The U.S. Agency for International Development seeks to employ a U.S./TCNPSC who will be responsible for ensuring well-coordinated and effective delivery of program implementation across the Agency’s Global Health Security (GHS) portfolio in DRC. The Advisor will be responsible for overseeing a complex, multi-sectoral portfolio, providing leadership and state of the art technical support to the full range of GHS investments in DRC, including preparedness, prevention, detection, and response for prioritized infectious diseases of public health concern.
This position will be under the supervision of the USAID/DRC Health Office Director or delegated supervisor. The Advisor will serve as a technical resource to the USAID Mission in DRC, including the health, economic growth, and environment teams. The Advisor will be responsible for working closely with Washington-based technical advisors and AORs to ensure coordination across all projects and programs across the GHS portfolio and to ensure that program activities are well coordinated with national governments. The Advisor will also liaise with the AORs and CORs of applicable bilateral projects and activity managers of field support activities to ensure coordination of GHS activities and mandated interagency reporting.
Placement of an Advisor in DRC will fill a critical role for USAID to meet the expectations of the White House and Congress for rapid, effective, and coordinated implementation of GHS activities and the Ebola response. The Advisor will lead USAID’s response to the mission’s Ebola as well represent USAID in all relevant interagency and other donors at GHS coordinating mechanisms in country to ensure USAID programming is fully aligned with DRC’s GHSA Roadmap and annual work plan; is contributing to the advancement of action package and technical area objectives; and is responsive to the country context. The Advisor will work closely with other USG partners, particularly the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Department of Defense (DOD) offices working at national levels, which also provide support for GHS implementation, thus presenting a “whole of government” approach. The Advisor will also work very closely with the Government of DRC including the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Agriculture; the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock; the Office of the Prime Minister; and other government stakeholders.
The Advisor will play a crucial role to help facilitate multi-sectoral coordination and meeting to develop effective One Health strategies to prevent, detect, and respond to emerging infectious diseases.
USAID/DRC is one of the Agency’s largest Missions, both in terms of staffing and resources. While the majority of programming target bilateral programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Mission is also a regional platform, covering non-presence country operations for the Central African Republic (CAR), Republic of Congo (RoC) and Gabon. Important regional programs include the Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE), the Agency’s largest biodiversity program, robust humanitarian activities and smaller, more targeted interventions addressing stabilization and reconciliation in this volatile region. With an FY21 program budget in excess of $850 million, the DRC and Central Africa are a strategic priority US Government engagement and a priority for foreign assistance.
USAID/DRC launched an ambitious new CDCS, underscoring the US-DRC Privileged Partnership for Peace and Prosperity and supporting DRC Presidential priorities for universal basic education and health care. Central to the new strategy is an integrated cluster approach around anchor institutions, such as mining towns and national parks, as a new initiative to increase resilience and sustainability while leveraging partnerships with the private sector, faith-based organizations and indigenous people’s groups. The Mission manages some of the Agency’s largest programs for basic education, democracy and governance, water and sanitation, malaria, maternal and child health, environmental protection and humanitarian assistance, while also being at the forefront of innovative approaches to conflict-free, responsible minerals trade and programming in the nexus between humanitarian and development assistance.
