Public Health Emergency Preparedness Officer

The Public Health Emergency Preparedness Officer provides strategic technical leadership and operational support to enhance emergency preparedness at national and provincial levels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The role supports national health authorities and partners in preparing for health emergency responses, including risk assessment, contingency planning, and capacity building in line with WHO standards and International Health Regulations.

Responsibilities

• Support and monitor implementation of IHR amendments and its monitoring and evaluation framework including SPAR reporting, JEE, Simulation Exercises and After-Action Reviews of public health emergencies.
• Support roll out of One Health approach in line with Quadripartite Action Plan.
• Work with External Partnership and Resource Mobilization Officer to support Pandemic Fund proposal developments and implementation of approved grants.
• Provide specialized public health input to the Ministry of Health on risk assessment, contingency planning, and emergency readiness and management structures.
• Design, monitor, and evaluate early warning systems and rapid response frameworks, focusing on high-risk provinces and transit hubs.
• Act as the technical liaison for health emergency preparedness, coordinating international partners, local health authorities, and humanitarian actors.
• Organize and conduct specialized public health trainings for local public health teams on surveillance, readiness, and community-based containment measures.
• Drive institutional capacity building for public health emergency preparedness, response, and long-term disaster recovery across all provinces.
• Enhance WHO’s ability to detect, verify, and respond rapidly to outbreaks and priority public health threats in areas heavily impacted by conflict and population movement.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master’s level or above) in public health and/or health-related fields from an accredited/recognized institute.
• Doctorate degree in Medicine is desirable.
• Post graduate studies or specialized training in emergency preparedness in the context of public health is desirable.
• Master in Public health is desirable.
• At least seven years of relevant experience, at the national and international levels, in public health in emergency preparedness or health sector coordination, with emphasis on managing outbreaks and health emergencies and/or health consequences of emergencies and crises.
• Experience in capacity building, developing and promoting collaborative partnerships.
• Relevant work experience in WHO, other UN agencies, health cluster partners, recognized humanitarian organizations or relevant nongovernmental or humanitarian organizations is desirable.
• Experience in capacity building programme planning/development, project management, monitoring and evaluation is desirable.
• Experience with resource mobilization in emergency settings is desirable.
• In-depth knowledge of public health programme with focus on emergency preparedness and their major risk factors, health system, and the Millennium Development Goals.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience of operational management of health aspects/consequences of humanitarian crises and outbreaks in field settings.
• Demonstrated skills in capacity building, proposal and report writing, knowledge of and experience with needs assessments in emergency settings, strategic information analysis and planning and ability to anticipate new trends in the field of public health and take actions accordingly.
• Managerial skills for the development, implementation and analysis of technical cooperation programme and activities, including the development of programmatic indicators.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office software applications.
• Expert level of French and intermediate level of English.

Skills

• Health Emergency Preparedness
• Health Sector Coordination
• Outbreak Risk Management
• Health Emergencies Response
• Capacity Building
• Collaborative Partnerships
• Project Management
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Resource Mobilization
• Health Programme Management
• Health Systems Knowledge
• Humanitarian Crisis Management
• Needs Assessment
• Strategic Information Analysis
• Technical cooperation programmes
• Proposal Writing
• Report Writing
• Microsoft Office Suite

Languages

French, English