Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ebola Environmental Health Specialist

Requisition ID: req2014

Job Title: Ebola Environmental Health Specialist

Sector: Environmental Health

Employment Category: Fixed Term

Employment Type: Full-Time

Location: Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Job Description

Background:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is among the world's leading humanitarian relief and development organizations. For 80 years, the IRC has been at the forefront of every major humanitarian initiative to assist people uprooted by war, persecution, or civil conflict. The IRC provides lifesaving support to help people survive and re-build their lives, assisting people from harm to home. The IRCs Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit (EPRU) leads the IRC's Global emergency preparedness and response activities. The mission of the EPRU is to help meet the immediate survival needs and reduce suffering in conflict or disaster affected populations during the acute phase of an emergency.

Context:

The Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared an outbreak of Ebola (Ebola Virus Disease - EVD) in the Bikoro health zone of Equateur Province, northwest DRC on 8 May 2018. As of May 18 there have been 45 cases (14 confirmed, 10 suspected, 21 probable) resulting in 25 deaths. By May 16 the outbreak had spread to the urban area of Mbandaka. The IRC is currently preparing to support the containment of the EVD outbreak in the Equateur region of DRC. The IRC's primary focus will be to provide support to existing primary health care (PHC) facilities to ensure the safe continuity of services. The IRC's support will include the establishment of EVD screening and isolation at the PHCs, and support to strengthen infection prevention and control (IPC) practices across the facility.

Scope of work

Reporting to the Environmental Health Coordinator, the Ebola Environmental Health Specialist will be responsible for the oversight of the hygiene, sanitation and waste management operations at supported facilities. He/She may be required to work within an Ebola Isolation unit established at supported facilities. Staff safety is an absolute priority and strict adherence to infection control procedures is required to prevent disease transmission. Personal protective equipment must be worn at all times while in the isolation units with strict adherence to infection control protocols

Roles and Responsibilities

• This position may enter the red zone/wet area of the isolation unit.
• Ensuring correct strict process and protocols for overall water, hygiene, sanitation and waste management at the supported health facilities including isolation units.
• Ensure hygiene and sanitation facilities meet standards; lead on upgrading facilities as needed.
• Setup of waste management facilities.
• Implementing and oversight of strict protocols with the EH team for infection prevention and control and waste management.
• Support with the hiring and training of EH national staff.
• Directly supervise EH local staff.
• Overall responsible for staff work plans, work and vacation-resting schedules, and staff training/development activities.
• Deliver hygiene promotion to community members and patients as required.
• Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.
• Consistently and proactively monitor/assess the safety and security of the team; promptly reporting concerns or incidents to EH Coordinator and/or IRC management and liaising with community leaders and other external parties as required to maintain/enhance the security environment for IRC programs
• Other duties as assigned by the supervisor to enable and develop IRC programs

Professional Standards

All IRC staff are required to adhere to THE IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct and the IRC country employment policies.

REQUIREMENTS:

The ideal candidate will have an environmental health background and experience on water and sanitation for health facilities such as cholera treatment centers and disease-specific treatment units. "Highly desired criteria" include previous work in an isolation centre, highly contagious area or Level 4 biosafety area, experience working on viral hemorrhagic fevers (Ebola, Lassa, Marburg, etc.) and knowledge of infection control and prevention.

· Previous experience working with Ebola

· Fluency in French and English.

· Excellent understanding of EH issues in emergency situations and knowledge of emergency standards (Sphere)

· Strong leadership, management, planning, analytical, interpersonal, and communication skills;

· Ability to live and work in stressful and insecure environment;

· Excellent initiator, able to manage multiple tasks.

· Able to work under pressure and good at timely decision making.

· Competent in Microsoft Office, Word and Excel

· Knowledge and/or experience in conflict management, protection, or other related field;

· Excellent professional approach and strong team building skills.

Please follow this link to apply: http://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=YXN0cmlkLm1hdGhldy44MDg4OC4zODMwQGlyY2NkLmFwbGl0cmFrLmNvbQ