Date
2021-09-30
Brief description

Call for Experts: Technical Advisory Group for Measurement, Monitoring and Evaluation of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030)

Issued on:  10 August 2021
Deadline: 30 September 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Technical Advisory Group for Measurement, Monitoring and Evaluation of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). This “Call for experts” provides information about the advisory group in question, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.

Background

With the adoption of the United Nation's (UN) Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030)  by the 75th General Assembly on 14 December 2020, and by the 73rd World Health Assembly on 3 August 2020, countries have committed to 10 years of concerted and collaborative actions to improve the lives of the older people (defined as age 60 years and over), their families and the communities in which they reside. The goal of the Decade, is to optimize the functional ability of older people and contribute to the vision of long and healthy lives. The Decade addresses four, interconnected areas of action: a) change how we think, feel and act towards age and ageing, b) ensure that communities foster the abilities of older people, c) deliver person-centered integrated care and primary health services that are responsive to older people; and d) provide access to long-term care for older people who need it.

The UN resolution calls upon World Health Organization (WHO) to lead the implementation of the Decade, in collaboration with United Nations, using existing mechanisms such as the Inter-Agency Group on Ageing (IAGA).  The resolution invites the Secretary-General to inform the General Assembly about the progress of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing, on the basis of triennial reports to be compiled by WHO, in collaboration with other UN agencies, in 2023, 2026 and 2029. The Decade action plan notes a final report will be aligned to the UN’s 2030 Agenda and refers to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and indicators as important to healthy ageing. Moreover, the concept of healthy ageing needs to be operationalized from a programmatic perspective for the actions areas, and guidance on measures, data collection, analysis and reporting are urgently needed to support global, regional and national monitoring of the actions, programmes and policies.

To this end, WHO establishes the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Measurement, Monitoring and Evaluation of UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030) to provide advice to WHO on the measurement, monitoring and evaluation of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030) and programmes related to the action areas.  

Link to Terms of Reference

Areas of work

TAG in its capacity as an advisory body to  WHO, the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) shall provide technical advice in the following areas:

1. development of existing and new indicators for monitoring and evaluating the progress and impact of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing at all levels (global, regional , national and local), aligning and leveraging on other ageing related data efforts such as MIPAA (Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing), voluntary review of SDGs;

2. proposed methods for producing global, regional and national, and subnational estimates linked to the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing; 

3. measurement and operationalization of new and existing indicators (e.g intrinsic capacity, functional ability and environments) linked to the Decade actions areas and related programmes or initiatives (such as, integrated care for older people, long-term care for older people, combatting ageism, age-friendly environments and communities, among others);

4. standardization of measures, mode of data collection, data harmonization for comparability, data analysis across all indicators for the Decade of Healthy Ageing and guidance for decision-making and capacity building in these areas at the  country level;

Operations of the TAG

The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Measurement, Monitoring and Evaluation of UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030) will be expected to meet annually at least twice virtually or in person at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, usually for 2-3 days each time. Interim teleconferences  may be required of the members.  The working language of the group will be English.

Who can express interest?

The TAG  will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to epidemiology, geriatrics, gerontology, sociology, anthropology, economy  and related specialties such as environmental gerontology, demography, community development, and statistics in relation to the Decade’s priority action areas mentioned in the background section. Approximately 20 members may be selected.

Members of the TAG  must have excellent technical knowledge at least some of the following areas:

  • Epidemiology of ageing and health;
  • Methods for producing global health estimates related to ageing indicators, including engagement with stakeholder groups;
  • Monitoring and evaluation of programmes towards longer and healthy lives of older persons ;
  • Health information systems;
  • Operationalization and validation of indicators or development of new measure.

Submitting your expression of interest

To register your interest in being considered for the Technical Advisory Group for Measurement, Monitoring and Evaluation of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030), please submit the following documents by 30 September 2021 [24:00h (midnight) Geneva time] to TAG Secretariats Dr Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan Jotheeswaran and  Dr Mikton Christopher (email: TAGHA@who.int )  using the subject line “Expression of interest for the Technical Advisory Group for Measurement, Monitoring and Evaluation of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030):

  • A cover letter, indicating your motivation to apply and how you satisfy the selection criteria. Please note that, if selected, membership will be in a personal capacity. Therefore do not use the letterhead or other identification of your employer or affiliation);
  • Your curriculum vitae; and
  • A signed and completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) form for WHO Experts, available at https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest.

Note: Upon submission of the documents above, the technical unit will share online data call form for further information if required. After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by WHO.  Due to an expected high volume of interest, only selected individuals will be informed. 

Important information about the selection processes and conditions of appointment

Members of WHO advisory groups (AGs) must be free of any real, potential or apparent conflicts of interest. To this end, applicants are required to complete the WHO Declaration of Interests for WHO Experts, and the selection as a member of a AG is, amongst other things, dependent on WHO determining that there is no conflict of interest or that any identified conflicts could be appropriately managed (in addition to WHO’s evaluation of an applicant’s experience, expertise and motivation and other criteria).

All AG members will serve in their individual expert capacity and shall not represent any governments, any commercial industries or entities, any research, academic or civil society organizations, or any other bodies, entities, institutions or organizations. They are expected to fully comply with the Code of Conduct for WHO Experts (https://www.who.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest). AG members will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking prior to the beginning of the first meeting.

At any point during the selection process, telephone interviews may be scheduled between an applicant and the WHO Secretariat to enable WHO to ask questions relating to the applicant’s experience and expertise and/or  to assess whether the applicant meets the criteria for membership in the relevant AG.

The selection of members of the AGs will be made by WHO in its sole discretion, taking into account  the following (non-exclusive) criteria: relevant technical expertise; experience in international and country policy work; communication skills; and ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations .The selection of AG members will also take account of the need for diverse perspectives from different regions, especially from low and middle-income countries, and for gender balance.

If selected by WHO, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of an AG will be subject to the proposed member returning to WHO the countersigned copy of these two documents.

WHO reserves the right to accept or reject any expression of interest , to annul the open call process and reject all expressions of interest at any time without incurring any liability to the affected applicant or applicants and without any obligation to inform the affected applicant or applicants of the grounds for WHO's action. WHO may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the AG, disband an existing TAG or modify the work of the AG.

WHO shall not in any way be obliged to reveal, or discuss with any applicant, how an expression of interest was assessed, or to provide any other information relating to the evaluation/selection process or to state the reasons for not choosing a member.

WHO may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the WHO internet.

AG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the AG or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of AG members to participate in AG meetings will be covered by WHO in accordance with its applicable policies, rules and procedures.

The appointment will be limited in time as indicated in the letter of appointment.

If you have any questions about this “Call for experts”, please write to

Dr Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan Jotheeswaran (email : amuthavallithiya@who.int) and

Dr Mikton Christopher (email: miktonc@who.int)  well before the applicable deadline.