Program Management Advisor — Learning and Capacity Development, Resolve to Save Lives

Program Management Advisor — Learning and Capacity Development

 Prevent Epidemics

Resolve to Save Lives

Vital Strategies is a US-based international public health organization working in over 70 countries to address important health challenges. We develop and oversee programs to strengthen public health systems and address leading causes of morbidity and mortality, providing expertise in project implementation and management, communications, epidemiology, and other core public health capacities.

Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL) is a global health initiative of Vital Strategies that aims to save millions of lives by reducing preventable deaths from cardiovascular disease and by preventing infectious disease epidemics. Since September 2017, the Prevent Epidemics team at RTSL has been working closely with governments, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, academic and other partners to strengthen national capacity to prevent, detect and respond to epidemic threats. For more information visit: https://preventepidemics.org/ or https://www.resolvetosavelives.org/.
The Learning and Capacity Development (LCD) team in Prevent Epidemics is focused on helping strengthen program management capabilities (e.g., governance, accountability, and leadership) across key public sector institutions to ensure timely detection and response to epidemics. We seek to address complex, adaptive health security challenges by co-designing learning and problem-solving approaches and strengthening knowledge and partnership networks.

The Role:
The Program Management Advisor will help RTSL apply a systems approach to reinforce leadership and management capabilities for preparedness, and foster learning between countries. To strengthen preparedness capabilities, this individual will accompany senior and mid-level government leaders to tailor and adopt program management approaches and tools that enable International Health Regulation (IHR) monitoring and evaluation. To bolster peer-to-peer learning, this individual will also help refine and scale the Program Management for Epidemic Preparedness initiative.

This is a full-time employment position. The incumbent is expected to work remotely in GMT or US EST time zones. This position requires international

travel once that is possible. Please submit any relevant samples of your work with your application.

Specific Duties:
The Program Management Advisor, will work under the direction of the Director, Learning and Capacity Development (LCD).  They will collaborate with other teams (e.g., in-country teams, Epidemic Intelligence Unit, Global Preparedness and Response, Advocacy, Digital) and fulfill the following responsibilities:

Strategy and Solutions Design (25%):

•  Identify critical points of leverage to strengthen WHO IHR systems strengthening initiatives via program management solutions and capacity development approaches, and south-south knowledge exchange.
• Prototype approaches and tools that help national preparedness teams within country governments build the program management structures and capabilities to prioritize, implement, and generate accountability for their National Action Plans for Health Security.

Capacity Development (50%):

• Lead the design, content development, recruitment, and facilitation of strategic learning and capacity development initiatives e.g., Program Management for Epidemic Preparedness.
• Strengthen and sustain Prevent Epidemics’ accompaniment approach (e.g., participatory problem solving, coaching, just-in-time training) to participants of capacity development initiatives.
• Monitor, evaluate and report on capacity building initiatives. 
• Document lessons and identify high-yield mechanisms to amplify best practice.

 Partnership Development (10%):

•  In conjunction with relevant RTSL colleagues, collaborate and build coalition with key country, regional and global partners (e.g., WHO, World Bank, Africa CDC) to enhance the design and delivery of capacity development initiatives and resources.

 Internal Alignment (15%):

• Structure, integrate and manage multiple internal workstreams across RTSL teams to meet goals in a strategic, inclusive, and efficient manner.
• Facilitate internal skill-building and systems development for RTSL and LCD, as appropriate.

 Required skills and qualifications:

• Post-graduate degree in a relevant field (e.g., management, public health, public policy).
• 8+ years’ experience working at the intersection of health systems strengthening and program management in low or middle-income countries.
• 3+ years’ experience working within or closely with government in low or middle-income countries.
• Have facilitated capacity assessment and strategic planning with governments stakeholders.
• Can skillfully apply leadership, management, systems thinking and quality improvement techniques.
• Can analyze data and provide clear summary statistics, graphs, and tables.
• Strong in-person and virtual facilitator; can design clear agendas and practical curricula and toolkits.  
• Are knowledgeable about participatory or human-centered design methods e.g., design sprints.
• Skilled at growing their knowledge and skills in new issue areas.
• Have successfully led teams and complex projects; can lead with or without formal authority.
• Good at organizing workflows, timelines and paying attention to essential details.
• Skilled at asking for, receiving, and integrating feedback from different perspectives.
• Clear and responsive in verbal and written communications.
• Have a resilient attitude; energized about navigating complexity, paradox, or ambiguity.
• Can demonstrate empathy, humility and good judgement when working across cultures.
• Proficient user of Microsoft Office suite and Google suite.
• Skilled at using digital communication and management tools.

Preferred (not required) characteristics that will make your application stand out:

• Proficient in French; have worked in francophone Africa.
• Have project management or quality improvement credentials (e.g., PMI, Lean Six Sigma).
• Demonstrated experience coaching leaders in low- and middle-income countries.
• Have experience in epidemic response and preparedness e.g., in an emergency operations center, or participated in Joint External Evaluations or After-Action Review exercises.
• Have worked with or within multilateral organizations (e.g., WHO, World Bank, Africa CDC).
• Familiar with the application of behavioral science to planning, management and decision-making.