Job Description

GH-TAMS is seeking candidates for a Senior Global Health Security Consultant six-month assignment for USAID/Zambia. The consultancy will be located in Zambia at approximately 129 days of effort. Start date is approximately September 1, 2022.

Background:

In 2018, the U.S. Government and multilateral partners re-confirmed their commitments to the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) which was originally launched in 2014. The vision of GHSA is a world safe and secure from global health threats posed by infectious diseases – where threats can prevent or mitigate the impact of naturally occurring outbreaks and accidental or intentional releases of dangerous pathogens, rapidly detect and transparently report outbreaks when they occur, and employ an interconnected global network that can respond effectively to limit the spread of infectious disease outbreaks in humans and animals, mitigate human suffering and the loss of human life, and reduce economic impact. USAID joins other US agencies in achieving this vision, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Defense, and USDA, all under the policy direction of the White House through the National Security Council and others.

USAID’s GHS funds helped to build health security capacities in priority countries with a focus on addressing zoonotic diseases (those which emanate from animals) through a One Health approach, which integrates the efforts of the human health, animal health, and environmental sectors.

USAID’s GHS portfolio uses a multisectoral approach to strengthen countries’ ability to prevent, detect and respond to infectious zoonotic disease outbreaks that are of greatest public health concern. The program emphasizes systems strengthening at national and subnational levels and in multiple sectors for preparedness; laboratory; surveillance; workforce; risk communications; supply chain and related countermeasures. The GHS portfolio embraces the One Health approach. A comprehensive approach to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) that includes the livestock, agriculture, and environment sectors are essential components of USAID’s contribution to GHSA. USAID’s GHS program also leverages other USAID programming priorities in the areas of public health, food security, economic growth, and disaster assistance.

Role and Responsibilities:

The GHS consultant is needed to oversee and manage the Mission’s GHS activities until a permanent staff is in place.

The U.S. Agency for International Development seeks to employ a short-term consultant who will be responsible for ensuring well-coordinated and effective delivery of program implementation across the Agency’s Global Health Security (GHS) portfolio in Zambia. The GHS consultant will be responsible for, under the direction of the USAID Zambia Health Office, USAID GHS headquarters team and relevant A/CORs, providing leadership and state of the art technical support to a complex, multi-sectoral portfolio, including preparedness, prevention, detection, and response for priority zoonotic diseases threats.

This position will be under the direct supervision of the USAID Zambia Health Office Laboratory Advisor. The Senior GHS consultant will serve as a technical resource to the USAID Mission in Zambia. The Senior GHS consultant will be responsible for working closely with Washington-based Zambia country backstop, headquarters GHS team, technical advisors, and relevant A/CORs to ensure coordination across all projects and programs across the GHS portfolio and to ensure that program activities are well coordinated with the national government. The consultant will also liaise with the AORs and CORs of applicable bilateral projects to ensure coordination of GHS activities and mandated interagency reporting.

Placement of a GHS consultant in Zambia will fill a critical role for USAID to meet the expectations of the White House and Congress for rapid, effective, and coordinated implementation of the GHS and related programming. The GHS consultant will participate in all relevant interagency and other donor coordinating mechanisms in country to ensure USAID programming is fully aligned with the GHS annual work plan; is contributing to the advancement of the action package and technical area objectives as outlined in the National Action Plan for Health Security; and is responsive to the country context. The GHS consultant will work closely with other USG partners, particularly the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Department of Defense (DOD) offices working at national levels, which also provide support for GHSA implementation, thus presenting a “whole of government” approach. The GHSA consultant will also work very closely with the Government of Zambia including the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, and other government stakeholders. The GHS consultant will play a crucial role to help facilitate multi-sectoral coordination in support of effective One Health strategies to prevent, detect, and respond to emerging infectious diseases.

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical leadership to support implementation of all GHS activities based on USAID guidelines and best practices to detect, mitigate, control, and prevent infectious diseases.
• Contribute to USAID inputs into interagency planning, execution, and implementation of GHSA portfolio and investments.
• Maintain knowledge of Zambia’s GHS capacities and priorities and communicate with key stakeholders as necessary.
• Establish and support a coordination network among key stakeholders in Zambia to include:
• Other USG departments and agencies, especially CDC, DoD/DTRA, U.S. Embassy.
• United Nations (UN) organizations, other donors, private sector, international and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society organizations; and
•  Others as needed
•  Analyze reports, performance statistics and other available data and make strategic recommendations to the health Office leadership, the USG interagency and to USAID/Washington on GHS trends and programming in Zambia.
• Support the USAID Zambia POC to establish regular communication and update modalities and coordinate relevant activities with other USAID Zambia offices and other relevant USG agencies at post;
• Keep abreast of new developments and emerging issues that affect USAID’s priorities and share relevant information and recommendations with USAID, USG and other technical counterparts. Information sources can include:
• Webinars
• Literature Reviews
• Attendance and/or participation at technical meetings and workshops
• Participation in relevant training events

Program Management and Coordination

• Develop a GHS work plan that reflects all related national priorities.
• Ensure coordination across all aspects and activities of the USAID Zambia GHS program to ensure:
• Activities are aligned with the Government of Zambia’s National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) and One Health Strategic Plan, as available and appropriate.
• Implementation of the developed GHS work plan is aligned and coordinated with the implementation of the NAPHS and One Health Strategic Plan activities.
• Establish and maintain coordination networks among USAID implementing partners (IPs) in Zambia whose activities are related to GHS. This will include:
• Facilitating opportunities for USAID IPs to collaborate and leverage each other’s activities.
• Support communications regarding USAID’s expectations to IPs the expectation that all IPs should work together to cohesively advance GHS targets in Zambia.
• Use IP networks to facilitate GHS implementation and achieve results to maximize USG investments.
• Identify and cultivate strategic relationships with senior policy level stakeholders across multiple related sectors and ministries in Zambia.
• Participate in the review of performance (and financial) reports to ensure that partners are in compliance with bilateral government agreements and with the performance expectations outlined in their work plan and in their contract/agreement with USAID.
• Ensure that implementing partners are in compliance with all relevant USAID regulations and procedures.
• Proactively report to USAID Zambia on developments in the GHS portfolio and policy directions from USAID, Bureau for Global Health.
• Proactively communicate GHS activities, plans, and results to the USAID Zambia Health and Program Offices, and share with appropriate teams including technical advisors from the USAID/Bureau for Global Health, USAID IPs, other USG agencies, and the Government of Zambia.
• Support close coordination with USG partner agencies to ensure mutual understanding, coordinated, synergistic, and non-duplicative GHS plans, activities, results, and reporting for Zambia.
• Serve as the source of information on GHS to enhance USG awareness and collaboration and to address concerns/questions from USAID and Embassy leadership.

Program Monitoring and Reporting

• Regularly communicate with USAID/Washington technical advisors and AORs/CORs to report on, and discuss, Zambia’s GHS portfolio.
• Support the development of USAID contributions to the Interagency team for submission of bi-annual GHS Progress Report and annual reports to Congress and the National Security Council via the U.S. Embassy/ Liberia
• Have strong knowledge of assessments and scoring related to Zambia’s GHS Joint External Evaluation Report
• Monitor implementation progress, ensuring that actions are completed on schedule or adjusted to meet changing conditions and identifying constraints to activity implementation as well as proposing solutions for their resolution.
• Conduct virtual and on-site visits and attend relevant meetings and events with team members where USAID presence is required to ensure programmatic quality is maintained.
• Work closely with partners to ensure that program achievements and lessons learned are widely disseminated in Zambia and back to USAID Washington.
• Support the development of USAID inputs for preparation of key mission, embassy and agency reporting documents, cables and other inputs as required.

Qualifications:

• Education: Master’s degree in public health, public policy, veterinary medicine, epidemiology, or related field is required.
• Work Experience: A minimum of eight (8) years of progressively responsible professional experience in Public Health, Animal Health, or Epidemiology, five (5) of which must be in developing countries. Experience with infectious disease surveillance, detection and/or response is required, as is practical experience in working with international development agencies. At least three years of experience managing high-level coordination and relationships across sectors with public sector entities, bilateral and multilateral donors and NGOs is required. Experience with the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) is highly desired.
• Communication: English Level IV. Given the nature of the position, effective written and oral communications are critical to perform successfully in this position. The candidate should have a demonstrated ability to produce professional quality analytical pieces and make oral presentations. The incumbent must be able to communicate effectively and persuasively with Mission employees; within the USG interagency, counterpart government officials at the Senior Minister level; international and local organizations, donors and other embassies; and various Washington based U.S. Government agencies.
• Skills and Abilities: The applicant must possess strong management, collaboration, team building, networking, cross cultural, and interpersonal skills. Candidates must have a proven ability to work independently with minimal supervision. Strong interpersonal skills are required to establish and maintain strong contacts with counterparts both inside and outside of USAID to explain USAID objectives and procedures to government officials, private businesses, corporations, foundations, NGOs, and other non-traditional development organizations. The consultant must also have a high degree of technical, analytical, and quantitative skills in scientific approaches and in analysis of development activities and policies. Demonstrated ability to lead and to work as a member of a team and to foster teamwork is required as is the ability to develop and maintain productive working relationships at all levels. S/he must be able to work in a demanding and often high-stress environment to meet deadlines and ensure consensus. Must be a self-starter with strong diplomatic and leadership qualities.
• Knowledge: Professional knowledge of a broad range of infectious disease, One Health, antimicrobial resistance, and development issues; knowledge of sub-Saharan Africa. In-depth knowledge of the concepts, principles, techniques, and practices of development project management including planning, budgeting, and monitoring is required. Knowledge is preferable in the infectious disease field from either in public health or animal health. Knowledge of how to work with stakeholders across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors is an advantage. Knowledge of Zambia’s public health system and/or animal health system is desirable.