The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is a leading Africa-based, African-led, international research institution headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. APHRC conducts policy-relevant research on population, health, education, urbanization and related development issues in sub-Saharan Africa.

The APHRC seeks to recruit a Countdown Liaison Officer to work in the Countdown to 2030 within the Global Financing Facility (GFF) secretariat.

Background

The Countdown to 2030 for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (WCAH) is a network of global, regional and country academic institutions, working closely with UNICEF, WHO and other international organizations, as well civil society and core funding from the Gates Foundation. As a unique global collaboration with academic institutions at its core, the Countdown to 2030 is well-positioned to address the need for generating evidence for progress and performance of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCAH-N) programs with countries and strengthen the country institutional capacity for analysis and use. Countdown to 2030 has prioritized the development of and support to regional lead institutions and networks in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions.

As part of the consortium, APHRC is leading the Countdown work in SSA. Through regional networks, the Center brings together research and public health institutions with ministries of health from countries in the region to strengthen the evidence and advocacy in support of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and nutrition programs.

The Global Financing Facility (GFF) is a nationally driven catalytic finance mechanism that helps governments bring together a variety of stakeholders to jointly formulate an investment case (IC) by defining a set of high-impact priority interventions needed to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Committed to ensuring all women, children and adolescents can survive and thrive; the mechanism supports the governments of 36 low and lower-middle income countries to accelerate progress in reducing preventable maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent mortality.

Since 2019, the Countdown is closely working with the GFF and country governments to accelerate measurement and monitoring of the GFF Investment cases in 13 sub-Saharan Africa countries. The engagement includes strengthening the analytic capacity of country public health institutions, linked to country-led annual and midterm health sector reviews.

Objectives

• To strengthen the institutional linkages between GFF and Countdown to 2030, particularly with the African technical institutions part of the Countdown collaborations.
• To facilitate active collaboration between GFF and Countdown to 2030, and uptake and use of Countdown-supported analytical outputs.
• To strengthen the ability of the GFF to accelerate a program of work aiming to support countries to routinely estimate levels, trends and equity of coverage based on analysis of all relevant data sources.

Specific Responsibilities

· To serve as a liaison and strengthen coordination and collaboration between Countdown to 2030 and the GFF;

· To facilitate communication and engagement between the African technical institutions participating in Countdown and the GFF, in a manner that helps strengthen the role of in-country and regional technical institutions within the GFF country engagement model (e.g., in support of Investment Case development and monitoring, including annual review of progress and quarterly meetings to follow through on issues identified and examine and use new data that have become available in the last quarter);

· To serve as a ‘results buddy’ for specific countries within the GFF portfolio (to be chosen from among those with active Countdown engagements) to provide support to the Focal Point-led GFF country team on issues related to data and results measurement;

· To lead a technical workstream within the GFF on supporting countries to routinely estimate levels, trends and equity of coverage of priority interventions across the RMNCAH-N continuum based on analysis of all relevant data sources, in collaboration with the Countdown technical network; and

· To contribute to the development of the repository of analytical tools and methods that Countdown is bringing together and to support uptake and use by GFF countries for improved analysis and use of RMNCAH-N data.

Qualifications and Experience

· PhD in Public Health, Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology, Population Sciences or other relevant areas; a minimum of 2 years’ post-doctoral experience.

· Strong in either quantitative or qualitative analytical skills with a good working knowledge of the other.

· Demonstrated experiences in health research, with peer-reviewed publications on the subject will be an added advantage.

· Strong writing skills and good record of publications which utilize defined analytical methodologies.

· Experience in developing proposals. Evidence of previous successful grants will be an advantage.

· Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills and ability to work in a culturally diverse team.

· Experience working in sub-Saharan Africa.

· Must be fluent in French and English.

The Liaison Officer will spend about 30-50% of time at the GFF secretariat in Washington DC.

How to apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their application in English and include:

• A letter of application;
• A statement of research interests and goals (1-2 pages); and
• A detailed CV with contact information for three professional references.

via our recruitment portal https://aphrc.org/vacancies/. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted; shortlisted candidates will be required to have a Police Clearance Certificate. Cover letters should be addressed to:

The Human Resources Officer

African Population and Health Research Center, Inc

APHRC Campus, Manga Close, off Kirawa Road, Kitisuru

P. O. Box 10787-GPO, Nairobi

5e étage Immeuble Diallo-Lô, 325-327 CICES VDN, Dakar – Sénégal