Latest Jobs at The African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP)

About the project.

The successful candidate will join the Institute’s multi-disciplinary team as Project Manager to lead the design and implementation of a new project, the Health Technologies Advocacy Project. The project will create an African driven advocacy platform (the Health Tech Platform (HTP)). The platform will facilitate informed, objective, transparent, and balanced discussions on development and use of transformational technologies and tools to address key health challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. The Platform will be multi-faceted, operating at national, regional and global levels with multiple layers of conversations and advocacy happening simultaneously among a wide range of stakeholders. The overall purpose of the project is to ensure that Africans are involved in driving conversations about the need for transformational technologies and tools, their design, development, testing, and uptake by governments, other development actors, and communities, including youth and women. The initial focus of the project will be the ongoing research on mosquito gene drive and gene editing technologies for the elimination of Malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, and will be implemented at regional level as well as at national level in two countries to be confirmed, namely, Burkina Faso and Uganda or Kenya. This is a full-time position which will report to the Director of Public Policy and Communications.

Main Responsibilities

• Lead a multi-disciplinary team of research, policy, communications and advocacy experts in the conceptualization, design and implementation of the Health Technologies Advocacy Platform.
• Design and conduct a range of analyses to inform the design and implementation of the project at different stages of implementation (including landscape and policy analyses, political economy analyses, and reviews of existing research and other evidence, relating to the health technology of focus).
• Build and nurture strategic partnerships and relationships with key stakeholders at the global, regional and project country levels.
• Steer project planning, coordination and management, working closely with multi-country groups to implement and track progress against the project’s workplan.
• Manage country and regional partners involved in the delivery of the project in various countries and the sub-Saharan Africa region.
• Oversee the implementation of the project’s monitoring, learning and evaluation (MLE) plan, facilitating regular discussions on the testing of the project’s theory of change.
• Manage and oversee data and information collected under the project.
• Prepare regular project implementation reports and lead regular meetings with the project’s funding partner to discuss progress and lessons.
• Document and publish lessons from project implementation through global, regional and national conferences, and journal articles and other publications.
• Contribute to development of the Institute.

Qualifications and Requirements

The successful candidate will be a senior research expert in mosquito gene drive and gene editing technologies with a relevant PhD and more than five years’ experience. The candidate will also have a good understanding of public policy and political processes in Africa at the regional African Union level, sub-regional economic community levels, and at national level in his/her country. Preferably, the successful candidate will be bilingual with advanced proficiency in English and French.

• Strong research design and implementation skills, demonstrated by a research track record.
• Skills in policy analysis and evidence synthesis and translation, including using systematic reviews and rapid reviews to distil messages for policymakers and other non-scientific audiences.
• Policy engagement with senior policymakers and other policy actors.
• Management and coordination of research, capacity development, or advocacy programmes and partnerships.
• Excellent writing and communication skills in English and French.
• Strong interpersonal skills with effective team management skills.
• Excellent scientific writing and presentations skills with a track record of scientific publications and conference presentations.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with ability to analyze situations, identify existing or potential problems and recommend solutions
• Prior experience working in sub-Sahara Africa is preferred, and experience working in any of the two project countries will be an added advantage.
• Willingness and ability to travel to relevant global and regional events as well as to project countries.