Job Description
ABOUT VILLAGEREACH
VillageReach transforms health care delivery to reach everyone. We are driven by a vision of a world where each person has the health care needed to thrive. VillageReach’s goal is to reduce inequities in access to quality primary health care for 350 million people by 2030. We work with governments, the private sector, partners and communities to build responsive primary health care systems that deliver health products, information and services to the most under-reached. As a locally driven and globally connected organization, VillageReach has offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and the United States.
Summary
Project background
VillageReach Malawi, with funding from the Gavi Alliance (“Gavi”), is conducting an implementation research project to:
1) Understand how integration of HPV vaccine and adolescent health service delivery can be improved during outreach services to better appeal to adolescents, their caregivers and health workers;
2) Implement proposed solutions identified through point 1 and continually gather feedback to refine implementation and understand contextual facilitators of success, and
3) Evaluate differences in outcomes of interest in intervention areas relative to control areas.
This participatory implementation research project is being implemented in Malawi and Mozambique for a period of 16months starting August 2024 and until December 2025. The primary outcome is: Increased HPV vaccination coverage among girls (9-14 years old). Secondary outcomes of interest include: Improved adolescent health service uptake (i.e. # adolescents who attend outreach sessions, # adolescent 9-14 who receive any health service other than HPV vaccination during an outreach session). This project will contribute new evidence on logistical feasibility, adolescent/caregiver acceptability of HPV vaccine delivery approaches, and the cost of the integrated service approach as key drivers and proxies of HPV uptake sustainability. The project employs a human centered design approach to engage with targeted communities, stakeholders and beneficiaries to identify barriers to and co- create solutions that will improve HPV vaccine uptake.
Role description
Essential Duties and Responsibilities are outlined below. Other duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned at any time.
Program Management and Program Quality (70%)
The Immunization Coordinator shall ensure high quality of program implementation by undertaking the following roles:
- Provide day-to-day programmatic support for the Gavi HPV Research project, across phases of start-up, design, implementation, and dissemination.
- Coordinate and support the execution of project activities, working closely with technical counterparts within VillageReach Malawi, Mozambique and global team members to ensure quality and timely execution of activities against defined work plans.
- Update project work plans as agreed by cross-country HPV project team and provide inputs to prepare for quarterly project reviews and reporting in line with VillageReach Malawi country office schedule.
- Under supervision of M&E Manager, lead and support all field work implementation at subnational level, including hiring and supervising data collectors and research assistants as needed to complete the scope of work
- Prepare update reports for submission as required by the donor, VillageReach global team members, project Award Manager and VillageReach Malawi management.
- Provide the M&E Manager with support to monitor donor programmatic and financial compliance requirements to ensure efficiency in achieving donor deliverables.
- Provide regular feedback to immediate supervisor and coordinate and collaborate with other VillageReach team members ensuring cross coordination and complementarity of VillageReach Malawi program activities.
- In collaboration with M&E Manager, supervise all subnational level project staff (if relevant), ensuring high quality delivery of planned activities
Partnership Management (10%)
- In collaboration with the M&E manager, build and manage relationships with the Ministry of Health, relevant District Health Offices, and relevant regulatory bodies to ensure effective collaboration and partnership in the implementation of the Gavi HPV Research project.
- Coordinate with VillageReach’s implementing partners to ensure strong collaboration and timely completion of all projects’ deliverables.
- Represent VillageReach at EPI immunization technical meetings and other relevant meetings and initiatives.
- In collaboration with the M&E Manager, develop and make effective project presentations on behalf of VillageReach to senior MoH, donor and INGO partners to share progress, findings and advocate for the project scale up.
Business Development (10%)
- Collaborate with the business Development Manager to support resource mobilization for immunization programs
Contribute to development of concept notes/proposals for new business development for VillageReach Malawi in the immunization sector based on experiences and knowledge gained from the HPV project.
Budget Management (10%)
- Provide the M&E Manager with support to monitor donor programmatic and financial compliance requirements to ensure efficiency in achieving donor deliverables.
- Manage budget indicated by M&E Manager such that activities stay within allocated ceilings, and proactively communicate related concerns and solutions to M&E Manager, as needed
Other
- Support implementation of other related VillageReach projects aligned to incumbent’s technical expertise.
- Perform any other duties as may be assigned by the supervisor.
This position reports to the M&E Manager. The incumbent will collaborate and coordinate with the M&E Manager to ensure programmatic alignment and for performance reporting and monitoring. This role will also collaborate with other VillageReach Managers and with global team staff based in the Africa region and in the United States. This position will be based in Malawi.
Competencies:
VillageReach has ten (10) Organizational Competencies that describe how we work together and get things done that are grouped into three strategic areas of Achieving Great Results, Setting Direction and, Bringing Others With you. For a full description, please download our Organizational Competency document.
Achieving Great Results:
1. Risk Taking and Innovation
· Key Behaviors: Comfort with ambiguity, curiosity, adaptability, unconstrained and undeterred creativity, resourcefulness.
2. Business Judgement
· Key Behaviors: Getting to root causes, understanding environment, navigating complexity and ambiguity, entrepreneurial energy.
3. Building Strong Teams
· Key Behaviors: Trust in Subject Matter Experts (SME’s); radical candor to resolve conflict, hold each other accountable as colleagues, focused on results, commitment to mission.
Setting Direction:
1. Compelling Communication
· Key Behaviors: Clear and evidence-based communication, audience adaptability, curious listener.
2. Resilient Self Leadership
· Key Behaviors: Self-aware, plan how one shows up, emotionally intelligent, use one’s own agency and takes accountability.
3. Stewardship and Personal Alignment
· Key Behaviors: Take ownership, display ethical conduct, effective at resource management, alignment of personal objectives with organizational goals and mission, focus on continuous improvement and sustainability.
Bringing Others with You:
1. Influencing Leadership
· Key Behaviors: Cultivate trust, influences to make change, navigate the matrix structure.
2. Radical Partnership
· Key Behaviors: Share information and credit, address conflict, increase impact through collaboration, political and contextual awareness.
3. Cultivates a Growth Mindset
· Key Behaviors: Seek out diverse input, demonstrate flexibility in thinking and curiosity, embrace challenges, demonstrate persistence, seek learning opportunities.
4. Cultural Intelligence and Inclusion
· Key Behaviors: Continuous learning and ally-ship across cultural lines, challenge prejudice and bias, modeled in one’s own behavior.
Requirements
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
This position has some supervisory responsibilities. The position will supervise data collectors and research assistants as needed and as recruited by the project.
Education & Experience:
- A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Public Health, with clinical or nursing background; or Masters in public health research or any other related field.
- 3-5 years’ experience implementing community health programs and some experience at management level. Higher experience is desirable.
- A proven track record of leading successful implementation of activities in the public health sector in relation to immunization programming.
- Strong understanding of public health programs, immunization programming and public health research challenges in Malawi
- Excellent interpersonal skills to effectively communicate with cross functional teams and external stakeholders
- Strong analytical skills and ability to make technical decisions, recommendations, and conclusions based upon data.
- Experience in implementing and monitoring programs.
- Ability to work effectively in a busy, high-pressure and culturally diverse team environment
- Ability to prioritize workload and demonstrate outcomes on strict deadlines
- Strong oral and written communications skills
Other Qualifications:
- Established cultural competency in partnering with racial, cultural and linguistically diverse groups.
- Demonstrated understanding of challenges with working in rural, underserved and low-income context; experience living in and/or working in a low-income country a plus.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel) and comfortable in a fast-paced technical environment.
- Ability to define and set priorities and problem solve
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced organization and work with flexibility, efficiency, enthusiasm, diplomacy, and cultural sensitivity.
- High level of interpersonal communications skills to establish and maintain strong working relationships with colleagues, donors and partners and demonstrated experience in creating high-level collaborations.
- Excellent project management and organizational skills with willingness to tackle process challenges, develop tools, and reinforce internally
- Excellent writing skills with ability to translate complex information into clear language
- Fluent in Oral and written English and Chichewa