Re-Advertised

TITLE: Senior Associate, Laboratory Services

Program: Laboratory Services

Job Location: Kigali

Type: Full-Time Paid

Start date: Immediate

Overview:

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. CHAI Rwanda carries out a wide range of programs, namely Nutrition, Access to Medicine – Hepatitis, Cervical Cancer, Laboratory Services, Health Financing, and Human Resources for Health, to support the Government of Rwanda (GoR) and Rwanda Ministry of Health (MOH) to ensure all Rwandans have access to quality, timely health care services.

For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

Laboratory Services Program:

CHAI Rwanda Laboratory Services Program is supporting the GoR and MOH/Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) to identify challenges in the current medical laboratory network, evaluate and implement potential system strengthening opportunities and strategies to expand the coverage of diagnostics services across the country, and create long-term improvements in healthcare delivery. Through the African Health Diagnostics Platform Project (AHDP), the CHAI Rwanda team is supporting the MOH to assess, design, negotiate and implement Public private partnerships (PPP) between partner governments and private commercial organizations to achieve this goal. Through the Molecular Diagnostic Network Optimization (DNO) and Sample Referral System (SRS) design exercise, CHAI team is supporting the RBC/National Reference laboratory (NRL) to assess current and future testing network design to align testing demand and capacity in the most cost-effective way by defining the optimal instruments mix, identifying the most appropriate locations where instruments should be placed, and designing the referral network linkages across that revised network.

CHAI team is also working with RBC, NRL, and the strategy development team to ensure timely response for COVID-19 pandemic management. This includes sharing technical expertise, updates on diagnostics landscape, and providing analytical, program strategy, planning, and implementation support for introduction and uptake of innovative, affordable, and high-quality diagnostics products.

Position Overview:

CHAI is looking for a Senior Associate, Laboratory Services to provide technical and operational support across multiple workstreams – network assessment; national strategy development and costing; implementation plans development; clinical training and mentoring; health information and quality assurance systems; and closing the loop interventions.

The Senior Associate will report to CHAI Rwanda’s Laboratory Services Program Manager and work closely with other team members, as well as CHAI’s global Laboratory Services Team. S/he will work closely with the MOH Laboratory team to provide technical and implementation support to drive timely execution and monitoring of laboratory system strengthening interventions including PPPs, DNO and SRS, COVID-19 diagnostics decentralization strategy.

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual with strong public health/laboratory sciences experience, outstanding credentials, and project implementation skills to support the program in Rwanda. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities: resourcefulness, responsibility, tenacity, flexibility, independence, energy, work ethic, and humility.

This position will be based in Kigali, with travel to other districts as required.

Responsibilities:

• Provide strategic and technical input into policy documents including but not limited to national laboratory policies and strategic plans, quality improvement plans including accreditation schemes
• Support assessment of technical resources and operational requirements in the laboratory network
• Lead assessment of the PPP model’s technical capacity to expand access to laboratory services
• Support development of implementation plans based on outputs from PPP feasibility, DNO, and SRS studies and for selected models
• Develop and share deployment models and strategies with operational considerations to support scale-up of piloted system strengthening activities
• Share experience and best practices from other countries on strategies and tools for adoption of current and new diagnostic models and products and their integration into existing lab networks
• Support the MOH in adoption of WHO guidelines for diagnostics
• Support the diagnostics working group in developing presentations, reports, and other documents
• Support national quantification exercises for diagnostics equipment and supplies
• Support planning and implementation of technical and programmatic training and mentoring, including revision of training and mentoring materials, tracking training gaps and progress
• Support in setting up of a data management system for reporting and results delivery and its integration into existing routine data management processes and systems, such as the country’s health information management system (HMIS)
• Develop recommendations for complementary interventions that can “close loop of care” and maximize the impact of diagnostic improvements
• Support broader advocacy and resource mobilization efforts for diagnostics access, e.g. drafting grant proposals, concept notes, presentations, budgets
• Develop materials and document internal updates to share with other CHAI team members, highlight opportunities for integration and coordination across workstreams wherever possible
• Conduct literature reviews and research activities as needed, and undertake other duties related to improving diagnostics access
• Other responsibilities as needed

Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree in Public Health, Laboratory Sciences, Biomedical Sciences or Engineering, or related technical field
• A minimum of 5 years’ professional work experience and at least 3 years’ experience working in health system strengthening projects or in public/private health diagnostics projects

Required skills:

• Strong technical knowledge and understanding of health sector diagnostics and familiarity with global health issues, experience in carrying out diagnostics project implementation work
• Demonstrated skills in qualitative and quantitative data collection, data management, and analysis, including knowledge of computer software: MS Office applications and other information systems (e.g. MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). Smartsheet experience a plus
• Excellent strategic thinking and problem-solving skills
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously in a fast-oriented environment with the ability to learn the job quickly through research and absorb synthesis on broad range of interventions
• Ability to work independently on complex projects and proactively manage activities with minimal supervision
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to navigate government processes with multiple stakeholders to build relationships
• High level of integrity, professionalism, and knowledge of research ethics
• Experience in convening meetings and facilitating discussions among a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders; previous experience working with government stakeholders is a strong plus
• Experience working in Rwanda or other resource-limited settings strongly preferred
• Working knowledge of English and Kinyarwanda/French