact sheets, media kits, program summaries and updates, specifically related to IST activities and WHO events for use on relevant media channels and platforms; To support archiving and collation of all relevant documents reporting the work and activities at ISTProactively network within UCN cluster and other programs to stay up-to-date on, and todocument relevant success stories, human interest stories, integrated activities, upcoming events and other potentially significant information for appropriate packaging and dissemination;Contribute to the establishment and management of a documentation unit/clearing house for relevant products from the field, partners and other applicable sources toensure wide distribution of relevant materials to field staff;Contribute and support capacity building of national demand promotion and communications at a country level; Collaborate with other programs and partners to promote and support the adoption of innovations to increase vaccine demand and coverage;Maintaining collaborative networks and partnership for sharing tools, guidance, information and communication materials;Developing/collaboratingon the development and maintenance of up to date sub regional and national databases on vaccine demand To perform other related responsibilities as assigned replacing and back stoppingfor other as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: Degree in Communications, Health Marketing, Behavioural Science, Social Science, Journalism, or related discipline.
Desirable: Additional training in or a good understanding of public health, qualitative research, international relations, advertising/publicrelations.

Experience

Essential: At least five years of experience as a health promotion, Behavior diagnostics, communication, journalistor spokesperson in a media organization including television, radio and or print, ideally involving information and communications projects on health subjects.
Desirable: Experience in conceptualization, design and production of information materials, ideally in a health context.Experience with inter-governmental agencies, the UN system or WHO and knowledge of national and regional partnerships and networks.

Skills

Direct experiencein planning for behavioural interventions, communications, information and/or public relations. Demonstrated expertise in using local data and evidence-based interventions to understand and address behavioural drivers of health behaviors in specific settings. Demonstrated expertise in written, verbal editing and production skills leading to the development of accurate contentand information for divers print and electronic media which presented at the appropriate level for the audience. Expertise in developing and promotingcooperative relationships nationally and internationally. Proven ability tothink outside the box and to resolve problems in a proactive manner. Knowledge or understanding of public health events on social and economic development andits burden on populations. Proven organizational and analytical skills and a commitment to quality and client orientation. Excellent interpersonal skills, discretion, tact and diplomacy.

WHO Competencies

Teamwork
Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
Communication
Producing results

Use of Language Skills

Essential: Expert knowledge of English. Intermediate knowledge of French.
Desirable:
The above language requirements are interchangeable.

REMUNERATION

Remuneration comprises an annual base salary starting at XAF 29,828,000 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable) and 30 days of annual leave.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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

• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

• A written test and/or an asynchronous video assessment may be used as a form of screening.

• 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/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.

• According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible.

• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.

• The WHO is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The WHO recruits and employs staff regardless of disability status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, race, marital status, religious, cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, or any other personal characteristics.

The WHO is committed to achieving gender parity and geographical diversity in its staff. Women, persons with disabilities, and nationals of unrepresented and underrepresented Member States (https://www.who.int/careers/diversity-equity-and-inclusion) are strongly encouraged to apply.

Persons with disabilities can request reasonable accommodations to enable participation in the recruitment process. Requests for reasonable accommodation should be sent through an email to reasonableaccommodation@who.int

• An impeccable record for integrity and professional ethical standards is essential. WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.

• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.

• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

• For information on WHO’s operations please visit: http://www.who.int.

• WHO also offers wide range of benefits to staff, including parental leave and attractive flexible work arrangements to help promote a healthy work-life balance and to allow all staff members to express and develop their talents fully.

• The statutory retirement age for staff appointments is 65 years. For external applicants, only those who are expected to complete the term of appointment will normally be considered.

• Please note that WHO’s contracts are conditional on members of the workforce confirming that they are vaccinated as required by WHO before undertaking a WHO assignment, except where a medical condition does not allow such vaccination, as certified by the WHO Staff Health and Wellbeing Services (SHW). The successful candidate will be asked to provide relevant evidence related to this condition. A copy of the updated vaccination card must be shared with WHO medical service in the medical clearance process. Please note that certain countries require proof of specific vaccinations for entry or exit. For example, official proof /certification of yellow fever vaccination is required to enter many countries. Country-specific vaccine recommendations can be found on the WHO international travel and Staff Health and Wellbeing website. For vaccination-related queries please directly contact SHW directly at shws@who.int.

• This is a National Professional Officer position. Therefore, only applications from nationals of the country where the duty station is located will be accepted. Applicants who are not nationals of this country will not be considered.

• In case the website does not display properly, please retry by: (i) checking that you have the latest version of the browser installed (Chrome, Edge or Firefox); (ii) clearing your browser history and opening the site in a new browser (not a new tab within the same browser); or (iii) retry accessing the website using Mozilla Firefox browser or using another device. Click this link for detailed guidance on completing job applications: Instructions for candidates