Job Title: Health Advisor

Reports to: Head of Health Support

Terms: 2-year contact with possibility of extension

Job location: Dublin Ireland, UK, France and any of the Concern programme countries of operation

(up to 30% travel)

Salary/Pay Band: Global Band 6 (Advisor)

Contract: Two-year, fixed term, with possibility for extension

About Concern:

Established in 1968, Concern is a non-profit, non-governmental humanitarian organisation, dedicated to the reduction of suffering and the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

Concern’s vision, our mission and our work are all defined by one goal – ending extreme poverty, whatever it takes. Concern strives for a world free from poverty, fear and oppression.

Concern works to develop and scale up effective, evidence-based interventions to promote optimum health, particularly among the most poor and vulnerable. Concern supports Health programmes (which include Nutrition and WASH) across 21 countries, as well as working in other sectors including Livelihoods and Education.

Our culture is values driven and we believe that our people are central to all that we do and are key to delivering on our goal of Reaching the Furthest Behind First. We are committed to ensuring a workplace where everybody feels valued and are enabled to succeed in their work and contribute to delivering on our mission.

Role Purpose:

The Health Advisor will sit within the Strategy, Advocacy and Learning (SAL) team and closely liaise with the other Global Health Advisors (across the themes of WASH, Nutrition and Health) as well as the wider SAL team. The Advisor’s primary responsibility is to ensure that Concern countries of operation have the capacity to deliver high-quality sustainable health interventions. They will be expected to provide technical support to Concern’s health work across the range of countries in which Concern works—emergency, fragile/transitional and stable development contexts—with a particular focus on extremely poor and vulnerable populations. They will also contribute to organizational learning through documentation of best practices and development of tools/resources for Concern program staff and partners. The Health Advisor will be expected to focus on ensuring optimal integration of health and nutrition across Concern health programming and will support Concern around advocacy on health and nutrition. The Advisor will also be expected to help to develop Concerns approach to outbreak preparedness and response as given the impact of climate change this is becoming a more significant part of our work in recent years.

The Health Advisor will be an active part of Concern’s global health team. Up to 30% international travel is anticipated for this position.

Responsibilities:

• Work as part of the wider health team to provide technical support for country and regional Health Programmes with a focus on health integration across nutrition and health
• Conduct country technical health visits (to include primary health care and nutrition) and work with the health team in country to develop a country specific health programme development plan
• Support health capacity building initiatives with Concern and partner organisations including formal and informal training, and lessons learnt documentation within country programmes
• Contribute to developing Concerns approach to Outbreak Preparedness and Response as a key component of Concerns Health Programming in countries at risk of risk of outbreaks
• Working with relevant SAL colleagues in particular WASH collate to prepare a set of Outbreak Preparedness Technical Standards to enable country health teams to be better able to prepare and respond to communicable diseases
• Participate in the identification of health funding opportunities and provide technical inputs as requested to proposals and donor reports
• Work with other health SAL colleagues in particular nutrition to ensure that health and nutrition health programming is fully integrated across all stages of the programme cycle
• In coordination with country programme staff, document, and disseminate lessons learned from Concerns Health Programming
• Support country programmes with Monitoring and Evaluation of health programmes in coordination with Concerns Programme Learning Team and work with country teams around trying to develop potential themes for operational research
• Support and maintain relationships with other health agencies and donors and represent Concern in national, regional and international forums as required; actively engage in health networks with key institutions/agencies and donors
• Participate in annual health work planning including Strategic Planning and Reviews for Health with the wider Health Team in Concern
• Support with recruitment of health staff in country programmes as required by the country management team
• Provide support to country health programmes in the management of pharmacy and medical supplies
• All staff are responsible for upholding and promoting Concern’s values, including our workplace equality, diversity and inclusion, and safeguarding values.
• All staff are required to participate and contribute as necessary towards Concern’s emergency response as and when required.

Role Holder Requirements:

Essential:

• Master’s degree in public health/Infectious Diseases or similar
• Undergraduate degree in Nursing, Medicine, Public Health or similar
• Strong, current knowledge of primary health care programming and approaches to health system strengthening with a particular focus on fragile/conflict affected health systems
• 4-5 years’ experience in the management of health programmes in variety of country contexts including design, implementation, and monitoring of programmes (with some experience of working in Sub-Saharan Africa)
• Basic competence using quantitative, qualitative, and participatory methods for programme planning / design, monitoring, and evaluation
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and writing skills in English
• Ability to work both as part of a team and independently
• Ability to travel internationally up to 30% in fragile contexts, sometimes on short notice and for 2+ weeks
• Fluent in French and experience of working in French speaking humanitarian health contexts

Desirable:

• Experience in health system strengthening and a good understanding of capacity building approaches
• Training and facilitation skills
• Experience of behavior change approaches
• Previous experience of supporting country programmes with the management of pharmacy and medical supplies

Competencies:

Communicating and Working with Others: The Health Advisor will be able to work within Concerns wider Health Team exploring opportunities to develop good quality health programming. They will also be able to provide technical support across several Concerns country programmes and identify opportunities for such countries to work together or develop joint ways of working around health programming.

Planning and Decision Making: The Health Advisor will be able to develop an annual workplan at an organizational level and in coordination with country health teams which focuses on improving health programme quality and delivery.

Individual Leadership: the Health Advisor will be able to manage their work and overall workplan and provide technical leadership and support to country health teams.