2nd_Solicitation_Malaria_Advisor_Nov_ 2011.doc

Solicitation 613-12-002 Malaria Resident Advisor President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) USAID/Harare, Zimbabwe

1. SOLICITATION No: 613-12-002.

2. REF: Previous Solicitation No: 613-11-003 dated August 1, 2011. This is a re-advertisement of the position due to the unsuccessful recruitment of candidates from the first Solicitation.

3. ISSUANCE DATE: November 30, 2011.

4. CLOSING DATE/TIME SPECIFIED FOR RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS:

5pm Harare, Zimbabwe Time; Monday, December 16, 2011 at 17:00 hours.

5. POSITION TITLE: PMI Malaria Resident Advisor

6. MARKET VALUE: GS-14 ($84,697-$110,104); program funded.

Salary will be negotiated within this range and determined based on past salary and work history, experience, and educational background of the successful candidate.

7. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: 2-year contract base; any extension beyond this period will require approval.

8. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: USAID/Harare, Zimbabwe.

9. SUPERVISORY CONTROLS: Incumbent is expected to act with a high degree of independence with minimal supervision.

10. AREA OF CONSIDERATION: U.S. Citizens only.

11. OTHER: Funding for this position is subject to availability of funds and continued need for the services.

12. LOCATION: USAID/Zimbabwe –Health, Population & Nutrition Office

13. DIRECT SUPERVISION: Director, Office of Health, Population & Nutrition, USAID/Zimbabwe

The US Mission in Zimbabwe provides equal opportunity and fair and equitable treatment in employment to all people without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation, marital status, or sexual orientation.

A. BACKGOUND:

The Health team in USAID/Zimbabwe currently is comprised of a small team of 10 people working closely and collaboratively to help mitigate HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and improve essential health services. USAID/Zimbabwe’s assistance approaches are slowly emerging from an emergency relief phase and returning to assistance that is more health sector development oriented. Additionally, the Mission is moving to diversify its health assistance, balancing a continuing flow of funding for HIV/AIDS with additional assistance to address other public health challenges, such as maternal and child health, tuberculosis and family planning/reproductive health.

Due the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe, USAID’s overall health assistance strategy must include a robust and varied set of efforts designed to mitigate the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe. USAID is a vibrant member of the PEPFAR team in Zimbabwe (that also includes the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense, and the US Embassy Public Affairs Section). HIV/AIDS mitigation assistance from USAID is part of the PEPFAR country strategy that complements Zimbabwe’s own National Plan.

Recently, the financial resources typically available to the USAID/Zimbabwe health program totaled around $50 million of assistance annually, with over $40 million of this coming from HIV/AIDS funding. In 2011, Zimbabwe is scheduled to become a President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) country with an anticipated addition of $12 million in malaria funding. Besides malaria, there are seven other main assistance areas within the existing program, collectively covering: HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care, particularly with respect to prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, care of orphans and vulnerable children and private sector service delivery; TB; behavior change communications; product social marketing; logistics management and family planning services.

In 2009, the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare (MOHCW) initiated a pilot effort that offers male circumcision (MC) services in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is now scaling up MC services country-wide. With funding received in 2010, USAID is providing assistance to support the expansion of MC services across the country.

In 2010, USAID also began a new initiative to improve basic health services within the primary-secondary care dyad at the district hospital level and below. This program focuses on improving maternal and neonatal health (MNH) services in Zimbabwe. Specific areas of MNH intervention include: improving safe delivery and neonatal care at the primary level; strengthening emergency obstetric and neonatal care at the district hospital level; and, strengthening post-partum family planning services at both levels.

B. GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

The USAID/Zimbabwe Malaria Advisor, in collaboration with the PMI CDC Technical Advisor, shall oversee the technical design, planning, implementing, and monitoring of the PMI. He/she shall work with the PMI CDC Resident Advisor as a team in liaising with backstops for the PMI in USAID Washington, counterparts at CDC Atlanta, USAID personnel working within and overseeing the Mission’s activities related to malaria control and providing technical and managerial support to the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) Director and the staff and helping to build capacity within the NMCP. In addition, the Malaria Advisor shall represent USAID and the USG on various national and international technical and policy forums.

The USAID/Zimbabwe Malaria Advisor shall provide specialized, senior-level technical expertise in malaria, as well as leadership, guidance and overall direction on the development and execution of the PMI in collaboration with the PMI CDC Malaria Advisor on the PMI Team at USAID/Zimbabwe. The Contractor shall liaise with backstops for the PMI in USAID Washington, CDC counterparts in country and Atlanta and USAID personnel working within and overseeing the Mission’s activities related to malaria control. These responsibilities include providing expert malaria technical guidance and advice to national malaria control program, provincial and district level counterparts and other malaria control partners, including other United States Government (USG) entities working in malaria prevention and control.

The USAID/Zimbabwe Malaria Advisor shall exercise extensive independent judgment in planning and carrying out tasks, in representing the USG in critical technical and policy forums, in resolving problems and conflicts, and in taking steps necessary to meet deadlines. The Malaria Advisor will also represent USAID at functions; approve policy documents; provide technical guidance and/or directly manage contracts and grants; budget; and develop planning documents and work plans.

In fulfilling his/her role, the Malaria Advisor will focus efforts in the following areas:

1. Technical Leadership (30%) - The incumbent, working in collaboration with the NMCP and PMI staff in the US, will be responsible for developing and providing expert malaria technical guidance and advice to guide planning and implementation of malaria control interventions. The incumbent will be responsible for developing annual work plans in line with PMI objectives and goals. This will include but is not limited to case management of malaria in health facilities and at the community level, distribution of LLINs through health facilities, large-scale campaigns, and the private sector, intermittent preventive treatment of pregnant women, indoor residual spraying, and developing information, education and communications materials to promote the use of these interventions.

2. Management of Activity Implementation (25%) - The incumbent, in collaboration with the NMCP, will be responsible for the overseeing the management of projects being implemented under the PMI. This includes but is not limited to malaria prevention and control activities such as behavior change and communication activities, bed-net purchase and distribution through the existing health services and at the community level, antimalarial drug purchase and distribution through the existing health services, IPT coverage and the diagnosis and treatment of acute malaria, and the indoor residual spraying conducted under the initiative. The incumbent, in collaboration with the PMI CDC Resident Advisor, will also be responsible monitoring and reporting the results of all PMI activities. The Malaria Advisor shall manage and oversee services and deliverables provided by contractors and grantees, in accordance with USAID program management regulations and procedures, and practices.

3. Partner Relationships (20%) - Successful performance in this position depends upon establishing and maintaining productive collaborative relationships with a wide range of partners and stakeholders, the MOHCW, Global Fund, WHO, UKAID, UNICEF, other Donors and NGOs dealing with issues focusing on malaria, The Malaria Advisor shall, therefore, develop and maintain relationships with these partners and stakeholders in order to effectively assure that all of USG PMI’s activities are complementary and enhance all other malaria activities being implemented in Zimbabwe. The incumbent will participate in meetings hosted by the NMCP on malaria.

4. Coordination with Other PMI Personnel (10%) - The incumbent will be required to communicate regularly and work jointly with other members of the USAID/Washington Global Health Bureau, USAID/Zimbabwe Health team, CDC/Zimbabwe and CDC Atlanta.

5. Monitoring and Evaluation (15%) - Monitoring and evaluation is a key component of the PMI. The Malaria Advisor shall be responsible for working with the PMI CDC Malaria Resident Advisor in developing a monitoring and evaluation plan in line with the PMI targets, as well as ensure that PMI partners develop project monitoring plans and report in a timely manner on their activities. It is also expected that the Malaria Resident Advisor shall provide expert advice and practical experience in helping the MOHCW, the NMCP and other partners to monitor inputs and outcomes, progress towards RBM goals, and how to execute it jointly.

C. SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The incumbent must possess specific technical expertise in the area of malaria treatment, prevention and control and possess an understanding of the social, economic and cultural determinants and implications of the epidemic in Zimbabwe and neighboring countries, as well as have the experience and skills required to help formulate the USG position on malaria and make important policy decisions as a key representative of USAID/Zimbabwe.

Specifically, the USAID/Zimbabwe Malaria Advisor shall:

1. Ensure that all activities are consistent with internationally accepted technical best practices for malaria control and relevant to the specific epidemiology of Zimbabwe;

2. Collaborate with senior staff of the NMCP and other partners, such as the Global Fund (GF), WHO, UNICEF, UKAID (DfID) and NGOs to design, plan and implement malaria prevention and control activities consistent with the malaria control coverage needs identified by the strategy and plans of the NMCP and PMI;

3. Coordinate with other partners and support efforts to address malaria control delivery gaps and help build technical and managerial capacity within the NMCP at the national, provincial and district levels;

4. Provide technical support to all partners and managerial support as needed during the designing and implementation phases of the project to ensure the quality of interventions supported and that programmatic targets are met;

5. Work with suppliers and partners to ensure that programmatic commodities are purchased in a timely and cost effective manner. Also, ensure that the absorptive capacity exists in implementation sites to receive, manage and distribute these items effectively.

6. Ensure that malaria activities are integrated into overall USAID-supported health activities and to coordinate these activities with the NMCP and MOHCW to avoid duplication of effort and programming gaps;

7. Assist the PMI administrative manager to ensure full accountability and value for money of funds provided by the President’s Initiative on Malaria;

8. Assist the NMCP and Ministry of Health and Child Welfare(MOHCW) in ensuring effective communication and coordination between Roll Back Malaria and Global Fund partners, including donor agencies and other stakeholders working on malaria control in Zimbabwe;

9. Ensure effective coordination between MOHCW departments and other organizations active in malaria prevention and control in Zimbabwe.

10. Work with the NMCP and other partners to develop and execute a monitoring and evaluation plan to be implemented through existing MOHCW systems and existing USG supported mechanisms. Carry out monitoring and evaluation visits to implementation sites to ascertain all quantitative and qualitative data is collected properly and ensure programmatic quality and value for money are maintained.

11. Assure that financial and technical reports on the President’s Malaria Initiative in Zimbabwe are prepared and submitted as required.

D. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION CRITERIA:

Candidates will be evaluated and ranked based on the following selection criteria:

1. Education – 20%

Minimum of a Masters’ Degree in public health international health, or social sciences from a recognized institution and/or clinical qualifications. Specialized experience in malaria is required in areas including but not limited to vector control, entomology, clinical case management of malaria, and epidemic surveillance and forecasting.

2. Experience – 45%

The incumbent will have at least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in designing, implementing and managing malaria and other health programs in developing countries, with a preference given to candidates with African experience. Demonstrated technical leadership, program management, strategic planning, policy experience and problem solving skills working on complex projects in a highly sensitive environment are required. Preference will be given to those candidates with proven knowledge and experience with USAID programs, procedures and systems for program design, procurement, implementation, management and monitoring.

The incumbent will also have the following:

(a) Analytical ability to interpret public policies and assist in the development of revised policies as required improving the policy environment related to malaria in Zimbabwe. Management skills required to develop and implement effective malaria prevention and treatment program activities involving financial and human resources. Administrative skills are required to assist in the oversight of cooperating agency technical advisors and institutional contractors.

(b) Skill in conceptualizing programs, policies, and plans and developing strategies for their management and implementation. The candidate must be able to integrate short and long‑range objectives of the USAID Health Team and the PMI with the cultural/organizational needs of the government.

(c) Knowledge and skills in quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods; experience in designing and evaluating malaria activities in Africa. The incumbent must have proven skills in capacity building and mentoring local staff in a developing country.

(d) Demonstrable skills are required in working effectively with health personnel of diverse cultural backgrounds, negotiating agreements on matters of program strategy and performance, writing, administration, and management. Ability to navigate and manage politically sensitive issues related to malaria control.

3. Teamwork and Interpersonal Skills – 20% Excellent leadership, communications and interpersonal skills are critical to this position. The incumbent must have the following:

(a) Must be able to work effectively with a broad range of USG personnel and partners, and have demonstrated skills in donor coordination and collaboration. Ability to work both independently and in a team environment to achieve consensus on policy, program and administrative matters is a must.

(b) Ability to work effectively in a team environment and communicate highly technical health information to both health and non-health audiences, and achieve consensus on policy, project, research, and administrative matters.

4. Language, Communication, and Computer Skills - 15%

The incumbent must have the following:

(a) Must have proven ability to communicate quickly, clearly and concisely – both orally and in writing in English. Demonstrated ability to make sensitive oral presentations logically and persuasively to senior USG and host-country officials and other donors.

(b) Excellent verbal communication skills, tact and diplomacy are required to establish and develop sustainable working relationships at the highest level and a high level of trust with public/private organizations. Verbal communication skills are also used to negotiate activity plans and resolve activity implementation issues with counterparts, partners and team members Ability to communicate technical information to health and non-health audiences. Excellent written communication skills are required to prepare regular and ad hoc reports, activity documentation and briefing papers.

(c) Excellent computer skills (MS Word, Excel, Power Point, and Outlook, Access, SPSS and other statistical and other relevant software) are required for effectively operating in this position. Good computer skills are required to implement, analyze, and monitor, and manage activity goals, inputs, outcomes, and achievements, both program and impact.

E. TERMS OF PERFORMANCE, COMPENSATION AND LIVING CONDITIONS:

The Malaria Resident Advisor shall perform the preceding services for a period of two years, based in Harare Zimbabwe (followed by possible one-year extensions if approved by USAID/Washington).

Normally within 2 weeks after written notice from the Contracting Officer that all clearances have been received, the incumbent will be expected to proceed to Zimbabwe to commence services. The position described has been classified at a U.S. Government GS-14 grade. The actual salary of the successful candidate will be negotiated within that pay band, depending on qualifications and previous salary history. However, an individual may be offered the position at a salary below the GS-14 pay band. In addition to the basic salary, differentials and other benefits in effect at the time and which are applicable and subject to change will be added.

F. Medical and Security Clearance:

All USPSCs must be able to obtain a USG Secret level security clearance and a Department of State medical clearance.

G. Benefits:

A PSC may be authorized certain benefits and allowances in accordance with regulations. [NOTE: A contractor meeting the definition of a U.S. Resident Hire PSC, shall be subject to U.S. Federal Income Tax, but shall not be eligible for any fringe benefits (except contributions for FICA, health insurance, and life insurance), including differentials and allowances.] 1.

Benefits

(1) Employee's FICA Contribution

(2) Contribution toward Health & Life Insurance --50% of Health Insurance Annual Premium (not to exceed $20,339 for a family and $7,266 for employees without dependents) --50% of Life Insurance Annual Premium with no maximum limit;

(3) Pay Comparability Adjustment--Annual across the board salary increase for USG employees and USPSCs (if granted)

(4) Eligibility for Worker's Compensation

(5) Vacation & Sick Leave

2. Allowances* (If Applicable): In accordance with Department of State Office of Allowance.

3.

Other Benefits: Applicable in accordance with the AIDAR, Federal Travel Regulations and Standardized Regulations.

H. FEDERAL TAXES:

Personal Service Contractors are required to pay Federal Income taxes.

I. LIST OF REQUIRED FORMS:

1.

For initial consideration, please submit an OF-612 or SF-171

Upon advice by the Contracting Officer that the applicant is the successful candidate:

2. Contractor Employee Biographical Data Sheet (AID 1420-17)

3. Contractor Physical Examination (AID Form 1420-62).

4. Questionnaire for Sensitive Positions (for National Security) (SF-86)

5. Finger Print Card (FD-258). **(Available from the law enforcement offices or in USAID/Washington).

The list of required forms above can be found at: http://www.usaid.gov/forms/

J. APPLICATION PROCESS:

Qualified individuals are requested to submit a U.S government OF-612 which is available at the USAID website http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/forms.asp , or at Federal Offices. Alternatively, the old SF-171 may be submitted in lieu of the OF-612.

Applicant’s detailed CV and a cover letter of application should also be included.

All applications should be submitted electronically to the Human Resources Office, and be emailed to Zimrecruit@usaid.gov To ensure consideration of applications for the intended position, please reference the solicitation number on your application and as the subject line of cover letter. The highest ranking applications may be selected for interview. Applications must be received before the closing time and date in item number three of this solicitation. Applications received after that date and/or time may not be considered.

Please note: Only the shortlisted candidates that are interviewed will be notified regarding the final selection. If you are not contacted by December 16, 2011, you were therefore not shortlisted for the position.

ACQUISITION AND ASSISTANCE POLICY DIRECTIVES (AAPDs) PERTAINING TO PERSONAL SERVICE CONTRACT (PSC): AAPDs contain information or changes pertaining to USAID policy, regulation and procedures concerning acquisition and assistance. A number of AAPDs pertain to Personal Service Contracts. Please refer to the USAID website http://www.usaid.gov/procurement_bus_opp/procurement/psc_solicit/ to locate relevant AAPDs. Additionally, AIDAR Appendix D or J also applies to PSCs and can be found at: http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/300/aidar.pdf K. Points of Contact

1. Melissa Williams, Director, USAID/Zimbabwe, Ph: 263-4-252590 Ext 204, email: mwilliams@usaid.gov

2. Ashleigh Appel, Human Resources Specialist, USAID/Zimbabwe, Ph: 263-4-252401 Ext 235, email: aappel@usaid.gov

3. Tendai Sirewu, HR Assistant, USAID/Zimbabwe, Ph: 263-4-252401 Ext 256, email: tsirewu@usaid.gov The US Mission in Zimbabwe provides equal opportunity and fair and equitable treatment in employment to all people without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation, marital status, or sexual orientation.

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