Technical Officer, One Health – Zoonotic Disease Programme, Africa CDC
Position: Technical Officer, One Health – Zoonotic Disease
Organisational Unit: GIZ African Union, 1740
Place of Assignment: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Initial Contract Period: December 2024 – December 2027
Application Deadline: 27 October 2024
About GIZ
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a global service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development dedicated to shaping a future worth living around the world.
Since 2004, GIZ has been a reliable and trusted partner of the African Union (AU) to enhance inclusive growth and sustainable development on the African continent in line with the AU’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a specialized technical institution of the African Union established to support public health initiatives of Africa Union Member States and strengthen the capacity of their public health institutions to detect, prevent, control, and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats. Africa CDC supports AU MS in providing coordinated and integrated solutions to the inadequacies in their public health infrastructure, human resource capacity, disease surveillance, laboratory diagnostics, and preparedness and response to health emergencies and disasters.
The “Strengthening One Health Coordination in Africa: Support to Africa CDC” is a jointly co-financed Action of the European Union, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Agence française de Développement (AFD). The Action is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD). The part of the Action implemented by GIZ is part of the BMZ commissioned projects “Strengthening Crisis and Pandemic Response in Africa in the African Union” and “Global Programme for Pandemic Resilience, One Health (GP PROH)”.
The Action is part of and contributes to the Team Europe Initiative with Africa on Sustainable Health Security using a One Health Approach (TEI HSOH) in the context of European Union and Team Europe and African Union engagements in health.
The Overall Objective of the Action is to strengthen health security in Africa through strengthening One Health surveillance and early warning surveillance of emerging threats from wildlife and livestock, and here specifically by strengthening Africa CDC’s institutional and operational capacities for the coordination of emerging zoonotic disease surveillance, prevention, preparedness and response.
Africa CDC recognizes zoonotic diseases as one of the areas in greatest need of a collaborative One Health approach across African nations. To this end, GIZ seeks to support Africa CDC with the recruitment of a Technical Officer One Health – Zoonotic Diseases to support Africa CDC’s contribution to the implementation of the Africa Union’s Framework for One Health Practice in National Public Health Institutes and the implementation of the African Union One Health Strategy on Zoonotic Diseases.
Hence, GIZ invites applicants who are citizens of Africa Union Member States to apply for this position.
Core Tasks
In your role as the Technical Officer One Health – Zoonotic Diseases, you will be responsible for driving and implementing Africa CDC’s Framework for One Health Practice in National Public Health Institutes and contributing to the collaborative implementation of the African Union One Health Strategy on Zoonotic Diseases with other AU Organs like the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and the Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre (PANVAC) and more.
Where appropriate and reasonable, you will perform further tasks assigned to you by your line manager outside the scope of the job description.
This position is assigned to GIZ salary band 4 (AU P2).
Main Activities
- Work collaboratively across all Africa CDC technical divisions through the designated focal points, with AU Organs, AU Member States, and partners to ensure successful implementation of the Zoonotic Diseases programme’s priority activities including supporting the One
Health Practice Framework implementation; - Support the implementation of the AU One Health Strategy for Zoonotic Diseases;
- Support AU Member States with functional One Health multisectoral coordination mechanisms for addressing shared health threats such as zoonotic diseases
- Support AU member states with the integration of One Health coordinated surveillance for priority zoonotic diseases;
- Act as the technical focal point for the Zoonotic Disease Programme as well as the implementation strategies for the prevention and control of zoonotic diseases in AU Member States, and support to develop and implement multisectoral strategies and plans, adapted to region/country as needed for the prevention and control of zoonotic diseases;
- Be the technical expert on matters related to zoonotic diseases and be able to develop appropriate tools and provide technical guidance to Member States;
- Represent Africa CDC at meetings of the AU One Health Coordination Group on Zoonotic Diseases;
- Coordinate multisectoral interventions at the national, regional, and continental levels
- Coordinate AU One Health Coordination Group meetings, document and distribute notes and ensure the flow of information among the AU Organ focal points identified to jointly develop the strategy;
- Support the Zoonotic Diseases programme to identify key activities for the AU at the human-animal-environment interface;
- Support the process of developing, implementing, managing, evaluating, and reporting zoonotic disease related activities;
- Provide technical and scientific support to the Zoonotic Diseases programme and AU One Health Coordination Group in its effort to promote, operationalize and institutionalize One Health approaches across the continent, including topics covering zoonotic disease;
- Develop One Health related documents that include implementation reports, publications, and grant or other funding applications or proposals;
- Provide regular updates to partners on progress made on the AU One Health Strategy development and other relevant Zoonotic Diseases programme updates;
- Supports data collection, analysis and knowledge generation including regular reports and policy briefs, scientific articles and other products
- Write and submit reports in an accurate and timely manner
Day to day supervision will be from the One Health Division Lead in Africa CDC with formal line management from GIZ.
Qualifications
a. Functional skills
- Ability to deliver under tight deadlines and work well under pressure.
- Analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Good interpersonal skills.
- Ability to operate in a multicultural environment.
- High level of autonomy at work, yet with profound team spirit.
- Adaptive, patient, resilient and flexible.
- Proactive and solution oriented.
Education and work experience
A Masters university degree in public health, veterinary public health, programme management or other fields related to the scope of work for this position, with two years’ relevant work experience.
Or
A Bachelors degree and at least 5 years of relevant experience.
- Required: Previous experience in supporting One Health, public health, Veterinary and environment public health or other public sector projects and programmes under government ministries and external donors
- Desirable: previous experience working in Africa
Language
Proficiency in English is essential; knowledge of further African Union working languages (French, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish or Kiswahili) would be an added advantage.
Application Procedure
The application should include
- a motivational letter / letter of application,
- a recent CV with emphasis on similar assignments, including at least three referee contacts.
Applications should be submitted via email to [email protected] with the subject line “Technical Officer – Zoonotic Disease – Your Name”.
Closing date for applications: 27 October 2024, midnight EAT. Only Shortlisted Candidates will be contacted.
GIZ is an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from individuals regardless of gender, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, age, or any other protected characteristic. We embrace diversity and believe that inclusivity in the workplace is essential to our success and we are committed to creating a work environment where all employees are valued and respected.