Technical Director

Location ET-Addis Ababa

The Technical Director will provide technical and project oversight and direction in the areas of HIV prevention, care and treatment for a key and vulnerable populations (KVP). The Technical Director will provide technical assistance at the national, regional and woreda levels. This comprehensive HIV project aims to identify and link KVP to community and facility services across the clinical cascade. The project will operate over a 5 year period. Responsibilities include providing leadership and technical guidance in the development and implementation of HIV prevention and treatment health activities under the leadership of the Chief of Party and Jhpiego’s senior technical leadership, and utilizing and contributing to cross-cutting approaches, such as quality improvement, gender integration and in-service training, as well as, annual phasing in of activities. This position will oversee and ensure the technical and methodological soundness of activities and, in collaboration with the project team and partners, support the design of service delivery strategies, based on sound and current scientific evidence.

This position is contingent upon award. Ethiopian nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.

City location to be finalized upon award.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical oversight, strategic direction and ensure appropriate support for implementation of project activities in HIV prevention, care and treatment for key and vulnerable populations
• Develop and/or update evidence-based training materials, standards, job aids, and curricula, supervisory systems needed for implementation of the Project to meet the needs of donor and the Government of Ethiopia
• Provide mentoring and capacity building at the individual and organizational level in specific areas of expertise including but not limited to:
  • HIV testing services, including self-testing, partner notification and linkage to care and treatment services;
  • HIV prevention services
  • HIV care and treatment services, including adherence
• Provide technical assistance for assessments site strengthening, referral systems, in-service and/or pre-service education, and supportive supervision as required
• Coordinate advocacy, demand generation, and policy support, across project sites as required
• Lead the formulation of approaches for scale up of KVP HIV services
• Actively participate in relevant technical advisory/working groups, and represent Jhpiego in professional forums by participating and presenting in pertinent meetings and conferences
• Work with health care providers, local authorities, community members and project team members to identify facility and community-based service delivery issues that impede access to care
• Identify appropriate facility- and community-based strategies to address HIV service delivery gaps
• Identify clinical training needs and assist in the design and implementation of measures to address those needs
• Formulate and test sustainable solutions to address gaps, utilizing cross-cutting approaches
• Analyze potential HIV strategies and data within the context of the project to create buy-in, as necessary, to policymakers, funding agencies, project staff, and health institutions
• Mobilize international level clinical/technical expertise as needed
• Collaborate with all local stakeholders and implementing partners, especially the Ministry of Health and other US and international implementing partners, to ensure that all activities conform to the requirements and regulations
• Author/co-author abstracts, presentations, and articles for journals and conferences
• Document successes, lessons learned and challenges in implementation as well as reports of project activities and results to the project and donor, including routine quarterly and annual reports and other reporting requirements as requested
• Supervise technical staff
• Manage technical contributions of subgrantees, including providing scopes of work
• Maintain excellent relationships with the donor and in-country stakeholders and develop rapid responses
• Work closely with the Chief of Party on setting project priorities and directions, and responding to requests for support from local counterparts
• Work with M&E staff to design, implement a plan to track data/results related to HIV prevention, care and treatment disaggregated by key population and geography
• Provide technical leadership to the development the project strategic plan, work plan, and project monitoring, in close collaboration with MOH, donor and other stakeholders to ensure timely implementation

Required Qualifications

• A Medical Degree (doctor or nursing); Master of Public Health preferred
• At least 10 years’ experience applying HIV prevention, care and/or treatment strategies, four of which should be targeted to key and vulnerable populations
• At least 7years' experience in technical oversight/implementation of $5 million per year in donor-funded projects and in the design and implementation of overseas health projects; preferably in the East Africa
• Experience training health workers on clinical aspects related to HIV prevention, care and treatment and KVP friendly service delivery
• Experience building capacity at individual and organizational levels
• Skilled in at least two or more of the following technical areas: strengthening service delivery projects, training, pre-service education, performance and quality improvement, monitoring and evaluation, gender
• Experience with a mix of practical technical skills necessary for strengthening HIV prevention, care and treatment service delivery at the regional, national, clinical and community-level
• Demonstrated in-depth understanding of Ethiopian healthcare system, particularly the public health system, experience living and working in Ethiopia preferred
• Strong oral and written communication and presentations skills in Amharic and English;
• Familiarity with US government’s administrative, management and reporting procedures and systems
• Proven track record managing a project team composed of several technical experts and fostering team work
• Excellent diplomacy skills and a proven ability to establish and maintain interpersonal and professional relationships with donor, host-country counterparts and representatives from other key stakeholders such as NGOs, CSOs, and the private sector
• Expertise in research to practice—identifying and adapting best practices to specific project contexts
• Ability to travel nationally and internationally 40 % of time