Panama: Psychosocial Support Senior Officer: Zika Outbreak

Organizational context (where the job is located in the Organization)

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (“the Federation”) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network with 190 member National Societies. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, our work is guided by seven fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality.

The Secretariat of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (“the IFRC”) works to a Business Model and has a Business Delivery Plan with key commitments that sharpen its focus, clarity, and efficiency and accountability results. The Secretariat, headquartered in Geneva, has five decentralized regional offices: one of which is the Americas, guided by the Secretariat strategies for implementation and areas of focus that builds on the vision of strategy 2020. The Americas’ region is organized in two main hemispheres: a group of service-based departments and geographical configurations of (i) Country Cluster Support Teams and (ii) Country Office(s), as well as the Deputy Regional Director, each of them led by the Regional Director; and another hemisphere: six building blocks composed by (i) Partnerships and Resource Development, (ii) Policy, Strategy and Knowledge; (iii) Communication, (iv) Disaster and Crisis: Preparedness, Response, and Recovery, (v) Health and Water and Sanitation, (vi) Logistics, each of them led by the Deputy Regional Director. The current Zika virus disease outbreak in the Americas is unprecedented in terms of the number of cases and its potential association with a steep increase in birth defects and neurological sequelae. Up to 17^th January 2016, 23 countries and territories in the Americas have confirmed autochthonous circulation of Zika virus. Given the expansion of environments where Zika virus-carrying mosquitoes can live and breed, facilitated by urbanization and the globalization of travel, there is a potential for major urban epidemics of Zika across the Americas region, stretching from the southern part of the United States all the way to Argentina. WHO declared public health emergency of international concern on February 1. IFRC Americas’ Region is responding by setting up a robust regional coordination and support function for the affected and at-risk National Societies.

Job purpose

The Regional Psychosocial Support Senior Officer will lead assessment of psychosocial support (PSS) needs in this outbreak response, will support national societies in the design, development, monitoring and evaluation of PSS plan of action and strategies to respond to the current outbreak, will coordinate with technical referents in the movement and in other organizations the developed strategies and possible interventions. The PSS Senior Officer will roll out and when needed adapt regional training material and action tools developed by IFRC Psychosocial Reference Centre and humanitarian partners with particular competence in MH/PSS in emergencies. The PSS Senior Officer will ensure that the National Societies in the Americas’ region have the information packages, method guides and the competence to mobilize volunteers for well-defined, comprehensive and evidence-based psychosocial support activities among affected and at-risk groups. The PSS work in this operation will give particular attention to the female population in reproductive age, and contributes vitally to the community engagement activities.

The position holder will:

· Support affected and at-risk National Societies in mental health and psychosocial risk management (assessment, design-development-monitoring and evaluation of PSS strategies, create prevention messages and guides);

· Ensure that response and preparedness plans are evidence informed and based on best practice and taking gender and diversity into consideration;

· Be responsible for quality control of all psychosocial support materials and capacity building, method development and/or localization of existing material;

· Support Country Cluster Support Teams and National Societies in rapid scale-up of volunteers in psychosocial support;

· Ensure technical coordination and collaboration with regional humanitarian organizations within own area of responsibility;

· Ensure production and dissemination of high quality analysis of MHPSS needs, mapping, response plans and training materials;

· Contribute to effective inter-sectoral coordination and collaboration;

· Develop a final report with lessons learned and successful actions developed during the intervention.

Education

Psychologist or equivalent health and care science education

Experience

3+ years of experience in managing psychosocial support programmes and interventions.

Experience in working in volunteer organizations and has volunteer management skills

Programme management experience, preferably in an emergency response setting

Experience of working with IFRC, ICRC or a Red Cross National Society, preferred

Experience of working with national counterparts, preferred.

Knowledge and Skills

High level of knowledge of humanitarian health and global health issues.

Knowledge of the Red Cross Movement structure, mandate and programme orientation.

Good knowledge of MHPSS concepts, as well as mechanisms, tools and guidelines for programming and coordination.

Management and coordination skills

Analytical skills

Good communication and presentation skills

Training and knowledge of the different Psychosocial and Mental Health strategies and tools of the IFRC

Languages

Fluently spoken and written English

Fluently spoken and written Spanish

Good command of another IFRC official language (i.e., French) or a language spoken in the country of mission (i.e., Portuguese), preferred.

Competencies (to be filled in by HR)

VALUES: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability

CORE COMPETENCIES: Communication; Collaboration and Teamwork; Judgement and Decision Making; National Societies and Customer Relations; Creativity and Innovation; Building Trust

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: Building Alliances; Leadership; Empowering Others

Please Apply to: http://www.ifrc.org/en/who-we-are/working-with-us/current-vacancies/job-description/?id=2891.

Applicants will need to send their applications together with a letter of motivation no later than the closing date. In order for us to assure a proper comparative evaluation of your application for this vacancy and to enable us to consider your profile against other similar current and future vacancies, we ask that you submit your application taking into account the following:

Important Note:

• Please note that the selected candidate will be hired through a national contract under Panamanian labour law;

• The incumbent is responsible to abide by Federation policies, procedures, plans and local labour laws;

• The closing date is midnight Panama time.

• Only those candidates shortlisted for interviews will be notified.

The position will be based in Panama thus Panamanian as well as foreign applicants with valid and current residence and work permits in Panama are encouraged to apply.