Country: Malawi
City: Lilongwe
Type: Regular – Full Time (eligible for benefits)
Business Unit: Country Programs - Country Teams
Overview:
The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI – formerly the
Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative) under the leadership of former President William
Jefferson Clinton III has worked since 2002 to reduce the pricing of HIV/AIDS
medicines and tests, and to work with governments around the world to further
turn the tide on the disease by building the systems needed to deliver care and
treatment.
In ten short years, President Clinton and CHAI have made a
substantial impact in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This includes seven
breakthrough price reductions for drugs and diagnostics. Today, more than
two million people living with HIV/AIDS are on lifesaving treatment using
medicines purchased under CHAI agreements with manufacturers. This
includes two out of every three children who are on HIV/AIDS treatment.
CHAI’s greatest work is as a trusted partner to national governments whose
efforts have made possible tremendous gains in HIV/AIDS services and public
health. In addition to programs focused on HIV/AIDS, CHAI has expanded in
recent years to assist efforts to fight malaria, lowering the prices and
improving access to malaria medicines. CHAI has also worked with a number
of governments on improving the underlying systems needed to deliver
comprehensive health care.
In 2006, CHAI signed an MOU with the Malawi government to
strengthen health systems in the most challenged districts, provide national
support to HIV/AIDS drug pricing and programmatic work, support the pilot and
scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT)
initiatives, expand access to ART for children, strengthen the Malawi’s Lab
system, and scale-up an integrated nutrition program for children. CHAI’s
support to Malawi has expanded to include Human Resources for Health, Vaccines
(pneumococcal and rotavirus), Health Financing and Malaria Testing and
Treatment.
Malawi is experiencing a critical shortage of nurse/midwives
in rural, hard-to-reach areas, with many facilities having less than two
full-time nurse/midwives staffed per facility. Nurse/midwives are the primary
providers of emergency obstetric care and family planning services, so their
lack of availability has a significant impact on the lives of patients,
especially mothers and new-borns.
The Human Resources for Health (HRH) Program Associate will
play a critical role in a program to scale-up production of critical health
workers, increase deployment of health workers to high-need areas and improve
retention of health workers in these areas. The project seeks to train and
deploy over 1,500 new health workers by 2018, making a significant impact on
the availability of health workers, particularly nurse/midwives, in providing
maternal and child health services in Malawi.
The HRH Program Associate will provide analytical support to
a ten-person team implementing this large-scale project that seeks to address a
diverse range of bottlenecks causing Malawi’s shortage of health workers. The
Associate will support the Ministry of Health in making HR policy decisions to
ensure optimal use of limited resources to achieve high-impact change. The
Associate will provide support to health training institutions to prepare to
increase student intakes, including support in optimizing clinical rotation
schedules. The Associate will also work closely with the Ministry of Health to
develop models of optimal health worker distribution and deployment to
high-need areas and to implement operational research studies that will lead to
data-based policies to improve rural retention of health workers.
The HRH Program Associate will be based in Lilongwe, Malawi
with up to 25% travel in-country, and will report to the HRH Program Manager.
Responsibilities:
Working in close collaboration with the Government of
Malawi’s Ministry of Health (MOH), the HRH Program Associate will:
General Responsibilities:
- Implement
the Monitoring & Evaluation and Operational Research work streams with
the HRH Program Manager;
- Provide
technical advice and assistance to MOH on matters relating to
strengthening HRH in Malawi;
- Build
the capacity and skills of MOH and key stakeholder personnel to ensure
local leadership and sustainability of the program;
- Develop
regular activity work plans and budgets and ensure that deliverables and
milestones are met in a timely fashion;
- Establish
and foster strong relationships with Government of Malawi colleagues,
regulatory bodies, training institutions and other organizations;
- Provide
regular reports on program and work progress to Program Manager.
Operational Research Studies:
- Plan
and design studies with CHAI colleagues, the MoH and partners;
- Manage
logistics, data collection and data analysis of studies;
- Document
and present study results to stakeholders;
- Promote
adoption of targeted policy initiatives to mitigate the HRH shortage in Malawi;
- Create
user-friendly tools with MOH to improve their decision-making capacity
around optimizing deployment of health workers to high-need areas.
Monitoring and Evaluation:
- Develop
and manage the implementation of the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)
log frame for Training Institution student tracking and monitoring, by
participating in M&E trips and working closely with the M&E
Program Officer;
- Work
closely with the M&E Program Officer to ensure that program indicators
are measured and recorded regularly.
Qualifications:
- A
Bachelor’s Degree from a well-recognized, high-calibre institution;
- A
minimum of 3 years’ experience in non-profit, private or public sector
enterprise;
- Experience
in research study development, management and implementation;
- Strong
analytical skills and demonstrated technical proficiency with Stata (or
other statistical analysis software) and MS Office (especially MS Excel);
- Strong
verbal and written communication skills and diplomacy, with experience
informing key decision makers and developing compelling presentations to
stakeholders;
- Experience
managing demanding and complex work plans and tight budgets;
- Experience
and comfort developing and maintaining relationships with high-level staff
in government and development partners;
- Ability
to solve challenging problems without extensive structural or operational
support;
- Ability
to work independently and pro-actively, with strong attention to detail;
- Ability
to adapt to fast-paced and changing environments, both internally and
externally;
- Experience
working internationally, particularly in Malawi or other resource poor
settings;
- Excellent
English language fluency, both written and verbal required
