Opening date: 29 June 2022, 16:00 (CEST)
Closing date: 14 August 2022, 23:59 (CEST)
These Terms of Reference for the Quadripartite Technical Group on Antimicrobial Resistance and Use (AMR/U) integrated surveillance (QTG-AIS) are agreed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) (collectively referred to as the “Quadripartite”). The Quadripartite Joint Secretariat on AMR (QJS), which consolidates cooperation between FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH to coordinate the global One Health response to AMR, will have oversight of the QTG-AIS through its Senior Management Group (QJS SMG). The QJS will provide overall secretariat support for the QTG-AIS.
Recognizing that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global animal and public health threat driven by inappropriate use of antimicrobials in human, animal, and plant health, food production, and environmental contamination, and that effective surveillance of AMR/U across sectors is an integral part of efforts to monitor the spread and impact of AMR, the Quadripartite have agreed to establish the QTG-AIS to provide advice and guidance on the development of global and context-appropriate regional and country-level systems for integrated surveillance and the establishment of effective capacities.
The mandate of the QTG-AIS is to:
- Provide advice to the Quadripartite on needs, scope and format on integrated surveillance; how it should be updated to reflect emerging evidence and experience; and advocate for covering identified gaps;
- Review and refine current definition of integrated surveillance and agree on priority needs in different contexts;
- Provide technical advice to the Quadripartite on issues emerging from regional- and country-level work on AMR/U integrated surveillance;
- Provide strategic advice and input to the Global Leaders Group on AMR/U integrated surveillance.
- Provide technical support/assistance via the Quadripartite to build country- and regional-level integrated AMR/U surveillance capabilities.
More information can be found on Terms of Reference of the QTG-AIS.
The QTG-AIS will have a sector-balanced representation of individual surveillance experts with expertise in AMR/U surveillance in at least two sectors (human health, terrestrial and/or aquatic animal health, food safety and food production, plant health, and the environment) or expertise in analysis of data between sectors. The working language of the QTG-AIS will be English.
Criteria
The Quadripartite welcomes expressions of interest for QTG-AIS experts from microbiologists, epidemiologists, public health practitioners, health scientists, veterinary scientists, food systems experts, agriculture experts, environmental scientists, plant production/protection experts, microbial geneticists, molecular biologists, microbial genomics experts, computational biologists, bioinformaticians, data scientists or other relevant disciplines who have experience working with or in low and/or middle-income countries as per the World Bank classification.
Expressions of interest for QTG-AIS will take into account the following (non-exclusive) criteria:
- relevant technical expertise;
- experience in international and country policy work;
- communication skills;
- ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations; and
- the need for adequate distribution of gender balance and diverse perspectives from different regions, especially from low and middle-income countries.
The selection and appointment process
After submission, your curriculum vitae and expression of interest will be reviewed by the Quadripartite Joint Secretariat on Antimicrobial Resistance (QJS).
If selected by the QJS, you will be sent an invitation letter containing the terms and conditions of your appointment. Your appointment as an QTG-AIS expert will be subject to you returning to the QJS the countersigned copy of this appointment letter and an affirmative letter in reply.
The QJS 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 its actions. The QJS may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the QTG-AIS, disband it or modify its work.
The QJS shall not in any way be obliged to reveal, or discuss with any applicant, how an expression of interest was assessed, or to provide any other information relating to the evaluation/selection process or to state the reasons for not choosing a member.
Selected experts will be appointed jointly by the QJS SMG.
Conditions of appointment
- QTG-AIS experts will not be employees or agents of the Quadripartite and shall not speak on behalf of, or represent, the Quadripartite, individually or collectively, to any third party. QTG-AIS experts may not issue any publications on behalf of the QTG-AIS and/or the Quadripartite.
- QTG-AIS experts shall be appointed for a period of two (2) or three (3) years – as indicated in their letter of appointment – and shall be eligible for reappointment.
- QTG-AIS experts must respect the impartiality and independence required by the Quadripartite. They must be free of any real, potential or apparent conflicts of interest and will have an ongoing obligation to disclose any interests, real or perceived, that may give rise to a real, potential or apparent conflict of interest. In this respect, applicants will be required to complete the Declaration of Interests for Experts.
- QTG-AIS experts 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 Experts (https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest). Selected QTG-AIS experts will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking prior to the beginning of the first meeting.
- In the case that an QTG-AIS expert is to be replaced, candidates not selected for inclusion in this call that fulfil the eligibility criteria may be considered. Candidates included in this roster will be informed after the selection process.
- QTG-AIS experts will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the QTG-AIS or otherwise.
- QTG-AIS meetings would be held virtually, via video or teleconference. No travel is anticipated.
Submitting your expression of interest
If you have any questions about this “Call for Experts”, please write to QJS-AIS@who.int well before the applicable deadline.