National Public Health Institute (NPHI) Technical Officer, Western RCC at Amref Health Africa

Reporting To: RCC Coordinator
Directorate: Africa CDC / Office of the Deputy Director
Division: Regional Collaborating Centre (Western)

Partnership Between Amref and Africa CDC

• The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a specialized technical institution of the African Union (AU), has partnered with Amref Health Africa in pursuit of its vision, mission and strategic objectives.
• The ultimate objective of this partnership is to redefine Africa’s health security strategy in order to improve the public health systems on the African continent and in the global community by extension. This collaboration seeks to achieve but is not limited to the following:
  • Develop and strengthen the Africa health systems.
  • Enhance and strengthen African response capacity to public health emergencies.
  • Strengthen regional integrated surveillance and laboratory networks (RISLNET) in Africa.
  • Facilitate programmatic and scientific collaboration benefiting Member States.
  • Facilitate enhancement and strengthening of the programmatic and technical capacities via deployment of human resources.
  • Facilitate and enhance private sector engagement in the African health sector and other partnerships concerning workforce development, emergency response and public health networks.
• This partnership has an ambition to strengthen Africa CDC capacity to improve public health systems across Africa, to enhance the continent’s readiness to respond to disease threats, including the on-going response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This will be achieved through scaling up the capacity of the five Africa CDC Regional Coordinating Centers (RCCs) to support the continent to respond to health emergencies at the point of need, amplifying the capabilities and reach of the HQ team across all strategic pillars.
• With funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, this partnership will facilitate filling of urgent capacity gaps in the RCCs over the coming two years, recruiting and deploying up to 12 experts to strengthen the Centres and their work.

Job Purpose

• The NPHI Technical Officer, Western RCC will serve as the NPHI focal person in the RCC and liaise with Member States in the RCC to develop and strengthen their national public health institutes.
• Under the direct supervision of the RCC Coordinator, the staff will work closely with the Principal and Senior Technical Officers for National Public Health Institutes at the HQ and the RCC coordinator to strengthen NPHIs in Member States. The incumbent will perform any other assignments given by the RCC coordinator in implementing the NPHI support to Member States.

Job Responsibilities
Main Functions:

• Carry out a variety of technical assistance in the implementation of the National Public Health Institute and Research Division activities in the area of National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs), public health workforce development and research.
• Work closely with Member States’ NPHIs and the Africa CDC Regional Collaborating Centres (RCCs) to coordinate and monitor all the activities related to establishing NPHIs and strengthening their core capacities.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Support and assist activities of the Public Health Institutes and Research division with special focus on strengthening NPHIs in the RCC.
• Participate in capacity assessments and mentorships of NPHIs in the Region.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships and relationship with partners interested in strengthening National Public Health Institutes in the Region.
• Work closely with Member States’ NPHIs and the Regional collaborating Centres (RCCs) to coordinate and monitor all public health research and workforce development activities.
• Provide technical and administrative assistance to the RCC and work as a liaison to communicate activities done in this area to the Public Health Institutes and Research division.
• Support networking and peer-to-peer experience sharing among NPHIs in the Region.

Required Qualifications
Academic Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, Health Systems Management or a related health field from an accredited academic institution with at least two (2) years of relevant professional experience. Or
• University Degree in the above fields with five (5) years of relevant professional experience in Public Health, Health Systems Management, or related fields.

Relevant Experience:

• Experience in supporting implementation of public health programmes with emphasis on setting up Public Health Institutes, public health research, workforce development, health planning, or other related activities.
• Demonstrable technical expertise and experience in supporting and/or managing complex, public health programmes with special emphasis on public health research and workforce.
• Practical experience in setting up new institutions preferably for the health sector.
• Demonstrable experience and in-depth knowledge of operations of the Africa CDC, Regional Collaborating Centers, and National Public Health Institutes.
• Clear understanding of the health systems on the Continent and fair knowledge of operations of the Ministries of Health in Member States.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Demonstrable technical expertise and experience in supporting and/or managing complex, public health programmes with special emphasis on public health institutes.
• Demonstrable analytical skills as needed to respond to myriad programme management support issues.
• Demonstrable skills to conceptualize, plan, develop, implement, and evaluate resource management support requirements.
• Demonstrable familiarity with accepted tools, techniques and the Africa CDC framework for workforce development is an asset.
• Knowledge of oral communication techniques and skill in presentation delivery, programme consultation and credible verbal response to inquiries.
• Knowledge of interpersonal relationship practices and skills to meet and deal with persons of diverse backgrounds.
• Demonstrable proficiency in MS Word, MS Excel, Power Point, data visualization and statistical packages as well as data analysis skills are mandatory.
• Skills in programme monitoring and evaluation is an asset.

Competencies:

• Excellent organizational and time-management skills and a proven ability to deliver under tight deadlines and works well under pressure.
• Excellent skills and abilities applied to translating technical information into presentations, briefings and report and funding proposals for both technical and lay audiences.
• Strong interpersonal relationship, coordination, training facilitation, planning, organizing and communicating.

Languages:

• Fluency in English including excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Knowledge of two or more languages would be an added advantage.

Remuneration
Competitive based on qualification and experience.