Opening date: 12 September 2022
Closing date: 26 October 2022
These Terms of Reference for the Quadripartite Technical Group on the Economics of Antimicrobial Resistance (QTG-EA) are agreed to by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the 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-EA through its Senior Management Group (QJS SMG). The QJS will provide overall secretariat support for the QTG-EA.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a severe threat to human, animal, plant and environmental health, global food security and livelihoods, and currently, there is inadequate financial support for the sustainable implementation of national action plans on AMR. The existing estimates of the costs of antimicrobial resistance containment measures and national action plan implementation may underestimate the actual cost of responding and not responding to antimicrobial resistance in a One Health context. The Quadripartite has agreed to establish a Quadripartite Technical Group on the Economics of AMR (QTG-EA) to advise on estimating the AMR cost and associated co-benefits of AMR response across different sectors to inform global and regional, and country prioritization and resource mobilization.
Based on the request from the Quadripartite, the QTG-EA will:
(a) provide advice to the Quadripartite on the needs, scope, and format of conducting economic and investment cases for AMR action at global, regional and country levels
(b) identify and share models and approaches to building economic cases for AMR across sectors.
(c) assist the Quadripartite, where possible, in seeking sector-specific advice, particularly where that advice may not already be present in the Technical Group
(d) advise on data needs, evidence gaps, and approaches to address them in order to better estimate the cost and benefits of AMR response
(e) advise on key assumptions and hypotheses for the selection of AMR interventions, costing methods and return on investment calculations
(f) provide strategic advice and input to the GLG on the economics of AMR and financing for AMR action
(g) advise the Quadripartite on mainstreaming the findings, including the economic assessment and resource mobilization tools in the organizational strategies and joint operational plans at all levels
More information can be found in Terms of Reference of the QTG-EA.
The QTG-EA will include a sector-balanced representation of experts with an expectation that members will have the programmatic or economic expertise in one or more the following sectors: human health, animal health (terrestrial and aquatic), food safety and food production, plant health, and the environment. There will be a balanced representation of regions and gender. The working language of the QTG-EA will be English.
Criteria
The Quadripartite welcomes expressions of interest from economists, epidemiologists, development experts or other relevant disciplines who have experience working with or in low and/or middle-income countries as per the World Bank classification.
Evaluation of interest for QTG-EA 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 LMICs.
Selection and appointment process
After submission, your curriculum vitae and expression of interest will be reviewed by the 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-EA 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-EA, disband it or modify its work.
Conditions of appointment
- QTG-EA 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-EA 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-EA experts will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking prior to the beginning of the first meeting.
- QTG-EA 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-EA experts may not issue any publications on behalf of the QTG-EA and/or the Quadripartite.
- QTG-EA experts shall be appointed for a period of two (2) years – as indicated in their letter of appointment – and shall be eligible for reappointment.
- In the case that an QTG-EA member 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-EA experts will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the QTG-EA or otherwise.
- QTG-EA meetings would be held virtually, via video or teleconference or in person, resources permitting.
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in consideration for the QTG-EA, please submit the following documents to QTG-EA@who.int by 26 OCTOBER 2022 23:59 (CEST):
- a cover letter, indicating your motivation to apply and how you satisfy the selection criteria. Please note that, if selected you are required to serve the QTG-EA 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, available at https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest.
If you have any questions about this “Call for Experts,” please write to QTG-EA@who.int well before the applicable deadline.
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.