Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Volunteer, Malaria (Nigeria)

Country:  Nigeria
City: Abuja
Type:  Volunteer, International – Full Time, under 6 months (ineligible for benefits)
Business Unit:  Access Programs - Malaria Control Team


Malaria is one of the most important causes of illness, death and lost economic productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Over the past decade, dramatic increases in donor funding have facilitated scale-up of effective interventions to prevent, diagnosis, and treat malaria. This investment has successfully reduced the burden of malaria in many settings, and some countries have begun planning to eliminate it altogether. Yet these gains are fragile: global funding for malaria remains short of what is needed and last decade's rapid growth in malaria financing appears to have halted. The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) works with its government partners to increase funding for malaria, optimize the impact of malaria control and elimination programs, and support evidence-based decision-making to target resources, consolidate successes, increase sustainability, and accelerate elimination efforts.

Overview of Role:
National malaria programs in sub-Saharan Africa tend to be largely donor funded – particularly via the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (Global Fund) – and have constrained budgets to implement life-saving interventions to prevent, diagnose, and treat malaria. While the ultimate goal is to have sufficient funds to prevent malaria everywhere, diagnose all suspected cases, and treat any infections that do occur, doing so will be impossible in the short-term given funding constraints. Identifying the optimal ways to allocate existing limited resources for maximum impact is thus necessary. CHAI provides technical and operational support to National Malaria Control Programs around the world to help them make data-driven decisions about how best to allocate their available funding. In 2014, most countries will be applying for Global Fund resources through the New Funding Model (NFM) beginning in mid-2014 to finance commodities and program activities over the next 3 years (2014 – 2016).

CHAI is seeking a short-term hire, based in Yaounde, Cameroon, Abuja, Nigeria or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for a 6-month period. This individual will play a critical role in supporting our government partners to plan their malaria strategies, obtain all available financial resources, and advance their programs. The candidate must possess excellent communication skills, strong quantitative skills, the ability to manage multiple tasks/ongoing priorities and drive work plans forward under very short timelines.

This individual will be part of a team that works in close partnership with the Ministries of Health/partner government, Global Fund, CHAI country teams, and partner organizations.

Short-term hire roles will last six months; with start dates beginning April 1st
Responsibilities:
  • Provide Ministry of Health with dedicated support to develop evidence-based, context-adapted anti-malaria strategies ;
  • Aid countries to prioritize resources to optimize investments and achieve maximal health impact;
  • Analyze existing funding available to the country for malaria activities and identify  potential areas of inefficiencies. Identify additional resource needs and assist with resource reallocation;
  • Assist countries with writing proposals to the Global Fund;
  • Coordinate directly with other CHAI teams (including those supporting HIV and TB programs) to streamline CHAI’s support to partner governments;
  • Support forecasting efforts for essential and life-saving malaria treatments and diagnostic tests;
  • Coordinate among key partners in country to ensure strategies and funding applications represent the interests and perspectives of different groups; and,
  • Other responsibilities to support the Malaria Team and Ministry of Health to develop their Global Fund applications and strengthen their malaria strategies, as identified by CHAI country team/direct manager.
Qualifications:
  • Bachelor’s degree plus relevant professional experience in a demanding, results-oriented environment;
  • Excellent problem solving, analytical and quantitative skills, including significant experience working in Excel;
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills – both written and oral - and an ability to build professional relationships;
  • Ability to learn on the job quickly and absorb/synthesize a broad range of information;
  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and demanding environment;
  • Ability to work independently on complex projects;
  • Ability to react quickly to ad-hoc requests while managing an existing workload;
  • A minimum of 3 years of experience in a rigorous private or public position, with increasing levels of responsibility and leadership;
  • Program management experience including managing teams, creating and tracking work plans, and monitoring program;
  • A strong passion for producing results and a personal commitment to excellence;
  • CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities: resourcefulness, entrepreneurialism, flexibility, independence, humility, and work ethic; and,
  • Fluency in French; both written and oral for the Cameroon role.

Advantages:
  • Experience working on health financing related issues specifically
  • Experience working in developing countries, particularly on health related issues
  • Experience working with recipient country governments and international partners in country

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