Deputy Country Director, Malawi 194 views0 applications

D-tree International is a digital health organization with 15 years of experience using innovations in technology to strengthen the quality of health systems in low and middle income countries. D-tree works through partnerships with Ministries of Health and NGOs to bring human-centered design approaches to collaborations in which we support partners to define key programmatic challenges and priorities, explore if and how technology can be used to improve program efficiency and quality, and then work with our partners to choose the most appropriate technology platform to meet their needs. This may include using or building on existing tools, or configuring new solutions through a variety of software platforms. A key aspect of our work is our end-to-end partnership, in which we also support partners to use systems thinking to roll out, implement and monitor programs and facilitate a culture of data use among multiple stakeholders.

D-tree has received funding from USAID, the Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Fondation Botnar, Human Development Innovation Fund, Packard Foundation, UN Foundation and more than 20 international NGOs. As a pioneer in the field of digital health, D-tree has supported more than 8,000 health workers serving over 5 million families in 16 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Evaluations have demonstrated improved heath impact through D-tree’s digital programs, including 27% reduction in maternal mortality, 50% increase in facility delivery rates, four-fold increase in postpartum follow-up, 70% increase in contraceptive prevalence rates and 15-fold improvements in health worker performance.

D-tree has been working in Malawi since 2011 in close partnership with the Ministry of Health and multiple Development Partners to design, develop and support implementation of digital tools to empower Community Health Workers (referred to as Health Surveillance Assistants) to provide better care and generate data for programmatic decision-making, all based on Ministry of Health guidelines. We are seeking a full time Deputy Country Director based in Lilongwe, Malawi, to work closely with the Country Director and D-tree’s Global team to manage D-tree’s growing portfolio in Malawi. This is a dynamic and challenging role requiring an individual with experience managing projects, leading and building the capacity of teams, and engaging with a diverse group of stakeholders to use technology and innovation in daily work.

Who you are

You are someone who is just as comfortable developing work plans, schedules and budgets as you are engaging in strategic conversations with the Ministry of Health and development partners about new technology. You have the ability to see the big picture, but also have an acute attention to detail. You enjoy thinking analytically about problems and logically developing protocols and processes to support work flows. You are a strong writer and you enjoy writing program briefs, reports, and technical documents. You are a systems thinker and are excited to think strategically about scaling programs and integrating them into government systems. You love data and enjoy analyzing it to understand and inform program planning. You are passionate about managing staff and committed to capacity building and mentoring.

What you will do

You will be a key member of the D-tree team and an integral part of the Malawi office. Your main role will be to work with the Country Director in managing D-tree program as well as development and execution of a business development strategy. In this role, you will work with a team of 5-7 D-tree staff and liaise with other partners within the consortium to ensure strong planning, coordination and execution of the program. You will also work with D-tree’s Director of Business Development & Partnerships to actively identify additional partners for collaboration and explore additional funding opportunities to expand D-tree’s portfolio in Malawi. You will be an integral part of D-tree’s global team and regularly communicate with colleagues based in other offices. Working in close collaboration with the Malawi Country Director, you will be responsible for the following:

Project management

· Ensure staff engagement and mentorship. Assist team to ensure that staff are motivated, empowered and given professional development opportunities.

· Work with the Finance Manager to be accountable for grant budgets and donor compliance for the Malawi office and ensure compliance with D-tree and funder procedures and policies.

· Manage grants across the Malawi portfolio, including general administration, information management, and budget monitoring and compliance with donor agreements.

· Monitor and report on progress on all project objectives; ensure staff and partners are kept on track to achieve results. Support writing work plans and reports for donors and the Ministry of Health.

Technology

· Gain a basic understanding of software and mobile applications used in projects in order to support development of application specifications including flowcharts, detailed protocols, and tools.

· Communicate proactively about any bugs or updates to the mobile application with technical team to ensure usability of mobile applications.

· Support field team to institute mobile application technical support and troubleshooting strategy to accommodate significant growth in number of health workers utilizing digital tools.

Program Implementation

· Develop program strategies and work plans and with the Ministry of Health and consortium partners to develop quarterly and monthly work plans and budgets.

· Collaborate with the team to devise and implement strategy for training, deploying, and building capacity of the Ministry of Health to support over 500 users in two districts in Malawi.

· Lead the development of costed implementation plans for national expansion, and be responsible for documentation of all processes and procedures to pass on to the Ministry of Health.

· Develop monitoring, supervision, and evaluation frameworks.

· Develop and implement strategies to support institutionalization of Malawian programs within the Ministry of Health systems. This may include supporting the Ministry in developing guidelines, policies, internal processes or structures, and building staff capacity

Partnership building

· Foster an effective working relationship with the Malawi government at all levels; collaborate on strategic planning and reporting activities.

· Establish strategic alliances with other implementing organizations and donors in Malawi to explore areas for collaboration and expansion of D-tree’s programs.

· Together with the Malawi Country Director and Director of Business Development and Partnerships, develop and execute a business development strategy to expand D-tree’s pipeline in Malawi

· Communicate effectively through available forums at regional, district, ward and village level about D-tree’s work and the role of D-tree International. Present project highlights and results at meetings and forums/conferences.

· Represent D-tree to senior government officials/personnel and with NGO partners

· Contribute to proposals and new business development efforts as appropriate

What we are looking for

We are looking for a motivated, passionate individual who is willing to wear multiple hats and do what it takes to make our programs succeed. The following attributes are a general overview, but we will consider individuals who do not meet all of the details below if you have the right skillset and attitude.

Basic requirements

· Minimum 5 years’ work experience, including experience managing projects and teams

· Master’s degree in a relevant field required (e.g. public health, global development, business administration)

· Experience managing, motivating and mentoring a team

· Experience living in a developing country strongly preferred

· Superior analytic skills; ability to think logically and rationally about problems

· Must be able to work independently, multi-task, collaborate with a distributed team, be persistent and work under tight deadlines with minimal supervision

· Experience collaborating with and/or consulting for government agencies—Ministry of Health preferred

· Experience in developing and implementing strategies to efficiently expand and scale programs, while maintaining program quality

· Strong quantitative skills with the ability to interpret data and measure impact

· Excellent written and spoken English

· Experience working with funding from a diverse set of donors

Desired characteristics

· A can-do attitude: You remain optimistic in the face of adversity and creatively solve problems to get things done.

· A systems thinker: You are able to understand linkages and interactions between individual components in a health system, and design solutions to strengthen the overall system.

· An innovator: You enjoy thinking outside of the box and want to use that thinking to solve pressing global health problems.

· A detail oriented & strategic thinker: You pay attention to small details and focus on quality and consistency, but also have the ability to see the big picture and think strategically.