Job Opportunities at African Population And Health Research Center (APHRC)

VACANCY– SENIOR PROGRAM OFFICER
The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is a leading Africa–based, African–led, international research institution headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. APHRC generates and supports the use of evidence for meaningful action to improve the lives of all Africans through:

1. Research that emphasizes health and wellbeing;
2. Capacity strengthening that deepens the skills of African researchers, scholars and institutions within the continent;
3. Policy engagement and communication that supports greater influence of evidence in policy – and decision–making across sub–Saharan Africa.

The APHRC seeks to recruit a Senior Program Officer within the Research Capacity Strengthening (RCS) Division, to work on a large scale initiative whose goals are to transform the Research and Development (R&D) ecosystem in Africa through:

1. Designing and running a matching service between universities/research institutes based in all the regions of Africa and funding agencies for R&D.
2. Configuring and running Africa–wide platform–based capacity–building for universities/research institutes based in all of Africa’s regions, to increase their capabilities to do more and perform better on a sustained basis along the spectrum of implementation research.
3. Designing and developing prototypes in selected countries, to link country decision–making systems with national research systems for adoption/scale–up of R&D innovations.
4. Strengthening the African innovation–research ecosystem by developing and deploying connectors – platforms that have cross–cutting benefits to researchers and decision makers.
5. The overall responsibility of the Senior Program Officer is to support the management of a large–scale capacity strengthening initiative by leading and coordinating specific components of the initiative and supporting the overall Program Manager in the day–to–day running of the initiative.

Responsibilities:

1. Coordinate the implementation of specified activities from the overall work plan. This entails reporting and tracking project implementation and expenditure for the assigned activities;
2. Participate in specific program activities including desk reviews, in depth analysis, partner mapping and capacity assessments;
3. Coordinate submissions of proposals for support by potential grantees in academic/research institutes from all over Africa and organize high quality reviews of the submissions;
4. Organize capacity strengthening activities in diverse areas and for diverse participants within the African R&D ecosystem;
5. Work with grantees to ensure the execution of assigned research capacity strengthening and evaluation projects to ensure timely implementation of activities;
6. Coordinate outreach activities to various stakeholders including funding agencies, academic/research institutes and national/regional/continental policy making bodies;
7. Draft technical reports from the various activities;
8. Participate in learning forums about the initiative, sharing lessons and findings with appropriate audiences;
9. Represent the Center in high– level national and regional forums including relevant technical working groups and expert committees on implementation research and research capacity strengthening;
10. Support recruitment efforts for consultants and other program staff;
11. Contribute to grant writing and fundraising for the program; and
12. Publicize the initiative to relevant audiences.

Qualifications and Experience:

1. Master’s degree in a Developmental Research or Public Policy related professional area with a minimum of 7 years’ post–qualification experience.
2. Experience managing large scale (multi–year, multi–team, multi–country) projects preferably in research, research capacity strengthening, or policy and advocacy.
3. Good understanding of the Higher Education/ R&D/ Policy landscape in sub–Saharan Africa.
4. Experience working in a research or academic institution or a policy making body in sub–Saharan Africa.
5. Experience conducting implementation research will be an added advantage.
6. Excellent written communication and presentation skills.
7. Experience in grant writing.
8. Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills and ability to work in a culturally diverse team.
9. Bilingual language skills (French and English) will be an added advantage.

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Job Description

The APHRC seeks to recruit a Data Scientist within the Research Capacity Strengthening (RCS) Division, to work on a large scale initiative whose goals are to transform the Research and Development (R&D) ecosystem in Africa through:

1. Designing and running a matching service between universities/research institutes based in all the regions of Africa and funding agencies for R&D.
2. Configuring and running Africa–wide platform–based capacity–building for universities/research institutes based in all of Africa’s regions, to increase their capabilities to do more and perform better on a sustained basis along the spectrum of implementation research.
3. Designing and developing prototypes in selected countries, to link country decision–making systems with national research systems for adoption/scale–up of R&D innovations.
4. Strengthening the African innovation–research ecosystem by developing and deploying connectors – platforms that have cross–cutting benefits to researchers and decision makers.

The overall responsibility of the Data Scientist is to maintain and update an existing database with institutional level information and to lead the development of a prototype for a research data repository. S/he will also contribute to the day–to–day running of the whole initiative.

Responsibilities:

1. Conduct tracking and sourcing of sector specific R&D data from across Africa for updating a regional data repository;
2. Develop an interactive data platform complete with a data archiving protocol/architecture, programming the protocols, data cleaning etc.;
3. Create automated systems for data harmonization and consistency checks;
4. Data cleaning and harmonization including conducting all the required consistency checks for data from various partners and studies;
5. Contribute to the development of scientific data standards;
6. Documentation of data sets from various partners according to agreed guidelines on data documentation, archiving and sharing;
7. Perform basic and advanced statistical analyses;
8. Facilitate discussions on data extraction, access and sharing protocols with project partners;
9. Participate in learning forums with stakeholders to inform regional and global discourses on R&D capacity in Africa;
10. Support efforts to enhance project visibility;
11. Write technical reports on data issues; and
12. Participate in grant writing.

Qualifications and Experience:

1. Bachelors or Master’s degree in computer science, statistics, economics, machine learning, or other related technical disciplines.
2. At least five years (for Bachelor degree holders) or three years (for Master’s degree holders) post qualification experience in managing, mining, processing, cleaning and quality assessment of data from diverse studies.
3. Experience in data management using relational databases such as MySQL or other is essential.
4. Experience in data documentation using software such as NESTAR or other is essential.
5. Experience in data analysis using STATA, R, SPSS or other statistical software.
6. Knowledge of a programming language such as Python, Perl, R, JAVA, or equivalent.
7. Experience working with longitudinal studies and handling large data sets is desirable.
8. Experience in visualizing/presenting data for stakeholders and the use of relevant data science tools kit.
9. Ability to regularly report and synthesize emerging information.
10. Good written communication and presentation skills.
11. Bilingual language skills (French and English) will be an added advantage.

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JOB DESCRIPTION
The APHRC seeks to recruit a Program Manager to work in the Research Capacity Strengthening (RCS) Division. The Program Manager will lead a large–scale initiative whose goals are to transform the (Research and Development) R&D ecosystem in Africa by:

1. Designing and running a matching service between universities/research institutes based in all the regions of Africa and funding agencies for R&D.
2. Configuring and running Africa–wide platform–based capacity building for universities/research institutes based in all of Africa’s regions, to increase their capabilities to do more and perform better on a sustained basis along the spectrum of implementation research.
3. Designing and developing prototypes in selected countries, to link country decision–making systems with national research systems for adoption/scale–up of R&D innovations.
4. Strengthening the African innovation–research ecosystem by developing and deploying connectors – platforms that have cross–cutting benefits to researchers and decision makers.

Responsibilities

1. Build and manage relationships with African universities and research institutes across the continent to enhance their readiness for large–scale funding from R&D funding agencies;
2. Build and manage relationships with multiple stakeholders in the Africa R&D ecosystem to create buy–in into the initiative and incorporate it into appropriate decision making mechanisms at national, regional and continental level;
3. Lead the assessment of individual and institutional capacities, categorize institutions based on their research capacity strengths and needs, and develop a capacity development plan in response to the needs assessments;
4. Oversee the execution of assigned research capacity strengthening and evaluation projects to ensure timely and efficient implementation of activities;
5. Enhance performance management and accountability of delivery systems in institutions selected for support;
6. Secure and manage the necessary human, financial and material resources in the program. This includes sourcing consultants and overseeing their work as well as overseeing a large project team;
7. Develop and roll out work plans, including tracking project implementation and expenditure plans and reporting schedules;
8. Provide leadership in specific project activities including desk reviews, in depth analysis, partner mapping and capacity assessments;
9. Produce technical reports from the various activities;
10. Lead outreach efforts to various funding agencies, and create buy–in into the initiative;
11. Represent the Center in high – level national, regional, continental and international forums including relevant technical working groups and expert committees on implementation research and research capacity strengthening;
12. Lead in proposal development and fundraising for the program; and
13. Lead efforts to publicize the initiative to relevant audiences.

Qualifications and Desirable Experience

1. PhD in Public Health, Public Policy, Health Systems or related field.
2. 6–10 years’ post–doctoral experience in developing and managing research capacity strengthening programs or knowledge translation and advocacy programs or in commercialization of innovations.
3. Experience managing large–scale (multi–year, multi–team, multi–country) projects in a leadership or senior management role.
4. Good understanding of the Higher Education/ R&D/ Policy landscape in sub–Saharan Africa.
5. Experience working in a research or academic institution conducting implementation research.
6. Experience engaging policy makers at national, regional, continental or global levels.
7. Excellent written communication and presentation skills.
8. Strong grant writing skills and track record of winning grants.
9. Bilingual language skills will be an added advantage.