West Africa Director – Alive & Thrive 380 views0 applications

Project Summary:

Alive & Thrive (A&T) is a global nutrition initiative to save lives, prevent illness, and ensure healthy growth of mothers and children. From 2009­­–2014, A&T demonstrated that rapid improvements in infant and young child feeding (IYCF) are possible in settings as diverse as Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Viet Nam. In 2014, A&T began working in Burkina Faso, India, Nigeria, and throughout the Southeast Asia region, expanding its scope to include maternal and adolescent nutrition, and using agriculture and social protection programs as delivery mechanisms for maternal, infant, and young child nutrition (MIYCN). Currently, A&T is leveraging its robust network and knowledge base to strengthen systems and build capacity in these and other countries across Africa and Asia, and disseminate innovations, tools, and lessons worldwide. The Alive & Thrive initiative, managed by FHI 360, is currently funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Government of Ireland, the Tanoto Foundation, and UNICEF.

The West Africa Director for francophone West Africa will:

• Provide strategic and ensure technical leadership, management, and coordination for Alive & Thrive activities in West Africa, including Burkina Faso.
• Negotiate and cultivate partnerships in the region to build networks and platforms for program activities and inputs.
• Provide leadership on evolving technical standards, guidelines, and principal technical resources for MIYCN and RMNCH for A&T in the region.
• Oversee planning and execution of high-quality monitoring, learning and evaluation activities and ensure high quality documentation and dissemination of lessons, tools and processes.
• Oversee implementation of financial and contractual procedures. Ensure that rigorous systems and internal controls are in place.
• Oversee human resource and administration functions. Manage administration risks and develop risk mitigation strategies.
• Work in close collaboration with the Director for Africa Programs and the Africa Senior Technical Advisor on ensuring that program objectives, program quality standards and reporting requirements are met.

***This position will be located in Cote d’Ivoire or Senegal.***

Essential Job Functions:

Strategic Planning:

• Establish priorities and work plans with West Africa regional and Burkina Faso country teams to ensure high quality technical assistance to country and regional counterparts, budget management, financial monitoring; and ensure their alignment with the project’s strategy and priorities;
• Plan, direct, and coordinate activities for A&T in partnership with stakeholders engaged at policy level under the West Africa regional initiative;
• In collaboration with the Africa Program Director and the Senior Technical Advisor, ensure that A&T is well-positioned as a nutrition thought leader for MIYCN and RMNCH policies and programs in francophone West Africa.

Program Management

• Supervise the West Africa Technical Director, Burkina Faso Country Director; and other staff including consultants at the regional level;
• Oversee all hiring and personnel management in the West Africa region and provide support, as needed, to personnel management in Burkina Faso;
• Ensure effective adherence to A&T policies and procedures regarding procurement, contracting and communication, in consultation with A&T HQ.
• Ensure that all regional program reporting, work planning and budgeting is completed on schedule and that activities adhere to work plan time lines and budget line items;
• Ensure data collection, analysis and reporting to project HQ is high quality and done on time;

Technical Leadership:

• Provide technical input, leadership, and coordination for the design and implementation of all program components, particularly but not solely in A&T’s four key components: policy advocacy, social and behavior change, and strategic use of data;
• Ensure technical activities are evidence-based, aligned with global best practices; and consistent with A&T’s priorities and areas of expertise;
• Orient and build capacity of A&T project staff in West Africa and Burkina Faso on project design and budget management;
• Develop and/or support the development of A&T relationships with regional and national donors and government and non-government partners;
• Support national- and state-level reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health programs of government and implementing partners with high-level MIYCN technical assistance to accelerate coverage of evidence-based MIYCN interventions
• Ensure that country-level learning is captured to inform regional dialogue on RMNCH and MIYCN and contribute to cross-country dialogue in collaboration with the project Knowledge Leadership and Learning (KLL) team, the Africa Program Director and the Africa Technical Director;
• Develop and/or contribute written technical expertise to thought leadership pieces, concept notes, program plans, tools, materials, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, and SBC approaches, messages, materials, and tools;
• Facilitate the development of written publications from the region.
• Other duties as assigned.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS:

Education:

• Master’s degree in one of the following or related fields: Medicine, Public Health, Human Nutrition, International Health, Behavior Change Communications or Behavioral Science.

Experience:

• Requires 10 years of relevant experience managing regional or country-level nutrition or public health programs in a developing country (preferably francophone West Africa).
• Expert knowledge of MIYCN, RMNCH or health systems strengthening global recommendations, programs and policies
• Significant experience interpreting donor priorities and requests to ensure that program objectives and expectations are met
• Significant knowledge of national level data collection, analysis, and reporting systems
• Significant field experience in designing, implementing, monitoring and reporting on technical assistance and capacity building in more than one component of a public health nutrition program (e.g., advocacy, training, use of data, SBC)
• Oversight and/or design of large-scale program implementation and/or operations research
• Recognition for thought leadership contribution in MIYCN and/or RMNCH or another public health-related area

Skills:

• Ability to work independently, assess priorities, and manage a variety of activities while communicating, connecting, and collaborating with HQ and field office staff, subcontractors, and a broad coalition of international agencies, government and NGO partners
• Strong management and supervisory skills
• Outstanding organizational and diplomacy skills
• Excellent donor relationship skills
• Excellent problem-solving skills
• Excellent writing, editorial, and communication skills, including strong oral presentation skills
• Fluency in French and English required

Travel:

• Travel outside of duty station at least 30% time.

Typical Physical Demands:

• Typical office environment.
• Ability to sit and stand for extended periods of time.
• Ability to lift 5-50 lbs.

Technology to be Used:

• Personal Computer, Microsoft Office (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), e-mail, telephone, printer, calculator, copier, cell phones, PDAs and other hand held devices.

This job description summarizes the main duties of the job. It neither prescribes nor restricts the exact tasks that may be assigned to carry out these duties. This document should not be construed in any way to represent a contract of employment. Management reserves the right to review and revise this document at any time.

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FHI 360 is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. FHI 360 is an equal employment and affirmative action employer whereby we do not engage in practices that discriminate against any person employed or seeking employment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, marital status, disability, veteran status, genetic information or any other status or characteristic protected under applicable law.