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Senior Program Officer, Surveillance, West Africa

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Foundation

We are the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on a simple premise: people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives. We believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve. We provide an exceptional benefits package to employees and their families which include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, foundation-paid retirement contribution, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in several employee communities. As a workplace, we’re committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.

The Team

The Africa team works to enable the foundation’s ambitious goals of scaling evidence-based interventions that target a range of diseases and socio-economic conditions that are endemic across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The team drives its responsibility through direct country engagement to deploy interventions and delivery models, and by building the partner architecture to replicate successful interventions and models across multiple countries.

Your Role

Application Deadline: April 8, 2024.

As the Senior Program Officer Surveillance Nigeria and Senegal, you will lead work related to advancing a stronger, more integrated disease surveillance ecosystem in Nigeria and Senegal as well as support foundation-wide efforts to demonstrate the value and feasibility of integrated disease surveillance across the continent. You will work from Nigeria with constant collaboration with Africa Team colleagues and Program Strategy Teams (PSTs) across the foundation.

You are a creative, thoughtful, and curious thinker and implementer who identifies as a problem solver. We are looking for people who enjoy the challenge of working on complex and impactful problems and collaboratively creating solutions that have the potential for ground-breaking change in the lives of people around the world. The successful applicant will have the ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, and diplomacy in a fast-paced, challenging environment.

You will report directly to the Deputy Director, Infectious Diseases, Africa Health team, with secondary reporting to the Deputy Director, Surveillance & Epidemiology, Pneumonia & Pandemic Preparedness team.

What You'll Do

  • Develop, negotiate, implement, and manage grants that strengthen integrated disease surveillance in Nigeria and Senegal in close collaboration with the Africa Regional Office including the Nigeria Country Office; the Pneumonia and Pandemic Preparedness team; Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics, Epidemiology team; and others to support better public health decision making during emergencies and to manage endemic disease.
  • Engage key local and global partners in integrated disease surveillance, focused on building capabilities and connections for institutional strengthening centered on national public health institutes (NPHIs) with in-country health sector actors, along with actors in the global ecosystem for technical standards and research such as the WHO, bilateral and multilateral development funders and health programs, and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
  • Deep partner engagement will be expected with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and Senegal Institut de Recherche en Santé, de Surveillance Epidémiologique et de Formation (IRESSEF), the respective Nigerian and Senegalese Ministries of Health, and research actors such as Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) and Nigerian Institute of Medical Research.
  • Facilitate learning, adoption, and appropriate deployment of high-impact innovative bio- and social science methods and tools (e.g. data science and analytics, wastewater/environmental approaches, serosurveillance, sample registration systems).
  • Review letters of inquiry and grant proposals and provide clear, concise, and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding.
  • Consult with grantees and other partners to improve project impact and ensure grants are meeting strategy goals. This may include site visits, providing operational guidance, and convening meetings of key partners.
  • Develop, manage, resource, and implement a program that aligns with foundation strategy and is operationally integrated with other foundation programs. Contribute to the design of new strategies, collaborations, and implementation plans to ensure long-term sustainability and impact.
  • Engage key local and global partners in integrated disease surveillance, across innovative tools, global standards, and methods; technical assistance and institutional strengthening with national public health institutes and other key national Federal and State agencies implicated in surveillance; and across global ecosystem actors.
  • Inform and coordinate with the SPO, Surveillance responsible for parallel partnership with the national public health institutes of Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Zambia; and global actors.
  • Represent the foundation to key program-related external constituencies, as appropriate, on committees related to the area of expertise and responsibilities of the position.
  • Support initiatives, participate in setting overall goals, develop strategy, and manage and implement investments.
  • Contribute to managing partnerships in the ecosystem, including global stakeholders, regulators, implementing organizations, and academic institutions.
  • Coordinate with other donors making surveillance-related investments in Nigeria and Senegal to ensure investments advance common goals and standards and seek co-funding to leverage foundation resources.
  • Build highly collaborative relationships with grantees, partners, governments, and other funders to create more integrated disease surveillance in Nigeria and Senegal.

Your Experience

  • Medical Doctorate (MD) and/or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) with at least 7 years of experience in epidemiology or public health, or equivalent experience. Masters in public health (MPH) desirable.
  • Proven understanding and technical experience in the field of infectious disease surveillance, mortality surveillance, epidemic preparedness, and outbreak response, as well as a proven track record in translating research findings into highly effective programs.
  • Preferred: Experience in developing, maintaining, and using surveillance systems for outbreak detection and response, as well as routine endemic disease tracking and control efforts.
  • Experience brokering relationships with global partners, including academic, research, industry, government, other donors, and grantees, to build a common vision for effective solutions to complex problems.
  • Ability to collaborate effectively in a matrixed environment - manage, organize, and prioritize multiple projects and meet deadlines within a fast-paced environment with multiple and competing demands.
  • Experience in working on teams with diverse cultural and professional backgrounds.
  • Fluency in English and proficiency in French is a plus. Skill in further languages is an asset.
  • Experience working in Nigeria and/or Senegal is an added advantage.
  • Excellence in scientific writing and data analysis, written and oral communication skills, and experience synthesizing technical information toward strategic decision-making.

Other Attributes

  • This role will require the ability to travel up to 30% domestically and internationally.
  • Nigeria is the preferred location for this role. However, Senegal is an option for consideration.

Hiring Requirements

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Candidate Accommodations

If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request here.

Inclusion Statement

We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We strive for a global and cultural workplace that supports ever greater diversity, equity, and inclusion — of voices, ideas, and approaches — and we support this diversity through all our employment practices.

All applicants and employees who are drawn to serve our mission will enjoy equality of opportunity and fair treatment without regard to race, color, age, religion, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and prior protected activity.

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Confirmed 10 hours ago. Posted 10 days ago.

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