JSI - DRC
New Vaccine Introduction Advisor

Location: Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Organization: JSI Research and Training Institute, Inc.
Position type: Employee

Background

JSI’s Immunization Center brings a long history of working in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders to strengthen theroutine immunization system and increase coverage at scale in a sustainable and equitable way. Some of the key funders for this work are Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

JSI is currently seeking a New Vaccine Introduction Advisor to provide technical leadership and stakeholder engagement in DRC for the Phase II Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)-funded HPV Vaccine Acceleration Partners Program Initiative (HAPPI). As a continuation to the HAPPI Phase I planning grant, the project aims to accelerate access to and improve coverage of HPV vaccination. JSI is leading the HAPPI Consortium of partners to engage in global HPV vaccination coordination, and provide country technical assistance for HPV vaccine introduction, increasing and sustaining coverage, in addition to filling HPV vaccine evidence gaps through documentation of implementation learning. The New Vaccine Introduction Advisor will also support the development of an HPV vaccine financing application to Gavi.

JSI representative/s routinely plan to meet with representatives from these organizations when they travel in-country as a part of client management and for programmatic updates. The work completed in the DRC provides various opportunities to share innovative approaches that can be used in HPV programming, urban immunization, and in complex geographies to reach under-immunized and zero-dose children. DRC, for example, has incorporated the use of phone calendar reminders as a client-focused, yet affordable and low- tech solution to empower caregivers with information they need to ensure children do not miss vaccinations. Documenting this work for dissemination at national, regional, and global levels is critical.

Position description

The New Vaccine Introduction Advisor position will provide technical leadership and stakeholder engagement under the direction of the Project Manager. The New Vaccine Introduction Advisor will work in coordination with the PEV, NITAG, and other stakeholders in country.to provide technical assistance to the PEV during the introduction of new vaccines in DRC.

New Vaccine Introduction Technical Advisor will support the HPV Technical Working Group to develop an application for HPV vaccine financing and will conduct stakeholder engagement activities as needed. Critical to the position’s success is the ability to lead, manage, and motivate stakeholders to achieve results and promote country ownership of those results. The New Vaccine Introduction Technical Advisor may be called upon to represent the program in partner, donor, or EPI meetings.

The New Vaccine Introduction Technical Advisor will work in close coordination with the JSI HQ team, based in Washington, D.C. and will attend weekly meetings and provide updates to the backstopping team.

Specific responsibilities

• Support the establishment of a multi-partner Technical Working Group (TWG) for the introduction of the HPV vaccine;
• Conduct a rapid desk review of relevant program documents and reports including vaccine introduction lessons learned from DRC and HPV-specific lessons learned from other countries;
• Routinely coordinate with the HPV Technical Working Group to ensure the necessary inputs for the HPV vaccine financing application are completed and high quality;
• Organize and attend HPV Technical Working Group Meetings and sub-group meetings;
• Review the HPV vaccine financing application and provide inputs and recommendations as needed;
• Support the development of a multi-sectoral approach to build consensus among stakeholders and to create demand for HPV introduction;
• Consolidate evidence on gender, social and cultural determinants of HPV vaccine uptake;
• Identify different target groups and describe strategies to reach those that are at a higher risk of uptake;
• Support the compilation of evidence to support disease burden data and information.

Minimum qualifications

• Strong knowledge in Public Health, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Immunization
• Post-graduate degree in public health or equivalent and at least 8 years of experience in developing countries at national and sub-national levels
• Ability to coordinate with and lead a wide range of stakeholders in developing various components of the proposal in person and virtually as needed
• Strong Excel skills required including: Formatting cells and conditional formatting; producing pivot tables; generating charts in excel; setting up data protection and validation; advanced use of filters and formulae and other data manipulation functions to increase speed of data entry and cleaning of primary data
• Familiarity with routine immunization, immunization-related projects, and the Gavi Zero-Dose Strategy and Learning Agenda, and vaccine introduction
• Experience with developing and submitting proposals to Gavi
• Detail-oriented, with good time management skills
• French written and spoken required. English written and spoken desirable.
• Excellent written and oral communication and computer skills.
• Ability to travel up to 15% of the time to the field required

How to Apply

Interested candidates are requested to submit a CV and cover letter to imm_recruitment@jsi.com by December 15, 2023. Please reference “New Vaccine Introduction Advisor” in the subject line. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

JSI is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer committed to workplace diversity. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified applicants and employees without regard to age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, creed, religion, gender, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, sexual preference, genetic information, political affiliation, or military status (special disabled veterans or veteran status) in any employment decisions. M/F/V/D

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