AVoHC Rapid Responder - Risk Communication and Community Engagement Expert at African Union(AU)

Purpose of Job

• The Africa CDC seeks to recruit a national and citizen of any Member State of the African Union to be a roster member of the African Volunteers Health Corps.
• This is not recruitment for employment but volunteer service for Africa CDC.
• The potential AVoHC Volunteers candidates are those who have experience in Public Health Management, social and behavioural science, epidemiology, communication, Infection Prevention and Control, laboratory, mental health, etc., from Africa Union Member States.
• The potential applicants are encouraged to be fully employed and willing to volunteer for the skills and competencies any time requested by Africa CDC. 

Main Functions:

• In the context of the Africa CDC Public Health Emergency Incident Management System (IMS), at the different levels, the Risk Communication and Community Engagement expert will provide technical support to the subnational/national/regional/continental incident management teams, the Ministry of Health (MOH), and other relevant government authorities working with communities to strengthen the national system for risk communication and community engagement in response to public health emergencies in order to ensure that both the population and service providers adhere to all relevant prevention measures.

Specific Responsibilities
During the deployment, the Risk Communication and Community Engagement expert shall perform the following major duties and responsibilities:

• Strengthening national risk communication and outreach policies and regulations and preparedness and response capacities
• Strengthening risk communication capacity of the health professionals and other relevant stakeholders before, during, and after public health emergencies
• Support the general population and vulnerable groups to adopt protective measures through building trust and engaging with communities and affected populations;
• Promote emergency risk communication practice – from planning, messaging, channels and methods of communication and engagement, to monitoring and evaluation – based on a systematic assessment of the evidence on what worked and what did not work during recent emergencies.
• Support the production and dissemination of tailored public health messages about public health emergency through appropriate national/sub-national channels.

Academic Requirements and Relevant Experience
Essential:

• Eligible candidates should have either a B.Sc Degree in Public Health, Communication, Social Sciences, Anthropology or other related technical disciplines with at least 2 years (for Master's Degree holders) or 5 years (for Bachelor's Degree holders) relevant work experience.

Desirable:

• An advanced University Degree in Public Health, statistics, Communication, Social Sciences, Anthropology or other related technical disciplines from an accredited/recognized institutes

Knowledge and experience:
Relevant experience at the national and/or international level at least in three of the following areas:

• Emergency risk communication.
• Community engagement.
• Social science
• Journalism/media communication.
• Health diplomacy.
• Public health. 

Required Skills:
Functional Skills:

• Demonstrable technical expertise and experience in supporting and/or managing complex, public health programmes with special emphasis on risk communication and community engagement 
• Moderate to strong multimedia expertise: ability to adapt, develop, produce and disseminate multimedia risk communication products. 
• Excellent organizational and time-management skills and a proven ability to deliver under tight deadlines, and works well under pressure. 
• Excellent skills and abilities applied to translating technical information into presentations, briefings and reports for both technical and lay audiences 
• Knowledge of oral communication techniques and skill in presentation delivery, programme consultation and credible verbal response to inquiries. 
• Knowledge of interpersonal relationship practices and skills to meet and deal with persons of diverse backgrounds. 

Personal Abilities:

• Ability to work under pressure, stay on track and meet deadlines 
• Analytical and problem-solving abilities
• Proven ability to produce precise and intelligible reports and office briefs in line with the requirements of the Africa CDC. 
• Able to operate in a multicultural environment 
• High level of autonomy at work, yet with profound team spirit 
• Adaptive, patient, resourceful, resilient and flexible 
• Pro-active and solutions-oriented 
• Knowledge of results-based management