- Term Duration: 1 year 0 months
- Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment
- Location: Dakar,Senegal
- Required Language(s): English, French
- Preferred Language(s): Portuguese
- Closing Date: 6/7/2021 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
We are on a mission to change the world; do you want to join us where it matters the most? Invest in your personal and professional development and acquire the skills that are vital for a global career in international development. A role in an FCS (Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations) location will be a truly impactful experience!
Fragility Conflict and Violence: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/fragilityconflictviolence
Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. Visit www.worldbank.org.
Health, nutrition and population (hnp) global practice context
The central contribution of the HNP Global Practice to the World Bank’s twin goals is to enable the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), in which all people are effectively covered by essential health services, and nobody suffers undue financial hardship because of illnesses. The HNP Global Practice includes staff members in Washington, DC, and many country offices. The HNP Global Practice works with and across multiple sectors, in recognition of the fact that HNP outcomes often depend on actions that lie outside the HNP sector. The HNP Global Practice supports country and regional efforts to: (i) improve health outcomes, especially for the poor and most vulnerable; (ii) expand access to high-quality HNP services, interventions and technologies that give the most value for money; (iii) strengthen health systems for results; (iv) establish and improve health financing mechanisms that promote efficiency, equity and sustainability of investments; (v) strengthen heath-relevant institutions within and outside the health sector; (vi) harness multisectoral policies and investments for better health outcomes; and (vii) develop and learn from rigorous impact evaluations.
For more information: https://worldbankgroup.sharepoint.com/sites/Health/Pages/pc/about/About.aspx
Africa Region context
Africa has registered strong economic growth in recent years that has helped to reduce poverty levels in the continent. Yet, as Africa’s population expands, the region faces a critical challenge of creating the foundations for long-term inclusive growth. Many countries still contend with high levels of child and maternal mortality, malnutrition is far too common, and most health systems are not able to deal effectively with epidemics and the growing burden of chronic diseases. These challenges call for renewed commitments and accelerated progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC)—the principle that everyone receives needed health services without financial hardship.
Most African countries have integrated UHC as a goal in their national health strategies. Yet, progress in translating commitments to UHC into expanded domestic resources for health, effective development assistance, and ultimately, equitable and quality health services, and increased financial protection has been slow. To accelerate progress toward UHC in Africa, the countries will require political leadership and a clear strategic vision to achieve their UHC targets and to be able to eliminate preventable maternal and child deaths, strengthen resilience to public health emergencies, reduce financial hardship linked to illness, and strengthen the foundations for long-term economic growth.
COVID-19 Disease context
An outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has been spreading rapidly across the world since December 2019, following the diagnosis of the initial cases in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic as the coronavirus rapidly spreads across the world. Globally, as of 5 October 2020, there have been 35,027,546 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,034,837 deaths, reported to WHO. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the steepest economic contraction in 90 years. We estimate that the pandemic could push over 150 million people into extreme poverty by 2021. The negative impact on human capital will be deep and may last decades. In March 2020 the World Bank launched a fast-track approach to address the COVID-19 emergency and presently has COVID response programs in 111 countries. At present, the World Bank is exploring ways to provide financing for COVID-19 vaccines through this same fast-track approach. On 30 September 2020, the WBG President proposed to make available up to $12 billion of fast-track financing to countries for the purchase and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines once the vaccines have been approved by several highly respected, stringent regulatory agencies. The WBG vaccine financing is additional to the COVID fast-track health financing announced in March and is an important part of the WBG’s intention to make available $160 billion in grants and financial support to help developing countries respond to the health, social, and economic impacts of COVID-19.
Redisse context
The REDISSE Program is an interdependent series of projects developed between 2016 and 2019. At present sixteen countries in West and Central Africa are participating in the Program. The approach consists of (i) addressing weaknesses in human and animal health systems for disease surveillance and response; (ii) building capacity for effective cross-sectoral and cross-border collaboration; and (iii) providing an immediate and effective response in the event of an eligible emergency.
REDISSE activities directly benefit almost half a billion people living in some of the most vulnerable countries in the world. REDISSE is financed by a combination of International Development Association (IDA) credits and grants, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loans (USD 60 million for Angola), multi and single donor trust funds. The Program allows IDA eligible countries to access both country and regional IDA financing– incentivizing countries to invest in modern disease surveillance systems, laboratory capacity, the health security workforce and outbreak planning and readiness. The regional approach championed by REDISSE emphasizes collective action and cross-border collaboration. Given the importance of the human-animal-ecosystem interface in the emergence and spread of new and epidemic prone diseases, REDISSE has adopted an inter-disciplinary “One Health” approach and supporting activities in and collaboration among multiple sectors. REDISSE is a learning program and has benefitted from the integration of lessons learned during implementation through restructuring as well as formal analytic work.
REDISSE is still in the early stages of implementation, however, the rapid depletion of REDISSE funds for the COVID-19 response threatens the continuation of careful and deliberate investment in surveillance and response systems and achievement of the project development objectives in the medium term. Countries participating in REDISSE are seeking additional financing and the demand for World Bank investments in “REDISSE-like” operations are expected to rise in Africa and other regions. In fiscal year 2021, the REDISSE task team will facilitate project replenishment and restructuring where required, incorporating lessons learned in both routine implementation and the COVID-19 crisis response.
Duties & Accountabilities
The WBG is seeking an Extended Term Consultant (ETC) to provide technical assistance to the WB’s HNP Portfolio. There will be also be a focus on health security through the REDISSE Program and in supporting countries responding to the health, social, and economic impacts of COVID-19. The consultant will assist with the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the COVID-19 response, including the roll out of COVID-19 vaccines. The consultancy will be based in Dakar, Senegal. The tasks that the consultant will be responsible for include, but are not limited to, the following:
HNP Operation Portfolio:
- Lead, co-lead or support implementation support of the Bank’s HNP operational portfolio, as well as the preparation of selected national and/or regional operations. This will be including leading, co-leading or contributing to technical discussions and monitoring of the Bank portfolio on a day-to-day basis in close collaboration with the relevant government agencies and development partners;
- Review or prepare sector-specific or cross-sectoral inputs for various operational products/outputs (e.g. sector/country briefings, background reports, policy documents, portfolio performance reviews, etc.);
- Lead and/or assist the team in policy dialogue, communications and interactions with government counterparts, country stakeholders as well as development partners;
- Contribute to sector-specific or cross-sectoral inputs for various operational products/outputs (e.g. sector/country briefings, background reports, portfolio performance reviews, etc.);
- Review and contribute to sector-specific or cross-sectoral policy and other documents;
- Participate in missions of the health team; and respond to ad hoc information requests from internal and external parties.
REDISSE
- Lead, co-lead or support technical stewardship and the COVID-19 response and implementation of the REDISSE Program in West and Central Africa;
- Provide advice and guidance on key technical domains and associated activities, including (inter alia) surveillance, diagnosis and case management, outbreak preparedness, training in field epidemiology, risk communication, and medical countermeasures, including vaccine strategies.
- Assist countries with the development, review and validation of Annual Work Plans and Budgets (AWPB) and National Action Plans for Heath Security (NAPHS) based on JEE assessments of IHR core capacities and PVS Pathway assessments of animal health services;
- Assist the World Bank to articulate and draft a regional strategy for health security investment in Africa;
- Assist with the technical review of analytic and advisory services (AAS) relevant to the COVID-19 response and REDISSE program, including work on gender, health security and epidemic response;
- Assist with the restructuring and replenishment of REDISSE Projects.
The work will be substantive in nature, requiring frequent interactions with senior external and internal counterparts.
The Extended Term Consultant (ETC) will report to the Practice Manager (Health Nutrition and Population) for HAWH2. For day-to-day operational work, the Extended Term Consultant (ETC) will serve as Task Team Leader on assigned tasks and work closely with other Task Team Leaders and the Human Development Program Leader. The Senior Health Specialist / Economist will be subject to all World Bank regulations and guidelines applicable to staff in the Country Office which is their duty station.
Selection Criteria
- Graduate degrees (Master’s degree required, PhD or equivalent would be an asset) in public health, health economics, health financing, epidemiology, business administration or professional degree (medicine, nursing).
- Candidates without a core qualification in at least one of these domains need not apply. Candidates with combined degrees will have an added advantage.
- A proven track-record of leading policy dialogue, policy reforms, and/or service delivery innovations, and of working across sector boundaries.
- Experience working in the Africa region to develop public health core capacities including disease outbreak preparedness, health systems strengthening and delivery of essential services.
- A proven track record of high standards/accountability for work products, meeting deadlines, an ability to prioritize tasks within his/her work program and strategies for working collectively with others on the team to deliver products of the highest caliber.
- Demonstrated ability to interact with clients at the policy and technical level, to organize and manage policy development initiatives and evaluation work in collaboration with other development agencies and financing partners in health.
- Experience working on WBG funded projects and familiarity with WBG operations, policies, and procedures.
- Experience working on the COVID-19 response through the REDISSE Program and/or FTCF operations is preferred.
- Proven ability to collaborate with other team members across sectors (human health, animal health, disaster response, environmental health), and contribute productively to the team’s work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view.
- Fluency in French and English (excellent oral and written communication skills) is essential, with ability to prepare documents on complex subjects, speak and write persuasively, and present ideas clearly and concisely.
- Must possess good communication skills.
- Experience and familiarity in working in fragile and emergency context in the health sector would be an advantage. Pro-activeness, balanced with creativity, with the ability to adapt to transient contexts
- Strong interpersonal and diplomatic skills and ability to adapt and respond to work requests on short notice.
In addition to the above, the successful candidate is expected to demonstrate the following competencies:
- Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena – Understands policy making process and role of the health sector in that process.
- Ability to undertake document and informant-based research on key technical and policy questions and to distill operationally relevant recommendations and lessons for clients and task teams.
Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable for an additional one year, at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET Appointment of two years. If an ET appointment ends before a full year, it is considered as a full year toward the lifetime maximum. Former and current ET staff who have completed all or any portion of their second-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.
Poverty has no borders, neither does excellence. We succeed because of our differences and we continuously search for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds from around the globe.
Closing date: 7 June 2021.
Pour postuler à ce poste veuillez visiter : worldbankgroup.csod.com
