Purpose of consultancy

To provide technical guidance and expertise to help develop and contribute to a programme of work focusing on integrating ethics into policy and decision-making in Global Health.

Background

Building on the findings of WHO’s first Pandemic Ethics and Policy Summit and pre-existing work undertaken by the Health Ethics and Governance Unit to embed ethics expertise in policy and decision-making, this project will aim to:

• Develop a better understanding of the models and types of ethics advice to health and health research authorities, that exist and how they can/should be applied going forward.
• Consider current and future tools (i.e., checklists).
• Build/develop a better understanding of the types of procedural and substantive values and moral vocabulary that are currently being used to guide policy and decision-making in global health, with a view to making recommendation on the focus of values that are needed to underpin this work going forward.
• Look at the types of training and education that needs to take place to allow for ethically informed decision making in different contexts. This include both the training of ethicists in applied ethics, global health practitioners and researchers and policy and decision-makers.
• Investigating current mechanisms/models, initiatives structures and institutional mechanisms that can facilitate ethics uptake in decision-making, i.e., allocation & governance frameworks, national ethics committees, evidence support units.
• Develop communication and engagement strategies for bridging the divide between ethicists, policymakers, communication specialists and other key stakeholders.

Critical to this work will be a focus on the intersections between governance, policy, evidence, and ethics.

Deliverables:

Specific deliverables will be pre-defined for each consultancy. Consultants are expected to perform a variety of tasks, including:

• Provide technical advice into Mapping and developing this programme of work.
• Deliver a literature/scoping review synthesizing what pre-existing proposals in terms of best practices/models for ethics advice.
• Contribute to the preparations/development of agendas, background papers and reports for relevant expert and advisory group meetings.
• Contribute to the preparations/development of agendas, background papers and reports for stakeholder engagement consultations.
• Develop Case Studies and provide other relevant reviews and Analysis of documents.
• Produce a draft of the ethics outputs (i.e., tools, guidance, recommendations, reports, frameworks and/or toolkits).
• Contribute to the preparation of final documentation and outputs for publication and the development of an implementation strategy, including feeding into current activities regarding ethics guidance development.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential:

• For band level B: Advanced university degree in, Ethics, Law, Philosophy, Sociology, Political Science, Medicine or related field.
• For band level C: Advanced university degree in, Ethics, Law, Philosophy, Sociology, Political Science, Medicine or related field.

Experience

Essential:

• For band level B: 5 to 10 years of relevant experience in the fields of public health, bioethics, philosophy, political science or other related fields, as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications.
• For band level C: Over 10 years of relevant experience in the fields of public health, bioethics, philosophy, political science or other related fields, as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications.

Desirable:

• Experience providing ethics advice to governments or non-governmental organizations.

Skills/knowledge

• Advanced knowledge of ethical issues in public health.
• Excellent communication, research, presentation, and report-writing skills.
• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural settings.

Languages required:

Essential:

• Expert knowledge of English.

Location

Off-site - Home based.

Travel

The consultant is expected to travel.

Remuneration and budget (travel costs are excluded):

Remuneration:

Band level B - USD 350 - 499 per day or USD 7,000 – 9,980 per month.
Band level C - USD 500 - 625 per day or USD 10,000 – 12,500 per month.

Living expenses (A living expense is payable to on-site consultants who are internationally recruited):

N/A

Expected duration of contract:

Contract duration varies (number of days or months) .

Additional Information

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.
• WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.
• Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority. The execution of the work under a consultant contract does not create an employer/employee relationship between WHO and the Consultant.
• WHO shall have no responsibility whatsoever for any taxes, duties, social Security contributions or other contributions payable by the Consultant. The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by WHO.
• Consultants working in Switzerland must register with the applicable Swiss cantonal tax authorities and social security authorities, within the prescribed timeframes (Guidelines issued by the Swiss Mission are available at: https://www.eda.admin.ch/missions/mission-onu-geneve/en/home/manual-regime-privileges-and-immunities/introduction/Manuel-personnes-sans-privileges-et-immunites-carte-H/Non fonctionnaires et stagiaires.html

For roster VNs:

The purpose of this vacancy is to develop a list of qualified candidates for inclusion in this advertised roster. All applicants will be notified in writing of the outcome of their application (whether successful or unsuccessful) upon conclusion of the selection process. Successful candidates will be placed on the roster and subsequently may be selected for consultancy assignments falling in this area of work or for similar requirements/tasks/deliverables. Inclusion in the Roster does not guarantee selection to a consultant contract. There is no commitment on either side.