Associate Director - Health Technical Programme at World Vision Kenya

Purpose Of The Position

Provide overall Health and Nutrition technical leadership for the National Office in collaboration with other Technical team leads for enhanced child well-being. This is through leading National Office health Technical Approach and Technical Programme development; ensuring alignment with regional and global Health and Nutrition (HN) strategies to include Advocacy, M&E and integration with other sectors and functional areas. Provide guidance to field staff for quality Health and Nutrition programming implementation. Determine National Office Health and Nutrition capacity gaps and develop capacity building plan with Regional assistance. Seek opportunities for Health and Nutrition implementation research, and communicates learning from programming. Maps donors and understands their technical expectations, pre-positions the National Office for grants bids and leads the design and development of proposals. Maintains situation awareness of potential public health emergencies and ensures readiness for sector response.

The position Holder must be able live out and communicate World Vision's Christian ethos and demonstrate a quality of spiritual life that is an example to others.

Major Responsibilities

Technical Leadership, Program Management and Reporting (25%)

• Provide leadership in the development of the Technical Approach and Technical program to be implemented in the National office.
• Responsible for setting the technical standards to be adhered to by all implementing staff and partners.
• Approve the technical Area Plans / detailed implementation plans.
• Provide leadership and management in the implementation of the technical program in the National Office.
• Review and approve all the technical reports prepared from the field.
• Prepare and produce technical program reports for dissemination to various stakeholders.
• Develop practical tools in monitoring and evaluation of the technical program.
• Develop operating business plan for the technical area in collaboration with the other technical leads and departments.
• Ensure that advocacy is integrated in the technical program.
• Work closely with the DME team to ensure that the child wellbeing report is done to meet the standards.
• Contribute to overall National Office (NO) strategy; ensure health priorities reflected in national strategy.
• Develop systems and processes to support programs to have common health approaches.
• Ensure ongoing improvements to health Technical Approach(TA)/Technical Programme(TP) design to ensure it remains relevant to context, incorporates innovation, by receiving and analyzing field-level information.
• Remain up to date with public health and nutrition research, policy, guidance and initiatives and ensure dissemination to sub-national staff.
• Develop and/or contextualize models, methodologies and tools for health programming implementation.
• Provide leadership, support and technical guidance to field staff in implementation of health programming.
• Conduct field visits to ensure health staff are adequately informed, trained and provided with necessary work tools. May divide this responsibility with sub-national staff

Program Development and Grants acquisition (20%)

• Develop and execute in collaboration with grants team, a strategy to increase funding portfolio for technical program.
• In coordination with PDGA Department develop annual growth plans for the relevant technical programme area in line with the country strategy.
• Actively support the roll out of WVK’s Resource Mobilization and Grants Acquisition plan.
• Actively engage in funding negotiations with support offices and coordination with PDGA Department and in alignment with Regional Grants Acquisition & Management Strategy & the Regional Working Group Decisions.
• Provide advice on donor management (government/private donors and support offices) ensuring proper resolutions.
• Provide support to PDGA including in responding to appropriate request for applications for bilateral and multilateral sources in coordination with relevant SOs and management of grant funded program.
• Participate in proposal development processes for Pre-proposal, Proposal development, Post-submission.
• Research new proposals in close coordination with PDGA in order to ensure high quality proposals that meet the requirements of the donors.
• Actively participate in the “Go / No-go” decision making process and ensure that all risks are addressed consistently.
• Research and draft resources in preparation for grant bidding activities, such as capability statements, project summaries, partner profiles, etc.;
• Provide support in funding negotiations with Support Offices in coordination with PDGA and in alignment with Regional Grants Acquisition & Management Strategy & the Regional Working Group Decisions.

Accountability, learning, Evidence Base Development, Dissemination and Knowledge Management (20%)

• Ensure quality programming, innovative designs, monitoring, evaluation, reflection, learning and reporting of all projects in the Technical program that leads to sustainable livelihood for children and their communities.
• Ensure that findings and recommendations from various accountability mechanisms such as Peer Review, Operational and Finance Audits, Program evaluations, Program Capability Review, are acted upon in a timely and effective manner.
• In close collaboration with P&C, ensure right program staff are recruited, retained, and provided with intentional opportunities, mentoring and coaching for development. Ensure that the Program staffs based in remote locations receive care and support.
• Identify and implement opportunities for research to enhance learning and build the evidence base/generate evidence, ideally with academic partners.
• Spearhead research, documentation and reflection exercises for learning.
• Collect, document and disseminate field best practices, case studies and success stories.
• Develop conference abstracts and/or publications based on learning and best practice.

Networking, Partnering, External Participation and Advocacy (20%)

• Maintain effective communications and pro-active relationships with Support Office partners, including visits by donors.
• In coordination with Operations Director and Support Offices, develop and maintain pro-active relationships with bilateral and multilateral representatives in country.
• In coordination with the Operations Director, develop and maintain good relationships with national government ministries, other NGOs and the development sector in general.
• In coordination with the Senior Management team work closely with regional office directors in relation to implementation of Partnership initiatives, capacity building of national office staff and knowledge sharing within the region.
• In coordination with the Operations Director, and program staff, participate in national level coalitions on specific advocacy issues.
• In the spirit of twin citizenship, contribute to knowledge sharing and collaborative learning through internal avenues such as the Livelihood and Resilience community of practice.
• Represent WV at external workshops, technical forums, e.t.c, engaging with MoH, donors and other health partners. Ensure WV prominent actor at all levels; networking.
• With MoH, contribute to national strategy or national plans (e.g. the CHW plan, the malaria strategy, the HIV strategy)
• Partnership agreements with government institutions, NGOs and international bodies.
• Develop strategic partnerships with private sector with guidance of partnership and innovation team at Global Center. More intentional engagements with private sector/corporates.
• Compile updated fact sheets on health programming to support the partnering specialists.
• Incorporate local-to-national Health and Nutrition advocacy and campaigning in Health and Nutrition Technical Approach and programming, with assistance of advocacy specialist staff.
• Accompany advocacy and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) members to meetings with health departments.
• Provide technical input into policy briefings/ensure quality of advocacy product content.
• Obtain evidence from health programs and data from Citizens Voice and Action (CVA) to inform policy at sub-national and national level and to be used in government relations.
• Engage where appropriate in advocacy-related coalitions.

Capacity Development (10%)

• Assessment of National Office Health and Nutrition staff capacities/competencies.
• Communicate capacity building needs to regional Health and Nutrition staff, develop sector staff capacity building plans with People and Culture Department.
• Participate in selection of SMEs to assist with capacity needs.
• Facilitate capacity building of staff on health technical modules, public health topics, through trainings, workshops, technical backstopping etc.
• May conduct trainings at ToT level in select MCH&N project models.

Other (5%)

• Perform any other duty as may be assigned by supervisor or designee from time to time
• Participate and contribute in committees and task forces e.g. Senior Management Committee

Qualifications: Education/Knowledge/Technical Skills and Experience

The following may be acquired through a combination of formal or self-education, prior experience or on-the job training;

• The position holder should have a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and/or a Masters in Public Health OR Degree in Nursing with Masters in Public Health or related course with extensive programming experience OR a Master Degree in Public Health, Nutrition or related field.
• Must have some experience on policies and regulations in the field of Health and Nutrition.
• Minimum of 10 years’experience with a thorough understanding of all areas of project management cycles in a complex, international development organization especially in development and Relief Projects. 5 years should have been at a managerial level.
• Demonstrated track record in proposal development, funding acquisitions and grant management for major government donors preferred.
• The position holder must be results oriented and team a player.
• Knowledge of WVI working systems, policies and standards will be an advantage

Preferred Skills,KnowledgeandExperience

• Training or certification in Portfolio and/or Program Management with accredited institutions.
• Ability to engage at a strategic level with senior government, UN and INGO officials.
• Ability to lead a multi-cultural team with an empowering and outcome oriented approach.
• Strong budgetary and financial management skills.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English.
• The person must be results oriented, able to handle public relations, able to satisfy donors and a team player.
• Good interpersonal, organizational and management skills.
• Ability to maintain performance expectations in diverse cultural contexts,and physical hardship conditions.
• Ability to solve complex problems and to exercise independent judgment.
• Computer literate.

Working Environment / Conditions

• Work environment: Office-based with frequent travel to the field
• Travel 10% Domestic/international travel is required
• On call:As required