Senior Manager, Regional and Country, Public Policy Engagement

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership committed to saving children’s lives and protecting people’s health by increasing equitable use of vaccines in lower-income countries. The Vaccine Alliance brings together implementing country and donor governments, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. Gavi uses innovative finance mechanisms, including co-financing by recipient countries, to secure sustainable funding and adequate supply of quality vaccines. Since 2000, Gavi has contributed to the immunisation of more than 1 billion children and the prevention of more than 17.3 million future deaths.

THE ROLE

The Public Policy Engagement (PPE) team leads on political affairs and public policy analysis in global and regional spaces, to influence policies and foster social commitment to equitable and sustainable use of vaccines (Gavi’s mission) in countries and communities. The team carries on advocacy related to vaccine equity for the Gavi Secretariat and the COVAX Facility, managing institutional engagements and multilateral fora, including the UN system, global, regional and country health partners, policy networks and civil society. The Senior Manager will nurture Gavi’s key relationships for advocacy in eligible countries and relevant geographic regions within PPE.

Key functions and deliverables:
• Operates and advises on regional and country policy and advocacy strategies, particularly in Asia and non-African middle-income countries to strengthen political will, policy formulation, implementation and accountability to advance Gavi’s mission;
• Provide proactive advice on advocacy opportunities, issues, risks and improvements to inform Gavi’s mission and strategic direction in the region;
• Represents Gavi on key relationships with a variety of sectors and diverse stakeholders relevant to immunisation particularly with Governments, civil society, academia, think tanks and the private sector and Alliance partners;
• Positions Gavi’s mission in the public regional and country domains, linking immunisation efforts with other global and regional health developments;
• Develops high quality timely and contextualised political policy intelligence and analysis on the region and countries, identifying emerging opportunities, risks and challenges in immunisation policies related to Gavi’s mission;
• Advance Gavi’s role as a respected institution and partner in vaccines and immunisation in the region and in eligible countries.

MAIN DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

• Responsible for the implementation of immunisation policy advocacy strategies and plans in regions, countries and sub-national levels to build political will, and policy formulation and implementation, fostering a multi-sectoral approach and linkages with global developments;
• Under the leadership of the Head, Public Policy Engagement (regional and country) and in collaboration with other secretariat teams contributes to the design and operationalisation of advocacy plans, policy outcomes, shaping programmatic approach, and purposes to achieve in prioritised countries;
• Nurture appropriate relationships of trust with key public policy stakeholders, organisations (AU, ASEAN, APEC etc), relevant blocks, networks, platforms and forums;
• Manage, monitor and report on policy activities and key related policies developed by Gavi’s Board and Secretariat;
• Prepare briefings, advocacy activities, position statements/papers, contents, talking points, policy analysis to implement regional and country policy and advocacy strategies, inform presentations, meetings and events;
• Advises on innovation on regional and country partnerships, fostering social commitment from a variety of sectors including community representatives, youth, women’s group, the private sector and opinion leaders in favour of Gavi’s mission;
• Organise regional and country policy dialogues on Gavi priorities to drive momentum, anticipating future directions, sticking points and opportunities;
• Provides advice on political positioning to PPE and other relevant Gavi teams, adapting advocacy strategies, identifying areas for engagement to advance Gavi’s mission on regional, country and sub-national dialogues;
• Work closely and collaborative in PPE, with all relevant Gavi teams, and Alliance partners particularly at the regional level;
• Develops, supports and maintains strong collaborative relationships with Gavi Secretariat and Alliance partners;
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Note: The essential functions listed in this section are not exhaustive of the job responsibilities; other duties may be assigned consistently with the department needs.

QUALIFICATIONS

ACADEMIC

• Master’s degree in relevant discipline (public policy, health, social sciences, international relations, etc).

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of 8 years of work experience in public health, regional professional international experience on immunisation regional/country advocacy, based in a low- or middle-income country preferably in Asia, including health policy and data analysis. Development of public policy positions, knowledge content and advocacy target audiences uptake;
• Experience in building partnerships with regional bodies relevant to immunisation and country decision makers, including at sub-national level (particularly Asia and Middle-income countries in Asia);
• Excellent strategic understanding of political public health dynamics at the global, regional (particularly in the Asia and Middle-income countries ), national and sub-national levels;
• Significant experience on fostering public policy dialogues and advocacy plans at regional & country levels, particularly on multi-cultural, multi-lingual settings and a variety of contexts;
• Experience on policy and advocacy implementation activities and project management including planning and financial management;
• Able to develop high-quality regional and country analysis with solid understanding of country and regional immunisation policies and accountability;
• Solid background on collaboration and meaningful engagement with civil society, communities and the private sector on immunisation at the country and sub-national levels;
• Deep understanding of immunisation, health, equity and sustainable policy including market shaping.

SKILLS/COMPETENCIES

• Ability to engage Asia and Middle-Income Countries regional public policy bodies, and in health and/or political advocacy;
• Strong analytical, critical reasoning skills and ability to make logical or implied connections between policy themes, agendas and priorities;
• Listens respectfully and presents persuasive arguments to address the concerns, wants and needs of others;
• Excellent analytical, writing, and evaluation skills with capacity to adapt policy advocacy to different audiences;
• Ability to work independently on critical tasks and within fast-paced environment while producing high quality delivery;
• Ability to think strategically and flexibly to see the broader picture;
• Experience working in matrix structured team;
• Proven capacity to deliver results;
• Political & diplomatic acumen, sound judgement, adaptive management, problem solving;
• Excellent developed and cultivated networks and relationships at regional and country levels;
• Coalition and consensus builder;
• Strong interpersonal skills, able to work across cultures with the capacity to build strong working relationships within the team, organisation and outside Gavi;
• Excellent team player with a can-do approach.

LANGUAGES

• Outstanding written and spoken English is essential;
• Work proficiency in UN languages and widely spoken languages in Asia is highly desirable;
• Knowledge of a wide-spoken language in Asia is a comparative advantage.

Gavi is committed to diversity within its workforce and encourages applications from all qualified candidates.