Regional Technical Advisor (Africa and Haiti) at Family Health International (FHI 360)

Family Health International (FHI 360) is a nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Our staff includes experts in health, education, nutrition, environment, economic development, civil society, gender, youth, research and technology – creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today’s interrelated development challenges. FHI 360 serves more than 70 countries and all U.S. states and territories.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Regional Technical Advisor (Africa and Haiti)

Job Requisition ID – 2022201073
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Job type: Full time

Overview

The CDC Enhancing Global Health Security (EGHS) project is a global mechanism that supports Global Health Security Agenda goals through programs and activities focused on protecting and improving health security at country and regional levels.
Core priorities include strengthened laboratory and surveillance systems, public health workforce, emergency operations and capacity to implement the International Health Regulations.
This primary function of this position is to provide strategic technical advice to EGHS-supported country teams in Africa and Haiti to provide technical assistance to recipients of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism (GFATM C19RM) to:
Strengthen national laboratory systems with effective modern point-of-care and laboratory-based diagnostics, comprehensive quality management systems, timely and accurate reporting of animal and human diseases, strong specimen referral and transport system, and laboratory information systems; and
To strengthen national surveillance systems and drive strategies to prevent, detect, and respond to outbreaks.

Technical Responsibilities

The Regional Technical Advisor (Africa and Haiti) will provide expertise, coordination, and supervision of diagnostic-based surveillance activities for multiple countries in Africa and in Haiti.
The Regional Technical Advisor will provide technical support and supervision in collaboration with the project management teams to ensure the successful planning and implementation of regional activities including work planning, budgeting, supportive supervision, and reporting.
The incumbent will coordinate with project partners in the region and may be called on to represent the EGHS project at global or regional meetings.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Responsible for the management and technical aspects of the work under the project for the West Africa region and Haiti with a focus on diagnostic-based surveillance including monitoring of workplans, reports and budgets to demonstrate achievement of project goals within the approved budget.
Leads the design and implementation of evidence-based interventions and standard methodologies consistent with International Health Regulations (IHR) and Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) goals for regional goals and activities.
Coordinates FHI 360 efforts to align and collaborate with stakeholders in relevant countries and West Africa region.
Provides technical inputs to the programmatic workplan related to infectious disease surveillance and laboratory surveillance of epidemic and pandemic-prone diseases across project partners in accordance with evidence base and technical/quality standards.
Assesses performance, identifies challenges, provides technical direction to resolve challenges to ensure quality of implementation, in line with approved workplans.
Provides operational support to the project regional/countries team, skills, and resources to ensure the quality of the project deliverables in line with FHI 360 and donor standards.
Directly supervises regional/country diagnostics and surveillance project staff, establish clear work objectives, conduct timely performance appraisals, provide mentorship and feedback, and support staff development.
Works in close collaboration with the project management team, headquarter and regional technical experts, monitoring and evaluation officer, and counterpart in the West Africa region.
Represents the project team at technical/stakeholder forums with country, national government, regional entities, donor institutions and other implementing partners working in global health security, laboratory strengthening, and surveillance.
Supports capacity building activities to improve GHSA and IHR capacities in the West Africa region.
Stays up to date on national and international developments in GHSA and IHR and communicates these to the team and partners.
Leads business development opportunities related to epidemiological and laboratory surveillance or other global health security technical areas.
Liaises and coordinates reporting with country teams, M&E Advisor and HQ project team.
Documents lessons learned.
Recruits, onboards, and trains new hires for West Africa Regional portfolio as needed
Other duties as assigned.

Education and Experience

Master’s Degree or International equivalent in Medicine, Public Health, or related field
At least 8 years of relevant experience in infectious disease diagnostics-based surveillance.
Demonstrated experience implementing field-based surveillance methodology including analysis of epidemiologic investigation data
Experience working effectively with government counterparts at national and regional levels.
Proven interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively in a team.
Experience collaborating on projects and coordinating efforts with other program staff, other international health agencies, and private and non-profit organizations
Experience supervising technical staff across multiple countries.
Experience working with CDC or USAID preferred.
Typical Physical Demands
Typical office environment
Ability to spend long hours looking at a computer screen and doing repetitive work on a keyboard
Ability to sit and stand for extended periods of time
Ability to lift/move up to 5 lbs.
Technology to be Used
Personal computer, Microsoft Office (Office 365, SharePoint, Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Skype/Zoom/Teams, cell phone/mobile technology, and standard office equipment.
Proficient in data analysis software such Epi-Info and/or SPSS and/or R and/or SAS

Applied Knowledge and Skills:

In-depth knowledge of and experience in national/regional infectious disease diagnostics and surveillance
Demonstrated experience implementing field-based surveillance methodology including analysis of epidemiologic investigation data
Awareness of the mechanisms and strategies that are being deployed under the Global Health Security Agenda and other similar mechanisms to combat emerging infectious disease threats.
Knowledge and previous work experience with JEE and improvement strategies at country level
Proficiency with data management software (DHIS 2 or other information systems)
Sensitivity to cultural diversity and understanding of the political, contextual, and ethical issues in assigned areas.
Excellent interpersonal and analytical skills.
Demonstrated report writing and presentation skills
Excellent and demonstrated project management skills.
Ability to network and collaborate with others in a sophisticated multi-partner context.
Demonstrated proficiency with using Microsoft Office Suite required.
Ability to analyze and interpret data, identify errors, and prepare reports.
Ability to solve problems and implement corrective action as needed.