Technical Advisor for Child Health

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The Public Health Institute (PHI) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being, and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. As one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation, we are at the forefront of research and innovations to improve the efficacy of public health statewide, nationally, and internationally.

PHI was distinguished as one of the top 50 “Best Non-Profit Organizations to Work For” by the Non-Profit Times in a national search.

Job Location: Washington, DC

Telework Eligible: Yes, at least 3 days per week in-person reporting at Washington, DC office.

Remote Eligible: No.

A.  Summary Statement:

The Public Health Institute (PHI) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being, and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. As one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation, we are at the forefront of research and innovations to improve the efficacy of public health statewide, nationally, and internationally.

We are hiring for positions under the Global Health Training, Advisory, Support Contract (GHTASC) in support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Global Health (GH). These roles deliver institutional support services in a wide range of technical areas at the junior, mid-, senior, and expert levels.

The world has witnessed an extraordinary 70 percent decline in child mortality over the last 50 years and a reduction in child deaths from over 12 million in 1990 to 5.3 million in 2018. Over the same timeframe, maternal deaths declined by 43%, from an estimated 532,000 in 1990 to 302,000 in 2015. Despite this progress, significant work remains to increase coverage of high-impact interventions, strengthen the health systems that support these interventions, improve quality, and address equity gaps that are bottlenecks to ending preventable child and maternal deaths.

Building on the momentum of the June 2012 Child Survival Call to Action and the subsequent launch of A Promised Renewed (www.apromiserenewed.org), USAID’s Bureau for Global Health has mobilized to support countries to Preventing Child and Maternal Deaths- PCMD (www.usaid.gov/ActingOnTheCall), focusing on 25 countries where over two-thirds of these deaths occur (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, and Zambia).

The MCHN Office serves as the Agency’s technical and policy lead on maternal and newborn health; child survival; immunization; and nutrition, focusing on preventing child and maternal deaths. Cross-cutting activities managed by the Office in support of this goal address private sector partnerships, social and behavior change, multilateral partnerships, gender, research, and monitoring and evaluation. The Child Health and Immunization (CHI) Division provides technical and policy leadership, addressing the leading killers of children in the post-neonatal period. This includes treatment of pneumonia, diarrhea, and other major contributors to death, vaccine-preventable diseases, as well as emerging issues. The Division also manages the Agency’s significant investments in Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance as well as our contributions to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

B.  Position Summary:

The Technical Advisor for Child Health will primarily support the Office of Maternal Child Health and Nutrition’s Child Health and Immunization Division as a PHI Institutional Support Contractor (ISC). In this role, the selected candidate will primarily support the Bureau for Global Health’s (BGH) Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Office (MCHN), Division of Child Health and Immunization (GH/MCHN/CHI). In this role, the selected candidate will support Agency efforts to prevent child deaths and improve children’s development and wellbeing. The Advisor will work closely with the child health team to provide global technical leadership to revitalize USAID’s child health programs in the context of the full “continuum of care” for newborn and child health and USAID’s broader health portfolio. The Advisor will play a leading role in USAID’s development, implementation, and monitoring of global and country-level policies, strategies, research, programs, and activities aimed at reducing infant and child mortality. The Advisor will also foster relationships across the Office and Bureaus to strengthen collaboration and technical input into child health programs.

Employment Type: Full Time

Full salary range for this position is $97,500 to $152,620 per year, with the starting salary determined based on candidate’s knowledge, skills, experience, as well as budget availability.

C.  Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

The Technical Advisor for Child Health will provide technical assistance to the MCHN Office and to USAID Missions on programmatic approaches to increase the uptake, use, and impact of key interventions to reduce child mortality, with an emphasis on primary health care, including preventive measures, case management, follow-up, nurturing and responsive care, and child development. The Advisor will serve as a member of the child health team in the CHI Division and liaise closely with other teams across the Bureau and Office (e.g. private sector, newborn, nutrition, HIV, TB) to improve overall programming in child health. The Advisor must have the capacity and interest to promote integrated program approaches to child health consistent with the following documents: USAID’s Preventing Child And Maternal Deaths: A Framework For Action In A Changing World 2022 – 2030 (https://www.usaid.gov/PreventingChildAndMaternalDeaths); Acting on the Call; A Promise Renewed (http://www.apromiserenewed.org/); Integrated Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhea (GAPPD), and USAID Country Level plans that have been developed to advance MCHN goals.

The Advisor’s duties will be divided among technical leadership, technical and program support to the management of office projects, and support to USAID Country Programs, as follows:

Provide technical leadership to Agency programs on child health:

• Contribute technical and program child health expertise to the planning, updating, and implementation of the GH Bureau’s child health programs.
• Engage in and contribute expertise in priority technical areas of GH Bureau’s child health technical and program activities, with an emphasis on state-of-the-art, high-impact child health interventions.
• In coordination with other Division staff, participate in global, regional, and national-level Child Health fora, identifying connections with other USAID and MCH programs as appropriate.
• Participate in strategic planning and resource allocation activities for GH Bureau’s child health programs.
• Stay current and share new knowledge on state-of-the-art technical, policy, and programmatic developments in child health.

Serve as a Technical Advisor on MCHN Office and/or Bureau-wide project team(s):

• Provide technical guidance on developing, implementing, and monitoring annual work plans.
• Monitor programs by reviewing financial and technical reports, conducting country program visits, and analyzing outcome and impact data.
• Review quarterly and annual reports of progress and challenges.
• Design and conduct management reviews, monitoring and evaluation plans, and external evaluations, as needed.
• Provide technical input to the development of the child health components of the MCH research agenda.

Support to USAID country programs:

• Join USAID/Washington-based country support teams, participate in country program reviews and action plans, and serve as a technical and programmatic liaison among headquarters and country teams on integrated case management and other child health priorities being advanced by the Global Health Bureau.
• Provide technical support to USAID Missions in selected MCH priority countries and assist in developing child health programmatic approaches.
• Participate in national assessments of health programs in order to assist host countries in sharpening their own plans and strategies to end preventable child deaths.
• Monitor programs through reviewing technical reports, conducting country visits, analyzing outcome and impact data, and reviewing routine reports.
• Provide child health expertise in the design or evaluation of program activities (GH, regional bureau, or country Mission) and participate in design committees and competitive reviews, as appropriate.
• Ability to travel internationally to developing country program sites approximately 20-30% of the time.
• Work at least 3 days per week in-person at Washington, DC office.

D.  Qualification Requirements:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree with 6 years of relevant experience, bachelor’s degree with 8 years of relevant experience, Associate’s degree and 10 years of relevant experience, or High School graduate and 12 years of relevant experience.
• US Citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.

Other Qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience in child health program design, implementation, and evaluation.
• Ability to work collaboratively with staff of USAID Missions, other USG agencies, LMIC country governments and local organizations, and other international organizations.
• Experience working on programs and partnerships with the private sector preferred.
• Strong ability to work both independently and as part of a team and demonstrated experience to assume a leadership role in policy and program activities.
• Excellent technical writing and presentation skills.
• Ability to travel internationally to developing country program sites approximately 20-30%of the time.
• Functional language ability (particularly in French and Portuguese), is highly desirable, though not required.
• Ability to work at least 3 days per week in-person at Washington, DC office.

E.  Competencies:

• Innovation: Takes initiative to propose new ideas/approaches and demonstrates ability to find new and better ways to accomplish work.
• Client Service: Communicates with clients, handling any issues politely and efficiently; understands and is available to clients; maintains pleasant and professional image.
• Accountability: Takes ownership of work responsibilities and holds high standards. Keeps commitments and takes appropriate actions to ensure obligations are met.  Pursues efficiency and effectiveness and adheres to organization policies and procedures.
• Interpersonal Skills: Works in cooperation with others and communicates effectively with co-workers, supervisors, subordinates, clients, and other outside contacts.
• Continual Learning: Assesses and recognizes own strengths and weaknesses; pursues professional development that is aligned with organizational role, contribution, and goals; proactively shares knowledge with others to foster learning across the organization.

F.  Application Information:

Prior to submitting your application, your resume must include relevant paid and non-paid experience showing dates held with month, year and hours worked per week for each position. Please ensure that all relevant experience and education is documented on your resume. There is no limitation to resume length; updates to resumes will not be accepted during the interview and selection process.

FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (FLSA) STATUS

This position is classified as exempt based on the job duties. However, based on the FTE, salary level of the employee, or federal/state/local laws, the employee may be classified as nonexempt.

EEO Statement

The Public Health Institute is committed to a policy that provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and to make all employment decisions so as to further this principle of equal employment opportunity. To this end, the PHI will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are offered employment and employees are treated during employment without regard to these characteristics.

For further information regarding Equal Employment Opportunity, copy and paste the following URL into your web browser: http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf

ADA Statement:

The Public Health Institute is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Recruitment Team at least 48 hours in advance at Recruitment@phi.org.

To apply for any position, you must create an account on the Public Health Institute’s job application site. After creating your account, you may search the open positions and apply for the specific position that interests you. Please note, mailed and emailed applications will not be accepted.

This position described in this announcement falls under a contract with the Federal Government, and therefore is subject to the provisions put forward in OMB Circular A-76 which prohibit contractors from performing inherently governmental functions.  Specifically, employees placed in agency positions will not perform inherently governmental functions, nor supervise any personnel other than the contractor’s own staff, nor make final decisions or sign documents that commit the U.S. Government.

We’re so pleased the Public Health Institute is an organization you would like to work with. Do you have questions about this opportunity? If so, email our recruitment team at Recruitment@phi.org.

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