Senior Program Manager, EPI and Maternal and Child Health At Clinton Health Access Initiative

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

Program Overview

CHAI has partnered with the Government in Lao PDR since 2014, supporting the Ministry of Health (MOH) across several health programs including Supply Chain Strengthening, Malaria Elimination, HIV and TB Access, Oxygen, COVID-19, Emergency Operations, Laboratories and Health Information Systems. Since 2018, CHAI has been working closely with the Maternal and Child Health Center (MCHC) to increase access to sexual and reproductive health services and strengthen and sustain immunization (EPI), including in the context of Lao’s anticipated transition away from external financing of EPI and other MCH programs. Increasingly, our EPI/MCH approach aims to be patient rather than program centred and integrated within broader primary health care, aligned to MoH’s strategy and vision for achieving universal health coverage.

The EPI and Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Senior Program Manager will oversee a diverse team of CHAI staff to support the MoH to improve service delivery for women, children and families across Lao PDR. The current, evolving scope of work includes working with MoH counterparts, other development partners and CHAI teams to:

Improve planning and budgeting at national and sub-national level to ensure MOH resources are targeted to highest priority activities and plans routinely evaluated to understand impact on service delivery.
Assess and implement options for long-term sustainable immunization financing and program delivery, including through identifying cost savings and efficiencies, and within context of broader health financing reforms.
Developing and scaling integrated distribution systems for commodities; and increasing use of strategic supply chain information to identify and address supply availability gaps.
Implement data driven quality improvement initiatives at the provincial and district level to increase access, uptake, quality and equity of essential services, including testing local approaches to optimizing and sustaining the role of village health volunteers.
Provide, and support the EPI and MCH team to provide, hands-on training to MoH staff at all levels to increase capacity of local officials to develop and execute effective strategies that achieve and increase coverage within existing resource envelopes.

The Senior Program Manager will report to the Director, Primary Health Care and will be based in Vientiane, Lao PDR, but with travel within the country up to 25% of the time.

Responsibilities

Working together with and supported by the CHAI Lao PDR leadership team, the EPI and MCH Senior Program Manager will be responsible for:

Program Leadership

Lead the development and refinement of the EPI/MCH program’s strategic initiatives, ensuring ongoing alignment with the MOH strategic goals and priorities
Translate objectives determined in partnership with the government, donors, and other partner organizations into clear activity plans, and provide guidance to the EPI/MCH team on prioritization of initiatives
Work with MoH, donors, other partner organizations and CHAI staff in testing and scale-up of effective approaches to increase access to EPI/MCH services including strategy and design, development and implementation of evidence-based strategic and operational plans
Supervise, mentor and build capacity of a team of CHAI staff working at the national and provincial level providing strategic direction, managerial and technical support as well as quality assurance for the portfolio
Advise senior MOH staff on risks and opportunities in achievement of strategic goals and priorities
Identify strategic areas for expansion and guide proposal development as appropriate
Provide strategic input into CHAI’s overall global health strategy, including vaccines, and related programs
Serve as a senior advisor to CHAI leadership, both in country and externally, as well as to other CHAI managers and staff

Stakeholder Coordination

Establish strong collaborative relationships within CHAI and with the MOH, partner organizations and other relevant stakeholders and actively facilitate coordination of resources and efforts towards national EPI, MCH and health sector objectives
Collaborate with internal CHAI global and country teams to facilitate access to key information and stakeholders, provide updates, and leverage core competencies of the various CHAI teams

Relationship Management

Coordinate with donor organizations to provide progress updates, performance metrics, and other reporting requirements
Manage the EPI/MCH program budgets and liaise with appropriate CHAI internal and donor teams to meet all requirements
Oversee compliance with Ministry of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs reporting requirements

Perform other duties that may be assigned by country leadership.

Qualifications

Required:

Masters’ degree with a minimum of 8 years of work experience or Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 10 years of work experience in public health and health systems strengthening
Demonstrated experience in:
- Planning and implementation of large-scale projects, including strategy development, budgeting and activities planning and prioritization
- Team management, specifically mentoring and shaping diverse teams
- Thinking strategically, handling ambiguity, and problem solving in a fast-paced, limited-structure and multicultural environment
- Managing numerous work streams simultaneously in fluid, high-pressure environments
- Building and maintaining collaborative, senior-level relationships in a cross-cultural context; working and achieving consensus among multiple stakeholders
Experience working with Government bodies
Excellent analytical (qualitative and quantitative) skills, including attention to detail
Excellent communication (written and verbal) skills, including the ability to prepare and present compelling presentations and program planning and memo documents
Knowledge and experience in promoting the use of rigorous data for decision making
Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, proficiency in other software for data collection, analysis and/or visualization (e.g., DHIS2, RedCap, R, STATA, Tableau) an asset
Fluency in English