Project Coordinator at FHI 360

Requisition: 2021200338
Reports to: The West Africa-Regional Advisor based in Accra, Ghana

Job Summary / Responsibilities

The Project Coordinator will support the West Africa Regional Advisor, Principal Investigator (PI), and other project staff in the overall programmatic and operational management of a CDC Global Health Security (GHS) Grant that has the general objective to improve prevention of avoidable epidemics including naturally occurring outbreaks and intentional or accidental releases of dangerous pathogens, to improve ability to rapidly detect threats early, including detecting, characterizing, and to report emerging biological threats by responding rapidly and effectively to public health threats of international concern. The Project Coordinator will specifically coordinate project activities in Nigeria.

In 2015 an Africa CDC Regional Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control and Prevention (RCSDC) was established with its’ headquarters in Nigeria.  The RCSDC aims to strengthen capacity of countries in the West Africa region to prevent and respond to avoidable epidemics. In Nigeria, the project will implement activities that will improve the capacity of the RCSDC to serve as a strong regional coordination center for West Africa.

This will include strengthening the IT infrastructure to facilitate communication and information exchange both within the RCSDC and with beneficiary entities in countries across the region. Work with the RCSDC will also include targeted technical assistance to strengthen specific pillars and structures of the RCDSC which are the weakest and are currently preventing them serving as a strong regional resource.

Specific Responsbilities

• The Coordinator will be responsible for supporting the development and strengthening of the Regional Collaborating Center for Surveillance and Disease Control (RCSDC).
• This support will include day-to-day project coordination and technical implementation including capacity building of the RCSDC.
• It will include coordinating support, implementing and reporting project activities, providing technical assistance to RCSDC staff and consultants hired for the project, roll out of new technologies, equipment upgrades and advanced support activities.
• The coordinator will liaise with the FHI 360 West Africa regional and HQ staff to ensure that all planned activities for the center are progressing and up to date; coordinates with M&E staff for the monthly and quarterly reports preparation and submission to the Headquarters Office .

Specific duties include, but are not limited to:

Project Coordination Support:

• Coordinates with the West Africa Regional Advisor and HQ staff to implement and track project activities and deliverables for the RCSDC.
• Collaborates with the West Africa Regional staff and HQ staff to identify and resolve project issues and develop corrective action plans;
• Responsible for providing technical guidance and leadership to project staff, consultants, and contractors in Nigeria.
• Manages and collaborates with third party suppliers/vendors where appropriate and ensures that vendor performance and provision of services and quality is in line with FHI 360 expectations that enable FHI 360 to meet or exceed service levels;
• Responsible for coordination with the RCSDC and other key stakeholders including, the West African Association of Health Ministries, the German International Development (GIZ), Africa and Nigeria CDC, private health, and other non-governmental diagnostic facilities (laboratories and point-of-care facilities);
• Coordinate project monitoring, evaluation, and reporting while closely working with the M&E advisor and the Project PI;
• Liaise with the FHI 360 ISS and the RCSDC IT Unit to ensure system-level support of multi-user operating systems, hardware, and software tools, including installation, configuration, maintenance, and support of infrastructure and network systems.
• Work with FHI 360 service units (Procurement, Contracts, Human Resources, Finance) to respond to project and client needs.

Technical Support:

• Leads technical assistance activities to build the capacity of the RCSDC to serve as a regional resource
• Supports a rapid assessment of the RCSDC IT infrastructure against the capacity needed to serve as a regional resource and support IT specialists to upgrade systems and equipment as needed
• Lead an assessment of the RCSDC technical pillars/departments to identify gaps and barriers preventing them to fully function and identify and implement solutions
• Develop SOW for consultants to build the capacity of RCSDC technical pillars/departments; identify consultants, secure agreements, and oversee their work
• Lead the preparation and oversight of capacity building programs for RCSDC
• Develop options for financial sustainability of the RCSDC including human resources and infrastructure
• Procures items required to upgrade the RCSDC as agreed.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree or its International Equivalent on Knowledge / Information Services, Environment, Health, Behavioral, Life / Social Science / Diagnostics.
• Requires a minimum of 5 years project management experience including experience with developing international programs and project management.
• Experience in IT or strategic information is a plus;
• Prior work experience in a non-governmental organization (NGO) is preferred;
• Ability to motivate, influence and collaborate with others.
• Ability to build positive working relationships with the various stakeholders’ communities, government officials and other multilateral bodies and donor representatives.
• Authorization to work in Nigeria.

Skills:

• Knowledge and experience in project management principles
• Solid knowledge and experience with incident management and operations services tools and systems.
• Strong oral and written communication skills. Ability to communicate effectively and tactfully with all levels of staff, individuals from diverse cultures, and the public.
• Ability to multi-task and self-motivate through assignments and routines.
• Ability to interact with a broad range of end-users and use various technical resources to provide support.
• Must speak and write fluent English.
• Knowledge of French is desirable.

Travel Requirements:

• At least 25 % within Nigeria.

This job description summarizes the main duties of the job. It neither prescribes nor restricts the exact tasks that may be assigned to carry out these duties. This document should not be construed in any way to represent a contract of employment. Management reserves the right to review and revise this document at any time