External Relations and Partnerships Officer

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations Public Health Organization established in 1948. The objective of the World Health Organization shall be the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.
World Health Organization achieves its goals by performing its essential functions:
1. Take a leadership role in key health issues and create partnerships when joint action is needed;
2. Set research priorities and encourage the acquisition, application and dissemination of useful knowledge;
3. Setting standards and criteria and encouraging and monitoring them;
4. Develop ethical and evidence-based policies
5. Provide technical support, be an agent of change and build institutional capacity in a sustainable way;
6. Monitor health status and assess health trends.

WHO is the directing and coordinating agency for health within the United Nations System and operates at three levels: global, regional and country. The WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), in collaboration with External Relations and Partnerships Officers (ERPOs) deployed in Country Offices in the Region, provides technical assistance, guidance and coordination to, and for 47 countries in the African region. AFRO fosters synergies with international partners and global and regional health initiatives. The mission of the EPG Unit (External Relations, Partnerships and Governing Bodies) is to mobilize political will and resources, build strategic alliances and partnerships, manage external relations, coordinate the work of the WHO statutory meetings such as Regional Committee and enhance the contributions of delegations of the African Region to the work of WHO’s Governing Bodies in support of the achievement of regional health goals. The unit manages WHO/AFRO’s relationship with the international community by contributing to the positioning of the Organization’s regional health priorities into the agenda of the African and international community. The External Relations and Partnerships Officer will work as part of a team in the EPG Unit to assist in, facilitate and support efforts to mobilize financial resources and build an effective service for external relations in WHO’s Regional Office and support Country Offices in Africa. More particularly, this will comprise pro-active resource mobilization and grant management through building regional and international partnerships and support the work of the WHO AFRO.

Under the direct supervision of Coordinator, External Relations, Partnerships, and Governing Bodies Unit (EPG), the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
• Provide Donor Briefing Notes for WHO AFRO senior management through in-depth research and updating donor profiles;
• Assist departments and teams in the development of quality proposals, preparation of grant agreements; timely reporting; disbursement requests, no-cost extension and other relevant correspondence;
• Liaise with the Communication Unit in supporting technical teams to increase the donor visibility and their work;
• Provide support on engagement with partners;
• Provide support to the work on Governing Bodies including through maintaining a roster of partners and follow-ups with the online registrations;
• Contribute to management of EPG SharePoint;
• Perform any other duties as assigned by the Coordinator, Partnership and Resource Mobilization Unit.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:
- Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities such as International Volunteer Day
- Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country
- Provide annual and end of assignment reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities using UNV’s Volunteer Reporting Application
- Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.
- Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers
- Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/Expected Outputs
• At the end of the assignment, it will be expected that the UNV will have contributed to WHO’s capacity to mobilize and manage contributions to the WHO Regional Office in Africa; as well as have contributed to expand WHO’s African Regions’ network of partners and contributed to the smooth operation of the WHO Governing Bodies in AFRO. The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counterparts, including Implementing Partners (IPs);
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed
• The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counter-parts, including Implementing Partners (IPs);