Lead Technical Advisor, Global Infectious Disease Prevention & Response

Job Description

Lead Technical Advisor, Global Infectious Disease Prevention & Response | Opportunities

Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organization for children, working in more than 120 countries. Every year, SC responds to multiple large-scale and complex emergencies around the world. Spearheading our humanitarian response is our Emergency Health Unit (EHU), which can deploy medical teams within 72 hours of a crisis. The EHU not only specializes in rapid provision of primary healthcare services, but also retains the capacity to manage disease outbreaks and deliver large-scale immunization programs. During the Ebola crisis, SC was at the heart of the response, establishing community care and Ebola treatment centers, and training health workers. SC is also leading community action on Zika in the Americas. Historically, SC has been proactive in preparedness and response to pandemic threats. Working with the Humanitarian Pandemic Preparedness initiative, SC contributed substantially to WHO guidance documents. SC’s Influenza Working Group also developed Pandemic Influenza Guidance, related to mitigating the consequences of a global pandemic.

Save the Children is recruiting a Lead Technical Advisor for a 3–year USAID/OFDA program on Infectious Diseases (with Epidemic or Pandemic potential) to Augment Capacity for a Humanitarian Emergency. This new Standby and Augment Capacity program will address critical, multi-sectoral response actor capacity gaps needed to maintain technical and operational readiness to ensure rapid response to infectious disease outbreaks with epidemic or pandemic potential that reach the scale of a humanitarian emergency. This program will serve to prepare to scale up critical population-level interventions for the control of infectious diseases of humanitarian concern. This may include activities such as (but not limited to) contingency planning and simulation exercises; the development or adaptation of toolkits, training of trainer activities, or development of technical guidance; establishment of rapid response teams, the development of rosters for surge capacity; augmentation of operational readiness and enhancing cross-sectoral, standard operating protocols and regional coordination mechanisms.

The Lead Advisor will provide technical leadership and guidance for Save the Children and its consortium partners in developing and implementing the program strategy, according to the identified critical organizational gaps in responding to large-scale disease outbreaks or pandemics, and ensure the technical and methodological soundness of activities. The post holder not only requires significant technical understanding of infection diseases, pandemic preparedness and response, but also requires practical experience in providing technical support to large-scale outbreak responses. This is a leadership position reporting to the program’s Chief of Party and will serve as a key member of the program team.

This position is contingent on the issuance of USAID funding and the selection of applicants is subject to USAID approval.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties):

• Lead the team to identify critical gaps and develop a work plan to address them, so that Save the Children and its consortium partners are able to respond to large-scale disease outbreaks or pandemics.
• Lead the team to develop evidence-based, appropriate clinical training materials and standards, supervisory systems and other materials needed for implementation of the planned activities.
• Serve as the technical focal point for consortium members’ technical leads.
• Collaborate with SC’s Humanitarian Public Health Technical team to identify programmatic area that requires further operationalization and develop tailored work plan with SC and consortium partners.
• Collaborate with SC’s Emergency Health Unit and Global Supply Chain Unit to address logistical gaps, including but not limited to setting up regional supply hubs, establishing partnerships/agreements with organizations with complementary procurement capacity, etc.
• Develop protocols and deliver training for SC leadership - HQ senior management and field directors - to manage and coordinate large-scale multi-sector outbreak responses.
• Collaborate with SC Operations on business continuity planning.
• Collaborate with Save the Children International’s Emergency Preparedness Team’s EPP process for SC emergency readiness as required.
• Collaborate with SC’s Humanitarian Surge Management team to address recruitment and deployment gaps, including linking with subprime partner(s) to establish processes to access external surge rosters

• Help ensure partners’ EPPs include technical plans for integrated, multi-sector outbreak/ pandemic response, in key regions and a subset of high-priority countries.
• Help increase technical capacity for partners at global, regional and national levels.
• Help build a global cadre of rapidly deployable staff, trained and equipped for multi-sector response and technical support to large-scale disease outbreaks.
• Help develop integrated disease outbreak response framework and technical guidance.

• Help establish blended-learning and capacity-building initiative across networks.

Your background, experience, and skills set:

• MD with a Master’s Degree in Public Health preferred.
• Minimum of seven years of direct experience implementing emergency health programs in technical lead or technical advisor capacity, with experience in outbreak preparedness, surveillance, and response.
• Background in infectious disease prevention and response is essential.
• Proven technical skills in multi-sector program design, supervision, monitoring, evaluation and research skills
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex, multi-intervention health programs in collaboration with national health ministries, international partners and local governorates.
• Demonstrated ability to identify, recommend and implement best practice approaches to ensure rapid, consistent, high quality management and service provision in an emergency environment
• Demonstrated ability to mobilize and coordinate partners around infectious disease prevention and response
• Commitment to producing high quality program deliverables on time as well as within a highly time sensitive environment.
• Prior experience and knowledge of USAID regulations and requirements.
• The ability to foster teamwork and to work as a team member.
• Previous experience interacting with US government agencies, host country governments, and other global and national stakeholders.
• Prior experience working in hardship, challenging environments.
• Travel to project sites in-country is required.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English is essential. A second language would be desirable.

About the Organization

Save the Children invests in childhood – every day, in times of crisis and for our future. In the United States and around the world, we are dedicated to ensuring every child has the best chance for success. Our pioneering programs give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. Our advocacy efforts provide a voice for children who cannot speak for themselves. As the leading expert on children, we inspire and achieve lasting impact for millions of the world's most vulnerable girls and boys. By transforming children's lives now, we change the course of their future and ours.