Fellowship Coordinator At African Population and Health Research Center

The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is a leading Africa-based, African-led, international research institution headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. APHRC conducts policy-relevant research on population, health, education, urbanization and related development issues in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Countdown 2030 Initiative for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (CD2030) is a global partnership of academic institutions, universities, and UN agencies that aims to improve the measurement and monitoring of women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health. The project focuses on intervention coverage and inequality coverage and strengthens regional and national capacities on evidence generation and use. As part of the consortium, APHRC is leading the Countdown work in SSA. Through regional networks, the Center brings together research and public health institutions with ministries of health from countries in the region to strengthen the evidence and advocacy in support of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) and nutrition programs.

Through APHRC, CD2030 will offer a one-year fellowship program to strengthen analytical capacities for monitoring RMNCAH+N. Countdown to 2030 will engage Country Fellows directly or indirectly in collaborations and country progress monitoring. Every year, CD2030 will host a competitive process to select about ten fellows to take part in a 12-month fellowship to work on a specific project.

The APHRC seeks to recruit the Countdown Fellowship Coordinator who will coordinate, monitor and document the program.

Responsibilities

• In collaboration with the Countdown Secretariat, coordinate the selection process of country fellows including, preparing a concept note of the fellowship program, advertisement, shortlisting and interviews;
• Engage with the country collaboration partners to communicate all relevant information on the fellowship program;
• Ensure regular follow-up of and support to the fellows during the fellowship and provide quarterly updates to the APHRC / Countdown leadership on progress of the fellows;
• Support the development of tailored training agenda for country fellows;
• Support the identification of training facilitators within and outside the Countdown technical partners;
• Organize logistics of the annual training sessions for each cohort of fellows;
• Conduct formative assessment (e.g. training needs assessment prior to training to identify skills and knowledge gaps to be addressed) and summative assessment (e.g. end of training/follow up evaluation survey to assess effectiveness and impact of the training on participants and/or institutions);
• Communicate with Countdown Seceretariat to identify the training needs and map out development plans;
• Facilitate fellows’ registration to APHRC short course sessions depending on identied gaps (e.g. Grants Proposal Writing, Impact Evaluation, Implementation Research, Mixed Methods Research, Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis, Scientific Writing, or others);
• Manage the curriculum database and training records and maintain/update training materials and equipment;
• Contribute to program sustainability by supporting training-related proposal development; and
• Contribute to scientific writing based on data collected routinely as part of the Countdown monitoring and evaluation processes.

Qualifications and Experience

• Masters in Education or Public Health (preferably with emphasis in curriculum & instruction) or related field.
• Experience and strong interest in research capacity strengthening and instructional design.
• Demonstrated prior experience in training curriculum development and implementation (e.g., experience in facilitating short course training to graduate students, or other practicing researchers).
• Experience with various training methods (including virtual, in-person training, and blended offering) and up-to-date with new training methods and techniques.
• Computer literacy in Microsoft packages (e.g. MS Word, MS PowerPoint, & MS Excel).
• Excellent oral and written communication in English. Proficiency in French is an advantage.

Desirable

• Expertise in RMNCAH research.
• Experience with e-learning platforms.
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills and ability to work in a culturally diverse team.
• Good record of scientific publications.
• Ability to facilitate training sessions in French.