Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental international humanitarian organization dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working toward the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Concern’s Innovations Project for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health is an initiative that field tests new ways to work closely with communities to overcome barriers to and improve access and delivery of health services for women and children in India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Concern Worldwide US, which manages this project, seeks a Senior Technical Advisor, MNCH to help shape and implement a rigorous research and evaluation agenda for each of nine field projects and to work with us to develop and communicate broad lessons for researchers and policy-makers. If you are a strong researcher with a deep knowledge of the MNCH field, this position offers you an unique opportunity to test the impact of multiple new ideas across several countries, working with a broad range of unusual partners and pioneering different approaches to project design, implementation, evaluation, documentation, research and reporting.
Job Purpose
The Senior Technical Advisor, MNCH will have the vital role of ensuring that Innovations’ activities and field projects are technically sound and state-of-the-art from an MNCH perspective, as part of action research aimed at testing innovative solutions to long-standing MNCH implementation challenges. As the five new pilot projects move through their different stages (design, implementation, advocacy and post-pilot transition) and the four existing pilot projects continue with implementation and move to evaluation, the Senior Technical Advisor will ensure that all the Innovations projects on the ground incorporate robust research design and data gathering, in close collaboration with our contracted global research partners, John Snow Inc. S/he will also be a crucial part of helping to analyze and communicate policy, practice, and research findings and lessons from each individual project and from the Innovations process overall, with the expectation that s/he will contribute significantly to technical publications, conference papers and presentations, policy briefs, and other public materials.
The Senior Technical Advisor, MNCH will play an important advisory role in the Innovations team and will report to the Innovations Director. S/he will work closely with members of the New York HQ and field staff, as well as with contracted global and local implementing and research agencies, and liaise with other Concern Worldwide MNCH and public health staff in the US, Ireland, and in country offices. This position is ideally based in New York with some travel to field sites, but because of the advisory nature of the role where significant work can be done off-site, we will consider applicants who can only be present in the NY office part-time. More information on the Innovations Project can be found on our website (
www.innovationsformnch.org).
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Senior Technical Advisor, MNCH’s key tasks will be:
• Provide technical support to Innovations staff and implementing and research agencies on project design and implementation of pilot tests in the field • Review and contribute to MNCH technical standards for all pilot projects, feeding into the initiative’s monitoring and evaluation as well as research efforts • Provide and/or broker quality technical assistance to Innovations field staff and implementation agencies based on identified needs and capacity gaps • Represent Innovations internal and externally at conferences and meetings • Draft and/or contribute to drafting of project documentation, evaluation, analysis and key lessons, for a variety of internal and external research, policy and technical audiences.
REQUIREMENTS
• At least 10 years of specialist work in the area of maternal, newborn and child health, preferably with experience in both clinical and community-based initiatives in Africa • In depth knowledge of current MNCH standards and literature • At least a Masters level degree (PhD or Dr.PH preferred) in Public Health or a relevant discipline • Very strong interpersonal, communications, and technical writing skills • Strong professional networks within the global MNCH community • Strong understanding of action research related to MNCH issues in less-developed country settings • Commitment to the core values and vision of Concern Worldwide
SALARY Commensurate with experience and salary history.
