Director, Essential Childhood Medicines Job at Clinton Health Access Initiative

Job Title: Director, Essential Childhood Medicines
Employer: Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI)

Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Type: Regular – Full Time (eligible for benefits)
Business Unit: Country Programs – Country Teams

Overview:
The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) was established in 2002 to increase access to care and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS and to strengthen health systems in resource-poor countries. Over the past few years, CHAI has expanded the scope of our work to include access to high-quality treatment for malaria, new vaccines and essential treatments for common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia. CHAI has also increasingly supported governments to build the capacity required for high-quality care and treatment programs. Currently, CHAI partners with governments in more than 25 countries while more than 70 countries directly benefit from the low-priced drugs and diagnostic test agreements that CHAI has negotiated.

CHAI has been supporting the Government of Nigeria to scale-up access to Essential Childhood Medicines in Nigeria since 2011. Current work focuses on increasing access to zinc and ORS for the treatment of childhood diarrhea, with some activities addressing access to antibiotics for childhood pneumonia. CHAI’s strategic approach for Essential Medicines Scale-Up in Nigeria employs building a multi-stakeholder coalition for scale-up, consisting of committed public, private, and non-governmental organizations. As a key partner in this coalition, CHAI will implement a zinc/ORS scale-up program in several states in Nigeria, and will continue to play a leading role in further developing this coalition. CHAI is seeking a Director to lead the next phase of large-scale implementation of its Essential Medicines program in Nigeria.

The Director will lead a team of professionals based across the country, and will have significant opportunity to shape CHAI’s approach in developing this program. He/she will be expected to use strong internal and external relationship management, exceptional team development and management, and rigorous analysis to develop and execute high-impact programs.

We are seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding leadership and management skills. The candidate must be able to independently drive the development and implementation of this program, have deep personal commitment to producing results, and have the ability to lead in a challenging professional environment. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities: resourcefulness, entrepreneurialism, tenacity, independence, humility, passion for the mission, and work ethic.

The Director will be based in Abuja, with travel to program focus states.

Responsibilities:
• Lead and oversee all aspects of CHAI’s Nigerian Essential Medicines program and ensure achievement of primary targets, including program development and implementation, planning, budgeting, forecasting, and monitoring and reporting;
• Develop and implement adequate management systems and structures to ensure optimal, high-impact program outcomes;
• Work with Essential Medicines Program Managers to set program direction and goals, defining targets and measuring program performance across several focus states and multiple funding streams while establishing aggressive operational milestones and achieving program objectives;
• Serve as the primary liaison between CHAI’s Nigeria Essential Medicines team and the Global Essential Medicines team, CHAI management, and global partners and donors, responsible for sharing updates and ensuring progress on Nigeria’s diarrhea treatment scale up efforts
• Ensure transparency of results for CHAI EM programs (including financial performance) based on an effective monitoring and evaluation system, and ensure timely reporting of results to partners;
• Oversee administrative activities related to the Essential Medicines program, including closely liaising with the CHAI Nigeria Director of Operations (DO) to manage overall program budget, logistics, and Human Resources;
• Catalyze the implementation of Nigeria’s Essential Childhood Medicines Scale-Up Strategy by serving as a senior counsel to leaders within the Ministry of Health and NPHCDA while simultaneously guiding a broad coalition of stakeholders towards an aligned programmatic approach;
• Engage and manage relationships with senior leaders and coalition partners in Nigeria to identify and pursue new opportunities and innovative solutions to accelerate scale-up of zinc/ORS and other essential medicines;
• In coordination with the Country Director and the Director of Operations, support the recruitment, management, and development of a team of exceptional individuals to drive activities across diverse workstreams to achieve results within tight timelines;
• Any other task as requested by the Country Director.

Qualifications:
• A master’s degree in business administration, public health, international policy, or a related subject and a minimum of ten years progressively responsible experience in the public or private sector OR
• A bachelor’s degree in business administration, public health, international policy or a related subject and a minimum of fifteen years progressively responsible experience in public or private sector;
• Exceptional strategic development skills, able to identify and pursue high-impact strategies in complex, uncertain, and evolving environments;
• Proven program management skills, based on several years of experience in strategic, operational, and financial management of complex, multi-stakeholder programs/projects;
• Exceptional diplomatic and interpersonal skills, and an ability to communicate effectively and build durable relationships with people of varied professional and cultural backgrounds
• Entrepreneurial mindset, able to understand and develop a commercial market for zinc/ORS products
• Proven ability to effectively build and manage large teams of professionals: demonstrated desire to be a strong role-model and mentor for team members, give high priority to professional growth and development of individuals team members
• Ability to navigate complex government processes and favorably influence decision-making in a professional and collaborative manner;
• Ability to work with humility and not seek personal credit for the work or contributions, even where credit is due; commitment to ensuring our government partner is the owner of our work together;
• Well-developed analytical skills with ability to develop and apply quantitative models using Excel and other tools to address specific challenges and improve working practices with a focus on outcomes;
• Exceptional communication skills, including the ability to create compelling, logical presentations, using PowerPoint and other communications media;
• Ability to be effective in high-pressure situations, handle multiple tasks simultaneously, and set priorities.

Plusses:
• Experience working in the private sector, preferably in pharmaceuticals or fast-moving consumer goods
• Advanced degrees in management, public health, or other relevant fields

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