Senior Program Manager – Strategic Information & Evaluation (SPM-SIE)

UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES – CLINICAL TRIALS RESEARCH CENTRE/INTERNATIONAL TRAINING AND EDUCATION CENTRE FOR HEALTH.

Senior Program Manager – Strategic Information & Evaluation (SPM-SIE)

Background

University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences – Clinical Trials Research Centre (UZCHS-CTRC) on behalf of I-TECH (International Training and Education Center for Health) is seeking suitably trained and qualified applicants to fill the position of Senior Program Manager – Strategic Information and Evaluation. I-TECH’s activities occur primarily in the technical areas of health system strengthening; health workforce development; operations research and evaluation; prevention, care and treatment of infectious diseases. I-TECH is funded by PEPFAR through Center for Disease Control to implement HIV & TB treatment and care services in five Zimbabwean provinces in support of the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC). The contract of employment is for eight (8) months effective 01 February 2018 to 30 September 2019 and is renewable annually subject to availability of funding and satisfactory performance.

Job Summary

The incumbent will be responsible for overseeing and directing all monitoring and evaluation (M & E) and information and communication technology (ICT) activities of the Zimbabwe Care and Treatment programme. Reporting to the Head of Programs, the SPM-SIE will directly supervise the M & E and ICT Managers and collaborate closely with I-TECH programme staff and I-TECH consortium partners (including I-TECH HQ, I-TECH Zimbabwe, Pangaea Zimbabwe AIDS Trust and AFRICAID), in providing technical input and project management for implementing the M & E scope of work. The SPM-SIE will provide strategic leadership in the design, implementation, and maintenance of programme monitoring systems, as well as coordinating all routine data collection, analysis and reporting processes and systems in the I-TECH consortium while ensuring compliance with USG, I-TECH and UZCHS-CTRC policies and regulations.

Responsibilities 

Overseeing the data governance system by creating and maintaining consistent policies, processes, and tools, strong ICT, M&E and data management infrastructure and implementing such policies and processes in cost effective ways and facilitating data governance committee meetings and executing decisions made. • Providing oversight, technical leadership and project management of ICT activities including the design, maintenance and execution of a central data repository and associated mobile applications. • Ensuring that Standard Operating Procedures and processes related to data systems are in place, up-to-date, and practiced in I-TECH Zimbabwe’s M & E activities. • Developing, implementing and maintaining data quality assurance and control mechanisms, including overseeing data quality assessments and leading activities related to data collection, management, and validation processes, operating as the chief privacy and security officer who will lead in the case of system incident, supervising ICT staff in the response.

• Ensuring that data confidentiality, security and privacy policies and procedures are established and adhered to in accordance with international standards. • Maintaining information management systems for centralized storage and aggregation of routine programme data and working with stakeholders and domain experts in identifying key data elements and standardizing data collection tools and practices as project needs evolve. • Identifying appropriate ways of optimizing the central data repository to serve programme needs by collaborating with software developers on database modeling, design, indexing and tuning database performance. • Disseminating results of programme interventions and analysis of process/activity and clinical outcome data in a timely manner and ensuring that all evaluation activities are well coordinated and running smoothly according to approved protocols. • Advising I-TECH SIE staff on methods for data management and analysis, including methods for querying relational databases, data warehousing, cloud database storage and security, and data mining techniques.

• Conducting routine and regular strategic/programme planning meetings with I-TECH staff using evidence gleaned from data analysis and interpretation and fostering a “big-picture” mindset and holistic understanding of the programme within the entire project team. • Providing technical project management and oversight of M & E and ICT activities and flagging urgent matters and critical success factors that will be off-track and clearly specifying expected outcomes, performance timelines and follow ups to assess progress made by team members. • Promoting a problem-solving and critical thinking culture within team members by empowering them to work independently and collectively with a deep sense of shared ownership, pride and responsibility of their work. • Responding timeously to information requirements and requests from CDC, MoHCC and I-TECH headquarters, by effectively delegating and coordinating collection, analysis and presentation of available information in a structured manner that ensures quality standards are maintained. • Performing any other duties as assigned by the Head of Programs – Care & Treatment.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience

• Advanced degree in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Public Health or related field is required. • Minimum of 7 years working experience in health informatics project management with increasing responsibility in senior leadership and management positions. • Experience in the designing, implementation, management and use of central data repository system for health-related programme management and in managing and supervising teams engaged in data collection and analysis activities coupled with results-oriented competence in health information systems project management, development of M & E work plans and budgets, evaluation frameworks and in conducting operational research and public health evaluations. Preference will be given to applicants with direct experience using the DHIS2 platform for these functions. • Certifications in Health Information Management, Health Informatics, Business Intelligence, Big Data/Data Analytics or in a specific data language like R or MySQL/Database Administrator credential preferred.

• Knowledge of web/Internet standards, cloud computing, mobile platforms, and relational database technologies and in designing and implementing mobile application systems for data collection and visualization. • Experience in designing and implementing interfaces between I-TECH specific and existing databases, in designing data visualization strategies, developing analytic capacity and disseminating information products. • Strong quantitative data analysis skills using data visualization software such as Tableau or Power BI and have experience in developing research protocols, study designs, implementing studies according to protocols, in M & E and/or ICT project management skills, data governance, including establishing policies, processes, oversight and capacity building of data management across different parts of a program. • Knowledge of web/Internet standards, cloud computing, mobile platforms, and relational database technologies and in designing and implementing mobile application systems for data collection, visualization and familiarity with health information system architecture and software design, business analysis and development. • Excellent report writing, analytical, problem solving, presentation and interpersonal communication skills with fluency in English and one or more of the local spoken languages (Shona and/or Ndebele) coupled with an exceptional ability to work independently and collaboratively.

Interested candidates should submit their application letter, detailed Curriculum Vitae and certified copies of certificates to the below mentioned address or via email: [email protected]. Prospective candidates outside Zimbabwe should have a valid Zimbabwean work permit or the absence of a requirement for a work permit to work in Zimbabwe. The candidate should also be willing to relocate to Zimbabwe at own expense. The closing date for receipt of applications is 7 January 2019 to: – The Human Resources Manager UZCHS-CTRC 15 Phillips Avenue Belgravia, Harare Only shortlisted candidates will be conducted.