Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) Specialist, Integrated Community Health - Proposal

Job Description

Overview: URC is searching for an experienced Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) Specialist for the anticipated USAID Integrated Community Health Activity in Burundi. The Activity is a U.S. Government initiative designed to improve community engagement to strengthen the quality of malaria, maternal child health (MCH), and family planning (FP) services to reduce maternal and child mortality and morbidity. Responsibilities: The HSS Specialist will lead HSS activities focused on capacity building of non-government local actors and technical assistance initiatives to strengthen planning, coordination, implementation of malaria, MCH, and FP activities at the regional, district, and community level. S/He will provide leadership and governance building to the health system at all levels. Specific responsibilities include the following:

• Effectively coordinate implementation of HSS activities at the regional, district, and community levels, working closely with teams and key actors at all levels of the public and private health sectors to ensure efficiency, collaboration, learning adaptation, and leadership and ownership for sustainability.
  • Prioritize hardly and hard-to-reach communities and marginalized groups for inclusive development.
• Provide technical direction for implementation of quality improvement (QI) activities and ensure efforts are aligned to the national strategic plans:
  • Build the capacity and ensure functionality at all levels of the health system through implementation of QI approaches.
  • Implement QI approaches to improve the quality of:
    • Community based health services delivery
    • Health promotion and social behavioral change interventions
    • Management and governance at decentralized levels
  • Support strengthening of QI reporting systems and integration of QI methods across all technical areas.
• Coordinate and supervise human resource for health development activities in close collaboration with the USAID strengthening Health Systems Strengthening Project, Office of Prime Minister (OPM) and other HRH stakeholders.
  • Support districts to plan for recruitment and supervision of human resources through implementation of performance management package.
  • Support functionality of Human Resources Information System (HRIS).
  • Support implementation of other innovative HRH approaches as they evolve including Biometric system to monitor attendance to duty among others.
• As designated by the Chief of Party (COP), serve as a spokesperson and advocate, representing the Activity to the USG, donors, relevant stakeholders, cooperating agencies, and others.
• Supervise staff to meet evolving demands, including management of technical experts with national and international expertise to contribute to needs, as required.
• As part of the senior management team (SMT, support development/monitoring of annual plans and operating budgets and updates.
• Perform any other responsibilities assigned by the COP.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong verbal, written, and presentation skills.
• Ability to work under pressure in a complex environment and deliver under tight deadlines on a continual basis.
• Strong management, interpersonal, communication, mentoring and facilitation skills.
• Excellent organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills and oral and written communication skills in English and French.
• Demonstrated capacity to manage for results.

Qualifications: Required Experience and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in public health, international public policy, health economics, or related field.
• At least five years of senior-level experience related to HSS, developing and promoting collaboration with national authorities, and providing technical and operational support on health systems issues, ideally as part of a malaria, MCH, and/or FP activity.
• Francophone Africa experience required; Burundi experience preferred.
• Experience with health service delivery, HSS, and community-based interventions, preferably related to malaria programming.
• Demonstrated experience working with the public and private health sectors and other key actors at all levels,
• Demonstrated ability to work with others to translate technical materials into practical tools and approaches.
• Demonstrated ability to work in complex environments and manage diverse staff to deliver impact.
• Demonstrated ability to undertake problem analyses to develop creative and innovative approaches to improve program design, implementation, and results reporting.
• Experience using a Collaborative Learning Plan to inform activity implementation.
• Experience working with diverse public and private sector stakeholders, partners, and donors.
• Prior experience working with USAID, PMI, and other international donors and knowledge of USAID and US Government policies, regulations, and procedures.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills in English and French, demonstrating an ability to communicate with various audiences including stakeholders, partners, and donors.

Citizens of Burundi are encouraged to apply. Applications and CVs must be in English. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Unless otherwise directed we will retain your CV in our database for future opportunities. URC is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We value and seek diversity in our workforce

About the Organization

University Research Co., LLC (URC) Guided by a strong vision of equitable and resilient systems that respond to people’s needs and emerging threats, URC helps countries and local actors to build, implement, and sustain science-driven, scalable solutions. Established in 1965, URC offers a range of technical expertise to empower governments, communities, and service providers toward strengthening their own health and social systems and improve service quality. We aim to expand access to and improve the quality of services, addressing maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health; global health security and infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria; reproductive health and family planning; nutrition and water, sanitation, and hygiene. In our interactions with each other and our clients, we stay true to our values for transformative change by focusing on:

• Creativity: by unleashing our creativity, we enhance engagement and interaction to improve problem-solving.
• Collaboration: not only our work towards the same vision and mission instill staff with a strong sense of purpose, but also enables us to complement each other’s skills and allocate work to maximize everyone’s strengths.
• Accountability: we hold ourselves responsible for accomplishing goals, completing assignments, and making decisions.
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion: we embrace the importance of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment, where our leadership and staff model behavior that enriches our organization, demonstrates respect for all people, and supports opportunities for all staff.

• Transparency: we understand that when employees deeply trust one another and their leaders, they will be more engaged in their roles because they will not be worried about unfair treatment.