Première Urgence Internationale recrute un Coordonnateur de la santé, Kaboul, Afghanistan

Starting Date : As Soon As Possible

Location : Afghanistan, Kabul

Duration of Mission : 12 months

Première Urgence Internationale (PUI) is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-political and non-religious international aid organization. PUI teams are committed to support civilian victims of marginalization and exclusion, or hit by natural disasters, wars or economic collapse, by answering their fundamental needs. Our aim is to provide emergency relief to uprooted people in order to help them recover their dignity and regain self-sufficiency. The Association leads in average 200 projects by year in the following sectors of intervention: food security, health, nutrition, construction and rehabilitation of infrastructures; water, sanitation and hygiene, and economic recovery. PUI provides assistance to around 6 million people in 23 countries – in the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe and France.

Find out about our history and values.

Humanitarian Situation and needs 

Afghan Mission is the oldest PUI mission with the first medical intervention launched in 1980 just after the Soviet invasion. Since then, Afghanistan has mostly been in conflict, with national armed groups and international forces that is causing mass casualties and massive movements of population within or out of the country. According to IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), the total number of displaced population for the period 2012-2019 that currently live in host communities reached 4,350,900 individuals. The same time, the country has witnessed a strong wave of returnees from abroad at 3,451,510 people. This latter figure is expected to grow further in 2020 as large numbers of Afghans have fled the COVID-19 outbreak from neighboring countries (mainly from Iran). The high number of returns put additional pressure on host communities, fragile livelihoods and public services that are already strained by conflict and economic underperformance.

The achievements realized in the years following 2001 invasion are now jeopardized by the intensification of conflict and violence and fragile governance. Indeed, due to the increase of the attacks, casualties, displacements and consequently, of the acute needs, the United Nations reclassified Afghanistan conflict from a protracted to an active one. Armed groups are threatening the Government of Afghanistan that struggles to impose its vision of development despite continuous extended military, financial and political support, nationally and internationally.

As Afghanistan continues to face an extremely complex humanitarian challenges, the country remains one of the world’s largest refugee crisis. According to the World Bank data, by end of 2018, the number of Afghans refugees stood at close to 2.7mln, following only the Syrian crisis.

In the current context, with elevated pressure on aid organizations by different actors, fragmentized conflict that happens to a large extent away from urban centers, the capacity to deliver aid to those in need is particularly challenging. Access to remote areas is volatile, with military offensive and/or threats, expulsion by armed groups that cause agencies to suspend their operations at times. Health actors are particularly at risk as attacks on health facilities and staff continue to happen across the country with a visible intensity in areas where PUI operates.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic advanced the crisis even further. Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) expects now 14mln of Afghans, or 37% of the country’s population, in need for assistance. This figure is revised upward from 9.4mln estimated earlier in 2020 and from 6.3mln in 2019.

Our action on the Field

PUI orients its programs on addressing the fundamental needs of the Afghan populations through provision of assistance based on humanitarian principles and aligned with the concept of do no harm. Indeed, neutrality and impartiality are the key in order to enable humanitarian access to the affected communities, in particular in remote areas and territories contested or under control of the armed groups.

PUI interventions are implemented in a coordinated manner and must demonstrate strong support and co-ownership of the stakeholders and beneficiaries. Grass root approach and engagement of communities is possible as the Agency maintains acceptance and relationships locally for years, and involves stakeholders in all stages of its actions from design of activities to community-based feedback mechanism and other accountability instruments.

Over the past 40 years of response in Afghanistan, PUI has delivered health and nutrition assistance with aim to reduce morbidity and mortality in vulnerable populations. The Organization contributed to the reconstruction of the health system and expansion of access to quality health services across 11 provinces altogether.

Until now, health remains PUI strong expertise in the country and the entry point to implement the integrated approach that combines primary health care, nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, hygiene and sanitation, and increasingly psychosocial support. Since 2013, PUI has started interventions on emergency preparedness and trauma services to conflict-affected populations. As Afghanistan became the world’s deadliest conflict in 2018 with 59% annual increase in terrorism-related deaths, it is indeed crucial to maintain capacity to respond to mass casualties and/or populations displaced suddenly.

In terms of geographical coverage, PUI increasingly orients its operations to remote areas and territories contested or under the control of the armed groups.

Programmatic Objectives for 2019-2021

In the period of 2019-2021, PUI has remained aligned with the efforts to date, and continues ensuring access to quality health services through both mobile and static facilities. The Agency also increasingly prioritizes the needs related to mental health not only among vulnerable populations at large but also among humanitarian community exposed to traumatic events in their daily work. Other active sectors of interventions involve nutrition, WaSH, mainstreamed protection and cash-based assistance. PUI considers further expansion to complementary areas for instance food security and livelihoods.

As part of our actions in Afghanistan, we are looking for a Health Coordinator in Kabul.

OVERALL OBJECTIVE

The Health Coordinator is responsible for building capacity of mission technical department in health and nutrition sectors and for the quality of the health programmes all along the project cycle, from assessment, to implementation, monitoring and evaluation. S/he works closely with the Deputy Head of Mission for Programs and Head of Mission in assessing, implementing and evaluating all health programs in the mission.

TASKS AND RESPONSABILITIES 

• Strategy: Working alongside the Head of Mission and cooperating closely with the Deputy Head of Mission for Programs and the Regional Health Advisor, s/he identifies key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and gaps within technical department in health and nutrition sectors and based on this analysis designs capacity building and couching plan for the department itself and for all technical health and nutrition staff
• Programmes: S/he ensures that medical programme(s) are in line with PUI’s health policy and monitors their quality and efficacy. S/he works closely with Deputy Health Coordinator and train him/her on necessary PUI policies and quality standards required for proper monitoring of programmes implementation.
• Representation: Together with Deputy Health Coordinator, s/he represents the association to partners, authorities and local stakeholders involved in implementing medical programmes.
• Human Resources / Training: S/he analyses current capacity of technical health and nutrition team and prepares training plan to increase capacity in technical aspects (health and nutrition standards, guidelines etc) as well as in project and teams management. The special focus will be put on building capacity of Deputy Health Coordinator in technical as well as managerial aspects of health and nutrition programming.
• Logistics and Administration: S/he ensures the activities for which he/she is responsible comply with logistical and administrative procedures.
• Safety: S/he contributes to compliance with safety rules within the mission and communicates any safety-related information to the Head of Mission. He/She ensures healthcare is provided for expatriate staff involved in the mission.

Look at the job description below for all the details you need.