Project Management Specialist – Facitily Based Care

CLOSING DATE OF THE POSITION: February 29, 2016

Vacancy Announcement Number: 16/026

ALL ORDINARILY RESIDENT (OR) APPLICANTS MUST HAVE THE REQUIRED WORK AND/OR RESIDENCY PERMITS TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR CONSIDERATION.

The US Mission in Dar es Salaam is seeking eligible and qualified applicants for the position of Project Management Specialist – Facility Based Care at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

BASIC FUNCTION OF POSITION

The Project Management Specialist - Facility-Based Care is responsible for providing technical leadership and program management for the USAID child health program, which focuses on prevention through the Immunization Vaccines Development (IVD) Unit, service delivery for Maternal Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV through the Reproductive and Child Health Section (RCHS) of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW), and malaria prevention, led by the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) team through the Ministries of Health of both Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar. S/he monitors and guides implementation of neonatal and child health programs to achieve the goals of the USAID/Tanzania Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS). The Project Management Specialist - Facility-Based Care manages multi-million dollar contracts and grants intended to achieve USAID’s Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths (EPCMD) and AIDS free Generation (AfG) objectives, and will work in close coordination with all three USAID Health Office teams, the Nutrition and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) teams of the Economic Growth Office, as well as other offices to support the CDCS. S/he liaises closely with the Child and Youth Specialist, who is focused on vulnerable children, adolescents and youth, the Pediatric HIV Specialist, to ensure a continuum of support for children. S/he will also work closely with the USAID Nutrition team, as well as the interagency PMI and PEPFAR teams, to coordinate approaches and programming. The incumbent is supervised by and directly assists the Senior Maternal Child Health Clinical Advisor in all aspects of service delivery that affect child health.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

A. Program Coordination and Project Management 
(50% of time)

1. The incumbent serves as an Agreement Officer’s Representative/Contracting Officer’s Representative (AOR/COR) and/or activity manager for awards involving child health services including immunization. S/he will work with agencies of the Government of Tanzania (GoT) such as the MOHSW and its programs (e.g. Immunization and Vaccines Development Unit, Reproductive and Child Health Section, National AIDS Control Program, National Malaria Control Program, National Results Based Financing Technical Working Group) on Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, as well as other Ministries (e.g. Prime Minister’s Office of Regional and Local Government (PMO-RALG) and its network in the field) to develop annual partner work plans in line with agreed upon health goals, approaches, and results framework. The incumbent:
   
   a. Provides technical, strategic and management leadership in service delivery programs for USAID across its implementing partners to ensure successful implementation of annual work plans in line with national health strategies and policies and with the agreed upon EPCMD and AfG goals. 
   
   b. Ensures adequate oversight and monitoring of the integrated service delivery platforms. Proper data collection and knowledge management of integration strategies in service delivery will allow for improvement of program performance both across funding streams and inclusive of facility to household programming.
2. The incumbent ensures program monitoring by active engagement in routine field visits, regular review of results, coordination of evaluations to characterize program outcomes and impact. 
   
   c. Support project evaluation and implementation research through designing components of evaluations, assessments and studies related to results based financing and quality of care in service delivery (including measures of respectful care and promotion of women’s right to care). 
   
   d. Ensure adequate dissemination within USAID and with representatives of the GoT (e.g. MOHSW, TACAIDS and PMO-RALG) and other donor partners.
3. The incumbent keeps abreast of and collaborate with other USAID programs and global initiatives, such as the Global Financing Facility, related to increasing the evidence base of best practices on service delivery improvement through results based financing, drawing on mature understanding of the international evidence.
4. The incumbent provides management support as AOR to the programs carried out by the Implementing Partners such as development of work plans, approval of budgets, monitoring of pipelines and expenditures, review of quarterly reports, and preparation of necessary documents for timely obligation of funds.
5. In support of program monitoring and evaluation, the incumbent ensures that Child Health activities are implemented in a timely and high quality manner, including implementation of evaluation plans and timely dissemination of reports, so that findings can serve to improve the quality of MNCH programming.

B. External Representation 
(25% of time):

1. The incumbent serves as a senior-level USG representative at the cross-roads of service delivery support by USAID partners and the implementation of the national Results Based Financing program as it unfolds at the local government level (efforts are intended to result in acceleration of the roll out of this national approach).
2. The incumbent serves on other relevant technical working groups – newborn care, immunization and vaccines, PMTCT, etc. to represent USAID and understand EPCMD and AfG implementation needs.
3. The incumbent assists in fostering open collaboration and coordination among GoT implementation partners and other stakeholders on key areas related to smart integration, including research, programming, and policy.

C. Technical Leadership 
(25% of time)

• The incumbent keeps abreast of current health issues on vaccines as well as maternal, neonatal and child health within service delivery sites, as well as in community and outreach settings.
• S/He works closely with IVD Unit as well as other units of the Reproductive and Child Health Section (RCHS) of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (e.g. IMCI, Safe Motherhood, family planning, PMTCT) to interpret and advise the Mission on implications and implementation options for maternal, neonatal and child health program development and implementation.
• S/He represents USAID/Tanzania at meetings with implementing partners, donors, government, USG agencies, and international and local partners.
• The incumbent participates in consultative, advisory, strategic, and planning responsibilities within the Mission, USAID/Washington and Government of Tanzania institutions.
• The incumbent works with GOT officials at all levels to sustain advances in vaccine preventable diseases as well as to catalyze MNCH mortality reduction in the national health agenda. Coordinate activities to assist the GOT and the Mission to facilitate the use of information from all levels of the health system for the purpose of shaping policy and influencing Mission resource allocation decisions.

D. Other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED

All applicants must address each required qualification listed below with specific and comprehensive information supporting each item. Failure to do so may result in a determination that the applicant is not qualified.

1. Education: 
   Master’s degree in Medical with pediatric specialization, public health or international health, with pediatric focus is required.
2. Experience: 
   Minimum of 10 years of experience managing reproductive health, maternal newborn and child health (MNCH), and/or HIV/AIDS child health programs in public, private, or NGO sectors. At least four years of experience designing, implementing and managing Immunizations and Vaccines Development (IVD) programs. Minimum of four years of experience overseeing rigorous monitoring of facility and/ or community based service delivery of child health programs, including use of implementation research design to strengthen program outcomes. Special expertise in newborn health as well as immunization and vaccines is required.
3. Language:
   Level IV (fluent) in English and Kiswahili (writing, reading and speaking) is required. (This will be tested)
4. Skills and Abilities: 
   Strong computer skills including Google (Gmail, etc.), PowerPoint, Excel, Word, data analysis tools (e.g. SPSS) and other relevant software. Strong interpersonal skills and coordination skills with an ability to work in diverse teams across agencies. S/he must be willing to travel domestically and internationally when required and must be able to work under pressure is required. (This will be tested)
5. Job Knowledge: 
   Strong understanding of the Tanzanian national health system, especially of the decentralized system of service delivery implementation with demonstrated ability to influence program policy and operational decisions, based on previous experience in host country child health or IVD programs is required.

SELECTION PROCESS: When qualified, applicants who are U.S. Citizen Eligible family Members (USEFMs) and/or preference-eligible U.S. Veterans are given a preference in hiring. Therefore, it is essential that these applicants make themselves known as having a hiring preference and specially address the required applications above in their application.

HIRING PREFERENCE ORDER: 
1. USEFM who is ALSO a preference-eligible U.S. Veteran
2. USEFM OR a preference-eligible U.S. Veteran
3. FS on LWOP

ADDITIONAL SELECTION CRITERIA:

1. Management will consider when determining successful candidacy: nepotism, conflicts of interest, budget, and residency status.
2. Current OR employees serving a probationary period are not eligible to apply. Current OR employees with an Overall Summary rating of Needs Improvement or Unsatisfactory on their most recent Employee Performance report (EPR) are not eligible to apply.
3. Current NOR employees hired on a Family Member Employment (FMA) or a Personal Service Agreement (PSA) are not eligible to apply within the first 90 calendar days of their employment, unless they have a When Actually Employed (WAE) work schedule.

HOW TO APPLY: applicants must submit the following documents to be considered:

1. Universal Application for Employment (UAE)(Form Ds-174), which is available on our website or by contacting Human resources, (see “For Further Information” above); and
2. Any additional documentation that supports or addresses the requirements listed above (e.g. transcripts, degrees, etc.)
3. Copy of Passport, or, National ID, Resident/Work Permit.

IMPORTANT: Applicants claiming a U.S. Veteran’s preference must submit written documentation confirming eligibility (e.g., Member Copy 4 of Form DD-214, Letter from the Veteran’s Administration, or certification documenting eligibility under the VOW Act with an expected discharge no later than 120 days after the certification is submitted) by the closing date of the vacancy announcement. If the written documentation confirming eligibility is not received in the HR office by the closing date of the vacancy announcement, the U.S. Veteran’s preference will not be considered in the application process. Specific criteria for receiving a U.S. Veteran’s preference may be found in HR/OE’s Family Member Employment Policy (FMEP).

WHERE TO APPLY: 

American Embassy
Human Resources Office
P.O. Box 9123
Dar es Salaam