UNSSC and WHO set up online resource portal to build leadership capacity for health professionals

The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (WHO/EMRO) together with the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) have now made course material from the “EMRO/UNSSC Leadership Programme on Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Response”  publicly available on OpenWHO.org.

The resources on the OpenWHO.org platform feature key elements of the online programme. These include recordings from monthly leadership lectures held with prominent public health experts; self-paced and interactive modules on  a range of  leadership topics and a rich set of leadership development learning resources that include articles, journals and multimedia materials.

Visitors to the platform can expect to explore resources on topics like leadership in times of crisis, preparedness, systems approaches, strategic thinking, emotional resilience and multisectoral partnership building. While a few  programme components — monthly webinars and mentoring, and coaching services remain closed to course participants in the EMRO region, all resources are now available to the general public on OpenWHO.org.

The release of programme content, comes as a result of a successful first phase of the pilot programme which has enrolled more than 1400 participants to date. WHO/EMRO and UNSSC  developed  the programme for WHO country representatives (WRs) in the Eastern Mediterranean region, and officials from ministries of health. It is designed to help them address some of the key challenges faced by public health leaders who are at the forefront of the Covid-19 pandemic, and other emerging health threats. The programme, which began this past June and will run until November 2021.

For more information on the programme, please visit the course webpage here. In order to enroll, participants will be required to log-in using their credentials, or a WHO ID. Alternatively participants  can create an account on the platform.