Chief of Party, Household and Community Activity (Keneya Nieta)

Hours:  Full-time

Location: Mali

Salary:   Commensurate with required experience and qualifications

Reports to:   Regional Team Lead, Global, LAC, and West Africa Region

University Research Co., LLC (URC)

URC is a global company dedicated to improving the quality of health care, social services, and health education worldwide. With a non-profit affiliate, the Center for Human Services (CHS), URC manages projects in nearly 40 countries. Established in 1965, URC offers a range of technical assistance to strengthen health and social systems and service quality by empowering communities and health workers to identify and scale up locally appropriate solutions to critical problems. Internationally, we expand access to and improve the quality of services addressing maternal, newborn, and child health; infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria; reproductive health and family planning; food and nutrition; and vulnerable children and families. URC’s mission is to help countries build and sustain resilient health systems by supporting local partners in implementing science-driven, scalable solutions. Please join us in carrying out our mission (http://www.urc-chs.com/).

Project:

The USAID-funded Mali Household and Community Health (HCH) Activity (Keneya Nieta) aims to sustainably reduce maternal, newborn, and child (MNC) mortality and to increase individual and household adoption of healthy behaviors and demand for and use of health services in the regions of Sikasso, Mopti, and Segou by increasing the capacity of Malians to plan, finance, and manage their own health at the individual, household, and community levels. This five-year Activity targets 26 districts in Sikasso, Mopti, and Segou regions. 

Position Overview:

The Chief of Party (COP) will provide overall strategic vision, direction, and technical and administrative and financial oversight for Keneya Nieta, ensuring URC contributes to sustainable and impactful solutions to health challenges in Mali. The position combines technical leadership with management support for Activity implementation, technical assistance, and documentation and sharing of results. S/he also will ensure that technical deliverables meet or exceed Activity requirements and enhance URC’s preeminent proficiency in the international development and global public health arena. S/he also will have primary responsibility of liaising with USAID and other key health and non-health public and private sector stakeholders in Mali. As part of overseeing and ensuring successful Activity implementation, the COP is expected to support guidance of the technical vision and Activity approach along with managing multiple Activity teams and consortium members. S/he also will safeguard the Activity’s and URC’s resources by complying with award terms and conditions, USAID, and all other applicable policies and regulations mitigating risks of fraud, waste, and abuse in all aspects of project operations and administration.

Roles and Responsibilities:

The COP’s roles and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Responsible for technical leadership and managerial oversight in the design and implementation of project strategy in alignment with the Activity’s key objectives and expected outcomes.
• Responsible for overall oversight during Activity implementation, including overseeing key and non-key personnel, technical project support, and all sub-awardees and -grantees involved.
• Oversee all external technical assistance, engaging consultants and technical experts at URC and sub-awardees’ home office strategically to support achievement of the project objectives in a timely manner.
• Supervise development and implementation of improved systems to support local organizations, including program planning, implementation, resource allocation, monitoring, and evaluation related to project activities.
• Oversee technical content to the development of URC materials, including work plans, and processes for results reporting.
• Design and oversee annual project planning cycle to develop comprehensive annual work plans, assure timely disbursement of funds and results reporting for the project.
• Oversee effective Activity implementation, including development of annual workplans and budgets that align with timely implementation and responsiveness to stated objectives and performance monitoring plan.
• Assume accountability for the achievement of results, ensuring that quality of technical assistance and implementation is maintained at the highest standards, and Activity technical objectives, deliverables, and other products are met in a timely manner
• Lead Activity in continuous adaptations to the changing local environment/context and leverage its experience in health systems strengthening to develop/apply cutting-edge methods to translate best practices into improved management of programs.
• Analyze technical problems and issues that impede efforts to provide improved quality health care to populations, developing technical solutions to these problems/issues and designing innovative strategies for improving impact of the Activity.
• Oversee monitoring and reporting of project results, and direct quality control mechanisms throughout the life of the project to strengthen routine monitoring, evaluation, and use of data for evidence-based decision making at local and national levels.
• Ensure that all research and learning activities are compliant with review and approval processes of URC’s institutional review board and Mali’s ethical review committee.
• Oversee efficient function in administrative and financial processes in full compliance with URC’s standards, protocols, guidelines, and processes ensuring maintenance of adequate internal controls.
• Report to the USAID Mission regularly to ensure transparency and awareness of project development and implementation, remaining cognizant of issues as they arise.
• Represent Keneya Nieta at meetings with donors, MoH officials at national and subnational levels, key stakeholders, implementing partners, and collaborators as well as at roundtables, working groups, and conferences.
• Responsible for high level coordination and promote partnership and multi-sectoral collaboration with the central government of Mali.
• Provide technical expertise in high-impact programming and support its integration into established service delivery systems at different levels of care.
• Oversee support provided to the MoH at the national, regional, district, and community levels in the areas key to Keneya Nieta’s success.
• Maintain and implement URC safety and security procedures, including the development and updating of local security procedures in-country, and lead management and coordination of any incidents with URC’s global security advisors.
• Contribute to URC’s overall knowledge management strategies through demonstrative thought leadership and participation at senior levels of influence to strategically direct funding and investments at the local, country, regional and global level.
• Maintain close working relationships and partnerships with Chiefs of Party of other URC-implemented projects globally.
• Perform other related duties as assigned and/or agreed upon with the supervisor/HQ. 

For the Interim COP role, additional deliverables and milestones are expected, as noted in Annex A. 

Qualifications:

• A minimum of a master’s degree in public health or social sciences, or a related advance degree relevant to the field of global public health.
• Licensed Doctor of Medicine, or Ph.D. in public health, medicine, social sciences, or a related field is an advantage.
• At least 10 years’ experience successfully designing and leading the implementation and management of large and complex public health programs in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs), preferably in Mali and across Francophone West Africa.
• At least ten years of cumulative experience providing technical leadership to USG-funded health programs, especially community health programs, with/in international development agencies, NGOs, or other implementing partners with proven success and leadership.
• Extensive experience in implementing community-level activities in developing countries,
• especially activities related to governance, finance, and community mobilization.
• Good knowledge of community-level health systems in Mali.
• Knowledge and skills in designing and implementing community-level and household-level interventions related to finance, governance, and oversight.
• Extensive experience in managing and implementing integrated public health programs with similar complexity, size, and scope of Keneya Nieta (in terms of dollar amount and number of people managed).
• Good technical knowledge of maternal, newborn, and child health, malaria, family planning, and nutrition, as well as social and behavior change (SBC) and community mobilization, health, and governance.
• Extensive experience in implementing tailored and integrated SBC activities, focusing on household-level interventions and interpersonal communication.
• Knowledge and skills in the use of epidemiological and other data in the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of SBC activities.
• Demonstrated experience in community health systems strengthening/quality improvement.
• Strong technical knowledge in methodologies and extensive experience in designing and implementing monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) activities and special studies for complex health programs of similar size and scope to Keneya Nieta in LMICs.
• Ability to oversee the development and implementation of a modern and innovative system of collecting and analyzing real-time household-level data and use it to make improvements to implementation approaches and strategies.
• Ability to analyze and interpret large amounts of data and clearly present it to decision-makers.
• Experience using a Collaborative Learning Plan to inform activity implementation.
• Prior experience working with USAID and other international donors and knowledge of USAID and US Government policies, regulations, and procedures.
• Proven ability to develop productive working relationships with diverse public and private sector stakeholders, USAID, and other donors, implementing partners,and organizations worldwide and effectively coordinate, manage, and deal with differing priorities and perspectives.
• Demonstrated track record with the implementation of field programs from having livedand worked overseas in a developing country on a long-term
• Strong inclusive leadership and management skills, and the ability to lead and manage a diverse consortium for success.
• Strong leadership skills and the ability to coach, mentor, and develop technical capacity in regional and national programs and technical staff.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills in English and French, demonstrating an ability to communicate with various audiences including stakeholders, partners, and donors.
• Ability to work in a complex environment with multiple tasks, short deadlines. and intense pressure to perform.
• Ability to communicate effectively, instilling trust and confidence.
• Excellent interpersonal, facilitation, team building, and coordination skills.
• Fluency (oral and written) in English and French.

Annex A: The Interim COP must fulfill the following deliverables and milestones within six months. 

• Conduct a thorough performance assessment of the Activity and develop an improvement plan that addresses key personnel, technical and program, logistics, and administrative issues, as well as any other management and organizational capacity to ensure delivery of agreed upon milestones and results.
• Develop and implement an adjusted collaboration protocol with USAID Keneya Sinsi Wale to ensure joint work planning and coordinated implementation, as required in the reference Cooperative Agreement. The joint workplan shall include a detailed roadmap and weekly timetable to scale up Keneya Nieta’s intervention to 80% of the villages by the end of September 2022.
• Develop and submit a joint second year workplan together with USAID Keneya Nieta Wale as required in the referenced Cooperative Agreement.
• Update and submit Keneya Nieta’s Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP) in close collaboration with Keneya Sinsi Wale. The AMELP shall include all variables, baseline, and target figures required to inform USAID community-based standard indicators.
• Ensure timely mobilization of all necessary resources from headquarters and sub-awardees to ensure timely support to field staff and implementation of planned interventions, as necessary.
• Ensure that a consolidated report, action plan, and/or status of implementation of each village visited during the quarter is included in the quarterly progress report as an Annex.
• Submit a final status report of the proposed improvement plan and follow-up recommendations.

To Apply:

For immediate consideration, please visit URC’s Career Opportunities page at www.urc-chs.com/careers.

You must upload your CV/Résumé and your Cover Letter where indicated. Also, please complete your application form and attach a completed USAID Form 1420 Contractor Employee Biographical Data Sheet as well.

Due to the large number of inquiries we receive, only candidates who have met the required experience & qualifications for this position will be contacted. No phone calls please. However, since we are active around the world in the field of public health, we may wish to retain your CV in our database for other/future opportunities, unless you direct us otherwise. Thank you very much for your interest.

URC is an E-Verify Employer 

URC is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.

We value and seek diversity in our workforce.