Deputy Chief of Party at University of Nairobi Enterprises and Services (UNES)

UNES/HLTHIT/DCOPT/10/2019

OVERVIEW

UNES Ltd is seeking to fill in the position of Deputy Chief of Party – Technical with qualified and highly competent individuals to join the Health IT Project Team. Health IT is a USAID funded Project that seeks to build capacity for the Ministry of Health and Implementing partners. The project is involved in the development and maintenance of health systems with the aim of strengthening quality of data.

Contract Duration: Two Years with Three Months Probationary Period

The DCOP-T leads the overall strategy, planning and implementation of the project to support the Government of Kenya (GOK) to develop and enhance integrated digital platforms that serve as important source of data for national and county program managers and policymakers, development partners, and civil society and private sector users who rely on health information to improve health outcomes. The position is responsible for optimal technical and human resource allocation -including task shifting- for the successful implementation of the project.

Reporting to the Chief of Party, the incumbent shall be tasked with the following responsibilities:

General Responsibilities

• As the project’s technical advisor, the Deputy Chief of Party -Technical provides strategic intelligence and technical assistance to the GOK Ministries, Departments, Agencies and the Project on Information System and Data Architecture for Digital Platforms and Interoperability.
• Implements the project strategies with a view to achieving project outcomes and ensures proper planning, organizing, budgeting, communication and collaboration with key project stakeholders
• Development, implementing, monitoring, reporting and evaluation of project work plan activities and budgets to ensure effective and efficient delivery of project goal, outcomes and key performance benchmarks.
• Lead the project team in meeting reporting requirements including on-demand and scheduled reporting requirements to MOH, DCS, USG and other stakeholders.
• Provides oversight on the conceptualization, design, development, implementation, and operationalization of digital systems.
• Support GOK in the review and/or implementation of data standards and protocols necessary for the integration of disparate systems;
• Review and implement appropriate business processes for various information systems
• Lead the enhancement and maintenance of various digital platforms.
• Provide leadership in implementing key strategic shifts in the implementation environment such as journey to self-reliance (J2SR). These would include institutional capacity and commitment by various stakeholders including national and county governments.
• Manage technical competencies and outputs of consultants, vendors of services and products for the relevant GOK digital systems.
• Manage the project delivery team to ensure work plan implementation, system development, systems documentation, reporting and dissemination
• Oversee overall quality assurances of information systems and data

Managerial Tasks

• Responsible for all aspects of project annual work planning, and ensures that quality operational plans, budgets, and reports are submitted as per contract agreements.
• Provides regular status and progress reports to the Chief of Party, PD, UNES and USAID
• Represents UNES and the project to the USAID Mission, the host country government and other key stakeholders.
• Facilitate collaboration and provide advice to the project on both systems strengthening and capacity building
• Provide input and manage the project’s system monitoring and evaluation activities

Competencies

1. Leading Change
   • Competencies in communicating both GOK and Project’s visions and inspire others to follow and commit to the vision.
   • Directly and openly address the concerns and issues caused by change.
   • Engage in collective thinking with others that enables new possibilities and new solutions to emerge.
2. Performance Monitoring and Feedback
   • Communicate clear performance expectations of the technical team members, and ensure accountability for outcomes.
   • Facilitate team members to take action by providing sufficient resources, and checking on progress of agreed upon tasks.
   • Ability to provide feedback and reinforce good performance and resolves issues associated with inadequate or poor performance.
3. Decision Making
   • Solicit input from others before making a decision in order to generate buy-in for decisions, and encourage staff to express differences of opinion.
   • Clearly communicate decisions in a timely manner.
4. Results and accountability oriented
   • Demonstrate a desire to address the needs and challenges of internal and external clients. 
   • Take personal responsibility for being responsive and timely in meeting colleagues’ and clients’ stated needs and completing work and results they commit to deliver.
5. Building and sharing expertise
   • Use available resources to build knowledge and proactively share knowledge
   • Ensure proper documentation of all stages of the project; document lessons learned from own experiences effect positive change
   • Apply expertise and experience to proactively innovate.

JOB SPECIFICATIONS

• Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or relevant field from an accredited University
• 8 years’ experience in Digital Development and implementation at country or enterprise level
• At least Five years working with GOK, USG or other development partners in a similar or equivalent position.
• Experience implementing DHIS2, OpenMRS, and Enterprise Architecture Frameworks is desired
• Understanding and application of Data exchange standards
• IT Management certification such as ITIL or PRINCE2 will be an added advantage