Background
Around 3 billion people worldwide use inefficient sources of energy and technology that produce high levels of household air pollution. These emissions include a range of health-damaging pollutants that lead to the premature death of around 3.8 million people every year, including pneumonia, stroke, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer. Energy access challenges also affect health care delivery. Around 25 percent of health care facilities in 11 sub-Saharan African countries have no access to electricity. Beyond basic lighting, health care facilities need a sustainable and reliable source of electricity to respond to emergencies (e.g. communications), prevent disease (e.g. cold-chain vaccine storage), as well treat disease and injury.
Policies designed to meet SDG 7 targets on energy access, energy efficiency, and renewables have the potential to also provide vast benefits for human health (SDG 3), and spur progress across the entire Sustainable Development Agenda. However, to realize this opportunity, closer cooperation is needed at all levels between actors and decision-makers, and especially between the health and energy sectors.
The Air Quality and Health (AQH) team, of the Department of Environment, Climate Change, and Health, the objective is to promote health sector intervention for air pollution, as well as interventions in economic sectors (e.g housing, transport, energy) that reduce environmental health risks, promote better health, and optimize the health co-benefits of sustainable development /climate change mitigation policies.
As part of the Health and Energy programme of work, AQH’s activities seek to improve health in low- and middle-income countries through the sustained adoption of clean and sustainable energy in households and health care facilities, including through activities aimed to:
- Increase awareness and build support among policy-makers, implementing partners, and the public about the importance of clean energy and the role that it plays in improving the health and equity of the poorest populations, and reducing air pollution.
- Leverage the health argument, to strengthen the political and technical commitment and cooperation between the health, energy, and other related sectors to accelerate access to clean and sustainable energy.
- Build the capacity of countries to develop, implement, and monitor ‘health-wise’ policies related to the energy transition through the development and application of relevant tools and information resources.
In line with the mentioned objectives, WHO/PHE/AQH and in collaboration with other UN agencies (UNDP, DESA, World Bank) and other stakeholders have established a multi-stakeholder Health and Energy Platform for Action (HEPA). The HEPA aims to strengthen the political and technical cooperation between the health, energy, and other related sectors (e.g. environment, gender) to accelerate the transition to clean and sustainable energy for health. Initially, HEPA activities and support will focus on clean cooking and electrification of health facilities and will be engaging in various policy dialogues over the coming year, hosting side events or webinars in cooperation with other global events as well as working with other HEPA partners to broaden the communications around health and energy interlinkages.
The objective of the call
As HEPA and its associated High-level Coalition of Leader will be engaging in a variety of outreach and policy discussions over the coming year and aspires to broaden its technical communications around the energy and health linkages, WHO is currently seeking support to prepare a set of communication materials including policy briefs, video, and summaries of technical resources on the health benefits of clean and sustainable energy access in households and health care facilities.
Work to be performed
In close cooperation with the team at WHO, the incumbent will produce the following deliverables:
1- Preparation of a video on sustainable energy access and health linkages – facilitate the preparation of a health and energy access advocacy video, in both a technical and administrative capacity. The video aims to capture and convey key messages around energy access and public health. The incumbent will be expected to:
- Support the identification and selection of a video production company;
- Develop a concept and storyboard for the video and draft script;
- Work with a video production company in both an administrative and technical capacity to prepare the video;
- Develop a set of shorter ‘takes’ from the video that can be used by HEPA members on social media platforms.
2- Prepare a social media package around health and energy linkages that could be used for outreach at upcoming high-level events and technical launches for the Health and Energy Platform of Action, and the High-level Coalition on Health and Energy.
This final package should include:
- A set of social media cards with facts about clean cooking, electrification of health care facilities, and related health impacts that can be used on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc.
- A set of ‘tweets’ to be used by HL Coalition and HEPA members at various upcoming events including the High-Level Political Forum, the UN Secretary General’s High-level Dialogue on Energy, COP27, etc.
- 4 draft 2-4pg flyers on (a) HEPA (b) High-level Coalition (c) Clean Cooking (d) Electrification of Health Care Facilities.
3- Support the visual and content development of the HEPA website – through editorial review, identification of pictures, and ensuring technical and communication materials are easily accessible and/or easy to navigate to.
4- Contribute to the drafting, review, and finalization of policy briefs, related key messages, and communication materials under development for the High-Level Political Forum 2021, the High-level dialogue on Energy, and resulting from WHO’s the upcoming publication on the Global Status Report on Electrification of Health Care Facilities, currently in preparation.
5- Prepare a set of flyers for the Clean Household Energy Solutions Toolkit (CHEST) – CHEST is a set of tools and resources available to countries and stakeholders to support the selection and implementation of clean household energy solutions. To better communicate the technical resources and tools available in CHEST, a key deliverable of this consultancy includes the drafting and finalization of a set of flyers summarizing the key contents of each of CHEST’s modules.
6- Support the preparation of CHEST module training videos – Several modules of CHEST include interactive web-based tools. To facilitate the use of these videos, WHO is preparing a set of videos explain how to use these tools and walk through various examples. The incumbent will support the production of these video content and the videos themselves.
All activities above will be conducted in close coordination with WHO technical and administrative staff. WHO colleagues from the AQH will be available for input and consultation during the entire project duration. WHO will own the intellectual property of work produced through this contract, and appropriate attribution will be given to individuals and organizations involved in development.
Timeline
Estimated time necessary: 10 months
Estimated duration/period: February 2021 to December 2021
Specific requirements
1- Qualifications required:
- First-level university degree in communications, journalism, public health, or related field.
2- Experience required:
- Minimum of 3 years of experience preparing communication or advocacy materials related to public health and/or sustainable development issues Exp
- Experience in synthesizing and distilling scientific information into policy briefs and summary documents;
- Experience in preparing documents and briefings for publication (including editing and layout processes);
- Experience preparing training materials or videos;
- Desirable: experience in video content development.
3- Skills / Technical skills and knowledge:
- Excellent intercultural skills
- Excellent communications and editorial skills
- Excellent knowledge of MS-Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
- Knowledge in video preparation and production
- Ability to work independently and meet tight deadlines
- Coordinate and liaise effectively with team members and external stakeholders
- Desirable: Familiarity with energy and health issues, particularly those related to household energy use and/or electrification
4- Language requirements:
- Fluency in English is required. Fluency in French and additional languages is an asset.
Place of assignment
All work will be completed remotely.
Travel/post
The Incumbent may be required to travel, upon request at the Organization’s expense.
Compensation
Payment will be aligned to the WHO P2/P3 consultancy pay band on the headquarters level and will be commensurate based on experience.
Application procedure
Applicants should send their CVs, a covering email describing their motivation for application and highlighting any specific skill or experience relevant to the position, as well as some samples of previous work to sdg7@who.int by 11 January 2021, 18h CEST.
As we have several calls for application open at the same time, please make sure to indicate the specific position for which you are applying in the subject line.
Interviews will be held during the end of January with an expected start date in the first half of February.