Associate, Community Health – West and Central Africa

Country
Senegal

City
Dakar

Type
Full Time

Program (Division)
Infectious Disease - Global Malaria

Overview
The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

CHAI’s global malaria program provides direct technical and operational support to countries around the globe to strengthen their malaria programs and reduce the burden of this preventable, treatable disease. We support governments to scale up effective interventions for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance, with the goals of sustainably reducing the number of malaria-related illnesses and deaths worldwide in the short-term and accelerating progress towards malaria elimination in the long term.


Position Overview
Community health workers (CHWs) play a critical role in malaria case management and surveillance across CHAI’s geographies. Across regions, CHWs are deployed differently and contribute variably to malaria elimination and control agendas. In all locations, however, a community-based approach presents unique opportunities to extend access to care, increase uptake of services, and accelerate progress toward improved health outcomes. CHAI supports ministries of health to improve CHW networks in key ways through community health policy and strategy development, constructing simple, reliable information systems, establishing structures for improved coordination and collaboration, and supporting alignment of CHW program design with best practice. CHAI sees further opportunities to improve CHW networks in key ways to further reduce preventable morbidity and mortality, and advance toward a state of malaria elimination.
To support with this work, CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual to expand our support for integrated community-based malaria surveillance, diagnosis and treatment in Francophone West and Central Africa. As a member of the Global Malaria Team, the Associate will also be called on to support content development related to malaria case management and community health more broadly, as indicated by project need.

Across West and Central Africa, CHWs play a key role in extending access to basic health services and performing routine, community-based surveillance. The governments supported by CHAI are working in an ongoing manner to address bottlenecks related to community health program governance, financing, HR management, commodity security, service delivery, M&E and uptake of best practices. As it has done in other countries and regions, CHAI malaria seeks to scale its support to these government-led efforts in key ways that are both immediate and long-term. These expanded efforts will aim to fortify existing CHW platforms to optimize their case management and surveillance contributions, and integrate them as sustainable, cross-cutting community health infrastructure within the country’s health system. In addition to providing technical support to CHAI’s existing CHW program engagements in West and Central Africa, the Associate will scope additional strategic opportunities, working closely with partners and colleagues to coordinate CHAI’s pursuit and operationalization of these opportunities. The Associate will work closely with CHAI country and regional teams in Benin, Burkina Faso and DRC and report directly to CHAI’s global technical malaria lead for community health workers.
The candidate must have excellent communications skills and cultural sensitivity, as s/he will be working closely with global, regional and country partners. The successful Associate will have strong technical, organizational and project management skills, and will be capable of conducting rapid quantitative/qualitative analysis and communicating such analysis on a regular basis in a clear and concise manner to colleagues and partners. The successful candidate will be a self-motivated individual able to function efficiently and constructively with teams/partners across countries, manage multiple tasks at once, make sound informed decisions independently when necessary and build strong relationships. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities including resourcefulness, tenacity, independence, patience, humility, and strong work ethic.

The role includes frequent travel (up to 50%) in the region, including to areas of high risk.

The base location of this role is subject to change to another country in the region.


Responsibilities
Within West Africa
• Help shape and improve existing and future CHW related interventions across West and Central Africa.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to the CHAI country teams and external stakeholders were relevant (e.g., government bodies and non-governmental organizations).
• Support government partners and CHAI country and regional teams to develop and execute evidence- and needs-based integrated community health policies, strategies and operational plans at all level to increase availability of malaria and non-malaria commodities, and expand access to quality integrated malaria services.
• Coordinate and lead the systematic tracking, analysis and mapping of quantitative and qualitative indicators on coverage and quality of malaria-specific diagnostic, treatment and surveillance at community level.
• Develop and maintain a strong understanding of community level malaria diagnosis, treatment and surveillance to identify the highest priority needs and opportunities to improve the quality and coverage of malaria-specific diagnostics, treatment and surveillance at community level.
• Conduct collaborative evaluations of existing CHW programs to highlight key strengths and weaknesses, and support in the development of policies, strategies and plans to address them (short-term, medium-term, and long-term).
• Provide central and sub-national colleagues with technical backstopping in the areas of malaria case management and community health.
• Engage other CHAI malaria teams to involve, account and advocate for CHWs in strategic planning and implementation.
• Scope new opportunities within West Africa – with ministries, partners, and new funding opportunities (research grant opportunities).

Other
• Establish and continually update an internal clearing house of CHW program evidence, design, policy, and implementation resources (e.g. training and mentorship material)
• Support global, regional and country colleagues to generate, document, and publish evidence and experience working with CHWs towards malaria control or elimination agendas
• Pursue opportunities for collaboration with other CHAI teams, helping to build a cross-cutting community of practice within country, region and organization
• Assist in pursuing CHAI organizational involvement in external CHW communities of practice (i.e., technical working groups)
• Other responsibilities as needed

Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent plus 3-5 years work experience; or advanced degree plus 2 years relevant work experience
• Fluent in English and French, proficiency in both written and verbal
• Demonstrated technical expertise/experience in community health systems and community health work
• Demonstrated analytical, leadership, and problem solving skills
• Experience conducting evaluations and literature reviews
• Ability to work both independently and with teams across time zones and locations and ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously effectively in high-pressure situations while remaining calm, set priorities, and work independently
• Experience working in high risk and low/middle income countries, particularly on health related issues
• Strong work ethic, integrity, credibility, and dedication to CHAI’s mission
• High levels of proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Advantages:
• Experience working and communicating with government officials and multilateral organizations in Africa
• An MPH, MS in public health, Epidemiology, or experience working in public health, particularly international health/health policy and management
• Familiarity with monitoring and evaluation of surveillance systems and/or public health programs
• Experience with programming on malaria or other infectious diseases
• Experience with case management, disease surveillance and/or supply chain management
• Practical experience in the provision of technical support in developing countries preferably in Africa