Overview
Global Health Technical Professionals (GHTP) is a US Agency for International Development (USAID) program that offers early- to mid-career global health professionals the opportunity to advance their careers supporting the USAID Bureau for Global Health and its implementing partners. GHTP is helping USAID improve global health outcomes in communities around the world by building a new generation of global health technical professionals who reflect the diversity of the American people.
Credence Management Solutions, LLC (Credence) is seeking Heath System Quality Advisor within USAID’s Bureau for Global Health, Office of Health Systems.
Summary Statement
The Office of Health Systems is the Bureau’s and the Agency’s center of excellence and focal point for providing worldwide leadership and technical expertise in cross-cutting health systems strengthening. Health systems strengthening is a process that enables countries, their people and institutions to work across public and private sectors to optimize resources, improve equity and enhance quality of priority health services for sustainable health system performance and improved health outcomes. This is done by working across six interrelated core functions (governance, financing, service delivery, health workforce, information, and medicines/vaccines/other technologies). The Office is responsible for developing and communicating USAID’s approach to health systems strengthening and advises mission, health element, and other Agency operating units (OUs) regarding best practices and operational approaches in health system strengthening. The Office also works to influence the priorities of external stakeholders to support cross-cutting health systems strengthening as part of other initiatives, including other US government agencies, partner country governments, donors, firms, and civil society. The Office serves as a hub for health systems strengthening knowledge and talent management; designs and coordinates flagship global implementation mechanisms for health systems strengthening; and provides technical support to USAID mission programs and staff.
Job Requirements
The Health System Quality Advisor is a member of the Quality Team within the Office of Health Systems (OHS) of the Bureau for Global Health (GH). The Advisor serves as a technical expert on complex and precedent-setting programmatic and policy issues in a broad range of topics that are critical to the functioning of USAID health sector activities. Her/his primary responsibilities are providing health system strengthening technical assistance to USAID operating units in Washington and in the field, and supporting effective design, implementation, and management of USAID-funded health system activities. In particular, the Advisor provides technical guidance on achieving quality as an intermediate outcome of a high-performing and resilient country health system. USAID’s Vision for Health System Strengthening 2030 defines a quality health system as one that is responsive to patient and population needs and utilizes data-informed, continuous process improvement to consistently provide safe, effective, trusted, and equitable healthcare and medical products to improve and maintain health outcomes for all people. The Vision outlines a holistic approach to enhancing health system quality, expanding beyond clinical care to a system-wide approach, and expanding the range of required stakeholders to a ‘whole-of-society’ effort to achieve quality. The Advisor will collaborate on team, office, bureau, and agency work streams and initiatives to advance the achievement of country health system quality.
The Advisor interacts with a wide range of stakeholders including technical counterparts, policy experts, senior leaders, other donors, multilateral organizations, private sector entities, and implementing partners.
The individual must develop a strong working knowledge of USAID technical strategies, priorities, policies, and guidelines as well as corporate practices and procedures related to the programming cycle. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty listed below satisfactorily.
Responsibilities
Technical Guidance
- Serves as a technical expert and advisor on policy, planning, and programs in support of achieving quality as an intermediate outcome of high-performing and resilient country health systems.
- Serves as a technical authority and resource in areas including, but not limited to, health system governance and leadership structures and processes for ensuring quality; applying quality improvement methodologies to the overall stewardship of health systems (at district, facility, and community levels); institutionalizing continuous quality improvement for health care delivery and health worker performance; and optimizing the organization and structure of care, including coordination of intra- and inter-sectoral health system networks and partnerships and strengthening collaborations with private health entities and other public sectors.
- Provides advice and recommendations to bureau senior leadership officials on key issues related to enhancing country health system quality in developing countries.
- Serves as lead in gathering technical resources and analyzing data and information on a range of health system topics, including health policy related to strengthening health system quality; health sector governance and processes for ensuring quality; application and institutionalization of quality improvement methodologies at all levels of the health system for health care delivery and health worker performance; and the organization and structure of care for optimal health system quality.
- Provides recommendations on OHS efforts to track and capture lessons learned from USAID’s health system strengthening programming with a focus on quality.
- Represents OHS and USAID in internal and external meetings, technical working groups, conferences, and other fora (with the U.S.G. inter-agency, other donors, multilateral organizations, private foundations, international non-governmental organizations, commercial sector partners, and/or other international partners) in relation to designing and implementing health system strengthening interventions in global health programs and strategies and/or promoting understanding of improved knowledge and methods related to achieving quality as an intermediate outcome of a high-performing and resilient health system.
Project Management:
- Coordinates centrally (USAID/Washington) managed grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, or other implementation instruments for global health system strengthening programs.
- Provides technical guidance on the preparation of scopes of work, budgets, and monitoring, evaluation, and learning plans.
- Advises on the monitoring and analysis of project/program budgets and implementation through the collection and use of program and other sources of data including via field visits.
- Provides oversight and management coordination of contractual, financial, reporting, and accountability processes, and suggests process improvement and resolution of problems to further effective project implementation.
- Advises on health system strengthening activities that may include research that enables USAID to advance state-of-the-art and improved approaches in health system strengthening.
- Manages daily communications and correspondence with implementing partners and USAID’s global Missions.
Strategy Development and Program/Project Design and Improvement:
- Advises on the design and development of new health system strengthening strategic approaches and program/project designs.
- Provides technical guidance and expert input to inform bureaus and missions, presidential initiatives, implementing partners, and other collaborators in the development of strategies and approaches related to strengthening health system quality, including health sector governance and processes for ensuring quality, application and institutionalization of quality improvement methodologies at all levels of the health system, and the organization and structure of care for optimal health system quality.
- Guides Missions in carrying out analyses, feasibility studies, strategy development, and project design for health system strengthening programs.
OHS Quality Team:
- Contributes technical expertise and insights to development and implementation of the learning agenda and work plan for the OHS Quality Team.
- Participates in designing strategic approaches and health system interventions that promote continuous quality and performance improvement within partner country health systems.
- Leads development and facilitation of select portions of the agency’s core course on health system strengthening which aims to build a generation of USAID staff who are equipped with timely and relevant knowledge and tools to critically analyze system issues from multiple perspectives to inform the appropriate design and implementation of programming related to strengthening resilient national, regional, and local health systems, and to effectively measure and sustain health outcomes.
- Collaborates with team members in support of work streams and initiatives to advance the achievement of country health system quality.
Professional Development:
- Participates in professional continuing education, skills training and professional meetings to enhance relevant technical skills and career development.
- Completes and executes an Individual Learning and Training Plan and Annual Work Plan.
Qualifications
- Master’s degree and 7 years of professional experience or Bachelor’s degree and 9 years of professional experience. Academic degree must be in public health, a related social science, or other field relevant to this JD.
- At least 5 years of professional experience with two or more public/global health technical disciplines (such as, HIV/AIDS, Infectious Diseases, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Nutrition, etc); job duties/responsibilities specifically related to JD requirements.
- Demonstrated knowledge of and professional experience in health system strengthening in low resource countries/settings, preferably including experience in quality as an intermediate outcome of high-performing and resilient country health systems.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Excellent organizational and management skills. Demonstrated ability to work effectively and flexibly on complex, simultaneous, evolving tasks and challenges.
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships with people of diverse professional, educational, and cultural backgrounds. Excellent teamwork skills.
- Strong oral and written communication skills in English.
- International and/or domestic travel up to 20%.
- US citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain Secret level clearance required.