Deputy Chief of Party/Service Delivery Technical Advisor, Kenya 145 views0 applications

Pathfinder Overview

Pathfinder International is a global leader in sexual and reproductive health. We place reproductive health care at the center of all that we do—believing that it is not only a fundamental human right, but is critical for expanding life opportunities for women, families, communities, and nations, and paving the way for transformations in environmental stewardship, decreases in population pressures, and innovations in poverty reduction. Pathfinder provides women, men, and adolescents with a range of quality health services—from contraception and maternal care to HIV prevention and AIDS care and treatment. Pathfinder strives to strengthen access to family planning, advocate for sound reproductive health policies, and, through all of our work, improve the rights and lives of the people we serve.

Program Overview

Pathfinder seeks a Deputy Chief of Party/Service Delivery Technical Advisor for the anticipated USAID Afya County and National Support Program project in Kenya. The Afya County and National Support Program will contribute to the attainment of Kenya’s health goals and ultimately the SDGs by contributing to more equitable access to and use of quality health services by the most vulnerable, while enhancing the efficiency of county health systems pertinent to FP/RMNCAH nutrition and WASH. Through a health systems strengthening approach, which includes demand creation interventions aimed at improving health seeking behavior, Afya County and National Support Program will support improved health of women and children, and WASH activities will contribute to Kenya’s goals of ending preventable deaths among children and mothers by 2030.

Position Purpose

The Deputy Chief of Party & Service Delivery Technical Advisor (DCOP/SDTA) will be responsible for the overall technical oversight of the project and is specifically responsible for project implementation that relates to facility and community level service delivery. The DCOP/SDTA reports directly to the COP and will take a leadership role in ensuring technical implementation of high impact, proven interventions and ensure the project meets stated goals and reporting requirements. S/he will coordinate with other technical leads of key stakeholders, other USG implementing partners, and GOK, particularly at the county-level. S/he should be knowledgeable about current implementation science and state-of-the-art service delivery approaches. S/he will assume the responsibilities of the COP in the absence of the COP.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the technical design and implementation of project strategies, create a realistic and donor-repsonsive timeline, and continuously evaluate project progress towards achieving organizational strategic goals.
• Provide technical leadership to project staff and partners in support of project objectives.
• Collaborate with headquarters and all partners to ensure programming aligns with agency mission and vision and that project best practices and lessons learned are shared for agency-wide dissemination
• Utilize a participatory approach to developing and updating the project strategic plan, ensuring programmatic directions are technically-sound, evidence-based, and consistent with international standards.
• Provide technical assistance and capacity building to local partners in support of sustainable impact
• Assist the COP in the successful programmatic and technical implementation of the project including the timely completion of high-quality work plans, accurate reports, and other mandated deliverables.
• Assist the COP in monitoring project progress vis-a-vis expected objectives, utilizing tools and methods developed by Pathfinder, and ensuring effective usage of resources and compliance with donor requirements.
• Oversee subgrantees/subcontractors ensuring quality implementation of programming and achievement of agreed upon objectives and targets in accordance with established schedules and timelines.
• Document technical components of materials and project achevements for communications materials such as annual reports, brochures, and website updates.
• Identify, select, manage performance of, and mentor project staff ensuring professional and capacity building; facilitate necessary international technical assistance to promote project goals and objectives.
• Assist COP in addressing technical and programmatic issues related to the project.
• Liaise with donors, partners, host government agencies, and other key stakeholders to share progress, accomplishments, and challenges to ensure dissemination and incorporation of best practices.
• Cultivate strong relations with headquarters to achieve organizational goals and provide periodic updates to staff worldwide on the progress, challenges, successes, and lessons learned in managing the project.
• Serve as COP, assuming overall field responsibility for project, in absence of the COP, as necessary.

Basic Requirements

• At a minimum a Master’s Degree in Medicine or Nursing or Public health or related field.
• At least seven years of demonstrated experience in managing and implementing complex public health programs of similar scope and size in a development context, with at least five of those years in Sub-Saharan Africa, preferably in Kenya.
• At least five years of demonstrated experience in managing and supervising a technical team and in project design.
• At least five years demonstrated experience within the capacity at mid- or senior level in the following areas: maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH), family planning/reproductive health (FP/RH), nutrition, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH); AND demonstrated experience in two of the following areas: quality improvement/quality assurance; community health, human resources for health development; M&E; and operations research.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with government representatives, for-profit private sector entities, local community organizations, donors and other stakeholders, particularly at the sub-national level.
• Professional-level proficiency in oral and written fluency in English language.
• Strong management skills, leadership qualities, a good track record of performance, ability to create synergies where applicable, interpersonal skills, and written and oral presentation skills to fulfill the diverse technical and managerial requirements of the project description.
• Excellent knowledge of the political, social, economic, and cultural context of working in Kenya and thorough understanding of applicable US Government regulations and administrative procedures.
• Expert computer skills in Microsoft Office Suite applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Professional-level proficiency/fluency in both oral and written English language.
• Position requires extensive in-country travel.