Issued on: 4 March 2024
Deadline: 25 March 2024
The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Technical Advisory Group on assistive technology. This “Call for experts” provides information about the advisory group in question, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.
Background
WHO estimates that over 2.5 billion people need assistive technology, but access to assistive products is as low as 3% in some settings. Among the users of assistive technology, the majority are older people and those living with disabilities or with chronic health conditions. Access to assistive technology is a fundamental human right to live a productive, dignified, and independent life.
The World Health Assembly resolution WHA71.8 “Improving access to assistive technology” mandates countries to develop, implement, and strengthen policies and programmes to improve access to assistive technology as a move toward universal health coverage. The WHO Access to Assistive Technology team has developed tools and actions to guide countries in building a people-centred assistive technology ecosystem through interventions on policy, products, provision, and personnel.
In 2016, the WHO published the Priority Assistive Product List (APL). The APL includes 50 products based on widespread need and impact on a person’s life. These products support functioning in mobility, seeing, hearing, communication, cognition, and self-care. The APL aims to provide Member States with a model from which to develop a national priority assistive products list according to national needs and available resources. The list can also be used to guide product development, production, service delivery, market shaping, procurement, and reimbursement policies (including insurance coverage). In 2021, WHO published Assistive Product Specifications and How to Use Them (APS) and in 2022 WHO launched an online Training for Assistive Products (TAP), to equip the primary healthcare workforce to provide assistive technology at a community level. These two products will strengthen procurement and workforce capacity for better access to quality-assured assistive technology and in turn, support countries to implement the APL.
In addition, WHO developed the Assistive Technology Assessment (ATA) toolkit to support countries in systematically collecting data related to assistive technology, informing decisions regarding policy and program design, raising awareness of assistive technology's need and impact, and galvanizing political support and resources for assistive technology.
With the publication of the first WHO and UNICEF Global report on assistive technology and advances in technology, new knowledge, evidence, and innovative solutions are made available. WHO is now updating the APL and continuing to develop technical products, tools, and resources for Member States to strengthen access to assistive technology.
The Technical Advisory Group on Assistive Technology (the “TAG”), first established in March 2022, will play an important role in providing recommendations to WHO on strategies to accelerate access to assistive technology and will act as an advisory body to WHO in this field.
Functions of the Technical Advisory Group on Assistive Technology
In its capacity as an advisory body to WHO, the TAG shall have the following functions:
1. To provide independent advice to WHO on methodologies and review of evidence for the development of APL and accompanying tools such as the APS and TAP to support its implementation;
2. To provide recommendations to WHO on the use of the evidence in the aforementioned technical development;
3. To review and make recommendations to WHO on the APL based on available evidence and further identify gaps where more research is needed; and
4. As appropriate, to review and make recommendations to WHO on technical products in development.
Operations of the Technical Advisory Group on Assistive Technology
Members of the TAG shall be appointed to serve for a period of 2 years and shall be eligible for reappointment.
The TAG is expected to meet at least once a year. However, WHO may convene additional meetings. TAG meetings may be held in person (at WHO headquarters in Geneva or another location, as determined by WHO) or virtually, via video or teleconference.
The working language of the TAG will be English.
We anticipate the time commitment for TAG members will be about 3 days per month, including participating in meetings and contributing to draft and reviewing technical documents.
Who can express interest?
The Technical Advisory Group on assistive technology will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills, and experience relevant to assistive technology. Approximately 24 members may be selected.
WHO welcomes expressions of interest from:
Healthcare and other sector (such as education) professionals and providers, service managers, policymakers, researchers, healthcare regulators, and experienced assistive technology users with expertise in one or more of the following areas:
- Action on strengthening access to assistive technology, especially in low and middle-income countries;
- Assistive technology programmes’ implementation and evaluation;
- Assistive technology policy and programme development at the facility, national, regional and/or global levels;
- Pricing, procurement, and/or regulation of assistive technology;
- Assistive technology data, research, development, and innovation;
- Assistive technology or health technology assessment, standards and/or regulation;
- Assistive technology service delivery;
- Building assistive technology workforce capacity;
- Use of digital technology to improve access to assistive technology in any of the areas of product development, supply chain, policy strengthening, provision systems, workforce training, or support;
- Assistive technology awareness raising and advocacy.
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the Technical Advisory Group on assistive technology, use the following link (https://extranet.who.int/dataformv3/index.php/159841?lang=en) to fill in the digital expression of interest form and submit the following documents :
- A cover letter, indicating your motivation to apply and how you satisfy the selection criteria. Please note that, if selected, membership will be in a personal capacity. Therefore, do not use the letterhead or other identification of your employer);
- Your curriculum vitae; and
- A signed and completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) form for WHO Experts, available at https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest.
The deadline for submission is 25 March 20204 at 23.59, Geneva time.
After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by WHO. Due to an expected high volume of interest, only selected individuals will be informed.
Important information about the selection processes and conditions of appointment
Members of WHO technical advisory groups (TAGs) must be free of any real, potential or apparent conflicts of interest. To this end, applicants are required to complete the WHO Declaration of Interests for WHO Experts, and the selection as a member of a TAG is, amongst other things, dependent on WHO determining that there is no conflict of interest or that any identified conflicts could be appropriately managed (in addition to WHO’s evaluation of an applicant’s experience, expertise and motivation and other criteria).
All TAG members will serve in their individual expert capacity and shall not represent any governments, any commercial industries or entities, any research, academic, or civil society organizations, or any other bodies, entities, institutions, or organizations. They are expected to fully comply with the Code of Conduct for WHO Experts (https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest). TAG members will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking prior to the beginning of the first meeting.
At any point during the selection process, telephone interviews may be scheduled between an applicant and the WHO Secretariat to enable the WHO to ask questions relating to the applicant’s experience and expertise and/or to assess whether the applicant meets the criteria for membership in the relevant TAG.
The selection of members of the TAGs will be made by WHO in its sole discretion, taking into account the following (non-exclusive) criteria: relevant technical expertise in different assistive technology areas; experience in international and country policy work; communication skills; and ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations. The selection of TAG members will also take account of the need for diverse perspectives from different regions, especially from low and middle-income countries, and for gender balance.
If selected by WHO, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of a TAG will be subject to the proposed member returning to WHO the countersigned copy of these two documents.
WHO reserves the right to accept or reject any expression of interest, to annul the open call process and reject all expressions of interest at any time without incurring any liability to the affected applicant or applicants and without any obligation to inform the affected applicant or applicants of the grounds for WHO's action. WHO may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the TAG, disband an existing TAG, or modify the work of the TAG.
WHO shall not in any way be obliged to reveal, or discuss with any applicant, how an expression of interest was assessed, to provide any other information relating to the evaluation/selection process, or to state the reasons for not choosing a member.
WHO may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the WHO internet. TAG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the TAG or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of TAG members to participate in TAG meetings will be covered by WHO in accordance with its applicable policies, rules, and procedures.
The appointment will be limited in time as indicated in the letter of appointment.
If you have any questions about this “Call for experts”, please write to assistivetechnology@who.int using the subject line “TAG Expression of Interest” well before the applicable deadline.