Senior Technical Advisor

Job Description

Overview

The Senior Technical Advisor (STA) provides technical assistance for the design and implementation of interventions to strengthen pharmaceutical management systems in MTaPS countries. The STA provides guidance to the technical staff assigned to specific activities to ensure that the work is of the highest quality. The STA works closely with other Technical Advisors to identify opportunities to use new and existing tools and to coordinate technical work.

Specific Responsibilities

Technical Support (40%)

• Provide technical assistance for the development and/or review of technical approaches and strategies for strengthening pharmaceutical management systems;
• Provide technical assistance to support the design and implementation of pharmaceutical management interventions, which may involve work in supply chain management, pharmaceutical systems and/or pharmaceutical services;
• Facilitate the planning, organization, and conduct of training courses covering pharmaceutical management technical areas for external audiences and MTaPS staff as required;
• Manage the project technical activities at the national and facility levels ensuring that all activities are adequately implemented in a timely fashion and that they adequately address pharmaceutical, regulatory and commodity management needs at the different levels of the system to meet the expectations of clients, partners and other local stakeholders;
• Ensure completion of work and the achievement of targets in a timely fashion and within budget. Also, ensure that plan adjustments are made and documented as necessary;
• Support Country Project Director for implementation of activities in compliance with project cooperative agreement, MSH and USAID policies, regulations and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Knowledge Management (10%)

• Disseminate relevant information on project progress;
• Supervise to developing system to share project information for improvement of the project;
• Ensure that lessons learned and success stories are well documented and that experience gained is used to improve project implementation.

Personnel Management and Strategic Decision Making (40%)

• Supervise technical staff and establish clear, specific, measurable performance objectives to staff and hold him /her and team accountable for accomplishing goals;
• Delegate effectively, keep employees informed of their performance status, providing timely, specific feedback on strengths and opportunities for improvement so their; employees can grow professionally;
• Foster a work environment that conveys a sense of unity and cooperation among staff
• Excel at motivating employees and building constructive work relationships and lead by example;
• Focus staff on the most important priorities and facilitate the achievement of goals by eliminating barriers to effectiveness;
• Devote efforts and resources to areas and systems that are efficient and add value;
• Make use of an organizational perspective as well as an understanding of the client, country, project, and employee needs;
• Make decisions carefully and thoughtfully according to the Decentralization and Accountability Model;
• Balance long-range needs with short-term demands in establishing priorities and deadlines; Maximize client satisfaction to support new business development.

Safeguarding MSH (10%)

• Ensure technical, financial, contractual and political integrity are maintained to safeguard MSH reputation
• Ensure effective collaboration, coordination and internal partnerships with other MSH projects, and departments to build synergies across programs for maximum impact.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications and Experience

Education:

Required:

• Graduate degree in a health-related field required

Preferred:

• Physician, nurse, or pharmacist qualification

Experience:

Required:

• Seven plus years of relevant experience in international public health particularly in the implementation of reproductive health, maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB prevention, care, and treatment in developing countries

Preferred:

• Significant relevant experience in pharmaceutical management (PM) and pharmaceutical systems development and strengthening in developing country context, including demonstrated expertise in key PM technical areas, forecasting and quantification, procurement management systems, storage and distribution, transportation, LMIS, pharmaceutical services, pharmacovigilance, regulatory system strengthening, governance and organizational systems for pharmaceutical management.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Knowledge and experience managing and supervising technical staff.
• Knowledge and experience with public health programs supported by bilateral agencies such as USAID and international agencies such as WHO and World Bank preferred.
• Demonstrated competence to assess priorities and manage a variety of activities in a time-sensitive environment and meet deadlines with attention to detail and quality.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills in English are essential.
• Proficiency in French or Spanish is desired, as are languages of other USAID-supported countries.

Competencies:

• Desire to work effectively in a team-oriented environment.
• Flexible, self-starter, patient, dedicated, and creative.
• Functional competencies: Highly motivated, resourceful, results driven and persistent. Ability to think strategically, gather and analyse information in order to make appropriate decisions. Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Core MSH competencies: adaptability, communication, problem solving, creativity and innovation, timeliness of work, quality of work and team relationships, resource utilization.
• Sound judgment, self-motivated, strong initiative.
• Demonstrated ability to assess priorities and manage a variety of activities in a time-sensitive environment and meet deadlines with attention to detail and quality;
• Track record of, and strong commitment to, transparency and collaboration as demonstrated by sharing knowledge, documenting experiences, supporting creative initiatives, and sharing credit.

Physical Demands:

• Availability to travel domestically and internationally as needed.
• Keyboard use, pulling drawers, lifting papers <10lbs.

About the Organization

Management Sciences for Health, an international nonprofit organization, is dedicated to closing the gap between what is known and what is done about public health problems. MSH saves lives and improves health by helping public and private organizations throughout the world to effectively manage people, medicines, money, and information. Working from more than 30 country offices and our US headquarters, our staff from 65 nations is highly regarded for its technical expertise, integrity, and commitment to making a lasting difference in health.

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) is a nonprofit international health organization composed of more than 2,000 people from 73 nations. Their mission is to save lives and improve the health of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health. Together with their partners, they are helping managers and leaders in developing countries to create stronger management systems that improve health services for the greatest health impact.

EXPERTISE

MSH takes an integrated approach to building high-impact sustainable programs that address critical challenges in leadership, health systems management, human resources, and medicines. Simply put, they support stronger health systems for greater health impact.

Their expertise in these areas falls into the broad categories of management functions—for example, leadership and governance or pharmaceutical management—and health areas like tuberculosis or maternal, newborn, and child health. They apply their expertise by

• Partnering with governments, local organizations, and communities in developing nations to build their own capacity for long-term health impact;
• Providing global leadership in critical areas of health management and health care delivery;
• Bringing the best of MSH from around the globe to the people we serve, working as One MSH with a focus on lasting health system improvements.

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Leadership, Governance, & Management

They work with in-country partners to build stronger health systems to improve:

• the management and leadership of priority health programs, health organizations, and multisectoral partnerships such as The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, developing a critical mass of managers at all levels of the health system who can lead and inspire teams to achieve results;
  
• the management systems of health organizations in the public and private sector, transferring practical approaches and skills to ensure that management structures contribute to sustainable organizational success;
  
• the governance and management of health organizations and multisectoral partnerships, facilitating change and transferring knowledge to enable organizations to administer their resources efficiently and scale up their services.

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Health Service Delivery

MSH combines extensive public health expertise, proven service delivery approaches, and evidence-based interventions in five critical areas:

• HIV & AIDS
• Tuberculosis
• Maternal, newborn, and child health
• Family planning and reproductive health
• Other communicable diseases, including malaria and pandemic and avian influenza

Human Resources for Health

MSH helps governments develop multisectoral strategies and policies to plan and manage their health workforces. We use a comprehensive approach that addresses all the facets of human resources for health needed to achieve an adequate supply of well-trained and motivated health workers. MSH offers capabilities in leadership, human resource management, education, partnerships, policy, and finance to achieve these goals.

Pharmaceutical Management

Vital to our success is a participatory approach to project design and implementation, which cultivates broad-based support from all stakeholders. We also build and improve infrastructure and local capacity to effectively purchase, store, deliver, and use quality essential medicines.

Health Care Financing

MSH helps governments and NGOs assess their current financial situation and systems, understand service costs, and develop initiatives to use existing funds more effectively and generate additional revenue—all with the goal of supporting a nation’s health priorities.

Health Information

MSH has developed proven methods for rapidly strengthening the analysis and use of existing health data—normally at the province, district, and facility levels—without revising existing recording and reporting requirements. With an emphasis on learning through action, district teams undertake assessments of health services, identify gaps in performance, and design solutions to support better decision-making and, therefore, better management of improved services.

MSH has worked closely with the Health Metrics Network of the WHO to develop a comprehensive approach for enhancing the performance of health information systems and data by employing a practical, strategic planning process that can be carried out by national working groups.