Career Opportunities at HJF Medical Research International

Job Description/Requirements

HJF Medical Research International Inc (HJFMRI) provides scientific, technical and programmatic support services to global medical research programs.

Position: South Rift Valley PEPFAR Director

Supervisor: PEPFAR Country Director

Job Summary: As the Kenya Medical Research Institute / United States Army Medical Research Directorate – Africa / Kenya (KEMRI) / USAMRD-A/K) Kericho Field Station (KFS) Deputy Director, the incumbent assists the Station Director in attaining the station’s overall mission and deliverables in Research and HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment including program funding continuity and sustainability.

As PEPFAR Director, the officer is responsible for overall strategic direction and management of US President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief (PEPFAR) funded comprehensive HIV Prevention, PMTCT, Care, Treatment and Support activities under the USAMRD-K and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) in the South Rift Valley (SRV) HIV Program.

The SRV region encompasses the 4 counties of Narok, Bomet, Kericho, and Nandi, with a catchment population of about 3.5 million people, and over 450 health facilities, 254 of which are key focus/ retained. The incumbent leads overall management of 17 Partner contracts for HJF-SRV mechanism.

The incumbent represents the PEPFAR program at County Government and National Ministry of Health partnership activities, liaises with community leaders and HIV study teams and participants.

Primary Position Responsibilities:

The KEMRI/WRP-Kericho Station Deputy Director is a senior member of the station management team that assists the station Director in the attainments of the station’s mission and objectives through implementation of the station policies (and where appropriate formulation) and strategies to ensure that the site integrates PEPFAR with research in a coherent, sustainable and efficient manner.

The PEPFAR Director acts in the role of Program/ Function Manager. The role Integrates substantive specializations into coordinated service platform. Managerial focus is primarily concentrated on facilitation and coordination. Advocacy and promotion requiring empathy and the capacity to assimilate diverse perspectives, including USG, GoK, County, and Community expectations. Collaborators, counterparts and service providers in functional area both in and outside of the organization. Results affect overall execution of programs or functional areas and the reputation and success of teams. Actions build corporate standards.

1. Provide strategic vision and planning guidance for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Program activities in the South Rift Valley region.
2. Management of PEPFAR financial resources, including fund sourcing, budgeting and implementation monitoring.
3. Management of PEPFAR Human Resources including identification of optimal staff requirements, recruitment, and retention.
4. Direct supervision and mentorship of six PEPFAR Program Managers, and indirect support to over thirty PEPFAR program and research staff.
5. Provide overall supervision of PEPFAR activities for implementing partners with a particular emphasis on HIV prevention, clinical care, treatment and support.
6. Partner management including strategic direction, target and budget setting, work plan & contract development, and implementation
7. Performance monitoring, evaluation and support
8. HJF contract deliverables analysis and reporting on quarterly, semi-annual and annual basis
9. OGAC reporting on quarterly, semi-annual and annual basis
10. Participate in OGAC’s annual Expenditure Analysis evaluations and provide responses/ justifications as required
11. Participate in SIMS process on behalf of DoD
12. Represent the Program in all PEPFAR meetings.
13. Develop and facilitate collaborations with other PEPFAR implementing agencies and partners as directed by the HIV Program Director.
14. Represent SRV and DoD HIV Program to both US and Kenyan government entities including PEPFAR Interagency Team at the US Embassy, the Ministry of Health, and other key stakeholders.
15. Participate in research as Investigator, Associate Investigator, and Medical Monitor
16. Assist the KEMRI/WRP Kericho Director in sourcing for funding opportunities for the station’s research and PEPFAR projects.
17. Provide Technical Support to and work collaboratively with Kisumu West and KDF PEPFAR Sister Programs when required.
18. Assume leadership and responsibility of other HIV Program activities as deemed necessary by HIV Program Director.

Additional Responsibilities:

Program Expansion:

1. Geographical expansion: Because of our good performance as the HJF-SRV program, PEPFAR has expanded our area of coverage in Nandi and Narok Counties. In Nandi, we expanded from covering 75% of the County to 100%; while in Narok we expanded from 36% to 100% of the County.
2. Partner Expansion: During the same period, we added two more local implementing partners (Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital/ AMPATH, and Narok County Referral Hospital) to our partner contracts. This comes with increased responsibilities and implementation demands.

Interagency Responsibilities:

1. HRH (Human Resources for Health) TWG member, facilitating PEPFAR HRH data collection, reporting and use for decision-making. Also liaising with National and County Governments as well as other HRH stakeholders on conducive HRH policy environment, resource allocation, and management, including HRH Transition.
2. Table 6 and SRE (Surveillance, Research and Evaluations) Technical Working Group member

National / County Responsibilities:

1. NASCOP Treatment TWG member, including participation in development/ review of treatment guidelines.
2. County HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan (CASP) development and steering committee member for Narok, Bomet, Kericho and Nandi Counties.

Job Requirements: Skills and Competence

1. Education: Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and Masters (Master of Public Health (MPH)) is required.
2. Prior Work Experience: Minimum Eight years of senior level public health experience in developing, implementing and evaluating HIV/AIDS care and support programs or other relevant public health programs that involve coordination with an international agency or implementing partner is required. One additional year of experience at the managerial level with multiple staff supervision is required.
3. Post Entry Training: Ongoing professional certification seminars focusing on changing HIV prevention, care, treatment and support protocols. PEPFAR and agency-specific training in approaches to program design, implementation and reporting. Agency-specific leadership development training, and Project Management of contract agreements trainings are required.
4. Language Proficiency (level and specialization): Level IV (fluency – speaking/ reading/ writing English is required.)
5. Job Knowledge: Comprehensive knowledge of current HIV/AIDS issues, care and support, counselling and interventions, behaviour change, testing, and treatment is required. An in-depth knowledge of the range of care and support programs, policies, regulations and precedents applicable to development and administration of national/ international public health program is required. Detailed knowledge of the host government health care system and structures including familiarity with MOH policies, program priorities and regulations is required. In-depth knowledge of USG HIV/AIDS public health programs, strategies, methods, processes and techniques used to plan, develop, implement and evaluate results of care and support programs is required. Good working knowledge of team management techniques to plan, organize and direct multi-disciplinary project teams and activities is required. Good working knowledge of overall administrative requirements, budgeting and fiscal management in support of contracts / purchase requisitions is required.
6. Skills and Abilities: Strong oral and written communication skills are required to develop and maintain effective, sustainable working relationships with local and regional partners. Strong leadership skills are required to lead results-driven project teams and workgroups. Ability to analyse, understand and discuss new program design, management and implementation approaches is required. The incumbent will be expected to exercise considerable ingenuity and tact in applying guidelines to unique and different settings, as the work is highly complex especially in its influence on stakeholders. Considerable innovation will be required to influence other collaborative organizations engaged in HIV/AIDS treatment programs to adopt appropriate strategies for their program activities. Advanced user level of word processing, spreadsheets and databases is required. Strong skills in interpretation of program monitoring and evaluation data are required.
7. Exercise of Judgment: Job holder is expected to make independent and professional judgments on the quality and effectiveness of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment, and support programs and to develop strategies for eliciting cooperation and commitment for implementation and evaluation activities from PEPFAR implementing partners, senior level staff of other agencies and the Ministry of Health.

Additional Position Elements:

Available Guidelines:

• Generally accepted HIV/AIDS international medical and ethical standards for care and support,
• PEPFAR strategic objectives and operating provisions,
• The Country Operational Plan (COP),
• U.S. Government (including agency and PEPFAR) and Ministry of Health rules, regulations, and policies issued both in writing and orally,
• HJF guidelines, standards and procedures,
• In addition, international research regulations and WRAIR, KEMRI and other applicable IRBs directions apply.

Terms of Employment: 1-year renewable contract. The first three months will be probation period.

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Job Description/Requirements

Supervisor: DoD PEPFAR HJFMRI Country Director

Job Summary: The incumbent works closely with DoD PEPFAR – MHRP/HJFMRI Country Director and the Public Health Specialist (M&E) to provide Strategic Information (SI) technical guidance, coordinating reporting, technological innovations within the three DoD PEPFAR – HJFMRI programs, inputs for Country Operational Plan (COP) development, and contributing to M&E taskers for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Kenya and for the Department of Defense program.

The incumbent is responsible for all SI elements under the three DoD PEPFAR sites including monitoring and evaluation (M&E), health information systems (HIS) and surveys and surveillance and other OGAC/PEPFAR and HQ requirements to include: PEPFAR Site Improvement through Monitoring System (SIMS), data entry, cleaning and reporting in Improving MHRP Performance Analytics Cohesion & Transparency (IMPACT) and Data for Accountability, Transparency, and Impact (DATIM), quarterly reporting, and annual development and implementation of program work plans.

Key Responsibilities

1. Responsible for coordinating HJFMRI DoD PEPFAR SI requirements for the three program sites – 80%

• Assist in managing SIMS visits when required by the DoD Public Health Specialist (M&E) to ensure required, follow-up and remedial visits are conducted and liaise with HQ.
• Offer mentorship to 3 different program M&E and programmatic staff in Kisumu West, the South Rift Valley, and with the KDF to undertake monthly reporting into MHRP IMPACT, analysis of outcomes, developing improvement plans, and tracking progress.
• Be responsible for HJFMRI PEPFAR quarterly, semi-annual (SAPR) and annual progress reports (APR) reporting, and other ad hoc reports, required by OGAC and HQ. Ensure the IMPACT DATIM import process is successful during the reporting periods.
• Oversee PEPFAR EMR and other digital innovations i.e. USHAURI, and mLab functionality and utilization by coordinating with M&E site managers.
• Lead and coordinate data quality assessments (DQA) in all the three programs to improve data integrity and quality, support service quality assessments (SQA) and continued supportive supervision, providing feedback on data quality issues to all facilities and the program leadership.
• Lead in all program level and HQ level data and technical review meetings, ensuring that all the required analysis are submitted in time and teams are fully prepared.
• Capacity build program managers on IMPACT database use for reviewing results and performances of their programs domain areas.
• Support and work closely with DoD PEPFAR sites and partners to navigate MHRP IMPACT and PEPFAR’s DATIM system and MER indicators particularly with finer age disaggregation.
• Strengthen capacity of facility staff in data use for informed decision –making and program planning, through supportive supervision and mentoring on strategic guidance, standard operating procedures on data management and quality assurance measures.
• Prepare templates, updates, special analysis and reports for HJFMRI and KDF management, as required.
• Lead HJFMRI M&E and programmatic teams to analyze programmatic data of specific modalities to better tailor strategies and interventions to meet results and replicate innovative approaches. This includes identifying specific program assessments to better understand barriers and dynamics on the ground to improve program performance.

2. Assist to implement key PEPFAR DoD SI components as directed by the MHRP/HJFMRI Country Director – 15%

• COP Development: Contribute to COP development process by supporting the DoD – Public Health Specialist (M&E) to complete country level and mil-mil data pack, coordinate target calculations and target entry in DATIM, calculate required SIMS visits for DoD, lead target data entry, etc.
• PEPFAR reporting (annual progress report and quarterly reports): Assist DoD Public Health Specialist (M&E) in compiling DoD data for reporting requirements: quarterly reports and annual progress report.
• Undertake other monitoring activities, as they arise.

3. Responsible for monitoring and evaluation of PEPFAR supported KDF program – 5%:

• Work closely with KDF PEPFAR team and KDF staff to ensure SI aspects of the work plan are developed, implemented and targets are met.
• Assist in the design, development and implementation of all digital solutions i.e. electronic medical record (EMR) systems, mobile applications within KDF facilities and in conjunction with M&E officers.
• Ensure all the DHAPP reporting requirements are met

4. Manage and supervise the SI unit staff and provide technical oversight:

• Oversee the quality and timely completion of data management assistants’ work such as data entry, DQA, SIMS, generation of reports, etc.
• Provide mentorship, guidance, and supportive supervision of data management assistants.
• Coordinate M&E activities within the MHRP HJFMRI SI unit.

Requirements: Skills and Competence

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Biostatistics, Health Informatics, Information Technology, Public health, Monitoring and evaluation or any other advanced degree relevant to the position
• At least seven years of demonstrated experience in monitoring large development programs, particularly USG-funded, HIV and other health programs are a plus.
• Demonstrated experience in PEPFAR monitoring and evaluation systems such as SIMS, DATIM, Panorama for POART reviews, including MER indicators,
• Proficiency with computer applications including MS Excel, Access, Word, PowerPoint, and other applications.
• Excellent skills in mentoring and coaching M&E personnel.
• Demonstrated experience in data analysis and statistical packages such as SPSS, SAS, STATA, or epi-info.
• Excellent organizational and coordination skills and ability to work in a diverse team as well as independently.
• Experience in develop monitoring/management and evaluation plans with clear targets.
• Ability to manage database systems.