Strategic Desk Officer (Delivery for Impact)

at  World Health Organization

Grade: P4
Contractual Arrangement: Fixed-term appointment
Contract Duration (Years, Months, Days): 1 year (subject to 1st year probation period, further extension based on availability of funds and and satisfactory performance)
Job Posting: Sep 13, 2024, 2:15:29 AM
Closing Date: Oct 7, 2024, 4:59:00 PM
Primary Location: Denmark-Copenhagen
Organization: EU/CPA Country Support and Partnerships
Schedule: Full-time
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that the deadline for receipt of applications indicated above reflects your personal device’s system settings.

EDUCATION

Essential: University degree (Master’s level) in Political, Social, or Health Sciences, Management or Economics
Desirable: Additional university degree in any of the above fields

EXPERIENCE

Essential: At least 7 years of professional experience in international and country relations, public health, partnerships, or public relations, and experience in management and administration
Desirable: Working experience of the UN system, and WHO specifically, in the field of international relations, partnerships,and country relations. Work experience at country level in public health administration and/or in an international organization is an asset. Relevant experience within WHO, the United Nations or other international organizations

SKILLS

• Sound expertise and skills in the reviewing progress in strategy and programme implementation at organizational level, and gauging progress towards the implementation of medium- and long-term strategic health and/or development plans at national level.
• Substantial knowledge and skills in the formulation of public health policies and strategic frameworks at country level.
• Very solid knowledge of external relations with Member States.
• Ability to identify him/herself with, and have a strong commitment to, the core values of the World Health Organization.
• Skilful in modern management methods (performance measurement, design and operation of modern management information systems, planning and evaluation, etc.).
• Skillful in understanding the potential motivating factors of his/her staff for purposes of adjusting them to new approaches in an increasingly complex environment.
• Emotional awareness; ability to identify and harness one’s emotions and apply them to tasks; and the ability to manage emotions, which includes both regulating one’s own emotions when necessary and helping others to do the same.

USE OF LANGUAGE SKILLS

Essential: Expert knowledge of English.
Desirable: Intermediate knowledge of French, Russian and/or German.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

The purpose of this position is to strengthen EURO`scountry work and the implementation of the European Programme of Work in MemberStates. Technically, the incumbent leads the development and implementation of approaches, systems and tools for a systematic approach for regular stock takes of progress in countries towards SDGs and EPW/GPW 13 implementation and the identification of corrective strategies. Geographically, the incumbent provides support to a distinct number of assigned Member States with WHO country offices across the areas of strategic information, strategic planning, implementation support and networking.

KEY DUTIES:

The core responsibilities infacilitation and providing guidance on country specific work in the Regional Office include: Acting as the WHO/EURO focal point for the countries allocated to him/her, the incumbent:

• Coordinates and facilitates the overall planning of the country work undertaken by the Regional Office ensuring its alignment with key strategic direction/regional country work priorities through the regular monitoring of work plans, BCAs, Country Cooperation Strategies (CCS) and development of other instruments. This includes contributing to the development of regional work plans based on up to date knowledge and intelligence about matters related to Member States
• Leads and coordinates the development,implementation and monitoring of BCAs and CCSs
• Monitors the relevance and overalltimeliness of EURO technical assistance to countries deliverables through bothcountry and intercountry workplans;
• Ensures that a cross divisional approach is applied by technical programmes in delivering technical assistanceto countries, guiding, advising and assisting technical programmes as appropriate
• Develops coordination mechanisms, instruments and tools forcross-divisional country work delivery in collaboration with technical divisions

Core responsibilities in supporting WHOs in assigned countries include:

• Ensure effective country work delivery by liaising between country offices and technical programmes as well as other entities inthe Regional Office crucial for effective programme execution
• Regularly update WHOs on new WHO Regional and Global initiatives and policies, sharing innovative approaches and best practices in the area of country work as applied by different Country Offices
• To support WHOs in sharing relevant knowledge with other nationalstakeholders

Core responsibilities in supporting the Regional Director and EURO ECO members with regard to assigned countries include:

• On a daily basis, to provide guidance and operational support to the management of country offices, making recommendations to the RD on these issues
• Analyse information from countries,focusing on situations of critical importance for the objectives set, identify potential areas that require special attention, and contribute to finding innovative ways to address these areas
• Obtain, organize and maintain knowledge/intelligence on country work in the form of case studies and evidence on best practices applied in the Region and produce quality briefings for RD and EXC members for their meetings with high level national health authorities
• Organize and lead preparation of Country Days and official high-level visits to and from Member States
• Provide input to the planning and reporting on the work plans of the countries under his/her responsibility
• Update the divisional work plan in relation to outputs under his/her responsibility, coordinating with Director CSE to regularly monitor and assess the performance of the team in connection with office - wide evaluation and reporting exercises

As the Division’s lead on stocktakesand delivery:

• Develops a systematic approach, processes andtools for regular stock takes of progress in countries towards SDGs and in EPW/GPW implementation and delivery of WHO commitments and programmes
• Facilitates regular internal dialogues on thedelivery of WHO’s work in countries and strategic course corrections
• Supports country offices to organizes regular stock takes and policy dialogues with country counterparts on progress towards SDGs and EPW/GPW implementation
• Coordinates with, and build capacity of, other desk officers with country responsibilities and supports them in the application of tools and approaches to stock takes and delivery in countries under their responsibility