The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org.

Immunization is one of the most successful public health interventions in history. National immunization programs reach >100 million infants every year and have averted globally two to three million deaths every year since the launch of the Expanded Program for Immunization (EPI) in 1974 , whilst the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and rotavirus vaccines could save ~1 million lives per year. Furthermore, great advances in discovering and financing new vaccines provides a great opportunity for countries to further reduce burden of disease such as human papillomavirus (HPV). Despite these successes, 1.5 million children still die each year of vaccine-preventable diseases, many of them in low-income countries, as immunization programs there face unprecedented challenges.

Since 2010, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) has worked to save lives and reduce the burden from vaccine preventable diseases by improving access to immunization services in resource-limited setting by strengthening national immunization programs and by leveraging its experience in-country to improve the global immunization ecosystem. CHAI is pursuing six complementary strategic goals:

• Improving affordability and supply security of immunization products;
• Accelerating the uptake of new or under-utilized vaccines;
• Enhancing the performance of vaccine cold chain and logistics systems to increase effective immunization coverage;
• Improving the design and implementation of service delivery to reach the unreached
• Supporting successful transition from Gavi support; and
• Strengthening the management system and capacity of immunization programs

CHAI's vaccine program very closely supports the national immunization programs in 11 focus countries - Cameroon, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam- and also engages with global stakeholders such as Gavi, WHO and UNICEF to inform global policies and practices.

CHAI’s Immunization Management Systems and Capacity work focuses strengthening overall management systems to improve program’s ability to achieve individual immunization goals, including transitioning from Gavi and other donor support through four strategic pillars:

• Strategic Planning: Improved planning process and better result-oriented and prioritized costed plans on critical EPI issues
• Enhanced Financing: Ensuring that sufficient and sustainable funds are mobilized and available for implementing immunization, and improved coordination & strategic allocation of funds to improve systems & capacity needed by EPI, notably Gavi HSS funds and in the context of Gavi transition
• Program Performance Management and Accountability for results: Improved review of program performance and plan execution with accountability mechanisms to troubleshoot issues and make continuous improvements, and improved availability of quality data for performance monitoring and decision making
• Human and Institutional Capacity: Improved programmatic capabilities of EPI teams to effectively manage and implement strategic plans sustainably, as well as a more effective approaches to communicate and coordinate across organizational units and levels

We are seeking a Senior Associate to join the Global Vaccines Delivery team and support CHAI's work in strengthening immunization management systems and capacity across its focus countries. His/her work will help to achieve and sustain immunization program outcomes, but it will also serve as a blueprint to identify powerful interventions to improve health systems which could be adapted for other primary health care programs.

We are seeking a motivated and mission-driven individual with strong analytic, problem-solving, and cross-cultural communication skills. The candidate should be experienced at presenting data and messages powerfully through written documents and presentations; working collaboratively and remotely in a fast-paced, multi-cultural environment; and functioning independently with minimal guidance. 

Location:  This role has flexibility to be based in a CHAI program country, pending country team leadership approval. Base location in Nigeria or Cambodia is strongly preferred.

Key responsibilities for this role include, but are not limited to:

1) Provide strategic and programmatic support for the design and implementation of in-country work to dramatically and sustainably improve immunization management performance

• Provide input on the approach needed to meet in-country grant and program objectives related to immunization management systems, in line with the program strategy
• Contribute to the design, planning and implementation of high-impact work with country teams to sustainably transform management systems in CHAI focus countries. This can include support the development of strategic and operational plans for immunization at national and sub-national levels; identify management system performance challenges; strategize with country teams on system redesign to increase efficiency and effectiveness of management systems; establish and institutionalize performance management processes, design scale up strategy of an improvement “package” for immunization program performance management to all subnational units, strengthen communication and coordination between and across national and subnational government units, and diagnosing key risks to successful transition
• Support continuous development and effective dissemination and use of programmatic "tool kit", lessons learned, and other know-how related to immunization management systems and capacity across CHAI's vaccines program focus countries.
• Support diagnosis, analysis, monitoring and evaluation of program results (both on improvements in program management systems and subsequent results on EPI program outcomes) and documentation of lessons learned

2) Improve national and global practices and policies related to management systems and capacity, in collaboration with program leadership

• Inform practices & policies based on robust evidence base, insightful analytical perspective, and lessons learned from CHAI and other partners to promote improved outcomes of immunization programs
• Develop relationships with key stakeholders in relevant areas (ie. Gavi, WHO, UNICEF SD, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH, JSI, Sabin, BCL, etc.) and establish yourself as a respected and trusted thought leader in this area of focus within CHAI and within the global immunization community
• Participate in global forums such as the Learning Network for Countries in Transition, Teach to Reach, etc
• Disseminate CHAI's programmatic insights to the global immunization community to inform policy and practices

3) Support the development of CHAI's vaccines program in the area of management systems and capacity, in collaboration with program and country leadership

• Support development/updates of CHAI’s strategy and thought leadership related to immunization management systems and capacity, both at global and country level, to increase CHAI’s effectiveness and impact
• Support scoping and development of new grants
• Develop program thought leadership in immunization management system against current and future goals
• Identify how this work can best support other CHAI’s in-country objectives (e.g. improving vaccine supply chain, supporting service delivery at the last mile, ensuring successful transition from Gavi support, etc.), which often require building on strong horizontal management structures. Support design and implementation of appropriate mechanisms to ensure cross-fertilization across these objectives
• Strengthen capabilities of existing CHAI staff for immunization management systems and capacity, including Gavi transition, leveraging the institutional knowledge from CHAI vaccines program.

4) Support program and grant management, in collaboration with program and country leadership

• Assess progress against overall objectives & milestones in areas of focus and help prepare high-quality briefings for donors and CHAI management, including achievements to date, action plan going forward, and key risks & opportunities
• Assess effectiveness of CHAI's theory of change and approach related to immunization management systems in focus countries and recommend improvements
• Contribute as a member of the global vaccine team to the effectiveness and collegiality of the team, help identify opportunities and improve CHAI’s vaccines program and team

• Bachelor's degree (Masters-level or above in business, finance, or health science preferred) + at least 4 years of relevant professional experience in public or private sector
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills (qualitative and quantitative)
• Knowledge of management processes (e.g. operational planning, budgeting, performance management, capacity building), including ways to improve organization efficiency
• Excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills, with proven track record of building strong & effective working relationships remotely
• Proficiency at Microsoft Excel or other data-analysis tools (specialized modeling or programing experience is NOT required)
• Excellent communication skills in English (including synthesis & presentation) with diverse audience
• Demonstrated capacity to synthesize evidence into an effective presentations and actionable recommendations for broad range of audience, including Ministries of Health, global donors and policy makers
• Excellent ability to work independently, set and achieve ambitious targets with limited guidance, and manage competing and sometimes shifting priorities, often under tight deadlines
• Ability to travel extensively (at least 35% of time) to focus countries and other locations as needed for work 

Advantages

• Experience in vaccines, health systems strengthening, and/or health financing
• Experience in management or consulting
• Experience working with government and in developing countries, notably in Sub-Saharan Africa or South East Asia
• Experience supporting government transitioning from donor support
• Professional proficiency in a second language of a vaccine program country

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