MCDI is currently seeking a Home Office Project Manager for Bioko Island Malaria Control Project (BIMCP) and the Equatorial Guinea Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EGMVI The BIMCP III is a five-year project, funded by the Government of Equatorial Guinea and Marathon Oil Corporation and its partners, Noble Energy and AMPCO, which seeks to substantially reduce morbidity and mortality caused by malaria on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. The project’s interventions build on those established during Phase I (2004-2008) and Phase II (2009-2013) and are centered on indoor residual spraying, distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets, focal larval source control, vector surveillance, malaria diagnosis and case management, behavior change communication, and monitoring and evaluation.
The Equatorial Guinea Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EGMVI) is currently in its third stage which is expected to be completed at the end of December 2018. The EGMVI will implement several clinical trials for a new sporozoite-based vaccine developed by Sanaria Inc., and in the process lay the groundwork for a mass elimination vaccination campaign during a fourth stage starting in 2019 should a licensed vaccine be produced. This elimination campaign would likely be undertaken in conjunction with enhanced surveillance and focal control.
Overview of Position:
The BIMCP/EGMVI Project Manager has overall responsibility for directing and managing MCDI’s involvement in the Bioko Island Malaria Control Project and Equatorial Guinea Malaria Vaccine Initiative.
Responsibilities include overseeing and having final responsibility for:
The Project Manager reports directly to the Director of the International Division. S/he is supported in managing the BIMCP/EGMVI by the COP for the BIMCP/EGMVI who is responsible for managing MCDI’s field activities under the guidance of the Project Manager. The COP works in close consultation with the Project Manager to plan, manage, monitor and evaluate MCDI’s involvement in the BIMCP and EGMVI projects. While the COP has discretion to adjust project implementation and management to reflect local realities, changes that modify project objectives, implementation strategies and/or methods, will result in a substantial reallocation of resources, or require a change in sub-contractor or Government involvement will need to be reviewed and approved by the Project Manager and the International Division Director.
The Project Manager is supported in guiding, coordinating, facilitating, monitoring, evaluating and reporting on the activities of the two projects by an Associate Project Manager who will help ensure that the activities of both projects are implemented in accordance with well-structured plans, protocols and budgets, in a timely, complete and accurate manner. The Associate Project Manager will place particular emphasis on facilitating the planning, coordination and monitoring of the vaccine activities, backstopping the new in-country MCDI Vaccine Project Officer and liaising with the various implementing partners (Sanaria, IHI, STPHI etc.) to ensure that activities are accomplished as planned and budgeted. The Associate Project Manager will also provide remote technical and operational support to the BIMCP field team in the area of monitoring and evaluation, with particular attention to helping to develop protocols, develop data collection/management tools (e.g. in ODK, DroidDB, Stata, Excel etc.), and the analysis of data for decision-making purposes. The Associate Project Manager will also help facilitate coordination and support from the Project Manager and MCDI home office with the COP , providing assistance to the field team on specific tasks that are agreed-to with the Project Manager and COP. The Associate Project Manager will also coordinate with and provide support as requested by the Project Manager to the home office Senior Financial Manager in areas of budgeting and expenditure control, and to the home office Operations Manager in the areas of contracting, and program management.
Specific Responsibilities:
Specific responsibilities of the Project Manager include, inter alia:
Strategic Planning/Project Development
In close consultation with the Division Director and the COP , the Project Manager will assume lead responsibility for MCDI’s strategic planning and project development for the BIMCP and EGMVI. Modifications to the Strategic Plan and/or annual work plans should be predicated on analysis of the extensive data generated by the BIMCP and EGMVI Projects in Bioko. It is expected that the Project Manager will lead this process, while involving the Associate Project Manager, the COP, the BIMCP Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, the BIMCP Operations Manager (GIS specialist) and Component Managers as relevant. The Project Manager will also involve experts from the sub-contractor organizations and Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for this purpose. For the BIMCP this will involve liaising with members of the TAG and donors, to update the Phase III Strategic Plan and project budget as required, and as pertinent to develop a Phase IV Strategic Plan and project budget for the post 2018 period. For the EGMVI this will involve working under the guidance of Sanaria Inc. to update clinical trial designs (MCDI’s focus being on the operational feasibility of implementing the trials in Bioko), the Clinical Trial Agreements and project budget as required under Stage III, and as pertinent develop a Stage IV Strategic Plan and project budget for the post 2018 period. The Project Manager will be supported in the budgeting process by the BIMCP/EGMVI Finance Officer, the Field Office Finance Office, the Chief-of-Party, and as required by the Associate Project Manager.
Annual Planning
With the assistance of the Associate Project Manager and the BIMCP/EGMVI Operations Officer, the Project Manager will oversee and provide technical and management support to the COP and the international and national technical assistance teams of the BIMCP and EGMVI to develop and monitor the implementation of annual and quarterly work plans that are consistent with the goals, objectives and activities stipulated in the project Strategic Plans. The Project Manager will work closely with the COP to realign work plans and budget if the prevailing situation requires it. Any substantive changes to the work plans that affect project deliverables, timelines, and/or resource allocation will be reviewed and approved by the Division Director.
Changes to annual work plans should be predicated on analyses of the extensive data gathered by the BIMCP and EGMVI Projects, including through operations research conducted specifically to inform planning decision-making.
Task Specification and Implementation
With the assistance of the Associate Project Manager, Operations Manager, and the COP, the Project Manager will assume lead responsibility for ensuring that tasks needed to accomplish the objectives and activities specified in the annual work plans and to accomplish related administrative and finance functions are specified and implemented in a timely and complete manner. To accomplish this, the Project Manager will ensure that her/his team uses MCDI’s SharePoint work planning and project support sites set up for the BIMCP and EGMVI, and that tasks are updated on a complete, regular and timely basis. Email communications required with outside parties that do not have access to MCDI’s SharePoint portal, should be referenced and copied to the SharePoint tasks.
Donor, Government and Partner Relations
With the support of the Division Director, and in close consultation and collaboration with the COP, the Project Manager will assume primary responsibility for managing donor, high level Government and partner relations. This will include keeping them regularly informed on project developments, conferring with them and obtaining the requisite agreement when substantive changes in strategy, policies and/or procedures are required, and working with them to address any problems that may arise that require corrective/remedial actions. The Project Manager will ensure that the interests of MCDI are assured in all such donor, government and/or partner relations, seeking direction/counsel from the Division Director and through him from the CEO as appropriate.
The Project Manager and COP will organize and facilitate an annual meeting of the Project Technical Advisory Group to review Project performance and to obtain technical guidance and input the on-going formulation or re-formulation of the Strategic Plan and annual work plans.
Contracts Management
In close consultation with the Division Director, and with support of the BIMCP/EGMVI Operations Manager, the BIMCP/EGMVI Finance Officer, and the Associate Project Manager, the Project Manager will assume lead responsibility for preparing, negotiating, finalizing and/or amending MCDI’s Job Orders (contracts) and Master Service Agreements with Marathon Oil for the BIMCP and EGMVI projects. Through 2018 this will entail amendments to the separate Job Orders for the BIMCP III and EGMVI III. After 2018 it would entail a new Job Order for a Phase IV of the BIMCP and a Stage IV of the EGMVI or possibly a consolidated malaria elimination project involving both standard control and mass vaccination with a licensed PfSPZ vaccine.
Sub-Contracts Management
With the assistance of the BIMCP/EGMVI Operations Manager, BIMCP/EGMVI Finance Officer, and the Associate Project Manager, the Project Manager will assume lead responsibility for preparing, negotiating, finalizing, amending and monitoring the implementation of sub-contracts with sub-contractors (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Texas A&M, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Sanaria Inc., Ifakara Health Institute, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute or others) as required. Any difficulties encountered in terms of sub-contractor performance or changes to sub-contract agreements will be discussed and approved by the Division Director.
Financial Management
With the assistance of the BIMCP/EGMVI Finance Officer, the Project Manager will assume lead responsibility for ensuring that the BIMCP and EGMVI Projects are effectively managed from a financial perspective. The Project Manager will also be supported in this domain by the COP, the Field Office Finance Officer, and as required the Associate Project Manager, to prepare annual project budgets, monitor expenditures against budgets, project year-end expenses against budget, and amend budgets in consultation with the donor and Government as necessary. Any substantive variances in budget implementation, and/or changes required to the project budgets will discussed and approved by the Division Director.
Operations Management
With the assistance of the Operations Manager and other home office and field office staff, the Project Manager will oversee and coordinate the following operations management functions: (1) human resources (including recruitment, contracting, performance monitoring and evaluation, supervision, professional development and compensation), (2) information systems (including SharePoint, DDMS, the health information system and other management-related sub-systems), (3) procurement and supplies management (including procurement planning, procurement processing and monitoring), and (4) financial management (including expenditure monitoring and pipeline projections, invoicing, funds management and reconciliation).
Performance Monitoring and Evaluation
The Project Manager will assume overall responsibility for ensuring that timely, accurate, comprehensive and relevant performance monitoring and evaluation of the Projects occurs and that information gathered from this process is utilized for effective decision-making. In this regard, the Project Manager will have the support of the Associate Project Manager who will work in close consultation with the COP who has primary responsibility for monitoring and evaluating project activities in the field. The Project Manager will oversee and guide the Associate Project Manager, COP, BIMCP Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and field office Component Managers in analyzing the extensive data produced by the BIMCP and EGMVI to evaluate project implementation effectiveness and impact and to recommend changes in control strategies/methods as required for optimizing performance. The Project Manager and BIMCP/EGMVI teams will be assisted in undertaking performance monitoring and evaluation by members of the Technical Advisory Group and/or sub-contractors.
Operations Research
The Project manager with the support of the Associate Project Manager, COP, BIMCP Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, the BIMCP Operations Officer, Component Managers as relevant, and sub-contractors and/or TAG members will assume lead responsibility for defining Operations Research (OR) questions, developing study protocols, conducting OR, and analyzing and writing up, presenting, and disseminating the results of the OR and for utilizing the findings of the OR to inform planning and management decision-making.
Reporting and Peer-Reviewed Publications
The Project Manager will ensure that quarterly and annual reports required under the Job Orders are produced in a timely, complete and accurate manner. The Project Manager will also take the lead in writing, reviewing and editing other reports pertaining to monitoring and evaluation, or project management, as well as scientific articles submitted for publication by members of the BIMCP or EGMVI teams. It is anticipated that the BIMCP and EGMVI teams, led by the Project Manager, will successfully publish at least one article in a peer-reviewed publication each year, and that these articles will inform changes/enhancements to the Strategic Plans and/or annual work plans of the BIMCP and/or EGMVI. The Project Manager and his/her team will seek to collaborate on these publications with experts from the sub-contracted organizations and/or the TAG.
Professional Development / Capacity Building
In consultation with and approval from the Division Director, the Project Manager will oversee efforts to plan and institute professional development / capacity-building for international and national staff engaged in the BIMCP/EGMVI in accordance with resources available under the Project budgets.
Other Duties and Responsibilities
The Project Manager will undertake any other activities / duties, as determined and agreed to by / with the Division Director.
Line of Authority: The Project Manager will report directly to the Division Director. S/he will coordinate as required with the Head of MCDI’s Administration and Finance Section, ensuring that the Division’s policies, systems and procedures are being adhered to.
The Project Manager will have line management responsibility for guiding and supervising the work of the Associate Project Manager, the BIMCP/EGMVI Operations Manager, the BIMCP/EGMVI Finance Officer, the field office Chief-of-Party, and through them all other international and national staff working on the BIMCP or EGMVI projects.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
Start of activities: Mid-January 2016
Location: Silver Spring, Maryland with quarterly travel to Equatorial Guinea required (approximately 2 week duration each trip)
Term: salaried, with initial 3 month probationary period
Application Requirements
Please note that this position is U.S-based. Thus, authorization to work in the U.S. is required (no exceptions)
To apply, please submit:
to mcdijobs@mcd.org or mail to MCDI, 8401 Colesville Road, Suite 425, Silver Spring, MD 20910, attention HR by December 31, 2015.
The International Division of MCD Inc. was created in 1977 based on the belief that MCD's successful approach to health systems development in the rural United States could be adapted to meet the needs of developing nations. Since its founding, MCD International has provided assistance to the health systems of over 40 countries in Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and the Middle East. We have worked in concert with a wide spectrum of organizations, from grassroots community groups to multi-lateral donor institutions, to improve the quality and quantity of care and to make that care affordable and accessible to the neediest people on earth.
MCD International has worked to enhance the well-being of peoples and communities in developing nations for almost forty years. We have supported health sector interventions across a broad spectrum of program areas to include maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS/TB, malaria prevention and control, water supply and sanitation, and health sector reform and financing. For each project that we manage, MCD International strives to find innovative and creative ways to implement technically appropriate and results-focused best practices that respond to the evolving health status profiles of the beneficiary populations where we work. MCD International has worked with a diverse array of organizations, from grassroots community groups to multi-lateral donor institutions. The experience and knowledge gained through these collaborative efforts has enabled us to incrementally improve the quality and effectiveness of our project portfolio.
