Description of assignment title: Junior Officer for Environmental Health and Climate Change
Assignment country: Bangladesh
Expected start date: 09/01/2024
Sustainable Development Goal: 3. Good health and well-being
Volunteer category: International UN University Volunteer
Host entity: UNICEF
Type: Onsite
Duration: 6 months
Number of assignments: 1
Duty stations: Dhaka
Details
Mission and objectives
UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress. UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a “first call for children” and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families. UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children – victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation, and those with disabilities. UNICEF responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children. In coordination with United Nations partners and humanitarian agencies, UNICEF makes its unique facilities for rapid response available to its partners to relieve the suffering of children and those who provide their care. UNICEF is non-partisan and its cooperation is free of discrimination. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority. UNICEF aims, through its country programmes, to promote the equal rights of women and girls and to support their full participation in the political, social and economic development of their communities. UNICEF works with all its partners towards the attainment of the sustainable human development goals adopted by the world community and the realization of the vision of peace and social progress enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
Context
The UN Volunteer supports the Health Specialist in planning, monitoring, and reporting on the environmental health and climate change programme. The environmental health and climate change programme is part of UNICEF’s Healthy Environments for Healthy Children’s Global Programme Framework. Tragically, one in four children who die before their fifth birthday do so because of unhealthy environments. Lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, and other toxic metals impair children’s healthy development. Lead damages the brain of babies and children under the age of five years, causing them lifelong neurological, cognitive, and physical impairment. Around 35 million children in Bangladesh are affected by lead poisoning according to the Institute of Health Metrics Evaluation. Informal recycling, unsafe burning of e-waste and medical waste releases toxicants into the air and community. Several of widely used chemicals can be damaging to the health of mothers, children and infants. These include highly hazardous pesticides, asbestos, benzene, dioxins and PCBs, excess fluoride and additional chemicals from household products. These toxic chemicals affect not only children, but also affect pregnant women and the developing fetus, causing miscarriage, still birth and preterm birth. Globally, Bangladesh is the seventh most affected country by extreme weather events. Heat stress and other consequences of climate change affect children and pregnant women disproportionately. Many children in Bangladesh live in areas that experience multiple, overlapping climate and environmental hazards. UNICEF is working with the government, academia, development partners and private sector to address environmental health issues and climate change in Bangladesh through the Healthy Environments for Healthy Children programme. UNICEF is also supporting the government to conduct the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in 2024 which will include heavy metal measurements in blood of children and pregnant women/lactating mothers for a nationally representative data to inform policy decisions and actions.
Task description
Under the direct supervision of the Health Specialist who leads the Environmental health, Climate change and emergency preparedness and response programmes, the UN Volunteer as part of the health team will undertake the following tasks: • Provide support to the UNICEF health team in the development and implementation of environmental health and climate change program, focusing on mitigation of heavy metal pollution, heat stress, air pollution, and climate change: 1) Participate in health section monthly review meetings. 2) Assist in drafting meeting minutes internally in UNICEF and externally with partners with guidance from supervisor. 3) Support development of a programme implementation tracking sheet using excel to facilitate timely monitoring and action. 4) Assist in the planning and organization of workshops, including preparation of logistics for successful implementation. 5) Assist the team in planning at national level as well as implementation of heavy metal measurement as part of the MICS 2024.
Eligibility criteria
Age: 18 – 26
Additional eligibility criteria
ELIGIBILITY – As this assignment is funded by KOICA, specific eligibility criteria apply. – Candidates must be Korean nationals between 18 and 29 years of age at the time of application (the age limit shown above does not apply). – You must be enrolled in a bachelor’s or master’s degree or have recently graduated (no longer than 12 months ago at the time of application). – Candidates who already served on a UN Volunteer assignment funded by KOICA are not eligible. APPLICATION – If you are currently enrolled in a university and have not yet obtained a university degree, indicate in the section ‘Academic qualifications’ under ‘diploma/degree obtained’ that you are still studying and towards which degree. In the ‘to’ field, enter the current date, as the system does not allow you to enter a future date. Instead of the degree certificate, upload any evidence of your enrollment, for example a transcript. – You may apply to a maximum of three assignments and indicate the order of preference in the ‘Additional remarks’ field when filling in the application form. – If you are above the age of 26, a notification will be displayed that you are not eligible to apply. You may ignore this and proceed with submitting your application. – Application deadline: 26 May 2024 SELECTION – Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. The selection will be done by the UN Host Entity at the level of the country of assignment. Interviews will be conducted by the UN Host Entity in June. – Selected candidates will be invited to attend a mandatory online preparation training on 19 and 21 August. +++ UN Volunteer entitlement calculator: https://app.unv.org/calculator +++
Nationality
Candidate must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.
Donor priorities
Requirements
Required experience
1 years of experience in or demonstrated interest in: • Medicine • Public health • Environmental health • Climate change
Area(s) of expertise
Health
Languages
English, Level: Fluent, Required
Required education level
Bachelor degree or equivalent in – currently enrolled or recent graduate – in Medicine, Environmental Health or Public Health.
Competencies and values
• Commitment and Motivation • Commitment to Continuous Learning • Working with teams • Communication • Ethics and Values • Integrity • Knowledge Sharing • Planning and Organizing • Professionalism • Respect for Diversity • Working in Teams
Other information
Living conditions and remarks
Dhaka is located in central Bangladesh. Not only is it the capital city, but it is also the largest in the country. It is the centre of political, cultural, and economic life in Bangladesh. The official language is Bengali, while English is the working language of UN Agencies. Good English-speaking medical, dental services, and educational centres are available for internationals. In recent decades, Dhaka has seen the modernization of services, communications, and public works. The city is attracting large foreign investments and greater volumes of commerce and trade. It is also experiencing an increasing influx of people from across the nation; this has reportedly made Dhaka one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Dhaka is connected to other cities by rail, road, and by air and internationals can move easily from one city to another. Dhaka has venerable green spaces, including many gardens and parks, historical places, and nice restaurants. The weather is tropical – hot and very humid during the summer monsoon season (April-September) and drier and cooler in the winter (October-March). Historically, Bangladesh has been a safe country for internationals so far. While Dhaka is not categorized as a hardship station, the volunteer should be prepared for limitations in freedom of movement on foot, by public transport, and to certain locations.
Inclusivity statement
United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
Reasonable accommodation
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.