Summary

• The Health Systems team takes a systems and cross-technical approach to ensure delivery of equitable primary health care. The Manager will lead efforts to strategically grow the portfolio around waste management for vaccines and vaccine forecasting, with a focus on minimizing environmental impact and improving immunization equity.
• This position will be 20 hours per week and considered half-time. Candidates eligible to work in USA, Europe, DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Tanzania, or South Africa are eligible to apply, with preference for being based in Africa. This position does not qualify for relocation or work permit sponsorship. This is an immediate hire and candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

RESPONSIBLITIES

• The position will focus on improving vaccine forecasting using innovative methods and tools, and collaborating with external partners in sharing country-level learning. The position will be responsible for growing VillageReach’s portfolio on waste management practices in immunization, especially from a perspective that minimizes impact to the environment. Ideal candidates will have strong stakeholder management skills, project management skills, and technical understanding of immunization supply chain in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).
• Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following. Other duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned at any time.

Waste Management (30%):

• Develop waste management playbook from a practical perspective in collaboration with partners. Consider learnings from VillageReach’s implementation of high volume sites or vaccinodromes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Cote d’Ivoire.
• Explore opportunities to expand VillageReach’s expertise and contributions to supporting Gavi’s waste management efforts, with alignment with Gavi’s vaccine waste management maturity model
• Lead business development around vaccine waste management to reduce the impact on climate and carbon emissions, and grow into a strategic supply chain area for VillageReach
• Develop areas of work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vaccine waste management practices, in collaboration with Gavi, UNICEF, and other partners.
• Work collaboratively with Gavi, UNICEF, PATH and other technical partners to develop and disseminate waste management best practices and learning.

Vaccine Forecasting (20%):

Work with partners on the implementation of Immunization Collaborative Supply Chain in DRC and Mozambique to improve data availability, improve data analysis and strengthen capacity to improve vaccine forecasting. The initiative will generate evidence to influence country and global practices. The goals it to enable country EPI to more accurately forecast vaccine demand using data.

• Support DRC and Mozambique in implementing forecasting approaches and managing data. Collate lessons learned from country implementation to share with global partners and to modify approaches used in vaccine forecasting.
• Support iSC partners to socialize and build capacity for the forecasting toolbox in countries where VillageReach operates and for VillageReach staff using internal community of practice

Program Management:

• Working closely with the Immunization Lead to share learnings and tools from the Immunization Supply Chain Steering Committee (iSC2) and the VillageReach supply chain community of practice
• Participate in external Immunization Supply Chain (iSC) technical working groups, and report back takeaways to Immunization Lead, Immunization Advisory Group, and Country Teams. Collate feedback from VillageReach country offices to share globally, as requested

Competencies:

The following competencies reflect what is expected of all VillageReach employees; including examples of how one might demonstrate each of these competencies in one’s role.

• Personal Motivation and Drive: Is self-directed in one’s approach to work, but asks for help when needed; holds oneself accountable; undertakes self-development activities; seeks to build and master new skills; looks for and takes advantage of opportunities within the organization
• Collaboration & Effective Communication: Establishes and maintains effective relations with coworkers, partners & stakeholders and external parties; works collaboratively with others to accomplish organizational and team goals and objectives; works actively to resolve conflicts; expresses ideas and thoughts effectively; selects and uses appropriate communication methods and maintains meaningful communication with virtual coworkers and other parties to keep them informed
• Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion: Takes personal responsibility for and supports others across the organization in creating and sustaining a diverse work environment where individuals are welcomed, valued, respected and supported; personally committed to attaining cultural competency including self-awareness of one’s own attitudes about culture and cross-cultural interactions; exhibits the willingness and ability to engage openly and respectfully around issues of race, colonialism, identity and culture; upholds equity in access to sharing of information, ideas, and opportunities throughout VillageReach
• Commitment to Excellence: Produces a high output of work, both in terms of quality and quantity; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; monitors work to ensure quality; has a personal commitment to the mission of VillageReach
• Solution Orientation & Innovation: Focuses on results and desired outcomes and how to best achieve them; gets the job done; sees opportunities for creative problem-solving while staying within the parameters of good practice; sees old problems in new ways and has novel approaches to solving those problems; contributes original and/or resourceful ideas to their area of responsibility; is able to consider and articulate risks and consequences of proposed innovations and factor these into decision-making

Requirements

REQUIREMENTS

• To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• This position has no supervisory responsibilities

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s or other advanced degree with 5+ years of experience, or equivalent experience.
• Experience working with external stakeholders and managing programs, especially for immunization supply chains, in low resource settings within public or private sector.
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of immunization supply chain, required
• Demonstrated ability to exercise independent thought leadership and effectively communicate it to external audiences in oral and written formats.
• Demonstrated experience interacting and collaborating with government agencies, country governments, technical partners and donors; excellent networking and partnership building skills
• Excellent planning and prioritization skills as well as creative problem-solving and analytical skills;
• Experience working across time zones and with geographically distributed teams
• Demonstrated leadership qualities, depth and breadth of technical, management expertise for complex programs in resource-constrained countries;

Other Qualifications:

• Skillful written and verbal communication with ability to synthesize and deliver information to diverse audiences in a clear and concise way.
• Experience or ability working with diverse stakeholders and collate information from multiple sources
• Self-motivated; independent worker able to set and meet deadlines. Proactive about reaching out to colleagues to complete responsibilities or asking for direction when needed
• Experience living in and/or working in a low-income country a plus
• Established cultural competency in partnering with racial, cultural and linguistically diverse groups.
• Demonstrated understanding of challenges with working in rural, underserved and low-income context; experience living in and/or working in a low-income country a plus.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, Teams) and comfortable in a fast-paced technical environment.
• Fluency in English required; fluency in French and Portuguese is a bonus
• Comply with VillageReach’s COVID-19 vaccination policy which requires full vaccination for in-person work or travel.