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

Summary of Position:

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated and mission-driven individual to ensure high-quality implementation of CHAI’s  malaria and NTD programs in francophone West and Central Africa and achieve ambitious programmatic goals on aggressive timelines. Countries in this portfolio include but are not limited to Burkina Faso, Benin and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Regional Operations Manager will ensure that CHAI teams are organized, coordinated, and resourced appropriately to achieve the organization’s objectives in the region. CHAI teams will work directly with national and sub-national government programs to strengthen case management, surveillance, and response systems to reduce malaria and NTD related deaths and illness and accelerate progress towards elimination.

The Regional Operations Manager will be working on complex topics with a diverse set of global and country partners and will have significant opportunity to shape CHAI’s approach to supporting governmental programs across a set of country programs. They will work in close collaboration with the regional Senior Technical Advisor and with CHAI's country and technical teams to manage communications across countries, regions, and teams, organize CHAI’s work, and provide effective management support to execute high-impact programs.

The position requires outstanding problem-solving, organizational, and communication skills and fluency in French and English. The successful candidate does not need to have prior expertise in malaria or NTDs, but they must have the capacity to rapidly absorb new concepts and solve complex challenges. They must exhibit a passion for results and commitment to excellence. The successful candidate will be able to function efficiently in a semi-independent setting, excel at multi-tasking, and drive multiple work flows forward. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities including resourcefulness, tenacity, independence, patience, humility, and strong work ethic.

The position will report to the Associate Director for Africa Malaria Programs.

Staff and Team Management

• Streamline communications between CHAI leadership, technical staff and country offices pertaining to CHAI’s malaria and NTD program, in close collaboration with the Senior Technical Advisor and other senior CHAI malaria and NTD staff in the region
• Lead staff onboarding, team building, professional development and mentoring activities across CHAI’s regional team, resolve conflicts and promote team cohesion to ensure retention and satisfaction of staff
• Support regional and country HR where requested, including development of job descriptions and interviewing candidates
• Identify regional financial or staffing gaps and work closely with CHAI’s country, operational and technical teams to resolve them, including active participation in recruitment efforts
• Manager a team of 6+ malaria and NTD country staff based in Benin, including direct oversight of human resources, contracts and financial management, and coordination with CHAI headquarters to ensure streamlined local operations.

Project Management

Working closely with the Senior Technical Advisor:

• Coordinate CHAI’s support to national malaria and NTD programs in francophone West and Central Africa to achieve ambitious programmatic goals on aggressive timelines
• Align CHAI’s resources to meet new and emerging needs based on key gaps and priorities in malaria and NTD programs and health systems across the region
• Support development of annual work plans and assist country teams to manage effective implementation of planned activities including adherence to timelines and coordinating review and feedback from technical teams
• Monitor program activities against project goals and donor commitments, identify operational bottlenecks or weaknesses, and help devise solutions to strengthen programs as necessary
• Ensure the quality of products and documents produced by CHAI team members, including strategic plans, guidelines and standard operating procedures, presentations, project reports and implementation updates, and/or communications with partners
• Synthesize and communicate CHAI’s best practices, products and approach and streamline knowledge sharing across countries in the region
• Help design and develop new projects as needed, and manage potential expansion in new geographies as relevant
• Represent CHAI at regional meetings and conferences
• Support grant management, including development of concept notes, proposals, donor reports, and contractual agreements, and coordinate development of programmatic and financial updates to donors
• Support management of regional and/or country budgets where requested, setting annual budgets and routine review of expenditure
• Ensure adherence to CHAI policies and protocols across CHAI’s regional malaria and NTD teams
• Other tasks as assigned by supervisor

• Master's Degree in Public Health, Business Administration or related field strongly preferred; or Bachelor’s degree minimum with exceptional experience
• Minimum of 5 years of work experience with increasing levels of responsibility and leadership
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with strong spoken and written English and French, and skill in making persuasive presentations and written reports
• Experience working on complex, multi-country, decentralized projects with verifiable results
• Exceptional problem-solving solving skills
• Experience in strategy development, planning, and project implementation
• Ability to work independently without extensive structural or operational support (handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, delegate and work independently)
• Experience in capacity building, mentorship and management of remote or decentralized teams
• Exceptional attention to detail
• Experience working and communicating with government officials and multilateral organizations
• High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• Ability to be effective, calm, and flexible in high-pressure situations
• Ability to adapt to new environments and challenges
• Ability to effectively scope problems, anticipate and pre-empt emerging issues, and make decisions with conviction even in highly ambiguous contexts
• Ability to travel up to 40-60% of the year across West and Central Africa, including to countries with high security risks.

Advantages

• Knowledge of malaria, NTDs or other global infectious diseases
• Experience living or working in West and Central Africa
• Strong work ethic, integrity, credibility, and dedication to CHAI’s mission

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