Health Cluster Coordinator

The Health Cluster Coordinator leads and coordinates health emergency responses in Somalia, managing health needs assessments, strategic planning, partner coordination, resource mobilization, monitoring, and advocacy to minimize health consequences of emergencies. The role requires extensive experience in emergency and humanitarian relief operations and health programme management.

Responsibilities

• Manage, coordinate, and lead rapid health needs assessments and participatory assessments within the Health Cluster or at Inter-Cluster level.
• Collect and manage information on health partners' activities and feed the UN-OCHA 4Ws database.
• Lead development of health sector components of Humanitarian Needs Overview and Humanitarian Response Plan, including contingency planning and interagency planning.
• Ensure compliance with national and international norms and standards and mainstream cross-cutting issues in Health Cluster plans.
• Facilitate health partner coordination in assessments, planning, information sharing, interventions, monitoring, and quality assurance.
• Identify urgent training needs related to technical standards and protocols for health service delivery.
• Ensure links between humanitarian actions and longer-term health sector plans in protracted crises or recovery contexts.
• Convene and facilitate consultative and results-oriented meetings and conduct joint support missions to field operations.
• Oversee development of Information Management strategy and mechanisms for the Health Cluster, including regular reporting and dissemination of updates and technical reports.
• Liaise and manage resource mobilization efforts, including CERF and pooled fund proposals, in collaboration with WHO Country Office and partners.
• Establish prioritization criteria for vetting partners' projects for inclusion in appeals and pooled funds.
• Coordinate development and implementation of an Indicators' Monitoring Framework for Health Cluster plans and promote peer exchange of experiences.
• Identify core advocacy concerns and develop joint cluster/inter-cluster initiatives for advocacy to the RC/HC and Humanitarian Country Team.
• Represent the Health Cluster in inter-cluster coordination mechanisms and contribute to multi-sectoral response planning.
• Advocate for health sector priorities including protection for health workers and facilities and integration of health activities in the humanitarian agenda.
• Act on behalf of the WHO Representative during absence or upon request and perform additional cluster-related incident-specific duties as required.

Requirements

• An advanced university degree (Master's level or above) in Public Health, Medicine, or International Health or related field.
• Specialized training in emergency management, international aid, humanitarian principles, health system recovery, and health cluster coordination is desirable.
• At least 10 years of relevant experience at the national and international level in developing and promoting collaborative partnerships in emergency and humanitarian relief operations.
• Experience in managing and coordinating health programmes in chronic and acute, sudden-onset emergencies.
• Relevant work experience in WHO, other UN agencies, relevant non-governmental or humanitarian organizations is desirable.
• Demonstrated knowledge of rapid response operations and their implementation in emergencies related to public health.
• Ability to identify and manage difficult situations, lead and direct multidisciplinary and multinational staff.
• In-depth knowledge of emergency relief policies and practices within the UN, other UN Specialized Agencies, donor agencies, national and international NGOs.
• Sound knowledge and experience about disaster prevention and preparedness programs and the incident management system.
• Excellent negotiation skills and ability to convene stakeholders and facilitate policy processes among UN, NGOs, national health authorities and donors.
• Expert knowledge of English is essential.
• Intermediate knowledge of WHO official language is desirable.

Skills

• Health Cluster Coordination
• Emergency Management
• Humanitarian Principles
• Health System Recovery
• Collaborative Partnerships
• Health Programme Management
• Rapid Response Operations
• Emergency Relief Operations
• Disaster Prevention
• Preparedness Programming
• Incident Management
• Stakeholder Negotiation
• Policy Facilitation
• Resource Mobilization
• Health Needs Assessment
• Strategic Planning
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Multi-disciplinary Team Leadership
• Multinational Staff Management
• Public Health

Languages

English