Consultant – Psychiatrist At International Organization for Migration

I. Position Information

Position title: Consultant – Psychiatrist

Duty station: Bentiu, South Sudan

Organizational unit: Protection and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS)

Reports directly to: Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Officer

Duration: Six months, with possibility of extension

II. Organizational Context and Scope

IOM in South Sudan has a broad range of programming centred around three broad areas: humanitarian coordination and support, humanitarian response and resilience, and peacebuilding, transition, and development. Humanitarian coordination and support include leading/co-leading the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) and Shelter and Non-Food Items (NFI) Clusters, Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and management of WASH and Shelter and NFI core-pipelines, humanitarian hubs and standard transport services. Humanitarian response and resilience include CCCM, WASH, Shelter & NFI, Health, Protection, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) and the management of a Rapid Response Fund.

IOM’s Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) programme in South Sudan includes capacity building for IOM staff and international community, socio-recreational and cultural activities, peer support groups for vulnerable displaced persons, individual and group psychosocial counselling, integration of mental health into the primary health care system and the provision of specialized mental health services.

This consultancy is placed within the Protection and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Unit and will contribute to the project Multi-sectoral and Integrated Lifesaving Humanitarian and Development Support to South Sudan funded by the US Department of State Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA).

Under the overall supervision of the Programme Coordinator for the Protection and MHPSS Unit, and the direct supervision of the the MHPSS Officer, the consultant will provide technical advice to IOM’s MHPSS portfolio in South Sudan, while designing new Mental Health interventions in Bentiu.

III. RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

  1. Support the development and implementation of a holistic and systemic MHPSS strategy for IOM in South Sudan, in line with global IOM MHPSS approaches and the IASC guidelines for MHPSS in emergencies. This should include how to ensure quality MHPSS programming and integration of MHPSS into wider programming.
  2. Develop and roll-out capacity building to IOM Psychiatric nurse, the Medical doctor or nurse, other relevant actors, including line ministries, IDPs and host community members. Ensure that content aligns with the latest global guidelines and standards. Topics would include mental health GAP action program. Capacity building should take the form of training, refresher trainings, regular mentoring and ‘on-the-job’ coaching.
  3. Oversee the quality of the IOM psychiatric care team, composed of the psychiatric nurse and pharmacist who provide multi-layered MHPSS services in target communities, including by identifying qualified personnel, providing ongoing capacity building and ensuring they receive regular supervision, through a clear monitoring.
  4. Monitor that the programme has adequate referral pathways in place to ensure access to multi-layered MHPSS services, especially for services that IOM cannot directly provide. This may include service mapping, partner capacity assessments and creating agreements with specific referral partners.
  5. Support the development and maintenance of the MHPSS Monitoring and Evaluation framework, including qualitative and quantitative indicators, as well as database with clinical/casework undertaken, and collect and collate statistics for analysis and sharing of information for weekly, monthly, and/or quarterly reports.
  6. Establish clear work-plans for the psychiatric nurse and medical doctors and provide timely weekly and monthly reporting on IOM MHPSS activities.
  7. Monitor the use of programmatic tools, and develop new tools where required.
  8. Coordinate and liaise with other agencies and key actors, and participate to ICWG, cluster meetings, working groups, mapping, planning, and reporting exercises; take the lead in such exercises when necessary and in the interest of IOM.
  9. Support liaison and coordination with Line Ministries connected to MHPSS and other relevant civil society actors for mainstreaming MHPSS in host communities, where applicable

Performance indicators for the evaluation of results

  • IOM MHPSS strategy developed.
  • Develop capacity building material and deliver training and mentoring to IOM Psychiatric nurse.
  • MHPSS Monitoring and Evaluation framework.
  • Represent IOM in coordination structures as requested

IV. Required Qualifications and Experience

Education

Post-graduate studies in mental health and psychiatry. Post-graduate studies in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in emergency context an advantage

Experience

  • At least 3 years of previous experiences in mental health and psychiatric interventions in humanitarian emergency contexts.
  • At least 3 years of previous experiences in providing services to displaced populations, migrants, refugees or conflict affected populations.
  • Performing on site supervision of GPs and nurses at the health facilities.
  • Significant experience in implementing MHPSS projects, providing clinical supervision, coaching, and mentoring to both specialists and non-specialists.
  • Empowering GPs through capacity building so they can perform consultations of severe cases at a later stage of the project.
  • Assessing the capacity of the GPS and decide how to scale down supervision in time.
  • Experience in protection related programming in emergency, including GBV and Child protection is an advantage.
  • Demonstrated experience and knowledge of UN and international agencies structures.
  • Experience in capacity building activities and curriculum development is an advantage.
  • Desired knowledge of Problem Management Plus program (PM+).
  • Knowledge and desired experience of mental health Gap action program (mhGAP) for the implementation of holistic psychiatric care.

V. LANGUAGES

Required: Fluency in English (oral and written).

Desirable: Working knowledge of Arabic

VI. Competencies

The incumbent is expected to demonstrate the following values and competencies:

Values – all IOM staff members must abide by and demonstrate these three values:

  • Inclusion and respect for diversity: respects and promotes individual and cultural differences; encourages diversity and inclusion wherever possible.
  • Integrity and transparency: maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct.
  • Professionalism: demonstrates ability to work in a composed, competent and committed manner and exercises careful judgment in meeting day-to-day challenges.

Core Competencies – behavioural indicators level 2

  • Teamwork: develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results.
  • Delivering results: produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely manner; is action oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes.
  • Managing and sharing knowledge: continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate.
  • Accountability: takes ownership for achieving the Organization’s priorities and assumes responsibility for own action and delegated work.
  • Communication: encourages and contributes to clear and open communication; explains complex matters in an informative, inspiring and motivational way.

How to apply

Interested candidates are required to submit their motivation letter and Curriculum Vitae to vss@iom.int by 03 January, 2024 indicating in the subject of the e-mail “Consultant – Psychiatrist”

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