CHF International Program Director - Blood Safety

CHF International's mission is to be a catalyst for long-lasting positive change in low-and moderate-income communities around the world, helping them to improve their social, economic and environmental conditions.

Project Summary: CHF international is implementing a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded Technical Assistance for the Implementation and Expansion of Blood Safety Activities in Kenya program. The overall goal of the program is to ensure the provision of a safe and sufficient blood supply to health facilities in Kenya through the provision of expert guidance and targeted technical assistance to the Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service (KNBTS) and its affiliates.
Job Summary:

CHF International is seeking a Program Director to provide technical oversight, planning and coordination to the Blood Safety Technical Assistance program in collaboration with the Senior Program Manager, CDC, WHO and GOK counterparts. This position is based in Nairobi, with travel around Kenya. The Program Director will be responsible for leading efforts in developing and strengthening blood safety policy, infrastructure, donor mobilization, collection, notification, referral and retention strategies, bio-safety, quality assurance, blood testing processing and distribution as well as hospital supervision systems.

Key Responsibilities: • Provide technical assistance to the KNBTS and other partners in the implementation of Blood Safety activities, including the mobilization, recruitment, collection, testing, handling, processing, storage, transport, and distribution of blood and blood products collected from donors for transfusions. • Work with KNBTS to identify and collaborate on approaches to correct problems, barriers, and issues impeding the effective implementation of Blood Safety program activities. • Serves as an expert technical resource in the specialized programmatic area to government and other collaborating partners. • Develop and maintain effective liaisons with staff in implementing partner organizations to ensure that timelines and quality standards for implementation of program activities are met. • Identify staff training needs in implementing partner organizations, facilitates and participates in the planning and development of training programs, teaching modules, manuals, and educational materials to address identified needs. Works with relevant partners to organize and participate in capacity building of blood safety program staff through training and mentoring. • Lead in the design, development and implementation of program guidelines, protocols, strategies, manuals and activities for areas including: blood donor mobilization, recruitment, notification, referrals and retention; blood collection, screening and processing, and rational use of blood; expansion of geographical and facility coverage of safe blood; implementation of quality management system; and enhancing capacity of KNBTS to carry out Blood Transfusion Services. • Participate in internal CDC, GOK and other blood safety-related working groups and technical teams (e.g., Biomedical, Counseling and Testing, Laboratory, Biosafety, Supply Chain Management, Human Resources for Health) to ensure linkages to blood safety and effective coordination of work plan development, implementation strategies, training, infrastructure development and evaluation plans. • Conduct site visits to NBTS field sites, transfusing hospitals and donor recruiter offices and events to provide technical assistance and oversight in program implementation. • Represent Kenya’s blood safety efforts at technical, policy and strategic planning meetings with collaborators and key stakeholders. • Provide guidance and technical assistance to partners in analyzing and evaluating program activities and use of data in program planning. Support program partners in evaluation implementation, data analysis, report writing development of basic program evaluation protocols. As appropriate, support program partners in writing and submitting abstracts for relevant conferences and journal publications. • Provide guidance in the implementation of the KNBTS strategic plan including supporting the implementation of a resource mobilization plan for sustainability of KNBTS. • Support the development, review and advocacy for the KNBTS legislation for the realization of semi autonomy. • Ensure adherence to established work plans and CDC and PEPFAR guidelines, policies and priorities.

Qualifications: • Medical degree in related field; • Technical expert in the field of Blood Safety/Blood Transfusion Medicine; • 7 years experience in designing, implementing and managing blood safety programs; • Skill in providing leadership, direction, and technical expertise in BTS systems to include being able to analyze and interpret the spectrum of laboratory and transfusion medicine services. This includes the identification and resolution of a wide variety of related laboratory problems such as testing algorithms, equipment repair/maintenance, correcting management deficiencies, and diagnosing procedural weaknesses. • Broad understanding of overall public health issues and specific understanding of, and experience in, HIV/AIDS programming; • Direct experience with USG (PEPFAR and CDC) programmatic and reporting requirements; • Able to lead project teams and technical working groups and to develop effective working relationships with national and international partners; • Practical experience implementing evidenced-based approaches to expand Blood Safety at the national and sub national levels; • Practical experience with human capacity development, training of health care professionals, developing guidelines, training curricula and standard operating procedures for blood transfusion related programs; • Experience working with the National Blood Transfusion Services and the Ministries of Health in Kenya preferred; • Demonstrated strong interpersonal and leadership skills; • Ability to work with stakeholders at various levels to strengthen their capacity for a stronger blood safety in Kenya; • Proficiency in English required; • Africa experience preferred.

How to apply: 

All interested individuals are encouraged to apply through CHF's website:https://chfinternational.devhire.devex.com/.