Liberia: Strategic Information Advisor

Overview

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) saves lives and improves health by helping public and private organizations throughout the world to effectively manage people, medicines, money, and information. Working from more than 30 country offices and our Arlington, Virginia and Cambridge, Massachusetts US headquarters, our staff from 65 nations is highly regarded for its technical expertise, integrity, and commitment to making a lasting difference in health. We live our mission to save lives and improve the health of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.

The USAID Collaborative Support for Health (CSH) Program works to improve the health status of Liberians through strengthening the Liberian health systems. The Program focuses on the national level, collaborating closely with the Ministry of Health (MOH), and selected counties and districts therein. The USAID CSH Program provides organizational capacity building and technical assistance in the following areas: 1) Strengthened leadership and governance capacity of the MOH 2) Strengthened Ministry of Public Works (MPW) capacity to manage water supply infrastructure improvements, 3) Institutionalized Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Improvement (QI) initiatives to improve health care service delivery, 4) Strengthened Human Resources for Health (HRH) Management, 5) Improved Supply Chain Management, 6) Increased financial sustainability of services, and 7) Strengthened Health Management Information System (HMIS).

Specific Responsibilities

Working under the direction of the Monitoring and Evaluation Director, the Strategic Information Advisor will provide technical support to the MOH M&E and Research (HMER) division to advise and assist efforts at the national and sub-national levels to support decentralization, coordination, system strengthening, and capacity building to promote data demand and use for decision making in health programs (maternal and child health, immunization, surveillance, HIV, family planning, etc.). The SI Advisor’s knowledge base, skills and experience will include those necessary to engage in the development of an interoperable information platform(s). The Advisor will ensure systems and processes are in place to sustain and institutionalize data driven M&E and decision making. S/he will provide training and other capacity building to staff and counterparts as required, support donor and partner coordination around HIS, and identify needs for strategic information short term technical assistance. The Advisor will work with the COP and other technical leaders on the project to ensure coordination and achievement of all contractual requirements.

The Advisor will provide technical assistance on a wide range of strategic information areas including:

• Support the coordination of the HMER technical working group (TWG) governance structure
• Support the implementation of the interoperability vision of the MOH through direct inputs and identification of technical resources from within and across CSH, and other donors and partners, and supporting the MOH to coordinate and utilize this support to advance a functional HIS that results in data used for decision-making to improve health
• Provide technical support on rapid assessment of knowledge and skills in data management, analysis, interpretation and use at national and sub-national levels, if needed where critically need information is not available from other recent / existing assessments.
• Provide technical support to improve the use of source documents (correct registers; tally sheet, report form, etc.) for HIS.
• Provide support to promote access to quality information at the national and sub-national levels, health report, disease surveillance and health assessment report
• Provide support for data quality assurance at sub-national level (counter verification) to improve data quality and service quality; and provide support on data quality issues that relates to supervision, to be embedded in supportive supervision tool.
• Provide technical support in developing and strengthening LMIS system
• Provide technical support for interoperability of soft wares such as: Health Information System (DHIS2), Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) and integrated Human Resource Information System (iHRIS).

Qualifications and Experience

1. Master’s Degree in Statistics, Social Sciences, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Health Informatics or a health related field is required. In lieu of a post-graduate degree, a relevant bachelor’s degree and at least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in HIS will be considered.
2. A minimum of seven (7) years of relevant experience is required.
3. Demonstrated computer skills in Epi Info, SPSS, GIS and Microsoft Office Suite applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook and advanced skills in the use of analytical tools.
4. High degree of familiarity with DHIS-2 – its use, customization, and interoperability of related data management platforms (LMIS, iHRIS, HMIS).
5. Demonstrated results with capacity building/training, and implementing training programs and workshops in HIS.
6. Demonstrated results building capacity for data driven information use.
7. Willingness to travel up to 30% time.
8. Significant experience in monitoring and evaluation of internationally-funded programs.
9. Demonstrated competence in assessing priorities and in managing a variety of activities in a time-sensitive environment, and in meeting deadlines with attention to detail and quality.
10. Strategic thinker with people skills and managerial, organizational and coordination skills
11. Strong writing, editing, and formatting skills.
12. Demonstrated ability and willingness to take initiative and to be flexible depending on changing priorities and deadlines.
13. Proficiency in English, including speaking, writing, and reading, with the ability to conduct business in English.
14. Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated sound judgment in handling confidential and sensitive matters discreetly.

https://jobs-msh.icims.com/jobs/9429/strategic-information-advisor/job