The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is seeking experts to serve as members of the WHO/UNICEF Technical Advisory Group on Wasting. 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
The area of nutrition continues to rapidly evolve and challenge implementers. The WHO wasting treatment and prevention guideline review and update process (and WHO-led EmCare App development) have identified several operational issues where practitioners require more guidance to help apply normative guidelines in different contexts and to address issues that fall beyond the scope/remit of the wasting guideline process. This has highlighted the need to update existing WHO/UNICEF operational tools and guidance related to wasting management (technical products) and, if necessary, to develop additional guidance materials that aim to support effective implementation.
In addition, significant research gaps also identified in the guideline process need documenting and taking forward in terms of what support and advocacy WHO and UNICEF can bring to address this important evidence generation.
Reflecting commitments under the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting, WHO and UNICEF have established a partnership to collaborate on a) prevention, early detection and treatment of child wasting by providing more up-to-date global normative and operational guidance, b) support to national governments in adapting their national guidelines, and c) coordination of the wasting-related research agenda.
A key aspect of this collaboration will be to set up a Technical Advisory Group on Wasting.
Functions of the WHO/UNICEF Technical Advisory Group on Wasting
Short term
A. Operational Guidance:
- Identification of operational guidance gaps in the prevention and treatment of growth faltering and wasting in infants and children
- Contribute to the prioritisation of the workplan for producing operational guidance as identified in point 1
- Timely review and contribution (where appropriate) to relevant WHO/UNICEF-led technical product development/update (operational guidance, research agenda etc.).
- In consultation with the GNC Technical Alliance’s Wasting Global Thematic Working Group and other relevant forums/partners/groups, identify means, mechanism, and schedule to address outstanding operational guidance and research gaps that do not fall within the remit of the WHO/UNICEF technical products and processes.
B. Research on wasting:
- To identify and prioritize formative and operational research and knowledge gaps on wasting prevention and treatment
- To support knowledge management and generation efforts by reviewing research protocols and studies when relevant
Long term
Provide technical advice and expertise on ongoing or updated guidance needs, urgency of these needs and the decision to trigger either interim or a full GDG process and review of guideline recommendations/good practice statements.
Operations of the WHO/UNICEF Technical Advisory Group on Wasting
Members will not receive any remuneration from WHO or UNICEF for any work related to the Advisory Group.
Members are expected to attend meetings of the Advisory Group, which will meet at least three times each year. Furthermore, members are expected to review documents in between meetings of the Advisory Group with a planned schedule set out for this as much as is possible, and to engage on technical discussions by email or short conference calls between regular meetings.
Subgroups working on specific outputs (if any) are likely to meet monthly or more regularly as needed. Specific terms of reference and time commitment required will be specified per output so that members have a clear understanding of the time commitment involved.
Members shall be appointed to serve with a minimum commitment of two years and membership shall be subject to periodic review by WHO and UNICEF.
Who can express interest?
The WHO/UNICEF Technical Advisory Group on Wasting will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills, and experience relevant to wasting. The Advisory Group will be composed of up to 15 members, who will be selected considering technical expertise, geographical representation, and gender balance.
WHO and UNICEF welcomes expressions of interest from:
- healthcare workers, policymakers, and programmers and researchers with expertise/experience in the following areas:
- Delivery of front-line medical and nutritional care to infants and children with growth faltering and wasting in low-resource settings
- Design and implementation of nutrition programmes (both vertically and integrated into existing health services) in low-resource settings
- Development of policies (global, national, regional, district) related to the care and provisions of services for infants and children with growth faltering and wasting in low-resource settings
- Development of policies (global, national, regional, district) related to the care and provisions of services for infants and children with growth faltering and wasting in low-resource settings
- Ethics, equity, human rights and gender in health service delivery and public health
Submitting your expression of interest
To register your interest in being considered for the Technical Advisory Group on Wasting, please submit the following documents by 23 September 2022 at 24:00, Geneva time (CEST) to NFS@who.int with the subject “2022/August/72 - Expression of interest for the Technical Advisory Group on Wasting”:
- 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, not on behalf of your organization. Therefore, do not use the letterhead or other identification of your employer;
- Your curriculum vitae; and
- A signed and completed Declaration of Interest form for WHO Experts, which can be downloaded here
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/UNICEF advisory groups (AGs) 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 an AG 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 the evaluation of an applicant’s experience, expertise and motivation and other criteria).
All AG 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. AG 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 WHO/UNICEF to enable WHO/UNICEF 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 AG.
The selection of members of the AGs will be made by WHO/UNICEF in their sole discretion, taking into account the following (non-exclusive) criteria: relevant technical expertise; 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 AG 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/UNICEF, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of an AG will be subject to WHO receiving the countersigned copy of these two documents.
WHO/UNICEF 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/UNICEF's action. WHO/UNICEF may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the AG, disband an existing TAG or modify the work of the AG.
WHO/UNICEF 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.
WHO may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the WHO/UNICEF internet.
AG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the AG or otherwise.
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 NFS@who.int using the subject line “2022/August/72 - Expression of interest for the Technical Advisory Group on Wasting”: before the applicable deadline.