Medical Program Manager – Zomba District

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Position: Medical Program Manager – Zomba District
Malawi Country Program
Location: Zomba, Malawi
Duration: Minimum 2 year commitment
 

Dignitas International Profile
Dignitas International is a medical non-government organization founded by a team of global health and research specialists. The premise on which Dignitas was founded is that resource intensive, physician-led approaches to the provision of HIV/AIDS-related services are not viable in many resource-limited countries that struggle with a severe lack of healthcare capacity. The mission of Dignitas is to increase access to prevention, treatment, care and support for people affected by HIV/AIDS, and to develop tools and guidelines for a sustainable healthcare delivery approach that can be disseminated quickly and cost-effectively throughout Malawi and to other resource-limited contexts across the globe.

Dignitas meets these goals by implementing programs through a health systems strengthening approach through providing capacity-building, operational support and technical assistance, and developing evidence-based models through operations research and knowledge translation. Program implementation increases access for individuals affected by HIV through the decentralization of care from hospitals to health centres and down to communities. This process includes health systems integration, task shifting among healthcare workers, and the training and integration of community-health workers. Operations research and vigorous monitoring and evaluation are used to refine and validate tools and guidelines developed to improve community-level access to health systems and quality care to patients.

General Description of the Role
The Medical Coordinator (Zomba District) will be responsible for providing overall direction, coordination, and management to Dignitas’s medical programming in Zomba District through technical leadership, supportive supervision and coaching to Dignitas’s medical and paramedical staff. S/he will work in close collaboration with the Research Department, supporting operational research relating to the medical program, and ensuring that the evidence generated continuously informs program planning and development processes. The Medical Coordinator will also be responsible for the management of key relationships with Malawi Ministry of Health (MoH) staff in Zomba District and at Zomba Central Hospital.

Dignitas’s medical programming in Zomba District centers around a comprehensive HIV/AIDS program that has enrolled over 16,000 patients on ART (increasing by 3,000 patients annually), and includes ART provision at a central hospital and health centers, HIV/TB integration, PMTCT and HTC services, and integration of ART with primary health care.

Core Responsibilities
1. Technical Leadership & Program Development
• Oversee the implementation of Dignitas medical activities in Zomba District, ensuring the overall quality of the program and facilitating initiatives as appropriate to improve the program
• Lead the planning and the implementation of medical activities within the Zomba program in close collaboration with the other members of the Dignitas team (Medical Program Team, Technical Advisors), the MoH, and other partners, in order to achieve planned results
• Provide supportive supervision, coaching and mentoring of Dignitas implementing staff to ensure safe and high quality medical practices, including compliance with national/project medical protocols
• Disseminate up-to-date relevant health care research, policies, procedures and practices related to HIV/AIDS and TB information to medical program staff, and with the support of the Country Director, ensure the program responds effectively to new national and global health developments and the emerging health needs of the communities which it serves
• Provide input and support to the development of program and national guidelines and policies
• In collaboration with the MoH and District Health Office creatively and responsibly address medical supply constraints within the national system
• Actively promote and lead the mainstreaming of specific thematic health issues in the Dignitas Zomba District program
• Actively provide technical advice and leadership to the Dignitas HIV Work Place Program Committee
• Actively participate in organizational development and internal technical working groups to develop specific thematic health and cross-cutting issues.

2. Supervision & Program Management
• Direct supervision of Medical Program Coordinators in Zomba for ART Decentralization, Tisungane HIV Clinic and Health Care Worker Clinic PMTCT and HTC; direct supervision of Medical Program Assistant
• Human Resources Management associated with direct reports
• Facilitate strong and efficient collaboration with Zonal program, Research and operational department teams to ensure good integration and coordination of all activities
• Lead the development of Zomba program plans, and realistic activity plans and budgets, (as part of annual and strategic planning processes, for new projects or extensions of projects, and to fulfill external donor and partner requirements)
• Manage departmental and grants budgets, including routine budget monitoring and working with Finance to provide accurate projections and review financial reports
• Contribute to donor proposal writing in coordination with the Zonal Medical Program Manager, Director of Research and relevant HQ staff
• Collaborate with HR in improving and reinforcing the implementation of occupational safety procedures in work place, including monitoring, improving and reinforcing infection prevention activities for medical implementation staff
• Actively participate as a member Dignitas Malawi Management Team, working with the Country Director and other team members to support good overall management of the country program

3. Reporting and Monitoring and Evaluation
• Draft high quality internal and external results-focused program reports, working with the Data Manager and M&E Coordinator to oversee the timely gathering of relevant health and program data for reporting
• Collaborate with Monitoring and Evaluation, Operations Research and Knowledge Translations Team

4. Operations Research
In collaboration with the MEORKT Team:
• Actively contribute to the formation, design, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative operations research relating to medical programs (clinical and health systems)
• Support the implementation of such research by promoting collaboration between the medical and research teams and MoH partners, and ensuring timely and accurate completion of tasks allocated to the medical team
• Contribute to the dissemination of Dignitas’s program and research findings through publications (general, health sector, academic literature, etc.) and through participation in external forums
• Facilitate review by the medical program team of operations research results, and actively incorporate new evidence into program planning and development to improve practice within Dignitas, and externally with partners and collaborators, as relevant and appropriate

5. External Representation
• Represent Dignitas at district level to ensure all project activities are carried collaboratively with local partners and Dignitas participates in the relevant external forums
• Represent Dignitas to partners and donors at national level, as delegated by the Country Director, including actively participating in Malawi Ministry of Health national technical working groups
• Present findings and lessons learned in technical forums and propose abstracts to international conferences in collaboration with the Research team
 

Experience and Qualifications
• Qualified Medical Doctor with broad knowledge and experience in the delivery of primary health care and communicable disease prevention and up to date clinical skills in tropical medicine.
• Masters level training either in public health, epidemiology or public administration.
• A minimum of 3 years of medical program management in a resource-limited (preferably African) setting, with solid technical understanding of HIV/AIDS, TB and primary health issues and programming.
• Strong project and budget management skills are required.
• Previous international NGO experience and at least one on an HIV/AIDS program and coordination of a technical team
• Experience in capacity building, training and health systems strengthening methodology
• Experience in project funding, including developing project proposals and donor reporting
• A record of participation in operational research, or guideline and/or policy development is preferred.
• Excellent team leadership, team working and relationship building skills with the ability to develop positive working relations across functions and cultures
• Ability to motivate and coach medical professionals and to use appropriate management tools to ensure effective running of programs, staff management and development
• Strong communication and representation and negotiation skills with excellent spoken and written English
• Competence in basic epidemiological analysis and knowledge of data collection methods and data analysis skills,
• Confident and proficient in the use of MS Office and knowledge of statistical software such as SAS, SPSS, or STATA
• Experience of proactively identifying and addressing issues

Desirable
• Experience in operations research, knowledge translation and M&E
• Specialist skills in internal medicine, pediatrics, infectious diseases or travel and tropical medicine is an asset

How to Apply
Qualified applicants should send resume and detailed cover letter, referencing the position title in the subject line to HR@dignitasinternational.org .

Only short-listed applications will be contacted. Applications will be short-listed on a regular basis.

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