PSYCHOLOGIST

Médecins Sans Frontières, founded in 1971, is an international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of medical professionals, logistics, administrative and various other professions, all guided by our medical ethics and our principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.

MSF WaCA, created in 2019, is the first MSF headquarters in Africa, and responds to the desire to reinvent the MSF movement after 50 years of humanitarian actions in the world, for more access to care, more reactivity and proactivity for greater medical coverage of affected populations in the world.

Why join us?

You are preparing to become a member of the MSF family, with over 50 years of emergency medical action that earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

We are an inclusive organization that considers social and professional well-being a right for all and provides an environment that considers the diversity of each member.

MSF WaCA claims an African anchorage that considers the local expertise with which it contributes to the implementation of its activities and makes each member, a key actor of the new dynamics of the humanitarian action in the world.

We Are Looking for: PSYCHOLOGIST

Department: Human Ressources

Direct Manager: Staff Health Unit Manager

Functional Manager: Staff Health Unit Manager

Working %: 100%

Position Based in: Abidjan with 30% field missions

Mobility: All WaCA’s Interventions Zones

Type of Contract: Fixed-Term Contract renewable

Position to be filled: As soon as possible

Context

The psychosocial service of the Staff Health Unit (SHU), within the HR Department of MSF WaCA is in charge of defining and implementing the psychosocial support necessary for the staff working for MSF (international and national staff). The psychosocial support offered is a set of preventive measures aimed at reducing the risks to the well-being and mental health direct intervention of MSF workers.

Each psychologist in the SHU psychosocial service works within this prevention framework, on individual or group support activities.

Main responsibilities

1.       Définition de la stratégie et de la politique santé pour le volet psychosocial

Develop the psychosocial strategy and stress management for MSF WaCA in alignment with the SHU and HR department strategy.

Write guidance documents, standard operations procedures and tools necessary for the development of support for staff on assignment and working in HQ in collaboration with psychosocial actors from other MSF sections or operational centers.

2.       Briefings

The psychologist provides coordinators and colleagues in charge of team’s briefings on the prevention and management of stress:

• Heads of mission

• Project coordinators

• Medical coordinators (Medco), Logco,…

• Medical referents (PMR/MTL)

• Human Resources Coordinators

• Human Resources Managers

• Psychologists (project and staff)

• Any international staff deployed to HQ

3.       Individual debriefing

Ensure a number of emotional debriefings of international staff members returning from projects and, if necessary, refer staff to a mental health professional external to MSF.

4.       Field support

·       The psychologist responds to requests for individual and or collective support from the field by ensuring remote first line psychosocial support for staff working on projects and/or referrals to external professionals.

·       Provide support by giving advice, sending tools and suggesting actions to be taken.

·       In collaboration with the medical coordinators of the various projects, participate in the analysis of psychosocial risks and the implementation of the psychosocial support strategy for the staff according to the evolution of the projects and the context             

Research & modelling psychosocial support

·       Collects and compiles the different types of support given by the psychologist for staff (national and international) in WaCA projects.

·       Analyze the different types of support already deployed, their advantages and constraints.

·       Identified new types of support to be considered and to be tested in the field.

·       Compile all support requests from WaCA projects as part of an exhaustive periodic report.

·       Uses findings from field visit to inform the modelling of psychosocial support for WaCA missions.

5.       Field visits

·       Carry out project visits for supporting the implementation of psychosocial prevention strategies.

·       Carry out project visits for direct interventions (direct support of the staff) when needed.

·       Draw up or receives a final report from the psychologist (if external visit) who carried out the visit. Analyses this report and draws lessons learned.

Stress Management Support (SMS)

·       The psychologist might be asked to carry out a field visit as part of crisis management or the follow-up of a critical incident.

·       Guarantee psychosocial support for staff during emergencies, crises or critical incidents.

·       The decision to send an SMS team is taken by the HR department in consultation with other departments and should be validated by the SHU manager.

·       A visit report is required at the end of the visit and a debriefing meeting is organized with the entire SMS team involved.

6.       Build and strengthen a network of psychologists in Ivory Coast and in WaCA areas of interventions

In collaboration with the psychosocial team leaders working in MSF Operational Centres (OCs), ensures a reliable and good network of psychologists in the WaCA countries of interventions (Nigeria, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire, Chad, Ghana, DRC, etc.), ready to cover the needs of the staff when required. 

7.       Training

·       Draft an action plan to achieve the objective of consistency of stress management modules within MSF WaCA training courses.

·       Establishe regular contact with the Learning and Development Unit (L&D unit) within the movement.

·       Work towards a coherent vision of stress management modules throughout the MSF WaCA training curriculum:

·       Develop and facilitate training modules or webinars:

·       On well-being, prevention of psychosocial risks and stress prevention and management for MSF staff active in projects

·       On the prevention and management of stress with the various actors of staff health in the project

8.       Statistics and activity report

·       Collect data on the activities of the psychosocial service by regularly recording its activities.

·       Prepare a monthly report.

·       Participate in the analysis of SHU data and activities during quarterly review meetings.

9.       Representation

At the request of the SHU Manager, the psychologist takes part in internal or external meetings representing the SHU's psychosocial service.

Education

·       At least a Master’s in clinical psychology.

Competencies

·       Good team player, adaptability and ability to work with multicultural teams

·       Good organizational skills, flexibility and autonomy

·       Excellent communication and training skills

·       Good self-awareness and stress management skills

·       Analytical, reflective and writing skills

·       Ability to collaborate with diverse professional profiles

·       Knowledge of the concepts of prevention of psychosocial risks at work

·       Capacity to work in insecure and volatile contexts

Professional experience required

·       At least five (5) years ‘experience in the psychosocial and/or mental health sector.

·       Humanitarian experience in the field and in developing countries, preferably with MSF or other humanitarian NGOs is an asset. 

·       Experience in managing psychosocial projects.

·       Individual clinical and/or group experience

·       Previous experience in supporting staff

Languages Skills

·       Very good oral and written command of English and French

Computer Skills

·       MS Office suite (mainly MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint, outlook,sharepoint)

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MSF offers equal recruitment and development opportunities without any form of discrimination based on gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, geographical origin, physical disability or any other discriminatory ground.

Female candidates who meet the requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.

N.B.: This job description provides a framework for the main responsibilities and primary activities of the position. It is not exhaustive. Therefore, the responsibilities and activities of the position may differ from those described in this job description due to organizational and operational needs.

Deadline: 13th August 2025 18:00 GMT
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.