SUSTAINING TECHNICAL AND ANALYTIC RESOURCES

FELLOWSHIP TITLE: COVID Coordination Advisor

HOST ORGANIZATION: Clinical Services and TB Branch, Health, Population, and Nutrition (HPN) Office, United States Agency for International Development

LOCATION: Lilongwe, Malawi

POSITION LEVEL: Mid-Career Advisor

STAR-P3-154

TRAVEL: 15% estimated travel

STAR PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Sustaining Technical and Analytic Resources (STAR) is a project of the Public Health Institute (PHI) in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). STAR is a Global Health talent hub. Through fellowships, internships, and strategic partnerships, STAR supports building the capacity of diverse global health professionals and organizations at all levels to make inclusive, collaborative, and innovative contributions to global health. STAR participants collaborate in the development of systems and tools that strengthen and sustain the local and global health response. https://www.ghstar.org/ Sign up with our listserv.

ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP

The STAR Fellowship is a global health and learning opportunity with:

  • Individualized, tailored support to enhance the fellow’s achievement personal and professional goals
  • Personalized learning plans and access to learning resources (courses, conferences, mentoring) based on fellow’s learning style and preferences.
  • Access to broad professional networks to enhance peer learning and knowledge sharing.

FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

Background:

The USAID/Malawi Health Population and Nutrition (HPN) Office is comprised of 51 people managing a $145 million-dollar annual health portfolio, which includes maternal and child health, family planning, nutrition, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, global health security, malaria, local capacity development, water, sanitation, and hygiene, and health systems strengthening. Over the last two decades, Malawi has seen many health-related successes including significant progress towards HIV epidemic control, a two-thirds reduction in child mortality, a 50 percent reduction in maternal mortality, and since 2010, a 43 percent reduction in Malaria mortality.

Despite these gains, Malawi also faces high health worker vacancies, commodity stock-outs, and strained infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these challenges, while adding new complexities like decreased demand for services, increased load on laboratory and critical care facilities, and a need to effectively train for and implement a national COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Since Malawi’s first reported COVID-19 case in April 2020, USAID has supported a wide range of programs to both limit the spread of COVID-19 and mitigate its impact on a broad range of services including health care, education, and the economy. As Malawi accesses increasing resources to combat COVID-19, USAID will continue to support an integrated response plan that emphasizes coordination with the Government of Malawi, other donor partners and U.S. Government Agencies, multilateral organizations, implementing partners, and other stakeholders.

Introduction:

The COVID-19 Coordination Advisor (Advisor) will be expected to guide, coordinate, and monitor the expanding portfolio of activities related to the COVID-19 response in Malawi, leading to successful outcomes and coordination across health and non-health sectors. To ensure COVID-19 programming advances the Agency’s goals, the Advisor will be responsible for coordinating technical activities with a diverse set of USAID/Malawi and USAID/Washington staff, including activity managers, technical points-of-contact, and Agreement/Contracting Officer’s Representatives (A/CORs). In addition, the Advisor must interact with external stakeholders including the Government of Malawi, other donors and U.S. Government agencies, implementing partners, and stakeholders to maintain awareness of USAID/Malawi’s COVID-19 response, ensuring resource use is efficient and well-coordinated.

Reporting structure:

The COVID-19 Coordinator will be based at Clinical Services and TB Branch of the Health, Population, and Nutrition (HPN) Office of USAID in Lilongwe, Malawi and receive technical direction from the Branch Chief for Clinical Services and TB, who will serve as their Point of Contact.

Essential Duties and Outcomes:

Outcome 1: Enhance coordination of COVID-19 programming efforts with U.S. Government, bilateral, multilateral, and national counterparts (40%)

  • Work with USAID/Malawi and other stakeholders to identify, prioritize, and address key technical challenges in Malawi’s COVID-19 response.
  • Provide technical input on strategies to implement high impact services to address COVID-19 and recommend areas of integration with USAID/Malawi sector-specific priorities.
  • Regularly coordinate with other U.S. Government agencies, the Government of Malawi, other bilateral and multilateral partners, as well as other stakeholders to ensure USAID COVID-19 investments leverage and do not duplicate ongoing or planned activities at the district, regional, or national level.
  • Collaborate and coordinate with U.S. Government and USAID technical points-of-contact, activity managers, and A/CORs and contribute to Mission and Embassy-wide strategies and implementation plans related to COVID-19 programming.
  • Operate as one of HPN’s primary technical resources for information on USAID/Malawi’s multi-sector COVID-19 response, for both health and non-health related programming, and regularly advises and updates HPN staff and leadership of relevant updates.
  • Lead the weekly HPN COVID Core Group Meeting, including drafting and disseminating agendas, ensuring speaker availability, and disseminating relevant notes or follow-up items.
  • Identify opportunities and gaps that may increase contributions, efficiency, or efficacy of Government of Malawi, public sector, or private sector COVID-19 responses. Such activities could include engaging in policy reviews, exploring alliances with new partners, coordinating approaches with other major foundations, or conducting landscape analyses to identify relevant programmatic and technical needs.
  • At the request of HPN leadership, provide briefings, progress reports, memoranda, and other Front Office communications materials.
  • As requested, coordinate with mission communications staff to document and share success stories and best practices disseminating to local and global audiences.
  • As required, coordinate with USAID RLO; COVID-19 Global Health Technical Working Group; COVID-19 Task Force; Program and Financial Offices; and other relevant Offices to ensure timely dissemination of information and to ensure implementation of activities meets programmatic, policy, and legal guidance.

Outcome 2: Project Management (40%)

  • Support and coordinate USAID/Malawi efforts to monitor, provide technical assistance, analyze data trends, and evaluate USAID/Malawi COVID-19 programming.
  • Coordinate with technical advisors, activity managers, and A/CORs to ensure all COVID-19 implementing partners are submitting required technical reports, financial reports, and any other required reporting.
  • Ensure all project and activity reporting is completed, comprehensive, and adequately filed in accessible and easily navigated folders.
  • Review work plans and progress reports for program quality improvement.
  • Work with activity managers and A/CORs to ensure projects implementing COVID-19 activities achieve planned results, tracks and helps to document developmental impacts, and provides technical and programmatic advise on addressing implementation issues in an efficient and professional manner.

Outcome 3: Supporting HPN Surge Requirements (20%)

  • As requested, support and provide coverage for HPN project management teams when COVID-19 related disruptions require increased support for project management, provision of technical assistant, and monitoring/oversight.
  • Facilitate the drafting of technical scopes of work and outreach to USAID/Washington for TDY requests and other mission surge capacity needs.
  • Coordinate with mission staff to ensure USAID/W staff on TDY, whether in-person or virtual, have the necessary information to support USAID/Malawi. This includes tracking the completion of required pre-TDY documents (ex. mission-critical certification memos) and sharing important post information (ex. forwarding latest guidance on COVID-19 testing requirements or Diplomacy Strong status) and helping to add incoming staff to necessary and relevant COVID-19 meetings, calendar invites, and/or shared documents.

Anticipated learning outcomes: approximate 10% time

  • Apply COVID-19 knowledge to strengthen program.
  • Apply and distinguish international standards within technical/content area to support programming.
  • Cultivate leadership skills based on the STAR GH mentorship curriculum to effectively facilitate capacity building and knowledge sharing activities amongst staff and peers.
  • Expand access to knowledge and resources through networking and collaborative practice within global health.

FELLOWSHIP REQUIREMENTS

Required:

  • Minimum 7 years of relevant technical experience in public health and/or social welfare programs with master's degree in a public health or related field such as medicine, nursing, epidemiology, or social sciences or a minimum of 9 years of relevant technical experience with bachelor's degree.
  • At least (2) years of experience working with U.S. Government Missions, Government of Malawi, implementing partners, community-based organizations, international NGOs, and/or other bilateral donors internationally, particularly in Malawi.
  • Knowledge or potential to acquire such knowledge of U.S. Government legislation relating to COVID-19 funding, development assistance, and USAID programming policies, regulations procedures and documentation.
  • Understanding, knowledge, and experience planning, designing, implementing, and providing technical guidance, particularly for health-related programming.
  • Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain relevant professional relationships and contacts, experience with Government of Malawi, Ministry of Health, U.S. Government Agencies, UN Agencies, or other bilateral Donor and NGO partners preferred.
  • Demonstrated capacity to monitor and oversee a health initiative and/or campaign.
  • Demonstrated capacity to use data-informed decision-making with regards to programs policies.
  • Excellent coordination skills with strong attention to detail and follow-through, including balancing competing priorities in a fast-paced working environment and working under pressure to meet project or event deadlines.
  • Demonstrated strong data analysis skills; must have the ability to obtain, analyze, synthesize, and disseminate data and present findings in both oral and written form.
  • Advanced capacity in qualitative and quantitative data presentation (including Excel, PowerPoint, and Word) are required.
  • Excellent interpersonal communication and team building skills: must have the ability to engage effectively with others in a multicultural team environment and proactively work to achieve consensus on policy, project, and administrative matters.
  • Strong written and verbal skills and ability to communicate technical information clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical colleagues, including via project briefings, reports, and other communications.
  • Demonstrated facilitation skills with an eye towards presentation, judgment, and diplomacy amongst diverse stakeholder groups.
  • Level IV (fluent) English ability is required, and equivalent fluency in Chichewa is preferred.
  • Malawi citizenship/ or Malawi permanent residency required.

This vacancy is archived.

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