Chief Technical Officer

Based in Geneva, the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR) supports UNOPS offices throughout the region through: management, financial and programmatic oversight of global and country-specific portfolios, clusters and operations centres, including hosting services; fund and management advisory services; project implementation; procuring goods and services; and managing human resources.

ECR ensures that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between business units and projects across the entire region.

ECR operates global portfolios from offices in Geneva, and country-specific programmes from its operations and project centres located in Eastern Europe and Central Asian countries.

RBM Partnership to End Malaria

The RBM Partnership to End Malaria is the largest global platform for coordinated action towards a world free from malaria. It is comprised of over 500 partners - from community health worker groups and researchers developing new tools, to malaria-affected and donor countries, businesses and international organisations. 

Since its inception in 1998, the RBM Partnership has played a critical role in global efforts that reduced malaria deaths by half and saved 10.6 million lives. The Partnership is now committed to building on these significant gains and ending malaria for good.

Expansions in financing, strong political commitments, novel diagnostic and preventative measures, and multi-sectoral coordination have facilitated this progress. The RBM Partnership is central to the global fight against malaria and has played an essential role in mobilising political will and financial resources, as well as scaling up innovative interventions to put the world on a path to eliminating malaria.

Despite these gains, malaria still poses a significant threat to public health and sustainable development. Malaria continues to affect the poorest and most marginalised disproportionately and restricts human development and poverty alleviation. The African continent accounts for over 90% of the global malaria burden and therefore stands to gain the most from malaria elimination.

Malaria is a smart investment that contributes to achieving Sustainable Development Goals, including ending poverty and ensuring quality education. 

RBM's Vision is a world free from the burden of malaria.

The RBM Partnership is a global health initiative created to implement coordinated action against malaria. It mobilizes for action and resources and forges consensus among partners. The Partnership is composed of a multitude of partners, including malaria endemic countries, their bilateral and multilateral development partners, the private sector, nongovernmental and community-based organizations, foundations, and research and academic institutions. The partners join the RBM Partnership on a voluntary basis through their commitment to a malaria-free world.

The incumbent will work under the guidance and supervision of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to achieve the core objectives and strategic priorities of the RBM Partnership, and specifically the Country and Regional Support with the integrated Data Initiative. 

High-level country and partnership engagement

• Promote and support regional approaches to the fight against malaria anchored in existing political and economic platforms such as regional economic communities.

• Lead the coordinated Secretariat support through the Secretariat and the CRSPC to malaria endemic countries to effectively implement malaria prevention, control and elimination activities.

• Improve collaboration and communication across stakeholders to both expand and deepen the relationships, and to help leverage the full range of services to strengthen national malaria control and elimination efforts.

• Maintain a close relationship with the leadership of malaria-endemic countries, implementing partners, donors and other key stakeholders at national, regional and global level in the fight against malaria, through the CRSPC, to adopt and prioritize impactful approaches and solutions to identified bottlenecks.

• Facilitate the convening of partners around data sharing to strengthen the linkages between the RBM Global Malaria Dashboard and country and regional support.

• Lead coordination of partners through the RBM CRSPC work streams and other mechanisms to leverage synergies and avoid duplication.

• Attend and represent the RBM Partnership and CEO in national and international conferences, meetings, and speaking engagements.

• Provide high-level strategic expertise of the Secretariat through the CRSPC to countries and regions to reinforce the importance of effective and efficient usage of available resources, and for the development of resource mobilization strategies with a close monitoring on the agreed actions to assure timely identification of possible issues or gaps and initiate the needed corrective actions. 

• Lead the implementation of Board decisions through the alignment of the various CRSPC stakeholders, and responsible within the Secretariat for prioritizing and targeting interventions at country level through the use of data for the purpose of maximizing disease control results and “value for money” within the context of national strategic plans.

Technical Assistance and Implementation support to countries

• Coordinate and facilitate technical assistance and implementation support to countries to adopt, implement and share best practices.

• Coordinate and facilitate technical assistance and implementation support to countries to complete comprehensive programmatic and financial gap analyses. 

• Develop malaria funding proposals (including Global Fund Concept Notes) and other investment requests, including exploring flexibilities within existing major donors, increasing public and private domestic resource commitments and expanding innovative financing approaches.

• Foster country coalitions, as appropriate, to focus on key malaria issues within each country and region.

• Coordinate between country, regional and global-level donors to enhance understanding and collaboration, jointly resolve key bottlenecks and work to fill funding gaps.

• Empower countries, communities and individuals to defeat malaria in the context of Zero Malaria Starts with Me!

• Promote innovation and facilitate uptake of new malaria prevention and control tools for greater impact.

• Promote and advocate for sustainable financing at global and national levels to support malaria-endemic countries to implement their national plans, including through increased domestic resource allocations.

• Bring additional management and technical capacity to the RBM Management Team and facilitate smooth operation of the Secretariat’s programmatic activities including through the supervision of the management team technical staff.

• Integrated management and leadership of the Data Initiative and Country and Regional Support Partner Committee (CRSPC)

• Lead the integration of the Data Initiative within the CRSPC to optimize the effectiveness and impact of country and regional malaria control and elimination efforts. 

• Strengthen ongoing collaboration across partner organizations to facilitate improved data management and integration, including alignment and harmonization of data to improve sharing and interoperability.

• In collaboration with partners, support the endemic countries to strengthen national data and information systems capacity, and ensure that the Global Malaria Dashboard builds on and complements these efforts.

• Under the supervision of the CEO, work closely with the CRSPC Co-chairs and other Partners Co-Chairs to promote and coordinate with partners the adoption and use of new digital or information technologies and other innovative approaches to facilitate data-driven management, reporting and advocacy.

• Reach out and coordinate with the main global malaria partners to promote open data policies, standards and platforms that enhance transparency and accountability through the RBM Global Malaria Dashboard.

• Ensure coordinated support to build the capacity needed to analyze and utilize data in close collaboration with partners on the ground. 

• Oversee the Data Initiative to ensure that malaria indicators related to supply chain management, intervention coverage, epidemiology, and other areas are captured and issues identified are elevated to the attention of national and sector leaders. 

• Lead the negotiation of data sharing agreements with malaria partners to contribute additional data sources to the Global Malaria Dashboard.

• Monitor the Partnership’s progress toward key targets and provide the CEO and the partners with updates on progress, including identified bottlenecks and constraints.

• Within the delegation of authority, oversee and manage the work of assigned personnel, distributing assignments to facilitate smooth and effective use of human and financial resources; training, motivating and coaching personnel, as well as evaluating performance and facilitating career development.

• Perform other related responsibilities as assigned, including replacing and backstopping for others as required.

• A Master’s degree in public health, business management, public administration, science, social science or another relevant field is required. A M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree and/or PhD in biology, parasitology or other relevant specialization will be considered an asset.

• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in the development, implementation and/or management of health projects or related areas, of which 5 years has been at senior management and/or leadership level is required.

• 5 years of experience in the public health sector, in particular with malaria is required. 

• Documented high-level advocacy or other experience with national and health-sector leaders is required. 

• Experience working in challenging and politically complex situations is required.

Desirable

• Experience in multi-stakeholder partnerships management and engagement.  

• Substantial experience or knowledge of multi- and bilateral financing with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and/or other international health financing institutions (such as PMI/US malaria or Health).

• Experience managing malaria-endemic national programs, malaria or health projects.

• Experience working in a developing country, preferably in a malaria affected country. 

• Proven ability to manage and motivate senior staff located in different geographical locations.

• Specialization, experience or demonstrated understanding of international development related to malaria is preferred.

• Full working knowledge of English is essential. Working knowledge of French is an asset.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

• All the three (Nairobi/Kenya, Dakar/Senegal, Accra/Ghana) are family duty stations.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.