Technical Advisor at Medical Care Development International (MCDI)

Malaria Diagnostic Technical Advisor will be responsible for ensuring technical rigor on the implementation of malaria diagnostic service delivery activities in the assigned country and liaise with and maintain productive collaborative relationships with in-country partners such as 1) Advance the Progress of Malaria Service Delivery Consortium (PSI/MCDI/Jhpeigo/ UCSF/Global Health and Sciences/ MEI; 2) PMI/Country team and other PMI implementing partners; 3) Ministry of Health/National Malaria Control Program and other departments; 4) other stakeholders working in malaria, such as local NGO, private sector representatives, WHO country office, etc.

We are looking to hire technical advisors for the following countries: Sierra Leone, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, and Cameroon.

Essential Job Functions:

This position is contractual for one to five years depending on the needs expressed by USAID and reports to the MCDI Project HQ Country Backstopping team.

Local Office program backstopping for MCDI’s portfolio of malaria projects:

He/she may serve as the primary programmatic backstop for MCDI malaria projects assigned to him/her, leading and guiding strategic planning, program design, program monitoring and evaluation, work plan development, budget managements, local logistics including TDY visits and virtual support during weekly or bi-weekly teleconference and through regular activity reports, semi-annual and annual report and publications.

MCDI’s Malaria Diagnostic Technical Assistance:

She/he will provide MCDI with local-based technical leadership on malaria diagnostics, supervision and quality assurance/quality control on malaria diagnosis. This technical assistance includes (among others) the provision of technical assistance to Home Office and field teams, provide technical assistance to the MOH/NMCP on malaria diagnosis, provide training, develop SOPs, manuals, training materials, participate in manuscript preparation, semi-annual and annual report, represent of MCDI in regional and global technical working groups and consortia, promotion of MCDI’s capabilities with potential collaborating partners, and disseminating MCDI’s malaria experience to global audiences.

Other Functions:

Other functions will include, but not necessarily be limited to:

• Assist in the dissemination of the malaria case management (diagnostic and treatment) policy
• Track and report on accomplishment of activities in the workplan
• Submit weekly written /or verbal (during weekly calls) updates on the work undertaken under each of the areas described above, significant achievements, challenges, and plans for the coming week.
• Provide Case Management training and continued adaptation of materials for the enhanced case management (clinical and diagnostic) supervision process: Materials for the malaria case management (clinical and diagnostic) supervision process, based on mentoring concepts, will be drafted and vetted as needed with the NMCP.
• Identify barriers to care-seeking behavior and options for community-based service delivery.

Qualifications/Requirements:

• At least a Masters’ degree in biomedical Sciences. A PhD or Doctorate degree in Medical Biology will be highly regarded.
• At least 10 years of professional experience in malaria, especially on diagnosis, treatment, prevention, control and/or malaria elimination, either in an academic, research and/or program setting.
• Experience working with malaria donors such as USAID, World Bank, Global Fund, DFID will be preferred
• Experience in project management, managing staff and resources, mostly provided by malaria donors, to execute academic, research or field implementation programs.
• Experience in writing scientific report, manuscript and peer-reviewed publications.
• Good interpersonal skills, team player and makes her/himself available as needed
• Excellent written and oral communication skills,
• General professional proficiency in the French language is preferred.
• Very proficient in the use of the standard Microsoft Office package with particular experience using Words, Excel, PowerPoint and Internet Explorer.