UN volunteer programme wants to recruit female professionals

FEMALE professionals in public health research are among those being recruited across 47 countries to be UN Volunteers.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) regional office for Africa, and the UN Volunteers have launched the Africa Young Women Health Champions, to recruit early – to middle-career female professionals. The initiative aligns with the theme of International Women’s Day that “I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights”.

The recruitment will focus on female professionals in public health, epidemiology, health research, health emergency management, data management, statistics or other healthrelated fields, as well as information management, innovation, communications and administration.

In a region with some of the highest disease burden in the world, the Africa Young Women Health Champions initiative will give women the chance to serve to improve the health and well-being of people in Africa.

WHO regional director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said the initiative came at the right time in the region.

“We have committed to achieving gender parity among WHO staff, and although we are making progress, we still have work to do,” Moeti said.

Over the past 10 years 439 UN Volunteers have served with WHO, supporting its mission to promote health, keep people safe, and serve the vulnerable.

UN Volunteers deputy executive co-ordinator Toily Kurbanov said: “We are opening the doors for 100 women professionals to join WHO offices across Africa as UN Volunteers. WHO and the UN share the goal to empower women while helping countries on the continent to improve people’s health. And these new colleagues will be the agents of change and champions of Africa’s healthy future.”

Executive director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said 2020 was a massive year for gender equality.

“It’s the year for what we call ‘generation equality’. With the leadership of civil society, we’re mobilising to realise women’s rights, and to mark 25 years of implementing the Beijing Platform for Action. Generation equality tackles issues of women across generations, from early to late years, with young women and girls at the centre.

“My impatience is with unmoving economic inequality. Women use triple the time and energy of men to look after the household. That costs them equal opportunities in education, in the job market and in earning power. It’s a driver of repeating poverty.

“Young women raising families are 25% more likely than men to live in extreme poverty, affecting millions of young children, with impacts that last into later life for both mother and child. The solution includes good policies that promote more equality in childcare responsibilities, and that provide state support to families and to those who work in the informal economy,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said.