6 Positions at Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI): (Deadline 5 March 2021)

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

Laboratory Services Program:

CHAI Rwanda Laboratory Services Program is supporting the GoR and MOH/Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) to identify challenges in the current medical laboratory network, evaluate and implement potential system strengthening opportunities and strategies to expand the coverage of diagnostics services across the country and create long-term improvements in healthcare delivery. Through the African Health Diagnostics Platform Project (AHDP), CHAI Rwanda team is supporting the MOH to assess, design, negotiate and implement Public private partnerships (PPP) between partner governments and private commercial organizations to achieve this goal. Through the Molecular Diagnostic Network Optimization (DNO) and Sample Referral System (SRS) design exercise, CHAI team is supporting the RBC/National Reference laboratory (NRL) to assess current and future testing network design to align testing demand and capacity in the most cost-effective way by defining the optimal instruments mix, identifying the most appropriate locations where instruments should be placed, and designing the referral network linkages across that revised network.

CHAI team is also working with RBC, NRL and the strategy development team to ensure timely response for COVID-19 pandemic management. This includes sharing technical expertise, updates on diagnostics landscape and providing analytical, program strategy, planning and implementation support for introduction and uptake of innovative, affordable and high-quality diagnostics products.

Position Overview:

CHAI is looking for a Senior Associate, Laboratory Services to provide technical and operational support across multiple workstreams – network assessment; national strategy development and costing; implementation plans development; clinical training and mentoring; health information and quality assurance systems; and closing the loop interventions.

The Senior Associate will report to CHAI Rwanda’s Laboratory Services Program Manager and work closely with other team members, as well as CHAI’s global Laboratory Services Team. They will work closely with the MOH Laboratory team to provide technical and implementation support to drive timely execution and monitoring of laboratory system strengthening interventions including PPPs, DNO and SRS, COVID-19 diagnostics decentralization strategy.

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual with strong public health/laboratory sciences experience, outstanding credentials, and project implementation skills to support the program in Rwanda. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities: resourcefulness, responsibility, tenacity, flexibility, independence, energy, work ethic and humility.

This position will be based in Kigali, with travel to other districts as required.

• Provide strategic and technical input into policy documents including but not limited to national laboratory policies and strategic plans, quality improvement plans including accreditation schemes
• Support assessment of technical resources and operational requirements in the laboratory network
• Lead assessment of the PPP model’s technical capacity to expand access to laboratory services
• Support development of implementation plans based on outputs from PPP feasibility, DNO and SRS studies and for selected models
• Develop and share deployment models and strategies with operational considerations to support scale-up of piloted system strengthening activities
• Share experience and best practices from other countries on strategies and tools for adoption of current and new diagnostic models and products and their integration into existing lab networks
• Support the MOH in adoption of WHO guidelines for diagnostics
• Support the diagnostics working group in developing presentations, reports, and other documents
• Support national quantification exercises for diagnostics equipment and supplies
• Support planning and implementation of technical and programmatic training and mentoring, including revision of training and mentoring materials, tracking training gaps and progress
• Support in setting up of a data management system for reporting and results delivery and its integration into existing routine data management processes and systems, such as the country’s health information management system (HMIS)
• Develop recommendations for complementary interventions that can “close loop of care” and maximize the impact of diagnostic improvements
• Support broader advocacy and resource mobilization efforts for diagnostics access, e.g. drafting grant proposals, concept notes, presentations, budgets
• Develop materials and document internal updates to share with other CHAI team members, highlight opportunities for integration and coordination across work streams wherever possible
• Conduct literature reviews and research activities as needed, and undertake other duties related to improving diagnostics access
• Other responsibilities as needed

• Master’s Degree in Public Health, Laboratory Sciences, Biomedical Sciences or Engineering, or related technical field
• A minimum of 5 years’ professional work experience and at least 3 years’ experience working in health system strengthening projects or in public/private health diagnostics projects

Required skills:

• Strong technical knowledge and understanding of health sector diagnostics and familiarity with global health issues, experience in carrying out diagnostics project implementation work
• Demonstrated skills in qualitative and quantitative data collection, data management and analysis, including knowledge of computer software: MS Office applications and other information systems (e.g. MS Word, Excel, Power Point, etc.). Smartsheet experience a plus
• Excellent strategic thinking and problem-solving skills
• Strong organizational skills with ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously in a fast-oriented environment with ability to learn the job quickly through research and absorb synthesis on broad range of interventions
• Ability to work independently on complex projects and proactively manage activities with minimal supervision
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to navigate government processes with multiple stakeholders to build relationships
• High level of integrity, professionalism, and knowledge of research ethics
• Experience in convening meetings and facilitating discussions among multidisciplinary group of stakeholders; previous experience working with government stakeholders is a strong plus
• Experience working in Rwanda or other resource-limited settings strongly preferred
• Working knowledge of English and Kinyarwanda/French

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE AND APPLY

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 Health Workforce Background:

A skilled health workforce is the backbone of every health system and therefore an essential precondition for progress toward universal health coverage (UHC). However, the WHO estimates that there is a global shortage of 17 million health workers. The gap is most acute in Africa (with a shortage of 4.2 million), which bears 24% of the global burden of disease yet has only 4% of the world’s health workforce. CHAI assists governments to develop their health workforces by enhancing their capacity to train highly qualified health workers and by strengthening national systems to finance, deploy, and manage those health workers.

CHAI’s approach to national heath workforce strengthening emphasizes three strategies: (i) improving the quality and strategically increasing the scale of education for health workers, (ii) expanding and optimizing health workforce financing, and (iii) providing technical assistance to governments to strengthen their overall health workforce planning and management systems.

Two key principles guide CHAI’s approach to workforce development. The first is focusing on the right kind of health workers—from community health workers to midwives, nurses, health managers, general physicians and medical specialists—based on national need and service delivery objectives. CHAI’s approach also emphasizes sustainability by building the institutional capacity of the schools and universities where health workers are trained, training new generations of health professions educators, and developing systems and individual capabilities within governments to better plan and manage their own health workforces.

CHAI’s health workforce programs vary by country, as they reflect the major barriers and opportunities to workforce development in that specific context, as well as the priorities of the host government. Currently, CHAI is focused on health workforce programming in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The government of Rwanda has developed the National Strategy for Health Professions Development (NSHPD) 2020-2030, a 10-year plan to strengthen and expand the Rwandan health workforce though improved and expanded pre-service training. The strategy outlines national health workforce targets for 33 cadres of providers, and the necessary inputs to training institutions to scale up enrollment and graduation to meet those targets. The government has created a Human Resources for Health Secretariat (HRH Secretariat) to manage implementation of the strategy. The HRH Secretariat has requested CHAI’s support to set up the Secretariat team and functions, and initiate implementation of the NSHPD.

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding technical skills to assist the Secretariat as it transitions from strategy development to implementation.  This role requires managerial capabilities to lead a CHAI Rwanda Health Workforce team; manage day-to-day CHAI team program activities; and play a key role in relationship building with key stakeholders across the Rwandan government, education sector, INGOs, and academic partners in support of the NSHPD.

The CHAI Rwanda Health Workforce team will work very closely with the HRH secretariat to ensure that essential functions are developed, and capacity built in the secretariat to independently manage routine operations of implementing the NSHPD. The Program Manager should have the technical skills to advise, design, oversee, co-implement and directly provide technical assistance to the HRH Secretariat not limited to the design and implementation of data collection and analysis processes, operational planning and costing, measurement and evaluation systems, intervention design for health worker training, and governance of health workforce development systems.

The desired candidate must be able to multi-task effectively and have experience project managing multiple work streams and delegating responsibilities to staff effectively. Candidates should also have experience managing relationships with high level government stakeholders and ideally will have worked in the field of health professional education or health workforce planning. Successful candidates must have a passion for results, a commitment to excellence, and a demonstrated capacity to work in high-stress environments.

This position will report to the CHAI Rwanda Country Director or designate and will coordinate with the Health Workforce Global Team. This position is based in Kigali, Rwanda with some national and very limited international travel.

Key Responsibilities:

Program Management

• Develop a workplan to organize CHAI’s efforts to support the government and manage that work plan in a dynamic fashion
• Build and manage the CHAI Rwanda Health Workforce team to support the HRH Secretariat
• Develop briefing documents and information dissemination products as needed
• Manage CHAI team budget and expenditure
• Develop and oversee execution of a monitoring and evaluation plan for the CHAI team
• Proactively identify and mitigate any risks that is related to this program
• Become a member of CHAI Rwanda Management team and actively participate and contribute to the development of the CHAI Rwanda office
• Identify areas where support is needed, plan for and design the programmatic support
• Other responsibilities as assigned by the CHAI Rwanda office leadership team and the government

Technical Assistance

• Provide and manage internal and external technical inputs on all program activities
• Provide strategic direction and technical oversight to data collection and analysis activities as requested
• Assist the HRH Secretariat to develop a team and update its costed operational plan
• Support the HRH Secretariat to develop a measurement and evaluation plan, supervising staff who whose work will include developing the strategy, design, and tools needed to manage and implement the plan at the request of the Secretariat
• Support the HRH Secretariat to develop interventions for additional health workforce cadres including design of data collection and analysis tools, facilitation of planning meetings, computation of inputs, translating inputs to needed interventions, and offering guidance and clear recommendations to stakeholders
• Advise the HRH Secretariat and government stakeholders on governance issues related to health worker training and deployment, including facilitation of stakeholder consultations, data analysis to support policy recommendations, and development of policy documents and presentations needed to implement recommended strategies

Resource Mobilization

• Support the HRH Secretariat to develop and implement an effective resource mobilization strategy including donor research and scoping, developing a database to log prospective donors, and track potential and committed funding against program budgets, advising on fundraising strategy and developing concepts, budgets, and proposals needed to implement the strategy
• Assist the secretariat to identify, develop and maintain strong relationships with potential and existing donors
  Support the development of proposals to solicit resources for the government
• Manage grant submission process including narrative and budget development
• Complete donor reports and filing as necessary for various grants

Relationship Management

• Serve as the CHAI focal point for engagement in the NSHPD
• Understand government requirements for support and coordinate CHAI’s efforts to meet those requests
• Effectively engage and manage relationships with key government and training institution stakeholders
• Represent CHAI in government meetings as requested
• Develop, maintain, and facilitate strong working relationships with existing/new academic partners
• Support the HRH Secretariat to develop and execute MoUs and contracts with academic partners
• Troubleshoot academic partner programmatic and administrative issues with local stakeholders

Leadership, Administration & Operations

• Create an environment of continuous learning, where staff are encouraged, supported to grow and develop, and are willing to be held accountable for their commitments
• Support the CD in promoting culture that is inclusive and welcoming
• Develop and maintain efficient and effective systems, and ensure compliance with CHAI Rwanda Policies, procedures and guidelines by holding the team accountable to enhance the smooth running of the program,
• Provide input towards development of the Country budget and budget re-forecasts, with participation of operational and program teams in CHAI Rwanda
• Address staff Safety and Security matters in collaboration with Safety Point Person (SPP)
• Coordinate with the Human Resources department to ensure full compliance with the applicable laws of Rwanda
• Other responsibilities as needed

• Masters’ Degree or equivalent in Public Health or other related field
• Documented 7 – 10 years work experience
• At least 5 years work experience in the health sector, and or higher education sector;
• At least 3 years work experience in managerial positions;
• Demonstrated excellent people management skills with experience managing a team of at least three
• Demonstrated experience providing technical assistance to government(s) or other high-level stakeholders
• Demonstrated strong analytical, leadership, and problem-solving skills
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills in English
• Ability to communicate effectively with people of varied professional, cultural, and educational backgrounds
• Ability to multitask and to work independently and effectively in high-pressure, fast-paced environment
• Ability to work with teams across time zones and locations
• Ability to work with humility and achieve results
• High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and internet applications
• Highly organized with demonstrated project management experience
• High emotional intelligence and excellent interpersonal skills, especially in cross-cultural settings and highly distributed work environments with demonstrated ability to build relationships quickly

Preferred Qualifications:

• Background health systems strengthening, health workforce, and pre-service education for health workers
• Background in medical studies
• Experience working with resource-limited governments
• Experience working in health financing or health workforce financing

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE AND APPLY

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 Health Workforce Background

A skilled health workforce is the backbone of every health system and therefore an essential pre-condition for progress toward universal health coverage (UHC). However, as warned by the United Nations commission, there is an urgent need of global investment to create new health sector jobs and prevent a projected shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030. The gap is most acute in Africa (with a shortage of 4.2 million), which bears 24% of the global burden of disease yet has only 4% of the world’s health workforce.

CHAI assists governments to develop their health workforces by enhancing their capacity to train highly qualified health workers and by strengthening national systems to finance, deploy, and manage those health workers.

CHAI’s approach to national heath workforce strengthening emphasizes three strategies: (i) improving the quality and strategically increasing the scale of education for health workers, (ii) expanding and optimizing health workforce financing, and (iii) providing technical assistance to governments to strengthen their overall health workforce planning and management systems.

Two key principles guide CHAI’s approach to workforce development. The first is focusing on the right kind of health workers—from community health workers to midwives, nurses, health managers, general physicians and medical specialists—based on national need and service delivery objectives. CHAI’s approach also emphasizes sustainability by building the institutional capacity of the schools and universities where health workers are trained, training new generations of health professions educators, and developing systems and individual capabilities within governments to better plan and manage their own health workforces.

CHAI’s health workforce programs vary by country, as they reflect the major barriers and opportunities to workforce development in that specific context, as well as the priorities of the host government. Currently, CHAI is focused on health workforce programming in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi,  Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Position Overview

The government of Rwanda developed the National Strategy for Health Professions Development (NSHPD) 2020-2030, a 10-year plan to strengthen and expand the Rwandan health workforce though improved and expanded pre-service training. The strategy outlines national health workforce targets for 37 cadres of providers, and the necessary inputs to training institutions to scale up enrollment and graduation to meet those targets.

The government has created a Human Resources for Health Secretariat (HRH Secretariat) to manage implementation of the strategy. The HRH Secretariat has requested CHAI’s support to set up the Secretariat team and functions, and initiate implementation of the NSHPD.

CHAI is currently seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding technical capabilities to support the HRH Secretariat to establish a robust M&E system for the NSHPD. The M&E Technical Adviser will be responsible for initiating all NSHPD M&E activities, including design and set up of the M&E system, refining the indicator framework, design and implementation of the baseline evaluation, design and implementation of an evaluation of major reforms, design and set up of micro-evaluation fund for Rwandan academic applied research, and supporting training institutions with reporting into the M&E framework for the program at large. They will also facilitate periodic reviews of the program and implement the process evaluation at the end of the grant period; the tools and processes established should also be usable to conduct periodic process evaluations by the HRH Secretariat and MOH throughout the 10-year strategy.

The desired candidate must have excellent planning, management, writing, analytical, organizational, communication and cultural sensitivity skills as they will be working closely with government and external partners. The candidate must have a passion for results and a commitment to excellence. The ideal candidate has a background in monitoring and evaluation systems design and study management, as well as demonstrated experience leading a large and complex work stream. Although categorized as a “technical adviser,” this role is not limited to advising and will be responsible for co-producing many of the deliverables related to design and implementation of the M&E system, including documenting M&E frameworks and metrics; collecting and analyzing data, and writing reports and developing presentations as needed.

This position will work in direct support of the HRH Secretariat Head of Department in Charge of Teaching Coordination and Quality Assurance and MOH, while formally reporting to the CHAI Rwanda Health Workforce team lead and will coordinate with the CHAI Health Workforce Global Team and other technical teams at CHAI as needed.

This position is based in in Kigali, Rwanda with some national and very limited international travel.

Activities are anticipated to start in January 2021 and run through at least December 2021. Extension of this role is contingent on performance and funding availability and is at the discretion of the CHAI Rwanda Health Workforce team leadership.

• In close cooperation with the HRH Secretariat, co-manage the design and implementation of the National Strategy for Health Professions Development (NSHPD) monitoring and evaluation system:
  • Refine indicator framework for the program
  • Design and implement baseline evaluation
  • In consultation with external technical experts, design and execute credible and feasible outcome/impact evaluation for the program, including comprehensive baseline data collection at the outset of the program
  • Design and implement discrete project evaluations
  • Design and set-up “micro-evaluation fund’ for Rwandan faculty and partners to conduct applied research activities within their domains
  • Operationalize systems for data collection, verification, analysis, reporting, and use; including training (as needed) and supporting teaching institutions to manage and report on necessary data
  • Work closely with information systems developer to establish systems that can generate reports and display dashboard for key indicators
• Design tools and processes for periodic process evaluations for the program to answer key implementation questions and provide relevant and timely recommendations to improve the program
• In collaboration with HRH Secretariat Team, identify and design additional evaluations or studies as appropriate
• Oversee the program’s routine monitoring systems in close coordination with the HRH Secretariat and ensure monitoring data is available and presented in an effective way to inform programmatic decision-makingAnalyze, synthesize, and present M&E data on an ongoing basis to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, and make corresponding recommendations to NSHPD program management
• Facilitate periodic (e.g. biannual) reviews to report routine monitoring data to stakeholders
• In collaboration with HRH Secretariat Team, author internal reports, external reports and scientific papers as required
• Partner closely with designated counterparts in the HRH Secretariat, MOH, and MOE/University of Rwanda monitoring and evaluation departments and engage in intentional bi-directional capacity building
• Liaise with HRH team, implementation partners and external experts to ensure a collaborative and high-quality approach to monitoring and evaluating the program

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent plus 6 years work experience
• Fully understands the rationale for program monitoring and evaluation and can anticipate and mitigate challenges in implementing M&E systems
• Extensive theoretical understanding of evaluation and research design:
  • Applied research experience, including designing impact evaluation or operational research projects in developing countries
• Demonstrated ability to be self-directed and work collaboratively and effectively in high-pressure, fast-paced environment and handle multiple tasks simultaneously
• Exceptional diplomatic and interpersonal skills, and an ability to collaborate effectively with a wide range of partners and stakeholders
• Excellent project management skills, specifically demonstrated experience in delivering complex projects with extended timescales:
  • Proven track record in managing challenging multi-stakeholder situations to achieve intended results
• Demonstrated quantitative and qualitative analysis skills with proficiency in relevant software/coding packages
• Excellent organizational, problem solving and analytical skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills, including the ability to effectively synthesize large amounts of information and potentially complex analyses for consumption by a wide audience
• High attention to detail

Preferred Experience

• Master’s degree in epidemiology, biostatistics, public health, economics or relevant subject matter with 3-5 years of work experience; or relevant PhD degree with 2-3 years of work experience
• Experience living or working in low-income country
• Experience working closely with government partners
• Experience developing and implementing M&E systems for large, complex programs
• Knowledge of global health workforce challenges and solutions

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE AND APPLY

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

The Government of Rwanda strives to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by enabling equitable access to quality health services for their population as outlined in the Fourth Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP IV). This commitment is made against a backdrop of rising health care costs and uncertainty around the future availability of donor funding. Rwanda is often cited as an example for UHC in Sub-Saharan Africa, in part due to high rates of enrollment in the Mutuelle de santé or CBHI scheme and continuously seeks to reach sustainability and build on its past gains and existing successful strategies. Acknowledging this, the Government aims to employ effective, equitable, efficient and sustainable health care financing approaches and inform reforms of existing financing mechanisms including the national insurance scheme.

CHAI Rwanda’s Sustainable Health Financing (SHF) program works on a day-to-day basis with Government leadership in the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB). The goal of our program is to support the Government to sustainably finance and improve the Mutuelle de santé or Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI) scheme, which covers the majority of the population for essential health services, and address key challenges in the health sector, towards the goal of UHC.

CHAI currently seeks two Health Economists to work with the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) to think through and implement strategic reforms in the design, implementation and management decisions of the Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI) Scheme to improve the sustainability of the scheme. The Health Economists will be seconded to RSSB to work on a day to day basis with the Director of the Insurance schemes and will report technically to the Deputy Director General Benefits. He or she will build capacity within the RSSB to generate evidence through data analysis that informs key decisions and revisions to policy decisions. This position offers a unique opportunity to work closely with government leadership on the government’s priority agenda of Universal Health Coverage.

The Health Economists will be responsible for providing direct support to the Deputy Director General Benefits at RSSB on his priorities including;
(i) supporting implementation of health technology assessments
(ii) building capacity in RSSB and of relevant stakeholders to use evidence to inform key decisions and management through research, assessment and analyses.

• Provide direct technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and partners to work on HTA, evidence synthesis, health benefits packages and clinical guidelines and ensure value for money and quality in service delivery.
• Provide guidance to the RSSB/CBHI on research methodologies and assessment protocols to maximize linkages to ongoing work and contribute to the writing, editing, and publishing of reports and peer reviewed articles as relevant; prepare presentations and policy briefs
• Conduct and build capacity for innovative qualitative and quantitative analyses that link complex datasets such as patient records and CBHI claims data
• Participate in meetings, technical working groups and maintain effective and collaborative working relationships with various partners and stakeholders
• Work with other departments to promote the adoption of analytical principles within RSSB
• Coordinate efforts among multiple internal and external stakeholders to ensure timely delivery of answers to the policy questions
• Other responsibilities as needed

• PhD degree in a relevant discipline (health economics, health services research, international health systems, public health or a related field); or Master’s degree (in the above-mentioned fields) with at least 2 years of experience in health financing, HTA, comparative health systems, or global health
• Solid analytical foundation and knowledge of a variety of economic evaluation methods (e.g. regressions, modelling, cost-effectiveness analysis, etc.)
• Experience manipulating data sets and building economic models
• Strong proficiency in data visualization
• Ability to focus on vaguely defined problems requiring the application of a creative approach
• Strong team working skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for coordinating across teams
• Demonstrated experience working with high level government stakeholders and/or other senior stakeholders in consensus-building processes on major health systems reforms;
• Experience informing development of government strategy, policy, and operational plans, preferably in health or health systems is a plus
• Excellent problem solving, analytical, and quantitative skills, including attention to detail and experience in modeling using Microsoft Excel;
• Strong communication skills, including delivery of compelling presentations and documents in Microsoft PowerPoint and Word;
• Exceptional diplomacy and interpersonal skills, demonstrated ability to build strong professional relationships with a range of stakeholders in a challenging, multi-cultural environment;
• Ability to work independently, set priorities, and handle multiple tasks simultaneously;
• Ability to learn on the job quickly and absorb and synthesize a broad range of information;
• Ability to work with humility and achieve results;
• Ability to mentor and lead teams in a fast-paced and changing environment;
• Familiarity with a broad range of key global health issues, including health systems or health financing challenges in developing countries.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE AND APPLY

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

Summary of Position

CHAI launched its Viral Hepatitis program in 2015 with the goal of catalyzing and rapidly scaling screening and treatment programs in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), starting with a focus in seven countries (Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Vietnam). CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual to work as a Health Information Technical Advisor to play a critical role in helping Rwanda and other program focal countries improve how to  collect and analyze data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of efforts to eliminate viral hepatitis.

The Technical Advisor will work with CHAI staff to provide technical assistance and support to national Hepatitis Programs on the optimization and application of information technology for data collection, management, analysis, and use. This will include creating, modifying, and maintaining potentially complex and diverse surveillance platforms, system integrations, and data analytics; assessing performance and data integrity of surveillance systems; supporting training of technology solutions; monitoring and evaluating the performance of different surveillance systems; and helping staff use and troubleshoot health information systems on an ongoing basis.

This role will have a specific focus supporting strengthening and decentralization of digital systems for Rwanda’s Hepatitis program to reduce the number of patients who are lost between the screening, diagnosis, and treatment stages and ensure Rwanda remains on track to achieve Hepatitis C (HCV) elimination by 2021. The Technical Advisor will also be responsible for ensuring lessons learned, best practices and knowledge developed on the roll-out of digital solutions in Rwanda are documented and shared with other program focal countries.

A successful candidate will need to work with team members across CHAI’s Global, Regional and Country Hepatitis Teams and will therefore need to possess strong communication, organizational, and management skills as well as be able to work independently to drive implementation and have deep personal commitment to producing results.

Technology Solution Assessment & Design

• Work with the Ministry of Health (MoH), CHAI country team and technical advisors and external partners to understand requirements for Hepatitis elimination and planned interventions.
• Map existing digital health systems, information flows, infrastructure, stakeholders and partner projects.
• Develop coherent and technology-appropriate specifications for meeting requirements for each intervention, particularly DHIS2-appropriate specifications.
• Advise on strategies for collecting, storing, cleaning, and analyzing data, and producing automated reports for more efficient and effective operational response.
• Play a translational role in communicating user requirements and technical specifications to non-technical staff within CHAI management and the MoH.

Technology Project Management

• Create and manage project plans with CHAI and MoH teams, including project management processes and communication mechanisms to progressively design, develop, document, and test systems and mobile tools.
• Select, liaise and manage sub-contractors to build and configure applications according to the defined requirements and timelines.
• Manage ongoing tracking and prioritization of software development activities. Proactively manage changes in project scope, identify potential challenges and roadblocks, and develop contingency plans.
• Test developer outputs and provide regular feedback on bugs and functionally to ensure solutions are being developed according to specifications.
• Support the integration of the program’s system with other existing broader systems in the Ministry of Health.

Technology Implementation and Training

• Develop training materials and help train MoH staff, focal points and health care workers in the use of information technology, including the system to be used, devices, and any other end-user challenges.
• Develop and iterate on data outputs with the national program team and focal points to produce user-appropriate dashboards across surveillance use cases.
• Support CHAI teams and MoH stakeholders to design and implement plans to routinely assess and document the performance and use of digital solutions.
• Assist with troubleshooting throughout installation, and implementation of systems, incorporation of user feedback.

Other Program Support

• Support resource mobilization efforts for digital solutions, including developing proposals.
• Provide strategic thinking around development of appropriate, effective and integrated digital solutions for viral hepatitis elimination and contribute to program development and strategy.
• Other responsibilities as needed.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in relevant field (information systems, computer science, medical engineering, etc.) required. Master’s degree preferred
• At least 5 years of work experience, with at least 3 years’ experience as a software developer, technical product manager, or in a similar role delivering technology solutions
• Knowledge of and experience working with DHIS2 strongly preferred
• Experience with information technology architecture and design
• Experience working on integration of information management systems
• Proven experience in implementing technology-based solutions with users, preferably for disease surveillance and in low and middle income countries
• Familiarity with emerging technologies for data collection and reporting (including experience using open source data collection tools like ODK, and BI tools like PowerBI and Tableau); comfort with developing complex data collection forms and dashboards preferred
• Experience in data management and data analysis
• Proficiency in Access, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• Ability to be effective, calm, and flexible in high-pressure situations, to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and to effectively prioritize
• Ability to communicate effectively with people of varied professional and cultural backgrounds
• Ability to travel approximately 15-30% of the year

Advantages

• Any statistical and geospatial analysis experience (R, SAS, STATA, ArcGIS and/or other relevant software)
• Experience with software development best practices (code review, dev ops, continuous integration)
• Languages: SQL, JavaScript, html, java, php, python preferred
• Knowledge of viral hepatitis or other global infectious diseases; and understanding of disease surveillance (including surveillance platforms) with knowledge of global health issues;
• Experience living or working in resource-limited countries;
• Familiarity with emerging technologies for web or mobile application development for data visualization and analysis