PAHO Consultant - Technical Support for the Regional Agenda on Chemical Safety and Health
Organizational Context
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Job Purpose
Provide specialized technical support to plan, implement, monitor, and document the Regional Agenda on Chemical Safety and Health, strengthening cooperation with countries and tracking institutional indicators for 2026-2031.
Responsibilities
Prepare and update the consultancy operational plan, including timelines, milestones, stakeholders, risks, and coordination mechanisms. Consolidate baseline data and evidence repositories from prioritized countries for PAHO regional indicators on chemical safety. Update matrices, dashboards, and monitoring sheets. Prepare periodic progress reports, gap alerts, and recommendations. Update the assessment of CIATs and support the organization of the regional network. Support national assessments of poisoning surveillance, regulatory frameworks, laboratory capacity, and chemical-event notification systems. Contribute to developing or adapting clinical, epidemiological, and emergency response protocols for priority substances. Systematize information on antidotes and antivenoms and support regional proposals for referral systems, counter-referral systems, and stock management. Identify training needs and support the Chemical Safety learning pathway. Prepare technical content, guidance documents, presentations, briefs, tools, and materials for courses, workshops, and seminars. Support the organization, facilitation, documentation, and evaluation of regional and national training activities. Document best practices, country experiences, and lessons learned. Support technical assistance plans for prioritized countries and territories. Monitor the health-related components of relevant international conventions and frameworks. Coordinate technical inputs with partners, collaborating centers, universities, toxicology networks, and PAHO/WHO internal units. Prepare technical inputs for partnerships, resource mobilization, technical meetings, and strategic communication of results. Support the consolidation and maintenance of PAHO's Latin America and Caribbean Toxicology Experts Network. Participate in regular team meetings.
Work Experience
Minimum seven years of relevant professional experience in environmental health, chemical safety, toxicology, surveillance, risk management, or technical cooperation. Demonstrated experience in developing and monitoring work plans, indicators, evidence matrices, monitoring systems, technical reports, and decision-support products. Experience coordinating with governments, academic institutions, poison centers, international organizations, or technical networks. Knowledge of the WHO Chemicals Roadmap, the Global Framework on Chemicals, relevant conventions, and the International Health Regulations. Advanced proficiency in office software, information management, and data visualization tools. Ability to organize databases and monitoring dashboards. Ability to work independently, manage multiple concurrent deliverables, and meet deadlines in a multicultural environment.
Skills
Teamwork and relationship-building. Analytical thinking, technical rigor, and results orientation. Planning, organization, adaptability, and priority management. Intercultural communication and ability to translate evidence into operational actions. Effective monitoring and management of activities. Integrity, discretion, and responsible handling of institutional information.