Associate, Panama Este and Darién
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. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org
CHAI’s global malaria program provides direct technical and operational support to countries around the globe to strengthen their malaria programs and reduce the burden of this preventable, treatable disease. We support governments to scale up effective interventions for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance, with the goals of sustainably reducing the number of malaria-related illnesses and deaths worldwide in the short-term and accelerating progress towards malaria elimination in the long term.
Overview of role:
CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual to work as a part of its Panama Malaria Team supporting the Ministry of Health’s National Malaria Program to plan and execute effective programs in the Panama Este and Darien Regions of Panama. Over the past five years, CHAI has rapidly engaged in the country and helped them make meaningful steps towards orienting their national strategic plans and systems towards historic elimination by 2020. This position will work as a part of CHAI’s Panama team to design, implement, and monitor and evaluate CHAI-supported elimination-focused interventions and help support their scale up at the regional level.
The candidate must be able to work independently to drive implementation and have deep personal commitment to producing results. A successful candidate will be highly motivated and hard working with exceptional, organizational, problem-solving, and communication skills.
CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities including resourcefulness, tenacity, independence, patience, humility, and strong work ethic.
Responsibilities:
- Coordinate with regional health partners, local Guna authorities, and CHAI Panama team to monitor and evaluate the progress of current community health worker (CHW) projects:
- Work with regional partners and CHAI malaria team to coordinate activities outlined in the work plan
- Conduct regular site-level visits of CHWs to provide supportive supervision and to identify challenges and potential bottlenecks to be address by partners and CHAI malaria team
- Oversee project administration and logistics at the regional level
- Provide technical assistance to regional partners in areas such as surveillance, supply chain management, vector control and operational planning
- Identify key impediments to the successful execution of malaria elimination plans and work with the CHAI country malaria team and other partners to develop solutions to rapidly address those bottlenecks
- Compile inputs and draft necessary presentations/reports for internal stakeholders and donors
- Provide program and operations updates for progress reports and best practice sharing
- Serve as a trusted adviser to the regional level Ministry of Health staff on malaria elimination
- Represent CHAI in partners meetings as needed
- Develop and maintain strong, proactive relationships with regional health staff in involved in malaria elimination
- Develop and maintain strong, relationships with local Guna authorities
- Must be available to live and travel throughout the Guna Comarcas of Madungandi and Wargandi; must be comfortable traveling in boats and hiking long distances.
- This role requires travel to remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care
- Other responsibilities as needed by supervisor
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree plus 3 - 5 years of work experience
- Strong problem solving skills and analytical capabilities
- Detail-oriented with strong organization skills
- Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work independently
- Experience living and working in resource-limited areas
- Ability to work well both independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team
- Strong work ethic, integrity, credibility, and dedication to CHAI’s mission
- Ability to be effective, calm, and flexible in high-pressure situations, to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and to effectively prioritize
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
- Must be fluent in Spanish; with a professional-level proficiency in English
Advantages:
- Knowledge of Malaria
- Experience with infectious disease control programs
- Experience living and/or working in Guna territories is a plus