SUSTAINING TECHNICAL AND ANALYTIC RESOURCES
FELLOWSHIP TITLE: Senior Provincial HIV/AIDS Technical Advisor
HOST ORGANIZATION: Health Office, South Africa, United States Agency for International Development
LOCATION: Johannesburg, South Africa
POSITION LEVEL::Senior Advisor
STAR-P3-147
TRAVEL: 5% estimated travel
STAR PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP
The STAR Fellowship is a two-year global health and learning opportunity with:
Individualized, tailored support to enhance the fellow’s achievement personal and professional goals.
Personalized learning plans and access to learning resources (courses, conferences, mentoring) based on fellow’s learning style and preferences.
Access to broad professional networks to enhance peer learning and knowledge sharing.
FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION
Background:
The USAID/South Africa Health Office implements USAID’s largest President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) programs in the world. USAID supports the Government of South Africa in its fight against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) by focusing resources in geographic areas of the country with the highest burden of HIV and TB. The overarching goal of the program is to reach epidemic control by treating over 90 percent of the population living with HIV.
PEPFAR/South Africa is oriented toward strategic partnership with all levels of the South African Government (SAG), with an emphasis on epidemic control, DREAMS, health systems strengthening, and cost efficiencies. The South Africa PEPFAR program continues to account for approximately one-quarter of all PEPFAR results globally; in this context the Senior Advisor plays a critical, cross-cutting role that affects not only the direction and progress of PEPFAR/South Africa, but also of the global program.
Introduction:
The Senior Provincial HIV/AIDS Technical Advisor (Senior Advisor) will be part of the Consulate General team reporting through the Consular General (CG) or their designee, as well as part of the extended USAID health office. The Senior Advisor will provide technical expertise grounded in strong program implementation and management experience in the following fields as they relate to HIV/AIDS, TB and COVID-19 response:
Prevention, testing, care and treatment.
Orphans & Vulnerable Children: support and referrals for community resources
Key Populations-focused health services.
Health Systems Strengthening: supply chain, health financing, health information systems, health research and human resources for health.
Nutrition: assessment, maternal and infant care, counseling and training.
Sexual and reproductive health and maternal and child health.
Gender-related services: support for victims of gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health services for adolescent girls and young women.
Public Private Partnerships to advance health.
Government to government agreements and MOUs to advance health.
The Senior Advisor will engage with local government, implementing partners and the private sector to enhance PEPFAR investments in Gauteng Province. They will provide technical assistance to existing HIV programs and will assist in the design, integration and implementation of new HIV programs. The Senior Advisor will participate in the review and evaluation of existing HIV policies, as well as advocate for new and updated policies as necessary. The Senior Advisor will provide technical support toward the design and improvement of programs in line with PEPFAR strategies and objectives and other public health needs including TB and COVID-19 as they arise.
Reporting structure:
The Senior Advisor will be based at the USAID/SA bilateral health office, based in the Consulate General in Johannesburg, South Africa. They will work closely with and receive technical direction from Strategic Operations Deputy Director who will serve as their Point of Contact.
Essential Duties and Outcomes:
Strengthen relationships with provincial stakeholders to enhance USAID’s coordination with existing HIV programs.
Provides technical advice and serves as an independent resource to provincial, metro, district, and city governments as well as organizations involved in implementing HIV/AIDS activities and other public health care priorities as needed.
Establishes and maintains contact with counterparts in the national, provincial, metro and district departments of health, and their various HIV/AIDS-related programs, Treasury, UN Agencies, the South Africa National AIDS Council, other bilateral donor partners and implementing partners working in HIV/AIDS.
Serve as subject matter expert to help ensure that USAID HIV/AIDS and other public health programs align to National Strategic Priorities such as the National Digital Health Strategy, the National Health Insurance Bill (NHI), the President’s Committee on Gender-Based Violence, and the National Command Center for the COVID-19 response.
Advise Gauteng Provincial government on strategies to build a responsive, resilient and sustainable health system.
Coordinate with the CDC and Global Fund implementing mechanisms operating in Gauteng to avoid duplication and ensure a streamlined approach to program delivery.
Promotes exchange of best practices and lessons learned with partners, regional institutions and networks regarding best practices.
Strengthen capacity of USAID/Southern Africa HIV treatment portfolio to respond to an ever-changing implementation environment.
Contribute technical expertise in support of Mission reporting, administration, and planning activities, including development of the PEPFAR Country Operational Plan, Congressional Budget Justification, technical notifications, and portfolio reviews.
Analyze program-level results across a range of dimensions and variables for the USAID Health Office and other relevant stakeholders and recommend program pivots and policy changes that improve quality of health care services. Provide technical advice to implementing partners to address implementation challenges.
Provide technical advice in the development and finalization of work plans of implementing partners in Gauteng Province.
Support the design of new USAID implementing mechanisms as needed to strengthen USAID’s ability to respond to an ever-changing implementation environment.
Strengthen capacity of provincial stakeholders to ensure facility quality improvement and assurance.
Participate in quality improvement and assurance work under the umbrella of Siyenza/Phuthuma (initiative names may change but work will not be altered substantially) to include facility visits; development of facility improvement plans; use of daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly data to inform programmatic changes and course corrections.
Liaise closely with leadership of facility, sub-district, district, province and implementing partner as needed and relevant to ensure coordination of facility quality improvement plans, especially as they pertain to interventions beyond the facility (i.e. district or provincial-wide changes).
Promote change management among implementing partners in Gauteng Province to accelerate the adoption of new differentiated models for treatments, service delivery, novel prevention approaches, and new medicines and products.
Anticipated learning outcomes: approximate 10% time
Cultivate mentorship skills based on the STAR GH mentorship curriculum to more effectively support and improve knowledge transfer and skills acquisition of staff, incoming fellows and interns.
Advance leadership skills to successful support capacity building and knowledge sharing activities, and mentor develop junior staff.
Apply leadership skills and technical expertise to support programmatic growth and scale up within HIV/AIDS programming.
FELLOWSHIP REQUIREMENTS
Required:
Minimum 13 years of relevant technical experience in international, public health monitoring and evaluation with field-based applications, and experience working in technical oversight, design, monitoring and evaluation of HIV/AIDS programs in developing countries with master’s degree or a minimum of 15 years of relevant technical experience with bachelor’s degree.
Demonstrated knowledge and experience working with USAID or equivalent procurement, financial, and other systems.
Demonstrated experience in successfully designing, procuring, and managing new USAID implementing mechanisms that incorporate innovative capabilities such as differentiated models of HIV/AIDS service delivery, advanced analytics, data science, novel approaches to human resources for health, health financing and economics, private sector engagement, and services for vulnerable populations such as adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), reaching men, and key population groups.
Demonstrated experience improving program efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and scaling cost-effective interventions in large-scale programs.
Demonstrated experience in successfully managing service delivery mechanisms supporting at minimum 250,000 people on HIV treatment.
Experience providing subject matter expertise in HIV/AIDS, policy, program strategy, and monitoring and evaluation technical assistance to large, complex public health programs (e.g., more than 50 implementing partners and over $100 million per annum in overall budget) in contexts of high disease burden.
Specialized knowledge and demonstrated expertise in the demography and epidemiology of HIV and AIDS and other infectious diseases.
Track record of successfully managing programs that relate to key populations, prevention, strategic information, health systems strengthening, and care and treatment.
Specialized knowledge and demonstrated expertise in understanding the current evidence base as it applies to HIV and AIDS program design, management, and evaluation.
Strong track record for leading major change management initiatives such as program shifts in response to COVID-19 and adjusting pro...
