Overview
Global Health Technical Professionals (GHTP) is a US Agency for International Development (USAID) program that offers early- to mid-career global health professionals the opportunity to advance their careers supporting the USAID Bureau for Global Health and its implementing partners. GHTP is helping USAID improve global health outcomes in communities around the world by building a new generation of global health technical professionals who reflect the diversity of the American people.
Credence Management Solutions, LLC (Credence) is seeking Infectious Disease Advisor within USAID’s Bureau for Africa (AFR).
Summary Statement
The Bureau for Africa’s Health Division, within the Office of Sustainable Development (AFR/SD/H), coordinates AFR policies and strategies for USAID’s health programs in Africa, which totals approximately $5 billion annually and represent the Agency’s largest investments on the continent. The Health Division directly manages approximately $13 million, which it uses to fund activities that support African institutional capacity strengthening, and improvements in the quality, availability, and access to health services for Africa's most vulnerable populations. This includes programs to address data for decision-making, health financing challenges, as well as expanding relationships with regional networks and institutions. The Division works across all health sectors, including maternal, newborn, and child health, reproductive health, infectious diseases, global health security, and health systems strengthening. Additionally, the Division works closely with African institutions and donor partners such as the World Health Organization's Africa Regional Office, the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, the World Bank, and UNICEF.
The Bureau for Africa’s Health Division routinely partners with the Bureau for Global Health’s Office of Infectious Diseases to support regional, sub-regional, and country-level preparedness and outbreak response activities on the continent. When it comes to combating new, emerging, and re-emerging infectious diseases, USAID plays a unique role supporting preparedness, detection, and response by bringing together technical and programmatic expertise in global health and humanitarian assistance along with country and regional expertise to produce a comprehensive and holistic approach to global health security. The Emerging Threats Division’s Global Health Security (GHS) Program implements projects across countries in Africa including the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), and provides a framework for international, multi-sectoral, intra- and inter-agency collaboration and coordination. USAID supports GHS through a portfolio of activities implemented and coordinated by the Emerging Threats Division.
Job Requirements
The Infectious Disease Advisor position is in the Health Division of the Office of Sustainable Development, Bureau for Africa. The position will support USAID’s efforts to advance GHS across the African continent. The Infectious Disease Advisor will work in close collaboration with teammates in the Health Division and across the Bureau for Africa, the Emerging Threats Division and Bureau for Global Health, as well as other USAID Bureaus, including the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. S/he will support outbreak response, provide technical support to GHS programs and activities, coordinate strategic and technical support to USAID missions in the Africa region, conduct program reviews and assessments, and support implementation of other Agency priorities.
More specifically, the objective of this position is to provide country backstopping, coordination, and programmatic support to promote successful implementation, monitoring, and reporting on GHS and new, emerging, and re-emerging infectious diseases across the African region. Successful completion of this objective will require intensive networking, collaboration, and coordination with a wide array of stakeholders including USAID missions in Africa, government partners, ministries, economic entities, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other implementing partners.
The Advisor will receive technical guidance from the USAID Africa Bureau/SD/Health Senior Infectious Disease Advisor, who will serve as Point of Contact (POC) and will coordinate closely with the Emerging Threats Division leadership.
Responsibilities
The Infectious Disease Advisor will:
Be an Agency-wide Resource for Infectious Disease Issues:
- Provide expert advice to Agency, Bureau, and Mission leadership on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases across the African continent, providing technical support to advance strategies and programs that protect health, including and especially programs that prevent, detect, and respond to pandemic threats.
- Attend interagency technical meetings and discussions on infectious diseases, including outbreaks in the Africa region; actively consult and coordinate with relevant organizations internal and external to the U.S. Government.
- Participate in interagency outbreak response activities for the Africa region; ensure that during disease outbreak situations, USAID assets are well coordinated and aligned to support U.S. Government, partner government, and local community priorities and needs; help to ensure that necessary support (personnel, information, resources, relationships) is available to effectively respond.
- Ensure that outbreak response is appropriately represented in communications; that leadership is well-informed on outbreak status; and that all affected bureaus are appropriately engaged.
- Provide coordination and technical expertise to USAID to prepare, develop, implement, and monitor activities associated with infectious disease outbreaks in Africa; have responsibility for overseeing the production of key deliverables and ensuring their approval; and monitor outbreaks within Africa to assess threat level and provide technical recommendations for containment.
- Provide technical guidance on development assistance activities in the areas of GHS and infectious diseases at Bureau, Mission, Agency, interagency-levels, including by reviewing and analyzing data, developing strategies, analytical models, and methodologies, and providing assistance and advice on sectoral issues.
- Coordinate with Missions and grantee organizations in the application of USAID priorities and strategies to regional and country infectious disease and GHS programs.
Be a Geographic Area/Regional Technical Resource for Infectious Disease Issues:
- Serve as liaison between the Bureau for Africa and the Bureau for Global Health to ensure that the African context is applied to GHS strategic planning, design, implementation, and evaluation and to facilitate coordination with USAID/Washington and Missions, the USG interagency, regional bodies, and other partners.
- Participate in monitoring the expansion of GHS program initiatives throughout the Africa region, including their relationship to policy reform and development constraints.
- Advise and support Missions and USAID/Washington on courses of action; review Mission policies and project planning documentation for coherence, relevance, and programmatic realism; advise Missions on defining program content and identify resources within or outside USAID; and support Missions in briefing national government partners, including ministers, permanent secretaries, and prime ministers on global health security assets and accomplishments.
- Consult with other USAID bureaus and other USG counterparts on region-specific interventions. In conjunction with the Bureau for Global Health, monitor, backstop, and direct Mission requests for strategy development and support for major infectious diseases activities.
- Serve as a country backstop for at least three GHS countries. Activities may include, but are not limited to, supporting the country Mission’s development of the annual work plans for GHS projects including the GHSA; reviewing country reports; briefing various stakeholders on GHS projects and GHSA activities; and liaising with the other USG agencies involved.
- Share Bureau for Africa and GHS perspectives with senior-level and other host-government officials, as well as representatives of regional and local private sector and NGO entities. Advise senior Bureau management on key issues/constraints to program development. Advise Bureau, Office, and Mission staff on a variety of public health program and project issues. Provide strategy and development support on the design and implementation of AFR/SD’s and GH/ETD’s portfolios.
Provide Centralized Project Management Support:
As needed, coordinate and evaluate centrally-managed grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. Serve as Activity Coordinator for GHS activities led by the Bureau for Global Health. Work closely with other staffs on work assignments , usually in terms of the end project desired.
Participate in professional continuing education, skills training and professional meetings to enhance relevant technical skills and career development.
Complete and execute an Individual Learning and Training Plan and Annual Work Plan.
Perform Other Duties as Assigned.
Qualifications
- Master’s degree and 7 years of relevant experience or Bachelor’s degree and 9 years of relevant experience in public health, public policy, veterinary medicine, epidemiology or a related discipline.
- Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience with two of more technical disciplines (such as, animal health, public health, outbreak response, etc. ); job duties/responsibilities specifically related to PD.
- At least five years of experience in an international or resource challenged setting.
- Demonstrated ability to understand the strategic purpose and goals of multiple organizations from different sectors (e.g., public health, animal health, environment), identify and solve problems, and coordinate and support activities that lead to mutual success across the different sectors.
- Demonstrated ability to work both independently and in a team environment.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate highly technical information related to human health, animal health, and environment to a variety of technical and non-technical audiences.
- Experience with monitoring and evaluation methodologies, including frameworks, data quality assurance, analysis reporting and best practices in data dissemination in international/resource-challenged settings.
- Knowledge of USAID policies, procedures and reporting requirements desired.
- Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
- High degree of judgement, ingenuity, and originality to interpret strategy and to analyze, develop, and present work results.
- Fluency in English required. High-level professional proficiency in French (spoken and written) desired.
- Ability to travel internationally and domestically approximately 25%.
- US citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain Secret Security clearance required.