Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), an international medical humanitarian association founded in 1971, provides medical assistance to populations whose lives are threatened: mainly in cases of armed conflict, but also epidemics, pandemics, natural disasters, or exclusion from care. MSF WACA (West and Central Africa) was created in 2019 and aims to bring about a change in the dynamics of the MSF movement. WACA is driven by a significant number of doctors and humanitarians of Doctors Without Borders from West and Central Africa who wish to be heard, to contribute and above all to proactively assume responsibility for the humanitarian mission of the organization. WACA reflects an identity of humanitarians, an aspiration for MSF, a truly inclusive movement of people who share the values of empathy for others. Its strength is based on other MSF associations and its associative fiber is amplified by concrete operational objectives.
Why join us?
You will find yourself a rich multicultural environment embellished with many relaxation areas to exchange or just create. The opportunity to test and learn. Every idea is welcome, your comments and opinions will be appreciated at all levels of the organization. The chance to be a key player in a growing and highly qualified team. And most importantly, great colleagues in a healthy work environment… (yes, yes…)
We are looking for: MEDICAL ADVISOR
Department: Medical
Direct Manager: Deputy Medical Director
Functional Manager: Deputy Medical Director
Working %: 100%
Position based in: Based in WaCA HQ
Mobility: 30% of the work will be on the field
Type of contract: CDD (renewable)
Position to be filled on: As soon as possible
Mission
MSF -WaCA Medical Department is seeking a health Advisor to enhance MSF’s ability to improve and broaden the quality and effectiveness of medical care.
The overall purpose of the medical department is to achieve MSF’s social mission by its leadership, expertise and advocacy through:
The co-creation of medico-operational strategies and priorities
- Pertinent, context-adapted medical support
- Leading/oversight of/support for continuing improvement of quality of care and respect for medical ethics
- Conducting operational research and new medical approaches
- Internal and external advocacy based on field needs, our experience and the results of our research
- The development of links between MSF and the medical world
Objectives
The Medical Advisor will contribute to the improvement of care for patients in MSF projects.
S/he will disseminate and implement the policies and standards defined by the Medical Department and will ensure its strong alignment with Operations and other departments operational plan.
S/he will work on developing medical strategies of care including prevention, primary and secondary care and continuum of care.
S/he will work alongside a team of other colleagues in medical department in Abidjan but as well with MSF Belgium medical referents and other medical colleagues specialized in related fields.
S/he will work connect with scientific societies, medical institutions and universities in Africa, mainly in West and Central Africa region.
S/he will have an overview over WaCA programs with an emphasis on countries in West and Central Africa.
S/he ensures the quality of the WaCA programs as well as the respect for the medical ethics and MSF humanitarian principles.
Responsibilities and Activities
1/ Provide advice and support to desks (emergency and regular) and missions:
- They will predominantly be providing support to field projects.
- In conjunction with desk teams, actively participate in the development and monitoring of activities.
- Support the field and headquarters’ managers in decision-making ensuring good practice, considering specific context constraints.
- Ensure that guidelines, protocols, and tools to guarantee quality of care, are available to field teams.
- Be responsible for alerting the operational managers and the medical directorate in case of non-application of procedures, strategies, or protocols.
- Provide (de-) briefings to headquarters and field personnel related to any medical update.
- Visits field projects to support teams and evaluate the projects
2/ Participate in the Medical Department activities:
- Participate in the definition of medico-operational policies, aligned with the MSF WaCA strategic plan, by contributing their specialist expertise and supporting their implementation.
- Participate in the creation of the action plan of the Medical Department.
- Participate in the definition of training content and participate in the trainings as facilitator.
- Participate in defining the indicators needed for monitoring and reporting on medical activities; analyses the data for all missions; and regularly share the results of this analysis with the coordination teams and medical managers.
- Write protocols and SOP.
- Participates in the placement in projects of international staff.
- Collaborates closely with other members of the Medical Department.
3/ Maintaining and overview of their specialty:
- Monitor Research & Development and technical developments to develop innovative practices and standards.
- Develop and propose new tools according to developing medical standards: medicines, materials, strategies, techniques, procedures, protocols, guidelines (including budget data).
- Propose, develop, and monitor operational research projects, at the field level, in collaboration with the desk, Luxor, Epicentre, and other research partners.
- Develop a network of medical and research actors, humanitarian actors and others.
4/ Provide strategic and technical support to field teams
Collaborate with and give technical support to the teams in the field in all phases of the project cycle (needs assessment, design of project proposal, planning, monitoring and evaluation, project re-orientation, expansion, or closure), for regular, exploratory, and emergency missions.
Assist in establishing networks with national, regional health actors and medical academia.
Support missions with medical advice when drafting the annual planning of the projects, in close collaboration with the rest of the members of Med/ops department.
Provide medical technical support considering operational orientations and the inputs from support departments and national actors.
Support emergencies when needed, to ensure effectiveness of our response.
Ensure that the organization’s medical principles, guidelines, and policies are implemented, as well as the recommendations mentioned in the different medical evaluations. Identify report on, and challenge situations in which their implementation is not viable or may hinder the achievement of operational objectives.
Contribute to implementation of the annual operational plan in the projects according to medical policies.
Ensure the quality of medical interventions comply with MSF standards; though proper monitoring of medical reporting from the Field, ensuring that policies in force complied with.
5/ Follow up projects and support reporting
Ensure timely and accurate medical and pharmacy reporting is submitted by missions; to analyze the fulfilment of operational and medical objectives, and feed medical-operational monitoring and analysis.
Follow up the technical medical part of the projects through field visits and technical reports.
Analyze the medical information, statistics, qualitative information, surveys and guide WaCA interventions accordingly.
6/Participate in Human Resources processes and training
Participate in the support and development of Medical Coordinators.
Carry out technical briefings and debriefings of medical professionals, involving the Technical Referents of the Medical Department when needed, and identify individual training needs.
Ensure that medical teams receive technical and methodological information through briefings of medical field Coordinators, specific sessions, coordinators’ weeks, technical publications, etc.
Participate in internal and external courses/information sessions
Contribute to his/her Operational Cell
Others
Consult support departments for sparring and as technical content providers when needed.
Organize regular exchanges with other operational units and other relevant stakeholders.
Agreeing with the Medical Department on operational research surveys conducted in the field.
Participate in the operational back-ups.
Establish, nurture and maintain a strong relationship, coordination and collaboration with the national, regional health actors
To seek for opportunities and needs in operations which could improve the support, research and innovation capacity of MSF WaCA
In collaboration with medical colleagues, share technical advances, methods and background material with other MSF operational section counterparts.
Represent MSF-WaCA when required outside the movement at the request of the Deputy Medical Director.
JOB PROFILE
Education / Qualification / Pre-requisites
Education and Experience:
- Health practitioner (physician preferred) with strong knowledge of health management of humanitarian projects. Knowledge of public health and epidemiology is desirable.
Desirable criteria
- Coordination experience (project manager, medical team leader, medical coordinator …)
- Headquarters experience in MSF is an asset
- Master’s degree in Public Health or Tropical Medicine.
Competencies / Skills
- Ability to anticipate and plan.
- Ability to negotiate and convince.
- Skills in analysis, interpretation of medical data and publications.
- Ability to write well-structured, concise reports.
- Organizational skills, solution-oriented thinking, initiative, and good communication skills.
- Ability to develop and deliver guidance, advice, and training to staff
- Excellent analytical, strategic conceptual thinking and consulting skills
- Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment as part of a team in a stressful environment, possessing maturity, patience and understanding.
Aptitudes – Soft skills
- Strategic vision and analytical thinking
- Results and sense of quality
- Organizational skills
- Mobility, autonomy
- Diplomacy and networking
- Cultural acceptance
- Good negotiation skills, leadership
- Good stress management
- Staff management and development
- Teamwork and cooperation
Professional experience required
- At least 10 years experiences as Medical Practitioner.
- Experience of minimum 3 years in field medical-humanitarian projects.
- Previously experienced as Medical Coordinator and/or Head of Mission in MSF or a similar humanitarian organization is highly valued.
Language’s skills
- Proficient French & English level is essential.
- Other languages an asset
Computer skills
- Good level user level of MS Office package.
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In a dynamic work environment, MSF offers equal recruitment and development opportunities without any form of discrimination based on gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, geographical origin, profile, physical disability or any other discriminatory ground.
Female candidates who meet the requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.
N.B.:
This job description provides a framework for the main responsibilities and primary activities of the position. It is not exhaustive. Therefore, the responsibilities and activities of the position may differ from those described in this job description due to organizational and operational needs.
Deadline: 31/12/2022 18:00 GMT
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
More Information
- Job City Abidjan
