Organization: US Agency for International Development
Country: Madagascar
Closing date:
18 May 2018https://www.usaid.gov/madagascar/work-with-us/careers
I – GENERAL INFORMATION
POSITION TITLE Health Promotion adviser
MARKET VALUE: $75,628 - $98,317 per annum, equivalent to GS-13.
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: Two (2) years from date of appointment with option to renew in one year increments up to a total of 5 years, subject to availability of funds.
WHO MAY APPLY: U.S. citizen, Green Card holder, or Third Country National who can speak and write English at a native level, already residing in Madagascar with ability to obtain and maintain U.S. Government Facility Access Certification, and ability to obtain a medical clearance for Madagascar.
“Third Country National” means an individual who is neither a citizen of the United States nor of Madagascar.
This solicitation in no way obligates USAID to award a PSC contract, nor does it commit USAID to pay any cost incurred in the preparation and submission of the offer.
STATEMENT OF WORK/POSITION DESCRIPTION:
A. BACKGROUND
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/Madagascar’s Health, Population and Nutrition Office (HPN) implements programs in family planning/reproductive health, maternal and child health, nutrition, water and sanitation, infectious diseases, malaria prevention and control.
FY 2015 Global Health Program (GHP)/USAID funding elements include maternal and child health, malaria, family planning and reproductive health. HPN partners also coordinate with the Title II food security programs to increase the overall effectiveness and reach of USAID’s assistance. Madagascar is priority country for Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths and a President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) focus country. The FY 2017 budget is $60 million.
Reducing maternal, infant and child mortality in Madagascar is a critical priority for the international community and the Government of Madagascar (GoM). Although the country has made significant progress on reducing child deaths, maternal mortality has stagnated over the past twenty plus years resulting in 10 women dying from birth-related causes each day. In addition, each day, 100 children die from preventable causes, including malaria, which is the third leading cause of death for children.
The 2009 coup d'état plunged the country further into crisis, stalling development and further deteriorating the health system. With financial and political restrictions placed on the GoM during this period, USAID/ Madagascar shifted to a humanitarian support strategy and invested nearly $250 million in innovative community health services and systems: scaling-up access to diagnosis and treatment for simple pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria as well as oral and injectable contraceptives. USAID/Madagascar equipped and trained an extended cadre of more than 17,000 community health volunteers (CHV) in 20 of 22 regions covering about 1,200 mostly rural communes to expand basic, life-saving services. This system continues to provide health services to 9.5 million people or about 64 percent of Madagascar’s rural population.
Following successful elections in December 2013, multi and bi-lateral organizations normalized relations; the USG lifted restrictions in May 2014. The GoM initiated the development of a health sector development strategy, the Plan de Development du Secteur Santé (PDSS) in January, 2014. The plan outlines a five-year strategy to improve health services and outcomes and was launched in September2015. Madagascar also launched an action plan in response to the African Union’s Campaign for the Accelerated Reduction of Maternal, Newborn and Child Mortality in Africa (CARMMA). The ambitious plan aims to reduce, by 2019, the maternal mortality ratio from 478 to 300 deaths per 100,000 live births and the neonatal mortality rate from 26 to 17 deaths per 1,000 live births.
In June 2014, the GoM committed to redouble its efforts at the “Acting on the Call: Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths” meeting, which mobilized governments and their partners from 24 priority countries to address maternal and child mortality. In particular, USAID committed to scale-up high impact interventions such as the use of chlorohexidine to prevent newborn infection – an intervention that holds significant promise for improving health outcomes in the community-based program. With the lifting of USG restrictions from the GoM, USAID is committed to improving immunization coverage rates and supporting improvements to the whole health system, including investments in the health commodity supply chain, primary health facilities, and human resources.
The HPN Office directly manages five (5) large multi-year grants and contracts and actively oversees a further ten (10) substantive activities managed by USAID/Washington. Health promotion and social and behavior change communication (SBCC) are major components of several of these activities, including two community-health projects that operate in 15 of the 22 regions of the country; and a project that promotes health behaviors and socially markets health commodities and services to millions of people in all regions of the country.
The current staff includes one US Foreign Service Officer, a USPSC Senior Health Advisor-Health Systems Strengthening and Policy, a TCNPSC PMI Advisor, a PMI Advisor from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a USPSC Family Planning and Community Services Advisor, a PSC Senior Operations Specialist, a PSC Health Communications and Operations, several senior Foreign Service National (FSN) staff, Program Management Assistants FSN, and an FSN Program Assistant.
To ensure the quality of the portfolio’s health promotion and behavior change interventions, USAID/Madagascar requires the services of a Health Promotion Adviser hired through a resident Personal Services Contract (PSC). The Health Promotion Specialist Adviser is intended to ensure oversight and engagement in key areas, particularly related to health promotion and SBCC across the portfolio and when necessary, coordinate and provide technical leadership on supply chain and logistics.
B. GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES
The Health Promotion Adviser is key member of the HPN Office, reporting directly to the senior community health advisor who leads the Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths (EPCMD) unit. He/She is a senior professional and expert in his/her field who provides evidence-based technical advice to the Mission, helps to develop strategic approaches and support the HPN Office to ensure constructive relations and activity implementation with key stakeholders and implementing partners in several areas including polio campaigns and routine vaccinations, community health, innovations, monitoring and evaluation/research, water, sanitation and hygiene, maternal and child health, supply chain and logistics and private sector initiatives. The incumbent is a subject matter expert in health promotion strategies and at least one of the following key areas: community health, maternal and child health, water and sanitation, supply chain and logistics management and/or monitoring and evaluation/research. An expert in his/her field, the incumbent will provide strategic and technical input to the Ministry of Health, implementing partners, and USAID AORs and CORs within the office. The incumbent may represent the Mission on a number of health issues to government officials, other donors, partners and potential partners a role which requires strong diplomatic and negotiating skills.
C. SPECIFIC DUTIES AND REPSONSIBILITIES
The Health Promotion Adviser will undertake the following duties:
Technical Direction and Program Design
- Lead the mission’s routine immunization activities. This includes identifying ways in which USAID can better support the Government of Madagascar in strengthen routine immunization. The incumbent will provide technical leadership and guidance to Mission colleagues and implementing partners in ensure that innovative approaches are incorporated in community-based activities.
- Supporting the development of strategic approaches and support the HPN Office to ensure constructive relations and activity implementation with key stakeholders and implementing partners in several areas including polio campaigns and routine vaccinations, maternal and child health, water, sanitation and hygiene, supply chain and logistics, outbreak response, and private sector initiatives.
- Maintaining knowledge of current literature in all areas of health behavioral research with particular attention to determinants of individual behavior change, including providers, and broader transformation of social norms, effectiveness of diverse behavioral approaches, including individual, small group, community and mass media interventions; and the state-of-the-art in design and evaluation of SBCC activities.
- Independently liaising with a range of external stakeholders active in health promotion, including donors, members of technical consortia and potential private sector partners to guide development of shared agendas and areas of collaboration.
- Providing direction and technical support as required to Ministries and non-governmental authorities in the health sector on key health promotion issues.
- Support the Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Death (EPCMD) Unit, including the strategy design and work planning to support MOH system improvements related to routine and supplemental immunization activities as well as an increased level of participation in the Global Alliance for Vaccination Initiative (GAVI) activities.
- Supporting the EPCMD team to design and procure new activities in the areas of Family Planning, Maternal Child Health and WASH
- Developing and implementing innovative and effective approaches to strengthen the capacity of Mission staff in designing, assessing, and evaluating high-quality SBCC interventions
- Provide technical direction and management oversight to activities under the EPCMD portfolio. He/she will be AOR/COR or activity manager of one or two activities under the EPCMD portfolio
- Facilitate integration of health systems component into the HPN and other cross-sectorial activities within the Mission. The incumbent will work closely with the Health Systems Strengthening Team to identify ways in which to document lessons learned from community programs that can be leveraged and/or used to strengthen health systems
- Lead the sub-team’s efforts in piloting new approaches across the portfolio as well as identifying ways in which successful pilots and best practices can be scaled-up within the country
- Lead the documentation of emerging best practices from implementation; and facilitating sharing of SBCC materials and best practices across HPN Office and wider USAID Mission, as appropriate
- Together with other senior technical staff, guide development of strategies for health promotion research and programming.
- Track indicators to ensure that the portfolio contributes to the HPN development objective. In this way, the incumbent will work closely with the HMIS specialist under the HSS team to ensure that indicators are well reflected in the HPN office’s PMP.
- Participating in the development of presentations, abstracts and other documentation related to health promotion and SBCC participate, facilitate, and present at international and domestic meetings, workshops and conferences dealing with health promotion and behavior change
Team Management
- May supervise senior FSN staff and Program Assistant staff as required.
- Mentor staff.
D. SUPERVISORY CONTROLS
The Health Promotion Adviser will be supervised on a day-to-day basis by the senior community health advisor who leads the EPCMD team. She will provide general broad direction and guidelines. Desired results will be outlined in broad terms. Possible alternative methods and procedures may be discussed, but the choice of those to be used will often be left to the discretion of the incumbent. Problems of unusual difficulty or those not commonly associated with the professional specialization or activity will be discussed throughout the term of assignment. The incumbent will work independently and keep his/her supervisor informed of progress in the achievement of objectives and advised of potentially controversial matters. Work will be reviewed in terms of effectiveness in advancing USAID/Madagascar’s health, population and nutrition Strategic Plan and program as enunciated in the annual results reports and resource request submissions, as well as with regard to soundness and effectiveness of decisions and actions, and conformance with policies and regulations
E. SUPERVISION EXERCISED
The incumbent may at some point supervise one FSN Program Assistant (FSN 8/9). S/he will: plan and organize the staff work and define scope of the activity; make appropriate work assignments to subordinate staff, usually in terms of the end project desired, and be responsible for the technical soundness and general effectiveness and adequacy of the total work output of the unit; participate in developing requests for additional personnel and in reviewing qualifications of nominees; recommend suitable recognition for outstanding performance; take action to improve staff performance as required; and resolve grievances and complaints.
F. OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION
If a Third Country National (TCN) PSC is selected for award, during the period of this contract, the TCN contractor must provide at least 8 hours/ month of training to a Cooperating Country National (CCN) designated by USAID. The PSC Supervisor will establish a training plan with benchmarks to measure the contractor's progress toward achieving this training deliverable
II- MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THIS POSITION
EDUCATION
Master’s degree or higher from an accredited institution in public health, social psychology, health communication, behavioral economics, or other relevant behavioral/social science field is required. Individuals who have additional courses/certificate/training in such areas as policy, health systems, or evaluation and research are welcome to submit offers.
PRIOR RELEVANT AND OVERSEAS WORK EXPERIENCE
· At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in international public health is required
· Hands-on experience designing, implementing and evaluating health promotion and SBCC interventions is required. Specific experience in WASH, family planning/reproductive health or maternal child health-related behavior change strongly preferred.
· Overseas experience managing integrated and complex public health programs, especially community-based programs, in developing countries.
· Supervisory and mentoring experience, minimum three (3) years.
· English and French language proficiency at an FSI 3/3 level equivalent or above
· Excellent analytical, written and oral communication skills in English and French
· Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team, including cross-cultural teams
· Basic computer skills, including knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel, e-mail and the internet
III- QUALITY RANKING FACTORS (QRFs)
Offerors who meet the minimum qualifications on education and prior relevant and overseas work experience will be further evaluated based on the Quality Ranking Factors (QRF) listed below. Offerors are strongly encouraged to address each of the factors on a separate sheet, describing specifically the experience, training, and/or education that s/he has relevant to each factor.
A. Professional Experience – 45 Points Total
(i) Demonstrated understanding of theories and frameworks relating to individual behavior change and broader social responses, the evidence base for SBCC interventions and best practices, and familiarity with the current SBCC literature.(10 points)
(ii) Technical expertise in at least one of the following public-health areas: health systems strengthening, policy, evaluation and research, family planning/reproductive health, maternal and child health, water and sanitation, nutrition, and/or malaria. (15 points)
(iii) Demonstrated analytical skills, including an ability to comprehend quantitative and analytical reports from development and peer-reviewed literature and to objectively evaluate programs. (15 points)
(iv) Experience supervisory and mentoring experience (5 points)
B. Program Management – 15 Points Total
(i) Ability to manage programs, to include programmatic and financial issues (5 points)
(ii) Ability to monitor and evaluate programs, to include programmatic and financial issues (5 points)
(iii) Ability to review, evaluate and apply complex policies and regulations (5 points)
C. Interpersonal and Communication Skills – 20 Points
(i) Ability to provide rapid, concise, accurate reporting, both verbally and in writing (5 points)
(ii) Ability to work effectively as a technical leader in a multi-cultural environment (5 points)
(iii) Ability to establish and maintain professional and effective contacts with government officials, other donors, implementing partners, private sector CEOs, Washington headquarters staff, and Mission staff (5 points)
(iv) Ability to negotiate diplomatically and influence people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds (5 points)
D. Language—20 points
(i) Excellent oral and written communication skills in both English and French required. The incumbent must be able to draft and read complex technical documents in English as well as conduct technical discussions in both languages. (10 points)
(ii) Ability to confidently present technical material to lay people or VIPs in a manner they understand. These same skills are required in both English and French. (10 points)
How to apply:For an offeror to be considered for this position, s/he must adhere to the following guidelines and complete, sign and submit the following documents. This will enable the evaluation committee to thoroughly and objectively review the offer against the requirements of the position.
A- PRESENTING OFFER
1- AID 302-3, Offeror Information For Personal Services Contract Form Eligible offerors are required to complete and submit a hand-signed form AID 302-3, “Offeror Information For Personal Services Contracts”, available at the USAID website, on www.usaid.gov/forms. Offerors are required to sign and scan the certification at the end of the form.
2- Resume/Curriculum Vitae
Offerors will submit a resume or a curriculum vitae containing the following information:
a) Personal Information: Full name, mailing address (with zip/postal code), email address, day and evening phone numbers, and if applicable highest federal civilian grade held (also give job series and dates held);
b) Education: date of diploma or GED; colleges and universities, name, city and state, majors, type and year of any degrees received (if no degree, show total credits earned and indicate whether semester or quarter hours); c) Work Experience: provide the following information for each of your paid and non-paid work experience related to the job for which you are applying: job title (include series and grade if federal job), duties and accomplishments (do not send job descriptions), employer’s name and address, supervisor’s name and phone number, starting and ending dates (month and year), hours per week, salary. Indicate if we may contact your current supervisor. In addition, offerors should highlight or make special note of relevant significant awards and achievements. This may include information that was listed in the AID 302-3 form.
3- Appendix
Supplemental document specifically addressing the QRFs listed in the solicitation. Include other pertinent information related to the qualifications required for the position, such as job-related training courses (title and year), job-related skills, job-related certificates and licenses (current only), job-related honors, awards, and special accomplishments, for example, publications, memberships in professional or honor societies, leadership, activities, public speaking and performance awards (give dates but do not send documents unless requested).
4- Reference Persons
Offerors are required to provide five (5) reference persons who are not family members or relatives, with working telephones and email contacts. The references must be able to provide substantive information about offerors past performance and abilities. Reference checks will be made only for offerors considered as finalists. If an offeror does not wish for the current employer to be contacted as a reference check, this should be stated in the offeror’s AID 302-3 form and/or resume. The interviewing committee will delay such reference check pending communication with the offeror.
B- SUBMITTING OFFER
1- Document Format
Offers must be received by May 18, 2018, 18:00 local time via email at the address:
antananarivoUSAIDHR@usaid.gov Please note that attachments to e-mail must be in Word format (.doc) and Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf) only. Offers in zip or other compressed formats will be rejected.
2- Marking Offer
To ensure consideration of offerors for the intended position, please mark on your e-mail subject line:
720687-18B00004 [*your name*]