SSA – Project coordinator for the “Phasing out mercury measuring devices in healthcare"

Background

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized UN agency with headquarters in Geneva, six regional offices and country offices in 154 countries. WHO is actively engaged in activities to address the health impacts of mercury and has long-standing programs that regularly update the evidence about the health impacts of the different forms of mercury, provide guidance on identifying populations at risk from mercury exposure, develop and disseminate tools to reduce mercury exposure, and provide guidance on the replacement of mercury-containing thermometers and sphygmomanometers blood pressure measuring devices in health care. WHO also leads projects to promote the sound management and disposal of healthcare waste and has facilitated the development of affordable, validated, non-mercury-containing blood pressure measuring devices. WHO activities are supported by a World Health Assembly Resolution WHA67.11 (2014) on the public health impacts of exposure to mercury and mercury compounds: the role of WHO and ministries of public health in the implementation of the Minamata Convention.
In line with its role as the leading international health agency and existing mandates and activities in support of the Minamata Convention, WHO will actively work to phase out the use of mercury-containing measuring devices in healthcare. WHO will act as the executing agency for a full-sized project approved by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to phase out mercury in healthcare. Project activities will take place in five countries in three regions, India (South-East Asia), Burkina Faso and Uganda (Africa) and Montenegro and Albania (Europe). WHO, in collaboration with UN Environment Program (UNEP) Global Mercury Partnership implements approaches to the phase-out of mercury in healthcare that will be sustainable for long-term applicability. The expected objective of the project is to eliminate the uncontrolled release of mercury from healthcare settings. The project will comprise three components: 1) The development or improvement of national health-system-wide strategies for phasing out the import, export and manufacture of mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometers in line with WHO recommendations and related provisions of the Minamata Convention, 2) implementation of national strategies to phase-out manufacture, import and export in all 5 countries and piloting phase out of use in at least three countries and 3) knowledge management and awareness raising.

Deliverables

Deliverable 1: Liaise with project partners, WHO HQ, country and regional offices and national stakeholders

1.1 Act as a day-to-day focal point for the project and perform daily requests for project related information and implementation.
1.2 Arrange regular monthly national project coordination meetings, including drafting agendas, invitation letters, communication materials, and meeting reports.
1.3 Participate in virtual or in-person global, regional and in-country meetings related to the project.
1.4 Organize national inception meeting, national capacity-building and waste management meeting in coordination with national stakeholders.
1.5 Participate in regular progress meetings with the Executing Agency at a periodicity to be mutually agreed.
1.6 Support WHO CO operations as per the WHO CO request.

Deliverable 2: Provide support in implementation of project components 1-3

2.1 Overall coordination and management of project implementation activities in accordance with the Project Work Plan, assuring that project objectives are met
2.2 Support development of the national situation analysis using the template and guidance provided
2.3 Support drafting the national phase out plan using the template and guidance provided
2.4 Overseeing, in close collaboration with WHO CO and technical unit, the work of technical specialists employed to implement Project activities and providing them with all necessary information and resources for the successful execution of their assignment.
2.5 Identify gaps implementation and propose new ideas for meeting those gaps,
2.6 Lead development of terms of references and project proposals
2.7 Regularly supervise, monitor, evaluate and report on project activities to the WHO CO. This includes the monitoring of project financed activities and whether they are carried out in accordance with high professional standards and in accordance with the agreed project objectives;
2.8 Prepare information on technical, progress and other information about the project and disseminate it through relevant channels including those of the Ministry of Health, medical devices and other technical networks.

Deliverable 3: Contribute to reporting requirements of the GEF projects

3.1 Provide input to quarterly project status reports, including progress on work plan, and budget reports and contribute to forecasting of expenditure.
3.2 Prepare a summary report for mid-project and end-project review.

Qualifications

Educational Qualifications

Essential:
- Bachelor's degree in Chemical or Biochemical Engineering, Inorganic Technology, Ecology, Public Health, Sciences, or a similar health-related field.

Desirable:
- Master's degree.
- Qualification in project management and environmental science.

Experience

Essential:
- Over 3 years of relevant experience in the areas of biomedical engineering; production of medical devices; health technology management or assessment; regulation of medical devices; health care waste management or similar fields.
- Over 3 years of project management/implementation in environment and /or health-related fields.
- Experience in cooperation with authorities (national & local authorities) and different sectors in particular health institutions in activities related to health protection and the environment.
- Thorough understanding of environmental toxicology and how exposure to an environmental stressor affects living organisms.

Desirable:
- Exposure to work at the international level and preferably with an UN agency..
- Experience working with a range of healthcare settings including those of low- and middle-income countries.

Skills/Knowledge:

Essential:
- Strong organizational and scheduling skills.
- Excellent communication, writing and editing skills.
- Excellent data management skills.
- Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build strong relationships with a variety of stakeholders across different sectors.
- Excellent analytical and presentation skills.
- Competence in the use of Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint and Excel).
- Self-discipline with the ability to work autonomously and as part of a team.

Languages

Essential:
- Excellent knowledge of English and Montenegrin.

Location

WHO Project Unit in Podgorica (exact physical location of the office to be determined).

Travel

Onsite. The SSA holder is expected to travel for the project purpose (dates and location not known at this stage). Travel costs will be paid in addition.

Remuneration

a. Remuneration: EUR 2,375 EUR per month (In line with the G6 equivalent Associate level of the newest UN Montenegro fee ranges for local experts and individual contractors).

b. Expected duration of SSA: Initial contract for 7,5 months (May-Dec 2024)

Additional Information

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.

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