Emergency Medical Coordinator for its East Africa Emergency Pool Antenna based in Nairobi / Kenya (m/f/x)

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organization that provides assistance in more than 60 countries to populations in distress, to victims of natural or manmade disasters and to victims of armed conflicts, without discrimination and irrespective of origin, religion, creed or political affiliation.

MSF Operational Centre Brussels (OCB) is looking for an Emergency Medical Coordinator for its East Africa Emergency Pool Antenna based in Nairobi / Kenya (m/f/x)

Operational Context

The MSF OCB Emergency Pool is based in Brussels, within the Operations Department. The role of the Emergency Pool is to respond to emergency situations (epidemics, natural disasters, displacement, conflict, food crisis …).

Its basic function is to retain the ability to intervene directly and quickly in crises, while guaranteeing the quality of interventions in this type of context. As such, the Emergency Pool is in charge – anywhere, anytime – of the monitoring and identification of crisis that may arise.

MSF is currently recruiting a mobile Emergency Medical Coordinator as part of an Emergency Team based in Nairobi with the objective to respond to humanitarian and medical emergencies specifically in the East African Region while being accountable to the Emergency Pool Coordinator in Brussels.

The Emergency Medical Coordinator as part of the East African Emergency Team can be deployed in the field for up to 80% of the work time – either in an emergency or a roving capacity. Team members of the East African Emergency Team may be deployed to start a new intervention in a crisis setting or to support existing MSF country missions in their emergency response or preparedness activities.

The Emergency Medical Coordinator has the critical responsibility to assess, design and implement the response to meet the immediate health-related needs of populations in precarious situations. They may be also requested to provide specific support or training for the teams in place. The MSF missions in the East African region are diverse in terms of contexts as well as types of responsibilities.

The duration of each mission assignment is 3 months maximum. Non-field-based activities, such as briefing/debriefing/trainings/ report writing/support on specific files, tools /etc. can be up to 20% of the work time based in Nairobi / Kenya or Brussels headquarters.

Place within the organization:

During emergency assignments the Emergency Medical Coordinator reports directly to the responsible mobile Emergency Coordinator in the field and the Emergency Coordinator in Brussels. Under specific circumstances the Emergency Medical Coordinator might report to the respective Country Coordination Management Team (CMT) at capital level. At times the Emergency Medical Coordinator directly reports to Emergency Pool Coordinator in Brussels. The Emergency Medical Coordinator is accountable to the Emergency Pool Coordinator in Brussels.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

The main objective of the Emergency Medical Coordinator is, together with the Emergency Coordinator, to identify emergencies in the East African Region, to prepare assessments and launch emergency interventions.

Tasks and responsibilities

As part of the East African Emergency Pool Antenna based in Nairobi, the main responsibilities are to:

· Ensure high quality and timely integrated health assessments of the medical needs during exploratory missions

· Design medical emergency responses and strategies

· Lead the implementation of the health emergency interventions

· Identify health staffing needs for emergency interventions and ensure rapid recruitment, induction and training of new medical staff

· Ensure consistent monitoring and analysis of results to enhance the effectiveness and quality of medical emergency interventions

· Ensure compliance with MSF policies and protocols throughout the emergency team, activities and staff health in the field

· Represent and coordinate with the community, other agencies, local governments and other stakeholders

· Close emergency interventions incl. the handover of medical activities to other actors and ensure the proper archiving of medical files at the end of an intervention

Specific to the mandate of the East African Emergency Pool Antenna based in Nairobi, the Emergency Medical Coordinator will also have the following responsibilities:

· Provide specific support and develop functional links with the coordination and the projects of the existing missions in East Africa in order to raise the emergency response capacity within existing teams through trainings/review/development of an Emergency Response Plan / Strategy

· Actively participate in emergency preparedness and capacity building initiatives in the East African Region

· Field replacement or interim coordination positions in regular MSF-OCB mission in the East African Region

· Contribute to development of technical tools and protocols for emergency operations

· Contribute to the continuing development of the overall strategic approach in emergency health response

· Capitalize on experience and develop lessons learnt after emergency interventions in East Africa

Requirements

Education

· Essential Medical and Para-medical Profiles: medical doctor, nurse or midwife

Experience

· Minimum of 3 years of MSF field experience

· Minimum of 1-year MSF field experience as a Project Medical Referent and/or Medical Coordinator in emergency interventions

· Experience in the region is a plus

· Strong technical skills related to primary health care, maternal and child health, reproductive health, communicable diseases, vaccination, emergency preparedness and response

Competencies

· Strategic vison

· Dynamism, rigor and reactivity

· Resistance to stress, ability to adapt to different contexts

· Leadership (able to set priorities, make choices and assume decisions)

· Diplomatic and negotiation skills (intra and extra MSF)

· Strong networking skills

· Experience in supervising, capacity building, coaching and training being a strong asset

· Strong communication skills – both written and oral

· Flexibility – Autonomy

Languages

· Languages: English is essential.

· Swahili and/or French and/or Arabic is an asset.

Conditions

• Expected starting date: 15/03/2022
• 12 months fixed-term contract (extendable), full-time, with duty station in Nairobi, Kenya and up to 80% mobility requirement in the sub-region
• Salary according to the applicable MSF salary scale
• International insurance package over the duration of the assignment
• 45 paid leave days per year
• Completion bonus = 1,5 months salary upon completion of 12 months contract
• A dynamic and stimulating work environment alongside multicultural colleagues
• Adhere to the MSF principles and to our managerial values: Respect, Transparency, Integrity, Accountability, Trust and Empowerment
• Adhere to the MSF Behavioral Commitments

Deadline for applications: 27^th February 2022