Program Manager, CRVS Improvement Program Asia Pacific At Vital Strategies

Job Purpose

Vital Strategies, headquartered in New York City, is an international public health organization. Our programs strengthen public health systems and address the world’s leading causes of illness, injury, and death. We currently work in 73 countries, supporting data-driven decision making in government, advancing evidence-based public health policies, and mounting strategic communication campaigns. Vital Strategies’ priorities are driven by the greatest potential to improve and save lives. They include non-communicable disease prevention, cardiovascular health promotion, tobacco control, road safety, obesity prevention, epidemic prevention, environmental health, vital statistics systems building, and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis treatment research. Our programs are concentrated in low- and middle-income countries and cities in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific. Please visit our website at www.vitalstrategies.org to find out more about our work.

The Position

This position supports the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative, which aims to enhance public health data collection and use in low- and middle-income countries. The goal of the initiative is to ensure that a billion more people live in countries where data are used to steer public policy and program decisions. Under the Initiative, Vital Strategies, in partnership with other global public health organizations, is implementing a multi-year program to improve civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) in numerous countries and municipalities in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific. Vital Strategies has full responsibility for provision of technical assistance to several of these.

The CRVS Improvement Program involves interventions designed to improve the registration of births and deaths; improve the availability and quality of cause of death information for both facility- and home-based events and improve the timeliness of available vital statistics information and reports.

The Program Manager – Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Improvement Program, Asia and Pacific primary responsibilities are to manage efforts to provide administrative and logistical support for planning and implementation of CRVS work plans in collaboration with other members of the CRVS team. This will include supervising, managing, and building the capacity of the Program Assistants regarding the program main administrative processes and procedures. The Program Manager will work under the direct supervision of the Regional Deputy Director.

Duties and Responsibilities

Program Manager – Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Improvement Program, Asia and Pacific

Reporting to Regional Deputy Director (DD), CRVS Improvement Program, the Program Manager duties shall include:

Coordination: Provide managerial and administrative backstopping to the Regional DD, and the Technical Advisors (TAs), Program Assistants (PAs), and Country Coordinators (CCs) who comprise the Country Teams

• Support PAs to coordinate operational, logistics, and financial support to meeting convening, and implementation of activities in Asia and the Pacific Countries (e.g., checking on funds transfers, making logistical arrangements for technical experts, in-country work, and ensuring correct allocation of expenses to activities)
• Support TAs and mentor and build capacity for PAs, following internal policies in development of consultant contracts, memorandum of understanding, and subgrant agreements before submission to the Regional Deputy Director for review.
• Support efforts for coordination and collaboration among VS programs across public health in the APAC region as assigned.
• Coordinate with stakeholders on the development and submission of programmatic and budgetary reports as required
• Provide project management support to Technical Advisors as agreed and requested
• Manage and set work program for Program Assistant
• Provide other program and implementation support to the DD, including but not limited to, scheduling team meetings, processing expense reimbursements, and participate in country implementation calls

Program Operations & Reporting **

• Lead/assist in the negotiation and completion of contracts & advice on financial component (budgets/payment terms/reporting) for vendors and subgrantees as requested by Program
• Review financial reports from contractors/subgrantees, the reconciliation, coding, and reporting of program commitments and expenses
• Review regular progress reports and track progress from in-country implementing partners and generate summaries and recommendations for the initiative’s Director.
• Supervise and report workplan budget
• Contribute to the development of a feasible implementation schedule for project completion and determine deadline for key project milestones and deliverables
• Contribute to monitoring progress of the implementation of country level activities and track impact against key project milestones and deliverables (e.g., work plan outputs)
• Serve as local focal point for ensuring compliance with procurement policies and procedures, and for identifying sourcing and advertising channels, supporting competitive biddings/requests for proposals, reviewing contracts.
• Work with line managers and finance staff to maintain full situational awareness of implementation and financial status of the CRVS program; flag and raise issues to CRVS Director and Leadership Team as encountered

Partnerships and Advocacy

• Participate in drafting and ensure execution of agreements with relevant in-country stakeholders and external consultants (e.g., Memorandum of Understanding, Sub-grant agreements, and other contracts)
• Collaborate Work with project team and government counterparts to coordinate operational, logistics, and financial reporting and accountability (e.g., checking on funds transfers, making logistical arrangements for in-country work, and ensuring correct allocation of expenses to activities)
• Monitor Initiative activities and ensure that issues are identified and reported to Technical Advisors and the Regional DD in a timely manner.

Qualifications

Education and degree

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in relevant field such as public health, public policy, public administration, Master’s degree, or relevant experience in the field of study will be added advantage

Skills & abilities

• Excellent communication and relationship building skills with an ability to work with a variety of internal and external stakeholders
• Analytical mindset with strong attention to detail
• Ability to set priorities and problem-solve
• Demonstrated project management skills
• Personal qualities of integrity, credibility, and dedication to the mission of Vital Strategies
• Collaborative, dedicated team player

Professional certification

• Knowledge of Project Management tools and methods is a plus

Experience

Experience required:

• Minimum seven (7) years of demonstrable experience in public health, public policy, public administration, programme management with minimum two (2) years working with a non-profit organization, in Asia Pacific or South East Asia region.

Experience preferred:

• Prior work in Asia Pacific
• Prior work in NGO, non-profit or government sector
• Work experience on multiple continents a plus

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements:

• Successful candidates must possess required work authorizations for Singapore employment by the start of role
• Willingness and ability to work across different time zones