Summary Statement

The Public Health Institute (PHI) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being, and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. As one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation, we are at the forefront of research and innovations to improve the efficacy of public health statewide, nationally, and internationally.

The Bureau for Africa’s Health Division routinely partners with the Bureau for Global Health’s Emerging Threats Division to support regional, sub-regional, and country-level preparedness and outbreak response activities on the continent. When it comes to combating new, emerging, and re-emerging infectious diseases, USAID plays a unique role supporting preparedness, detection, and response by bringing together technical and programmatic expertise in global health and humanitarian assistance along with country and regional expertise to produce a comprehensive and holistic approach to global health security. The Emerging Threats Division’s Global Health Security (GHS) Program provides support for countries and regions to more effectively prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics. The GHS program implements projects across countries in Africa to include advancing country capacities in the International Health Regulations through the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), and provides a framework for international, multi-sectoral, intra- and inter-agency collaboration and coordination. USAID supports GHS through a portfolio of activities implemented and coordinated by the Emerging Threats Division.

Position Summary

• Be an Agency-wide Resource for Infectious Disease Issues:
• Provide expert advice to Agency, Bureau, and Mission leadership on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases across the African continent, providing technical support to advance strategies and programs that protect health, including and especially programs that prevent, detect, and respond to pandemic threats.
• Attend interagency technical meetings and discussions on infectious diseases, including outbreaks in the Africa region; actively consult and coordinate with relevant organizations internal and external to the U.S. Government.
• Participate in interagency outbreak response activities for the Africa region; ensure that during disease outbreak situations, USAID assets are well coordinated and aligned to support U.S. Government, partner government, and local community priorities and needs; help to ensure that necessary support (personnel, information, resources, relationships) is available to effectively respond.
• Ensure that outbreak response is appropriately represented in communications; that leadership is well-informed on outbreak status; and that all affected bureaus are appropriately engaged.
• Provide coordination and technical expertise to USAID to prepare, develop, implement, and monitor activities associated with infectious disease outbreaks in Africa; have responsibility for overseeing the production of key deliverables and ensuring their approval; and monitor outbreaks within Africa to assess threat level and provide technical recommendations for containment.
• Provide technical guidance on development assistance activities in the areas of GHS and infectious diseases at Bureau, Mission, Agency, interagency-levels, including by reviewing and analyzing data, developing strategies, analytical models, and methodologies, and providing assistance and advice on sectoral issues.
• Coordinate with Missions and grantee organizations in the application of USAID priorities and strategies to regional and country infectious disease and GHS programs.
• Be a Geographic Area/Regional Technical Resource for Infectious Disease Issues:
• Serve as liaison between the Bureau for Africa and the Bureau for Global Health to ensure that the African context is applied to GHS strategic planning, design, implementation, and evaluation and to facilitate coordination with USAID/Washington and Missions, the USG interagency, regional bodies, and other partners.
• Participate in monitoring the expansion of GHS program initiatives throughout the Africa region, including their relationship to policy reform and development constraints.
• Advise and support Missions and USAID/Washington on courses of action; review Mission policies and project planning documentation for coherence, relevance, and programmatic realism; advise Missions on defining program content and identify resources within or outside USAID; and support Missions in briefing national government partners, including ministers, permanent secretaries, and prime ministers on global health security assets and accomplishments.
• Consult with other USAID bureaus and other USG counterparts on region-specific interventions. In conjunction with the Bureau for Global Health, monitor, backstop, and direct Mission requests for strategy development and support for major infectious diseases activities.
• Serve as a country backstop for at least three GHS countries. Activities may include, but are not limited to, supporting the country Mission’s development of the annual work plans for GHS projects including the GHSA; reviewing country reports; briefing various stakeholders on GHS projects and GHSA activities; and liaising with the other USG agencies involved.
• Share Bureau for Africa and GHS perspectives with senior-level and other host-government officials, as well as representatives of regional and local private sector and NGO entities. Advise senior Bureau management on key issues/constraints to program development. Advise Bureau, Office, and Mission staff on a variety of public health program and project issues. Provide strategy and development support on the design and implementation of AFR/SD’s and GH/ETD’s portfolios.
• Provide Centralized Project Management Support:
• As needed, coordinate and evaluate centrally-managed grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. Serve as Activity Coordinator for GHS activities led by the Bureau for Global Health. Work closely with other staffs on work assignments , usually in terms of the end project desired..
• Conduct international and domestic travel for approximately 25% of the time
• Performs other duties as assigned.

• Master’s degree with 6 years of relevant experience, or bachelor’s degree with 8 years of relevant experience, Associate’s degree and 10 years of relevant experience, OR High School graduate and 12 years of relevant experience.
• U.S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain secret clearance required.
• Demonstrated ability to understand the strategic purpose and goals of multiple organizations from different sectors (e.g., public health, animal health, environment), identify and solve problems, and coordinate and support activities that lead to mutual success across the different sectors.
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and in a team environment.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate highly technical information related to human health, animal health, and environment to a variety of technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience with monitoring and evaluation methodologies, including frameworks, data quality assurance, analysis reporting and best practices in data dissemination in international/resource-challenged settings.
• Knowledge of USAID policies, procedures and reporting requirements desired.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• High degree of judgement, ingenuity, and originality to interpret strategy and to analyze, develop, and present work results.
• Fluency in English required. High-level professional proficiency in French (spoken and written) desired.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally.

• Innovation: Employee takes initiative to propose new ideas/approaches and demonstrates ability to find new and better ways to accomplish work.
• Customer Service: Handles customer questions and complaints, communicates with customers, handles service problems politely and efficiently, always available for customers, follows procedure to solve customer problems, understands company products and services, maintains pleasant and professional image.
• Accountability: Takes ownership of work responsibilities and holds high standards. Keeps commitments and takes appropriate actions to ensure obligations are met. Pursues efficiency and effectiveness and adheres to Organization policies and procedures.
• Interpersonal Skills: Employee demonstrates ability to work in cooperation with others and communicate effectively with co-workers, supervisors, subordinates, clients, and other outside contacts.
• Continual Learning: Assesses and recognizes own strengths and weaknesses; pursues professional development that is aligned with organizational role, contribution, and goals. Proactively shares knowledge with others to foster learning across the Organization.