Technical adviser - hospital management and administration in Tanzania

VSO is the world's leading independent international development organisation that brings people together to fight poverty. We are looking for a hospital management professional for a 12-36 month volunteer placement in Tanzania.

Background The St. Francis Referral Hospital (SFRH) is located in Ifakara, Southern Tanzania and has a capacity of 400 beds and attracts approximately 700,000 referral patients per year from Kilombero and other neighbouring districts. The hospital is connected historically and operationally to a number of other health institutions. All the local partner institutions depend on each other in order to be able to act as a platform for health care, training and research. Through the support of volunteers there is real potential to strengthen Ifakara as a centre of excellence in healthcare, training and research.

In order to allow the hospital to fulfill its role as a regional referral and teaching hospital, quality of services need to be improved through better infrastructure, strengthening of the financial and human resource management and by ensuring availability of qualified staff, equipment and drugs. Swiss Development Cooperation and VSO are supporting the SFRH to improve its quality of healthcare services in a sustainable way by offering accessible and affordable quality services to the population and providing excellent training and research opportunities to the local partner institutions. Based in the hospital as the Technical Advisor for Hospital management and administration, you will work closely with the Head of Administration and the hospital management team to improve efficiency of the administrative and financial management.

What does the role involve? • Advise and coach the hospital management and medical director on all administrative, finance and human resource issues and support the set up of efficient resource management systems • Establish instruments to control and report improvements • Work closely with all project stakeholders • Support the administrator to develop a scheme of service and salary structure and develop instruments to monitor and control the use of resources including infrastructure, equipment and materials at departmental level • Support administrator to coordinate support to SFRH by different partners; particularly finances, materials and equipment utilization • Participate in the preparation of budget, finalization of accounts and implementation of auditors comments • Prepare and facilitate the succession planning to ensure sustainability • Organize and coordinate short term volunteer placements in specialized areas.

Skills, qualifications and experience required You’ll have a degree or Masters in Business Administration or Public Health, or similar and have 5-10 years experience working in hospital management and quality improvement. You’ll have experience in hospital management and training, with the ability to teach, train and mentor staff in these areas, developing specific goals and plans for trainees. It is helpful to have previously worked in Africa. You’ll need to be available for the period of project life cycle 3 years or a minimum of 2 years. We are looking for someone who is a team worker with good social and interpersonal skills and networking abilities. You should be able to handle conflicts in a constructive consultative way and have a flexible personality, adapting easily to new situations, and being able to set realistic expectations on working in a hospital in the tropics. You’ll be a strong communicator and work in a transparent way.

And the rest.... Ifakara in the south of Tanzania is an authentic savannah grassland area that is green during the rainy season and brown in the dry season. Daytime temperatures vary between 32-39 degrees Celsius throughout the year. Southern Tanzania is home to some of Africa's best national parks and game reserves. There is some good hiking around Mbeya, the largest town in the southwest, but it's the country's two largest parks, Ruaha National Park and Selous Game Reserve. We’ll ask you to commit to 18-36 months to make a sustainable contribution. In return, we’ll give you comprehensive financial, personal and professional support. We'll provide you with extensive training including language classes before your placement, and our financial package includes a local living allowance, return flights, accommodation, insurance and more. When you return to your home country, we'll support you to resettle.

How to apply:

To find out more about volunteering with VSO visit www.vsointernational.org/volunteer and use the following reference on your application T0785/0004/0001. On average it takes a minimum of 4 months to go through the application process so apply now for departure as soon as possible.