United States of America: Management Sciences for Health

Organization: Management Sciences for Health
Country: United States of America
Closing date: 17 Dec 2014

POSITION DESCRIPTION

****Center for Leadership & Management****

Grant Management Solutions Project (GMS)

****TITLE:******Project Associate**/Technical Support (PA/TS)

****BAND:****E

****STATUS: Non-Exempt****

****REPORTS TO:******Senior Project Officer I**/Technical Support (SPO/TS)

****LOCATION:****Arlington, VA

****LEVEL OF EFFORT:****100%

****PROJECT BACKGROUND:**** Management Sciences for Health (MSH) seeks one Project Associate (PA) for the Grant Management Solutions project, a global program, based in its Arlington, VA, office. The project is designed to provide urgent short-term technical support to Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs) and Principal Recipients (PRs) of grants from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The project will work with approximately 30 US and international partner organizations, numerous collaborators, and hundreds of consultants worldwide. GMS in its third year; it is a three year project with option for 2 additional years.

The project is designed to deliver results under three objectives:

1. Urgent, short-term, management-related technical support to Global Fund grantees (CCMs, PRs) to unblock bottlenecks and systemic weaknesses limiting performance: this technical support helps CCMs and grantees to fulfill requirements and achieve results when scaling up national responses to the three priority diseases. The project provides technical assistance in the following areas: CCM/Governance; Financial Management; Procurement and Supply Management; and Monitoring and Evaluation.
2. Increased number of local individuals and institutions with Global Fund and grant management expertise that can provide high quality support to grantees: the project builds the capacity of local and regional consultants, and over its 5-year period, will strengthen twelve regional organizations so that these individuals and organizations can provide the high quality assistance required by CCMs and PRs in the future.
3. Knowledge sharing platforms for scaling up use of high quality tools and approaches: the project documents tested approaches used to strengthen CCM and PR capacities and disseminates them in the form of learning tools to interested stakeholders.

****OVERALL RESPONSIBILITIES****

The Technical Support Team organizes and oversees the urgent technical support activities to be provided to client CCMs and PRs under Objective 1 of the GMS project. The Team also collaborates with the Capacity Building and the Results & Knowledge Management Teams. The Technical Support Team is divided into two sub-teams: the technical managers and the logistics coordination staff. The logistics coordination staff is managed by the SPO/TS with one Project Specialist (PS), and fourPAs.

The PAs are responsible for organizing all logistical and administrative support to the technical support teams (comprised of 3-4 consultants) to carry out short-term country assignments. Each PA coordinates the logistics for up to fifteen teams at a time in collaboration with the technical managers, and is expected to master at least one additional Global Fund language as well as English. PAs are responsible for working with other GMS, MSH and MSH-partner staff to coordinate team logistics for travel and to obtain required authorizations and visas from the US Government and client countries. The PAs keep staff, consultants, partners, and clients informed of the logistical arrangements of travel and project activities. The PAs work with the Operations Support Team for day-to-day financial administration of country-specific activities, including advances, invoices, travel expense reports, and workshop budgets and expenses. PAs are responsible for the archiving of materials, correspondence and reports for their teams.

PAs have an important role in the trip reporting process. For each assignment, USAID requires a report within 10 days of completion of a trip; assignments usually comprise three trips. The PA enters relevant data in to the project Information Management System (IMS); and works with the communications team to ensure than all edits are then transferred manually back in to the IMS. The PA works with the Program Officer, Results and with technical managers to train team leaders in the use of the on and off line trip reporting processes, and provides occasional technical support to team leaders as they enter data following trips.

The GMS Capacity Building Team organizes the semi-annual consultant orientations and other training events. The PAs of the Technical Support Team collaborate with the Capacity Building Team to organize and support these events. PAs also travel to client countries to support field-based training and orientation events, and civil society workshops, when local logistical support is unavailable.The PAs collaborate as needed with the Results Team to ensure collection and transmission of results information, reporting forms, and follow-up monitoring of the technical support teams’ outputs and outcomes. From time to time, PAs are asked to contribute to other results, communications, and partner coordination activities.

****SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILTIES****

****Operations****

1. Serve as a primary operational liaison and resource person for GMS technical support (country) teams on all administrative and logistical matters.
2. Develop and maintain project tracking sheets for ongoing activities and pending items.
3. Schedule, attend and document preparatory and debrief team meetings.
4. Orient and brief new consultants and new staff members regarding GMS administrative and financial procedures and their roles as PAs.
5. Adhere to and contribute to managing GMS administrative systems for efficient and effective coordination of activities.
6. Carry out the organization and logistics for bi-annual consultant orientation meetings, including catering, venue, A/V, travel, visas, accommodations, and production of materials.
7. Coordinate logistics for workshop activities in compliance with USAID and MSH regulations. Contribute to the preparation of workshop agenda and any necessary materials as well as any follow-up correspondence with participants after completion of workshops.
8. Coordinate with and assist other PAs to ensure adequate coverage during their absence (i.e., vacation, sick leave).
9. Act as the administrative backstop on ad-hoc project activities, as assigned.

****Finance****

1. Track related expenditures, deliverables and level of effort for project related activities.
2. Initiate and review advances, invoices and expense reports from consultants for timely submission to the GMS finance team in accordance with program requirements and MSH procedures.
3. The PA is aware of, and adheres to, MSH’s Procurement Integrity standards in all activities.

****Information Management****

1. In collaboration with the assigned program managers, PAs ensure open, ongoing communication flow between GMS, project partners, and project teams.
2. Support technical managers and team leaders throughout the entire trip reporting process (training, data entry, data verification, technical support to TLs, and manual re-entry of edited word material into the IMS).
3. Maintain responsibility for electronic and paper file management, consultant database management and dissemination of programmatic and team information.
4. In collaboration with project managers, contribute to maintenance and updating of project Web pages.
5. Email, place phone calls and draft communications in a second language as requested.
6. Contribute to the collection of project information, the documentation of progress towards results and the coordination of the preparation of reports including maintenance of the GMS extranet, monthly tracking database, and library.
7. Research and download information from the Global Fund and other related Web sites.
8. File, fax, photocopy, and complete other support tasks as requested.

Travel

1. Coordinate all international/domestic travel and hotel arrangements related to GMS project activities. Ensure that all travel arrangements are in compliance with USAID regulations and GMS procedures.
2. Process visa requests as necessary.
3. Submit Electronic Country Clearances (ECCs) as needed.
4. Coordinate logistics processes with team members and ensure proper information sharing and communication at all times.
5. Provide travelers with GMS logistics memo (containing all travel details) prior to departure.
6. Provide general support to technical support team members and partners when traveling.
7. Up to 5%, usually not more than one trip of 1-2 weeks to a client country per year (subject to USAID approval) and occasional trips to Boston (MSH head office).

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's Degree and/or equivalent relevant experience. Master’s of Public Health or similar degree a plus.
• One to two years of work experience in a related field or organization.
• Experience working with US Government systems (USAID, State Department, CDC, etc.) a plus.
• Experience living or working in developing countries (at least 1 year) that aids in understanding program context, field realities, and technical needs is strongly preferred. Peace Corps, other volunteer abroad programs, foreign work study, or similar experiences acceptable.
• Fluency in English (written and oral) required and ability to speak and work in a second Global Fund language required (French, Spanish and Portuguese, Russian or Arabic), Spanish preferred.
• Demonstrated ability in computer skills for word processing, databases, spreadsheets, and presentations (Microsoft Office applications, including Access, preferred); and ability to learn new software packages.

Proje

REQUIRED SKILLS:

• Experience working with teams to achieve results as well as ability to work independently, take initiative, and use good judgment.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with professional colleagues in a broad range of indigenous, nongovernmental, governmental, and international organizations within multiple socio-cultural contexts.
• Strong writing, organizational and communication skills and ability to learn complex program procedures.
• Demonstrated competence to assess priorities and manage a variety of activities in a time-sensitive environment and meet deadlines with attention to detail and quality. Excellent time management and multi-tasking ability.

Management Sciences for Health is an equal opportunity employer offering employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, citizenship, physical or mental handicap, or status as a disabled or Vietnam Era veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.

How to apply:

https://jobs-msh.icims.com/jobs/7809/project-associate-technical-support...