Deadline: 15-Jan-23
The World Health Organization (WHO) is now accepting applications for the Mwele Malecela Mentorship (MMM) Program for Women in Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) to support mid-career African women to become leaders and champions in NTD elimination at national and international levels.
NTDs and other Tropical and Vector-Borne Diseases (TVD) Programmes are part of and contribute to the work of the Universal health coverage/Communicable and non-communicable diseases (UHC/UCN) cluster in the WHO African region. WHO/AFRO is leading this program in collaboration with The END Fund and the American Society for Medicine, Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (ASMTH). Aligned with the Global NTD Roadmap, the MMM program will provide mentorship, training and networking opportunities over two years to cohorts of women from 2023 to 2030.
The program will provide mentorship, training and networking opportunities over the course of two years. With the support of our partners, the MMM Program will provide guidance and tools to ensure mentees and mentors get off to a strong start by understanding their roles and critical skills needed for an effective mentoring partnership; topics include trust building, giving & receiving feedback, and powerful conversation tools and techniques to help mentees and mentors take their learning “to the next level.” Midpoint Sessions will also provide opportunities for mentees/mentors to assess their progress, share best practices and strengthen their commitment to the process. In addition, our Monthly Engagement Email Blasts, monthly emails for mentees and mentors, will help keep the partnership on track, spark conversation, and support partnership effectiveness. The time commitment expected of mentees to engage with their mentors during the two years will be, on average, 1-2 hours a month.
Objectives
Using an innovative gender-intentional approach, the MMM program aims to increase the overall coverage, effectiveness and impact of NTD interventions by ensuring the program support for women to overcome gender barriers in access to leadership while also acquiring skills and resources that enable them to be influential leaders and agents of change. The program integrates a gender lens into the design and implementation of the critical program components, including:
- Mentorship Program Design & Selection of Awardees,
- Mentorship Program Implementation and
- Mentorship Program Mgt., Review, and Evaluation.
Mentorship Program Design & Selection of Mentees
- The gender-intentional approach of the MMM program incorporates outreach and recruitment strategies that avoid reinforcing the marginalisation of some groups who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination based on, for example, socio-economic status, location, ethnicity or disability. The outreach tactics are tailored to reach women with less access to main social or professional networks, e.g. women with disabilities and women from ethnic or religious minority groups. The program also targets mid-career women working on NTDs in Africa for optimal long-term impact on global NTD goals.
- Similarly, the program recruits diverse mentors who can serve as role models for participants and will include not only “accomplished and influential leaders in the NTD community” but women and men who are strong and experienced leaders working closer to the community level, in marginalised communities, or on issues that receive less attention, including NTDs and many gender equality issues.
Criteria
You are eligible for consideration if you meet all the following criteria:
- Identify as a woman
- Work in a role that focuses on Neglected Tropical Diseases, including public health policy, research or program interventions at sub-national, national or international levels.
- Possess 10 to 20 years of professional experience in public health, with at least 10 years specifically in Neglected Tropical Diseases
- Reside and work within the WHO Africa region
- Must be a national of a country in the WHO Africa Region
For more information, visit WHO.