Veterinary Epidemiologist

Organizational Setting

The Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) is responsible for ensuring FAO's efforts to support countries and partners in preparing for and effectively respond to food and agriculture threats and crises. It is responsible for coordinating the development and maintenance of corporate tools and standards to enable Decentralized Offices to assist Members to prepare for and respond to emergencies. OER ensures humanitarian policy, coordination and knowledge, liaison with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) as well as with humanitarian resource partners, co-leadership with World Food Programme of the global Food Security Cluster, organizational preparedness, surge capacity and response to large-scale emergencies. OER supports food and nutrition security assessment and early warning activities related to emergency and humanitarian analysis and responses. OER plays a major role in the development and leadership of the Organization's programme to increase the resilience of livelihoods to food and agriculture threats and crises.

The tasks envisaged for this assignment are to be carried out through the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), which is currently implementing several projects in various countries and regions. Within the ECTAD framework, the Animal Production and Health Division (NSA) is closely working with the Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) to support various aspects of the animal health and One Health programmes of FAO, including the Global Health Security (GHS) Programme.

Reporting Lines

Assignments are envisaged for various roles and locations requiring different levels of technical expertise. Depending on the specific role and duty station, the epidemiologist will work under the policy and technical guidance of the Senior Animal Health Officer/ECTAD Global Programme Coordinator (NSAH-CJW), the functional and administrative supervision of the Assistant Director General/Regional Representative or FAO Country Representative, the direct supervision of the ECTAD Country Team Leader or an ECTAD Regional Manager, in collaboration with other relevant ECTAD teams, technical units of NSAH-CJW and Animal Production and Health Officers in the Regional, sub-Regional and Country offices.

Technical Focus 

Technical support and guidance on risk assessments including systems characterisation and value chain mapping and analyses, planning and evaluation of epidemiological surveillance, contingency planning and simulation exercises and various other epidemiology capacity development activities in target countries.

Tasks and responsibilities

Depending on the specific assignment, the tasks and responsibilities may involve some or all the following: 

•    Lead the development and implementation of work plans relevant to workforce capacity development, surveillance, risk assessment, early warning and preparedness in alignment with regional and global guidelines and strategies such as the Global Framework for the Progressive Control Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-TADs), Global Health Security Programme (GHSP), and Tripartite Zoonoses Guide: 
o    Support assessment of epidemiological surveillance capacities in target country(ies) using relevant FAO tools such as the Surveillance Evaluation Tool (SET) and Epidemiology Mapping Tool (EMT)
o    Develop, update and harmonize regional/national surveillance strategies and plans, and provide technical support for capacity development where required based on the assessment results;
o    Support and coordinate training programmes appropriate to the countries or regions including: Frontline In Service Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training (ISAVET) or Field Epidemiology Training Programme for Veterinarians (FETP-V); Participatory Disease Surveillance/Response (PDS/R), Participatory Epidemiology (PE), Community Animal Health Worker (CAHW) training programmes and outreach;
o    Provide technical support for the development and review of curricula for epidemiology capacity building at various levels of workforce where required;
o    In close collaboration with GLEWS and EMPRES technical teams at FAO headquarters, support the implementation and evaluation of FAO tools and frameworks related to disease prevention, preparedness and response such as the Event Mobile Application (EMA-i ), the Early Warning Framework and the Progressive Management Pathway for Terrestrial Animal Biosecurity (PMP-TAB);
o    Provide guidance and support to target countries on the use of mobile based applications for surveillance data collection, analyses and sharing of results;
o    Provide guidance and technical support for the design and implementation of risk assessment in the context of farming systems, value chain studies, disease ecology and the livestock-wildlife-human interface;
o    Support spatial disease and risk factor analysis for spill-over, spread and persistence of priority zoonotic diseases including risk modeling and other related activities;
o    In close collaboration with Emergency Management Centre (EMC) and ECTAD regional and country teams, coordinate and participate in emergency preparedness, simulation exercises and rapid response planning and missions;
o    Support and backstop FAO ECTAD’s work on epidemiological value chains, animal mobility studies and assist in adapting approaches to other regions/countries.

•    Contribute to the One Health multi-sectoral coordination and partnerships
o    Participate, when required, in the World Health Organization (WHO) Joint External Evaluation (JEE), World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) Tool for the Evaluation of Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention One Health disease prioritization missions/process evaluations at various levels (global, regional and national) in order to ensure the needs of the animal health sector are effectively reflected in the context of the One Health Approach;
o    Serve as focal point with Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on matters relevant to surveillance capacity building, regional animal health networking, and animal welfare. 
o    Enhance One Health multi-sectoral collaboration including with public health, wildlife, environment, education, etc., sectors with respect to zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance/use (AMR/U) using available/new tools and information technologies/guidelines. 
o    Prepare regular epidemiological updates and timely situation reports on major diseases in target countries and sub-regions in Africa or Asia;

•    Perform other key activities in global, regional or in country ECTAD Units:
o    Attend regular coordination meetings to share activity reports, including challenges, and discuss solutions found and lessons learned with other project countries, regional and HQ teams;
o    Contribute to the ECTAD resource mobilization efforts through the development of project concept notes and fundable project proposals;
o    Contribute to the preparation of regular progress reports on projects implemented by the ECTAD Units;
o    Contribute to ECTAD, EMPRES and GLEWS publications (risk assessment, disease updates, guidelines) when pertinent;
o    Contribute to ECTAD Global MEL Framework 
o    Support the collection, storage, analysis and publication of data generated from field surveillance activities;
o    Contribute to the preparation of project reports as required by the Governments, FAO and donors;

•    Perform other related duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    University degree in veterinary or biological sciences or related fields; 
•    At least 2 years (Category C), 5 years (Category B) or 10 years (Category A) of relevant experience in the management and implementation of infectious disease control programmes, preferably in developing countries;
•    Working knowledge of English (level C) and limited knowledge (level B) of another official FAO language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

FAO Core Competencies

•    Results Focus
•    Teamwork
•    Communication
•    Building Effective Relationships
•    Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills  

•    Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is desirable;
•    Extent and relevance of experience at international level;
•    Ability to write briefs and reports;
•    Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines;
•    Familiarity with FAO policies and programmes and systems is desirable

Selection Criteria 

•    Relevant post-graduate training or experience in epidemiology or disease ecology.