Vaccines Coordinator, Management Support, Kampala- Job at Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI)

Job title:  Vaccines Coordinator, Management Support
Country: Uganda
City: Kampala
Type: Regular – Full Time (eligible for benefits)
Business Unit: Country Programs - Country Teams

Brief/ Overview:
About the Clinton Health Access Initiative
The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to strengthening integrated health systems in the developing world and expanding access to care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. CHAI's solution-oriented approach focuses on improving market dynamics for medicines and diagnostics; lowering prices for treatment; accelerating access to life-saving technologies; and helping governments build the capacity required for high-quality care and treatment programs.
Since its establishment in 2002 by President William J. Clinton, CHAI has worked on the demand and supply sides of the market to help more than 2 million HIV+ people access the medicines needed for treatment—representing nearly half of all people on HIV treatment in developing countries. Building on this model, CHAI has expanded its scope to include efforts to strengthen healthcare delivery systems and to combat malaria and childhood illnesses.
In 2007, CHAI signed an MOU with the government of Uganda to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Health (MoH) and strengthen health systems. Since then, CHAI has worked hand-in-hand with the MoH to increase access to lifesaving paediatric HIV treatment by over 400%; coordinate with private sector suppliers to lower costs and expand access to malaria drugs; pilot a point-of-care diagnostic technology, leading to scale up to more than 250 health facilities nationwide; introduce a new severe malaria drug which will save thousands of lives annually; and many other initiatives. In Uganda CHAI now works with the MoH around HIV, malaria, childhood illnesses, laboratory systems and drug logistics and has recently expanded its work into vaccines.

An Overview of the Uganda Vaccines Team
Vaccination is widely acknowledged as one of the most cost-effective and focused disease interventions. In addition, the unprecedented wave of new vaccines expected over the next decade has the potential to dramatically reduce the global burden of disease. Uganda is one of the countries with the lowest number of fully immunized children in the world at 52% in 2011 (Uganda Demographic and Health Survey, 2011). However, Uganda has a unique opportunity to address the challenge of increasing vaccination coverage. For the first time in years, significant funding is being made available to improve the vaccines system and build cold chain infrastructure. Meanwhile, changes to the organisation of the vaccines supply chain create an opportunity to develop new and improved stock management and distribution systems.
In 2013, CHAI launched a new vaccine program in Uganda to apply the expertise it has developed through global and other country vaccine teams to the immunisation landscape in Uganda. The CHAI Uganda team works closely with UNEPI (Ugandan National Extended Programme on Immunisation) within the MoH and the national medical logistics provider NMS (National Medical Stores) across four main focus areas:

• Improve management effectiveness and efficiency – Identify, design and implement improvements in programme management structure and approach within UNEPI, including developing reusable tools and processes to support delivery and systematically building capabilities
• Drive cold chain expansion and improvement - Improve understanding of the state of the cold chain infrastructure and monitoring systems and then develop and oversee implementation of a comprehensive improvement plan to complement existing infrastructure plans
• Enhance forecasting, procurement and stock management processes - Increase collaboration between parties, articulate key stock challenges and design processes and tools to support improvements at all levels of the supply chain and then oversee their implementation to ensure sustainability
• Facilitate new vaccine introduction – Support government decision making and planning on new vaccine introduction ensuring appropriate resources are in place, rigorous planning and budgeting processes are used and developing reusable tools and frameworks

An Overview of the Management Support role
The Vaccines Coordinator will be responsible for directly supporting UNEPI in delivering against their ambitious and challenging agenda, whilst building powerful and lasting capability within the team. We are seeking an individual with deep programme management experience, a strong track record of project delivery in a results focused environment and first-hand experience of capability building.

Duties and Responsibilities:
The successful candidate will have three primary areas of responsibility:
To support the improvement of programme management practices within UNEPI, including the development and implementation of rigorous planning, tracking and management tools – ensuring they are accepted and embraced by team members in order to form the basis of an ongoing effective vaccine management function. Activities will include:

• Coordinating collaborative planning sessions within UNEPI and other partners such as NMS, WHO and UNICEF
• Developing detailed multi-year plans and budgets
• Developing tools to capture and track progress against plans
• Developing tools to track risks and issues and mechanisms to escalate and solve
• Transitioning ownership and responsibility for using and maintain plans and tools to the UNEPI team
• Providing ongoing oversight and support to the team in refining and updating plans and tools

To guide an ongoing re-organisation process within the Ugandan vaccines system by helping to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of UNEPI and NMS and where required design and oversee the transition of responsibilities between the two parties. Activities will include:

• Supporting the Chair of a newly formed Transitional Steering Committee (TSC) designed to define and co-ordinate transfer of responsibilities between UNEPI and NMS
• Translating the terms of reference for the TSC into a practical and achievable multi-year agenda
• Developing a detailed multi-year plan for implementation and supporting its use
• Liaising with multiple senior stakeholder within the vaccine space to ensure ongoing alignment and commitment
• Carrying out analysis on key topics and structuring discussions to support decision making

To define the skills required within UNEPI in order to deliver against the roles and responsibilities of the organisation and then to assess the existing capability levels in order to create and oversee the delivery of a targeted capability building programme including both a core curriculum and tailored role and individual specific interventions. Activities will include:

• Conducting a capability base lining exercise across team members
• Carrying out a capability mapping exercise against key roles and functions
• Defining a curriculum of skills and individualised programmes
• Designing and delivering some interventions in key areas
• Overseeing the design and delivery of interventions in other areas

Skills and Qualifications:

• A high quality degree from a top University
• The ability to build relationships with senior stakeholders and quickly demonstrate credibility
• Strong analytic skills with proficiency at Microsoft Excel
• Strong communication skills – written and verbal, including proficiency at Microsoft PowerPoint
• Strong process management skills, high level of organisation and good attention to detail
• The ability to work proactively within a context of ambiguity and to remain focused on impact
• Patience and a sense of humour
• 3-5 years of work experience in a demanding results driven environment
• Deep experience in programme management and project delivery
• First-hand experience of strategic capability building
• Proven track record working in challenging multi-stakeholder environments

Pluses

• Experience in a top tier management consulting firm

• Experience developing and delivering training courses

How to apply for this JOB
Apply online at; CHAI
Application closing date; contact employer