Fresh Jobs at Malaria Consortium

Job purpose

To work with the programme national team and through a cluster structure to effectively manage project activities and resources, provide leadership and stewardship to the project team and maintain collaborative links with the project’s key stakeholders in Kogi, Nasarawa and Oyo states; while directing providing management oversight to the FCT Abuja office and programme activities 

Key working relationships

The Zonal Project Manager (ZPM) would be responsible for managing the FCT project office, line-management of Kogi, Nasarawa and Oyo States Programme Managers (SPMs) who work with the state teams and stakeholders, especially the State Ministries of Health (SMoH) and LGA Departments of Health/Primary Health Care (PHC); to rollout and implement SMC activities in these states. S/he would report to the Programme Director (PD).

The ZPM will directly manage rollout in FCT and support the above mentioned three SPMs to lead rollout in their respective states. The role will be part of the senior management team of the programme contributing to the overall project strategy and support the PD as may be required for national tasks. The role is also expected to work with other project functional leads and MC country office functional leads to ensure MC policies are followed in the all the three states in the cluster. S/he will take the lead and accountability especially for the programme management functions capacity, tools and processes are used in the management of the programme activities.

Scope of work

The ZPM would support the programme activities at state levels, overseeing the FCT/Kogi/Nasarawa/Oyo cluster of states to ensure timely project delivery of the programme to achieve given targets and objectives. However, s/he would directly manage the daily activities and rollout of SMC in the FCT Abuja.

Key accountabilities

Project Management (60%)

• Work with the programme team and other relevant personnel in the country office to lead activities for smooth project start up and planning in line with the SMC Malaria Project Implementation Plan.
• Work with the relevant personnel to prepare all necessary project start up and planning tools on time.
• To build and performance manage an effective and technically unsurpassed SMC project team in the cluster states.
• Work directly with the PD and be responsible for coordinating overall project implementation in the assigned states and see that activities are carried out on time and within budget.
• Liaise regularly with the PD to provide timely and comprehensive updates and reports as required.
• Liaise with other partners relevant for successful SMC malaria implementation in three cluster states and the FCT Abuja.
• Liaise with state stakeholders to get their buy-in and ensure effective implementation of SMC activities in the three states and FCT Abuja.
• Ensure the drug distribution campaign is carried out according to guidelines, on schedule and in compliance to donor funding requirements.
• Organize and participate in the training of FCT, Area Council and community volunteer’s teams involved in the distribution activities.
• Participate in the FCT and Area Council level microplanning meetings for the distribution activities.
• Be responsible for timely financial accountability for any disbursed funds for project activities in the assigned states/FCT.
• Support the SMoH/FCT Department of Health to develop SMC scale–up plan especially in the period after the project period.
• Duty of care on all MC staff and engaged TAs for the SMC campaign.
• Work with the project team to develop and implement annual work plans.
• Work with the Country and Project Finance teams to prepare and track progress for project and activity budgets for the FCT; while supporting Kogi, Nasarawa and Oyo states.
• Be responsible for zonal project budget management and reporting (as may eb required).
• Work with the Finance team and PD to prepare quarterly financial reports.
• Work with the relevant Country office personnel and the PD to prepare an exit strategy and to implement it, to see to the smooth end of the programme.
• Coordinate with other donors and implementers to ensure complementarity of implementation of the SMC malaria project in project states by leveraging resources and harmonizing efforts where possible.
• Work with the Country Communication Manager, and PD, for social mobilization to see that a programme communications strategy is developed and implemented.
• Coordinate the documentation of SMC supported activities in form of activity-specific reports and ensure proper archiving of such for easy access and reference.
• Attends and represents MC in the FCT level coordination meetings.
• Be responsible for quarterly lessons identification and learning documentation and dissemination.
• Be responsible for building functional partner relationships among the project’s stakeholders.
• Oversee project partner’s inputs and subcontractors’ activities to deliver harmonized, aligned and effective outputs
• Manage risks to Malaria Consortium including financial, reputation and security in a challenging environment.
• Work with the Project M&E Officers, M&E Manager and Operational Research Specialist to ensure that high quality project data is collected, analysed and disseminated to relevant stakeholders at all levels.

Technical contributions (10%)

• Work with the project teams, PD to determine technical support needs to implement the project effectively and with high quality. Liaise with the PD to obtain regional or global technical support.
• Contribute to the development and production of dissemination documents to allow wider sharing of Malaria Consortium’s experiences, lessons and successes.

Technical performance management and Quality Assurance (20%)

• Take the lead in monitoring and evaluating project performance within the FCT and assigned cluster of states.
• Keep abreast with evidence and best practices that are related to the project.

Representation (10%)

• Work with the PD to participate in national level meetings and workshops to represent the PF/SMC programme at programmatic and coordination events.
• Work with the PD to keep key national stakeholders abreast of the programme activities.
• To exert influence and to advocate for Malaria Consortium’s key technical positions and promote best practice in SMC interventions

Person specification

Qualifications and experience:        

Essential:      

• Postgraduate or Master’s degree in Public Health, Health Policy, Epidemiology or another relevant specialty is a minimum requirement; with minimum 10 years post graduate experience.
• Extensive experience of working at national or state level in developing countries.
• Excellent project planning, management and M&E skills.
• Experience managing project budgets
• Proven leadership skills and team leading
• Experience in advocacy and policy influencing
• Excellent written and spoken English

Desirable: 

• At least 2 years’ experience on SMC-supported project.
• Advance knowledge of Microsoft office (especially MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint).

go to method of application »

Job purpose

The Research and Knowledge Management Specialist will support the implementation of the organisation research strategy and knowledge development objectives. The Research Specialist will lead the inception, design, management, and implementation of selected research projects, within the themes and scope of the research strategy. He/she will provide methodological oversight to research projects through technical assistance, technical involvement, mentoring, and developing and maintaining research guides and tools, with a particular focus on quantitative methods and analysis. He/she will provide technical support in the conduct of research projects and technical support to increase their potential for research uptake. He/she will also ensure that lessons learnt/insight from implementation, evidence and programmatic achievements are effectively communicated and disseminated to strengthen Malaria Consortium’s profile, position and brand.

Key accountabilities

Technical (40%)

• Act as a resource point in the Country team for technical issues related to knowledge and research
• Work with the project managers and teams to capitalize on synergies related to research activities, including effective coordination between projects and the promotion of cross-project learning
• Work with project managers to support the routine capture of learning from projects, documenting and sharing draft lessons learned with key staff, including the Senior Learning Specialist in the UK
• Provide technical support to the Ministry of Health, other authorities, and partners, where appropriate through active participation in relevant national technical working groups
• Develop training materials as well as information tools and materials (print and multi-media communication materials)
• Lead in the implementation of country level formative research and other research within the organization in collaboration with the Senior Country Technical Coordinator and other project teams to fill priority gaps in evidence
• Conduct regular supportive supervision visits with project managers and ensure research and capacity building related activities are carried out in a timely and efficient manner
• Design and implement effective learning activities – in collaboration with other Malaria consortium country team members
• Work with the Senior Country Technical Coordinator to scope and implement appropriate and effective knowledge capture and sharing activities

Documentation & External Relations (50%)

• Develop and implement a country programme external relations plan to position Malaria Consortium Nigeria with key national stakeholders, increasing the visibility of the project and outcomes in-country
• Collaborates with staffs across a Project to share best practices in programme implementation
• Work with project managers to ensure project-specific documentation plans are developed and coordinated, and that plans include clear communication outputs for visibility and knowledge sharing
• Support the project managers to embed learning activities into project planning  
• Work with project managers and Senior Learning Specialist in the UK to support learning/knowledge capture and dissemination processes and ensure effective and timely sharing of achievements, evidence, successes  
• Working closely with the External Relations team (especially the publications sub-team) in the UK, lead on the production of material that highlights projects’ activities and successes for print (i.e. brochures), media (i.e. press releases and ensure regular flow of content for high quality publications and outputs.
• Coordinate the writing, production, and dissemination of project learning/technical outputs (learning briefs, research briefs, technical briefs)
• Oversee all external communications activities, materials, reports, and presentations to ensure they conform to Malaria Consortium house style and quality standards in terms of presentation, consistency, grammar, and formatting
• Ensure a consistent visual brand for publications and conference materials, leading the Creative Designer in refreshing templates and developing new designs/visual formats
• Oversee and guide the organization in copyright licensing and other legal requirements
• Manage processes to commission external copyeditors and translators, to ensure quality and consistency standards are met
• Monitor the online publications database, working with the Senior Publications Officer and Communications Officer to continuously improve its design, user journey and content
• Oversee good practice on publications dissemination and work with communications staff to maximize outreach to all external audiences

Strategic contributions (10%)

• Participate in the Public Health Communications Internal Community of Practice to integrate best practices in country level programming and to strengthen Malaria Consortium’s technical approach to Programme implementation
• Participate in identifying opportunities for research work and in writing proposals to expand the organization’s research visibility, and capabilities.
• Participate in relevant national meetings and international conferences
• Lead in the development of Programme reports and other documents such as abstracts and articles for publication.

Person specification

Qualifications and experience:

Essential

• PhD, or MSc with extensive experience, in Public Health, Global Health, Epidemiology or a related research discipline with a substantial quantitative research component.
• Substantial experience in quantitative and qualitative research design and management; experience in operational and/or implementation research
• Experience securing large research grants or multiple research funding
• Experience providing technical and programmatic leadership in research
• Substantial experience in publishing work in peer-reviewed journals, writing strategies, briefing papers, press releases, concept notes, use of social media etc.
• Experience and understanding of working with Ministries of Health in policy and strategy formulation related to research
• Experience of designing and/or implementing research uptake strategies
• Experience in designing, planning, implementing, and evaluating research project within the public health space in Nigeria
• Direct experience in developing training materials delivering capacity building strategies
• Knowledge of the Nigeria health and/or development sector
• Foundational knowledge of public health approaches

Work-based skills and competencies:

• Excellent skills in quantitative and qualitative research methods including operations and/or implementation research.
• Ability to synthesize key concepts and convey messages to diverse audiences
• Strong analytic, strategic thinking and planning skills
• Handon experience in the use of data analysis packages both quantitative and qualitative (SPSS, R program, SAS, STATA, Atlas ti, NVivo, QDA Miners etc)
• Excellent computer skills (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, or other design software)
• Excellent academic/scientific publication writing skills
• Good presentation and facilitation skills
• Ability to take initiative and manage assignments from conceptualization to completion
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple research projects with conflicting time frames
• Able to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences inside and outside the organisation
• Able to provide remote support to research teams
• Excellent personal and time management skills
• Meticulous attention to detail and accuracy
• Problem solving attitude
• Positive work attitude
• Interpersonal skills
• Flexibility, and able to work under pressure and to tight deadlines