Technical Director, Kira Ukuze Activity

Position Overview

Pact seeks a Technical Director for the USAID-funded Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Immunization, and Malaria Integrated Health (including family planning) Activity, hereafter referred to as “Kira Ukuze” (“Grow well”). This Activity will focus on facility-level interventions and collaborate with the USAID Integrated Community Health (ICH) Activity at the community level to improve the quality of, and demand for, service delivery interventions. This will be a $45M five-year (August 2024-August 2029), cooperative agreement. This position is subject to project award and funding. As this is a Key Personnel position, the candidate selected for this opportunity must have his/her candidacy confirmed by USAID. The location of this position is anticipated to be Bujumbura. Frequent travel to the provincial offices is anticipated.

Kira Ukuze will be the flagship Activity in the USAID Burundi Health Portfolio for Family Planning and Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health (FP/RMNCH) at the household and health facility level. Kira Ukuze will be the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) malaria service delivery Activity at the health facility level, working in public and private health facilities in seven malaria high-burden provinces. This Activity will also have to strongly collaborate with the Integrated Community Health Activity in these seven provinces, with collaboration focused on strengthening health facility and community health worker touchpoints, including building and enhancing the referral and counter referral system, supervision of Community Health Workers (CHWs), and reporting of data to facilities by CHWs, along with the delivery of integrated community case management of childhood illness, which includes malaria. Kira Ukuze will also collaborate closely with the USAID Integrated Community Health (ICH) Activity for community-level interventions outside of malaria.

Key Responsibilities

The Technical Director will be responsible for the technical and operational oversight for all aspects of the Activity. S/he will report directly to the Chief of Party and support the COP in providing technical direction for Activity implementation and will ensure that the Activity outcomes are met. S/he will oversee all interventions in collaboration with other technical leads and other stakeholders. S/he will also provide strategic guidance on RMNCH, family planning, malaria, immunization, nutrition, and prevention, care, and treatment services. S/he will ensure strong linkages with all other Activity components.

The specific duties to be carried out by the successful candidate are as follows:

• Lead and facilitate the integration of public health programming across result areas, while ensuring quality, responsiveness, and relevance of technical assistance.
• Coordinate development, implementation, monitoring and reporting on all project work plans.
• Supervise program monitoring, evaluating, and reporting activities, ensuring that all project deliverables are met and delivered in a timely and efficient manner.
• In coordination with the COP, serve as a Pact liaison to USAID and national and local partners, including government officials, civil society, and community leaders, particularly on technical matters.
• Coordinate with project partners and appropriate stakeholders in all aspects of project planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting.
• Supervise key technical staff, ensuring high-quality technical programming through hands-on guidance and support grounded in the program’s strategic objectives and adhering to expected technical quality and reporting requirements.
• Assist with all programmatic aspects, ensuring that objectives are met on time and within budget.
• Manage rapid startup; day-to-day implementation of activities; working with the COP, oversee the oversee and coordinate tech outputs/activities, as well as sub-grantees and consultants.
• Serve as the primary point of contact with USAID in absence of the COP with regard to day-to-day implementation and management matters related to the agreement.
• Under the guidance of the COP, help recruit and directly supervise and support project staff in line with Pact HR policies; oversee the management and development of project office human resources to ensure a diverse, skilled, and productive workforce, an effective leadership team, and an organizational culture where Pact’s values are practiced.
• Deliver technical presentations on program achievements to implementing partners, civil society organizations, government officials, donor, and other organizations.
• Support with other tasks, as assigned by the COP.

Basic Requirements

• Master’s degree in Public Health, International Development or a related field.
• At least 10 years of senior-level technical experience in managing RMNCH, family planning, malaria, nutrition, immunization, and/or social behavior change programs of similar scope and size in low- and middle-income countries.
• At least 5 years of management experience.
• Demonstrated experience applying technical and management expertise to address persistent issues related to access to health services, quality of care, local capacity strengthening, gender, measurement, and social behavior change approaches.
• Demonstrated experience interacting with high-level official among government and non-government stakeholders, including private sector entities and donor organizations.
• Demonstrated flexibility, adaptability, and the ability to perform and collaborate in complex and politically sensitive project environments.
• Possess qualities of subject matter expertise in health quality improvement/quality assurance, particularly for RMNCH and malaria projects.
• Be fully conversant on best practices and evidence-based approaches in HSS and public health to develop and/or adopt for the Burundi context.
• Demonstrated leadership skills with a track record of effectively managing a diverse team of employees and partners with conflict sensitivity.
• Demonstrated skills in problem solving, negotiating, decision-making, and consensus building.
• Knowledge of the political, social, and economic context of Burundi.
• Fluency in English and French (oral, writing, and reading) required; fluency in Kirundi strongly preferred.
• Ability to travel within Burundi and occasionally internationally.
• Broad understanding of public health, health systems, and health policy and practice in Burundi.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working on and leading teams for USAID contracts and/or cooperative agreements and/or knowledge of USAID rules, regulations, and policies.
• Burundian nationals, particularly female candidates, are strongly encouraged to apply.

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Pact is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, citizenship status, genetic information, matriculation, family responsibilities, personal appearance, credit information, tobacco use (except in the workplace), membership in an employee organization, or other protected classifications or non-merit factors.
At Pact, we recognize your impact, offer you opportunities and support your total well-being. Our comprehensive benefit offerings may include healthcare, retirement (8.8% to 13% based on service tenure) and savings plans, paid time off, disability and life insurance programs, learning and development opportunities, wellness programs as well as other optional benefit elections .
With the continuing impacts of COVID-19 around the world, we are taking action to protect the health and well-being of our colleagues and maintain the safety of the communities where we operate. Pact seeks an environment free from COVID-19 and prefers all employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Attestation of vaccination status will be required for employment with Pact. Unvaccinated employees may be subject to additional health and safety requirements to include any federal, state and/or client restrictions.