Senior Technical Advisor, Data Impact and Cancer Registry Programs

Are you seeking an opportunity to bring your professional expertise to a global organization focused on re-imagining public health?

Vital Strategies is an international public health organization. Our programs strengthen public health systems and address the world’s leading causes of illness, injury, and death. We currently work in 73 countries, supporting data-driven decision-making in government, advancing evidence-based public health policies, and mounting strategic communication campaigns. Vital Strategies’ priorities are driven by the greatest potential to improve and save lives. They include non-communicable disease prevention and commercial determinants of health (tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods); injury prevention (including drug overdose, road safety, and gender-based violence prevention); and environmental health (including air quality and lead poisoning). Our programs are primarily concentrated in low-and middle-income countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific. Please visit our website at www.vitalstrategies.org to find out more about our work.

Vital Strategies is committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive (DEI) organization. We believe our programs are strengthened when they are developed and supported by individuals with diverse life experiences, whose understanding of social and cultural issues can help make our work and workforce more inclusive. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or creed, gender, national origin, ancestry, actual or perceived age, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, marital status, sexual orientation, predisposing genetic characteristics, alienage or citizenship status, gender (including gender identity or expression), partnership status, arrest or conviction record, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws.

Read about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Vital Strategies: https://www.vitalstrategies.org/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-at-vital-strategies

Data Impact Program, Data for Health Initiative:

The Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative (D4H) aims to enhance public health data collection and use in low- and middle-income countries. Under this Initiative, Vital Strategies, in partnership with other global public health organizations, is implementing a multi-year program to provide support to numerous countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific in improving public health data systems, such as civil registration and vital statistics and cancer registries and enhancing the use of data for decision making.

As part of the Data for Health Initiative, the Data Impact Program (DIP) provides technical assistance to government public health agencies and national statistics institutes to support capacity development in data use, i.e., analysis, presentation, dissemination, and translation of data into policy. The Program’s objective is to help governments systematically strengthen the use of data in policy development and other key decision areas – to prevent data that has been collected from being “left on the shelf” (or on a computer). In each country, a specific activity plan is determined collaboratively with government partners, reflecting government priorities, and requested areas of support.

In addition, under the Initiative, Vital Strategies, in partnership with other global public health organizations, is implementing a multi-year program to improve population-based cancer registries in numerous countries and municipalities in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. The Cancer Registry arm of D4H involves interventions designed to improve the registration of cancer cases occurring in specifically defined catchment areas within countries; to improve the availability and quality of cancer information; and to improve the analysis and dissemination of cancer data. These interventions all aim to inform cancer control programming and planning.

Job Purpose:

Vital Strategies is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Senior Technical Advisor (STA) to provide technical assistance to two programs under the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative, Data Impact, and Cancer Registry. The STA will be responsible for the planning and implementation of work plans and managing in-country project staff in at least two countries for the Data Impact Program and with three IARC-GICR collaborating centers for the Cancer Registry Program (IARC: International Agency for Research on Cancer; GICR: Global Initiative for Cancer Registration). Under the guidance and supervision of the Principal Technical Advisor, Data Impact, and the Director, Cancer Registry, the STA will participate in the development of technical content to support best practices in data analysis, synthesis, presentation, and dissemination of data for decision-making and provide technical assistance to national ministries of health and other key stakeholders. The STA will communicate frequently with the government and other stakeholders.

This is a full-time position that can be based in any of the French-speaking African countries. Vital Strategies offers highly competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits. Vital may consider outstanding candidates in other regions. The salary range may be adjusted based on country market conditions.

Duties & Responsibilities:

[Data Impact Program – 75%]

Serve as a senior technical lead; provide direct technical assistance to government partners and participate in developing global technical assistance strategies and products. With guidance from the Principal Technical Advisor of the Data Impact Program, the Senior Technical Advisor will:

Program Development and Implementation –

• Establish relationships and collaborate with senior government officials to develop detailed country-owned work plans that maximize local impact;
• Coordinate the engagement of in-country project staff and consultants;
• Design, develop, revise, disseminate, and promote technical guidelines and training materials required to support planned technical assistance activities;
• Deliver training, mentoring, and other technical assistance activities on topics related to data use in public health policy;
• Manage and lead the provision of technical assistance to the country in order to achieve the objectives outlined in the work plans, including promoting the institutionalization and sustainability of data use system improvements;
• Monitor the implementation of activities, track impact against key project milestones and deliverables, and propose adjustments to work plans (as needed);
• Develop procedures and resources for institutionalizing technical areas of work in countries;
• Represent the program at technical/stakeholder meetings and regional/global conferences with external agencies, international organizations, donor institutions, county/national government, and other implementing partners with minimal support and oversight;

Administration/Finance –

• Ensure execution of agreements with relevant stakeholders (e.g., Memorandum of Understanding, Sub-grant agreements, fiscal agent agreements, and other contractual relationships);
• Manage the allocation of available resources (e.g., staff time, money, materials) to maximize country results;
• Monitor budget and track expenses against key project milestones and deliverables;
• Serve as the primary point of communication between the Data for Health Initiative and government officials, internal technical advisors, and external consultants in countries.

[Cancer Registry Program – 25%]

With guidance from the Director, Cancer Registry, the Senior Technical Advisor will:

Program Development and Implementation –

• Establish relationships and collaborate with stakeholders in three IARC-GICR (International Agency for Research on Cancer – Global Initiative for Cancer Registration) collaborating centers located in Côte D’Ivoire, Nairobi, and Johannesburg
• Design, develop, revise, disseminate, and promote technical guidelines and training materials required to support planned technical assistance activities;
• Deliver training, mentoring, and other technical assistance activities on topics related to cancer registry principles and methods, reporting, and CanReg5;
• Manage and lead the provision of technical assistance to countries working with collaborating centers in order to achieve the objectives outlined in the work plans;
• Monitor the implementation of activities, track impact against key project milestones and deliverables, and propose adjustments to work plans (as needed);
• Participate in the development of procedures and resources for implementing cancer registry activities;
• Participate in the development of global goods (e.g., monitoring and evaluation frameworks) for the Cancer Registry Program.

Administration/Finance –

• Ensure execution of agreements with collaborating centers (e.g., Memorandum of Understanding, Sub-grant agreements, fiscal agent agreements, and other contractual relationships);
• Manage the allocation of available resources (e.g. staff time, money, materials) to maximize country results;
• Monitor budget and track expenses against key project milestones and deliverables; review expenses and financial reconciliations.

Other –

• Other duties as assigned by the Director and Principal Technical Advisor, Data Impact, and the Director, Cancer Registry.

Qualifications:

Education and Degree –

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., public health, epidemiology) required. Master’s degree preferred.

Skills and Abilities –

• Demonstrated experience and expertise in public health;
• Experience working in low- and middle-income countries and on projects with strong data components;
• Prior experience working in or with government ministries that focus on public health;
• Experience delivering training or capacity strengthening to professional audiences;
• Project management experience;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Strong interpersonal skills;
• Intermediate to advanced knowledge in Microsoft Office;
• Experience with statistical software packages such as R, STATA or SPSS;
• Experience with visualization software such as Tableau or Power BI is desirable;
• Proficient in oral and written English and French is required, proficiency in other languages will be an advantage;
• Ability to build strong, ongoing, impactful relationships at all organizational levels and across a diverse range of cultural, generational, ethnic, racial, educational, and social backgrounds;
• Demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.

Experience:

Required –

• 10 or more years of relevant experience in public health practice, epidemiology, or global health policy;
• Experience with statistical software packages such as R, STATA or SPSS;
• Proven proficiency in oral and written French.

Preferred –

• Prior experience with visualization software such as Tableau or Power BI;
• Experience working and/or living in any of the Francophone nations in Africa.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements:

• The individual may be required to walk to and from various locations. Required to carry a laptop and travel internationally up to 30% of the time.