Salary band 4 – Professional 4T	Health Advisor – support to the National Coordinating Institution (NCI) in Sierra Leone
Reports to:	Senior Technical Advisor – Field of Activity 1
Deputy:	Technical Advisor in other focus countries

Overview – Regional Project Support to Pandemic Prevention in the ECOWAS Region (RPPP-2)

In December 2013, an Ebola epidemic of unprecedented proportions broke out in some countries in West Africa, primarily Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The efforts to stem the Ebola epidemic revealed fundamental deficits in the health policies and strategies of the afflicted countries, but also of regional and international organisations. Multiple outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging diseases occurred in the region: Lassa fever, Meningococcal disease, Polio, Yellow fever, Monkeypox and Cholera broke out in Nigeria between 2016 and 2018; Dengue and Lassa fever and Meningococcal disease broke out in various West African countries, highlighting the need for improved epidemic control in the region.

The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) are mandated to assist Member States in controlling epidemics. WAHO’s mandate is to advise Member States on the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) and to promote regional integration by harmonizing of policies of Member States, pooling of resources, and cooperation with one another and with other partners for a collective and strategic response to health problems of the ECOWAS region. 

The Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control (RCSDC) located in Abuja, Nigeria, was formally established in 2015 and operationalised in February 2018. It operates under the supervision of WAHO and has as mandate:

•           to support ECOWAS Member States to build capacities to effectively conduct disease surveillance, prepare, respond, and communicate risks for public health events.

•           to address complex health challenges in a coordinated manner, to empower the Member States achieve the ECOWAS set objective of keeping the people of West Africa healthy; and

•           to act only in cooperation with the relevant competent authority and upon request from Member States to carry out its mission, working under the close supervision of WAHO.

Besides the RCSDC, the Regional Centre for Animal Health (RCAH) is the second specialised agency of WAHO related to the One Health approach.

In support of the newly established RCSDC, National Coordinating Institutions (NCIs) are currently being or have been established in all 15 ECOWAS Member States supporting the facilitation and coordination of disease surveillance, early warning, and rapid response interventions. and overseeing laboratories.

The overarching objective of the project is to better protect the population of the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS) against epidemics through the strengthening of a One Health oriented prevention and control system.

The expected outputs of the second phase of the project are as follows:

• Output 1: Selected capacities of the National Coordinating Institutes for Pandemic Prevention and Control in focus countries are strengthened.
• Output 2: Coordination and communication between regional OH actors and ECOWAS member states are strengthened. 
• Output 3: Human resource strengthening with regard to pandemic prevention and control including the OH approach is institutionalised in ECOWAS. 
• Output 4: The digital disease surveillance and outbreak management system in the ECOWAS region is strengthened

RPPP-2 operates at regional level: the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) based in Burkina Faso, the Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control (RCSDC) of the ECOWAS based in Nigeria and the Regional Animal Health Centre (RAHC) based in Mali will be strengthened in regards to their mandate to support the Member States with the implementation of selected core capacities of the IHR, such as risk communication, inter institutional coordination, human resources and digitalized surveillance. RPPP-2 will intervene at country level in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali.

Position – Country Technical Advisor

RPPP-2 is looking for a Country Technical Advisor to support the National Coordinating Institution (NCI) in Sierra Leone through the implementation of RPPP-2 country-level activities.

The position will be based in Freetown with the following responsibilities: 

A. Core responsibilities 

• Support the strengthening of the NCI in your partner country. 
• Coordinate the country-level implementation of the Programme in synergies with strategies, approaches, results pursued by the programme at Regional level.
• Assume project management responsibilities 

B. Tasks 

• Promoted joint planning of activities with Ministerial counterparts and other partners in Health.
• Coordinate the implementation of activities at country level.
• Provide technical support to the National Coordinating Institution.
• Support the implementation at country level of intervention proposed at regional level.
• Support the organization of RPPP public events in the country.
• Provide contribution to the regular monitoring and evaluation of the programme by providing accurate and timely data requested by the programme indicators.
• Take responsibility of project management activities.
• Contribute to knowledge management.
• Perform any other related tasks as may be assigned by the superior

C. Required qualifications, competences, and experience 

Qualifications 

• Medical doctor or social scientist, with Degree in Public health, Epidemiology or Veterinary. 
• Working experience in Health security, Control of epidemic-prone Infectious Disease, Field Epidemiology 
• Solid knowledge about International Health Regulation (IHR, 2005)
• Language skills: English. Working knowledge of French would be an advantage 

Professional experience 

• At least 3 years of professional experience in a comparable position, good knowledge of health systems and health policy in the ECOWAS region. 
• Experience in project management in an international context.
• Professional and technical networking in the country and in the region.

Other knowledge, additional competencies 

• good communication skills. 
• good IT knowledge, proficiency with XL spreadsheet and Power Point Presentation. 
• good team player 
• innovative with positive attitude to change 
• experience in multi-cultural working environment
• proven ability to multi-task across various planning and implementation process within a highly demanding and competitive environment

The position will be administratively and logistically linked to the GIZ Country Office, following Rules & Regulations adopted in the country. 

Office space and equipment will be preferably negotiated with GIZ programmes and offices present in the country or within the partners’ technical institutions.

Mode of Application:

Suitable applicants are kindly asked to submit their complete application (cover letter, curriculum vitae, and references) to recruitmentsl@giz.de not later than the 23.12.2022 at 5.00 pm. GIZ-Sierra Leone is an equal-opportunity employer, and therefore women are strongly encouraged to apply.