Technical Officer

General Summary and Background: The purpose of the Afya Ugavi Activity under the USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program – Procurement and Supply Management project is to address the supply chain and health commodity systems strengthening needs of the family health, malaria, and HIV/AIDS programs within Kenya. This will be directed through technical assistance (TA) at both the national and county level. The task order will support the Ministry of Health (MOH) Department of Family Health (DFH), National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), and the National AIDS and STI Control Program (NASCOP).

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide technical assistance and logistical support to the county Health Products and Technology Units (HPTUs) as well as the County health department leadership to ensure uninterrupted supply of health products & technologies (HPTs).
2. Support the County health management teams through the HPTUs to promote good commodity management practices at county, sub-county, and health facilities levels through supportive supervision, data reviews, supply chain audits, on-job training, and mentorship.
3. In collaboration with the County HPTU, support the Commodity Security Technical Working Groups (TWGs) at the county and the sub county level as the responsible bodies to make decisions on commodity data, management of HPTs in various sectors (pharmacy, lab, CCC, MCH, CCC, stores etc.) and overall guidance on risk management for all commodities at these two levels.
4. In collaboration with the county HPTUs, plan and implement effective risk management strategies to promote efficiency and accountability in the supply chain for health products & technologies (HPTs) in assigned counties.
5. Collaborate with USG and other non-USG supply chain actors and service delivery partners to leverage expertise and resources in support of supply chain activities in the counties.
6. Conduct health supply chain stakeholders mapping in the assigned counties.
7. Represent AU and provide technical assistance in county and regional health commodity forums (Malaria, FP & RH, EMMS and HIV), for effective collaboration with relevant Government Ministries, MOH technical departments, health regulatory bodies, implementing partners, and county representatives.
8. Coordinate supply chain maturity assessment, integrated commodity support supervision, and supply chain audits using innovative data analytics platforms such as PowerBi, mobile-based data collection app (ODK), KHIS, and other supply chain analytics tools including health commodities dashboard for decision making in the focus counties.
9. Periodic coordination and distribution of Long-lasting insecticide nets (LLINs) to households in Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI) supported counties through mass campaigns.
10. Provide technical input in the County Annual Work Planning and Programme Based Budgeting (PBB) process within the Mid Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) cycle to advocate for increased HPTs budgetary allocation in responsible counties.
11. Develop weekly, monthly and quarterly technical reports which contribute to M&E data for integration into performance monitoring plan (PMP), budget development, and project management to inform strategic and implementation decisions.
12. Develop activity budgets and travel plans in compliance with USAID regulations and Chemonics policy.
13. Contribute to AU project activity communications including development of publications, drafting success stories, bulletins, briefs, articles, abstracts among other initiatives.
14. Perform other tasks as directed by the assigned supervisor, Technical Advisors or the Project Management Team.

Minimum Qualifications & Competencies

• Bachelor’s degree in health sciences, Biological Sciences or equivalent.
• A minimum of five years of work experience in public health program development and implementation.
• Qualifications in pharmaceutical management will be an added advantage.
• Experience working with county health departments in Kenya.
• Experience with health commodity supply chain, Quality Improvement, and use of health information systems & data analytics platforms such as KHIS, Program dashboards, etc.
• Experience implementing supply chain systems strengthening work at county/sub national level
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize and meet deadlines in a high demand work environment.
• Proven teamwork and facilitation skills.
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work in a rapidly evolving environment.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc)

Level of Effort and Location

The location of the assignment is in Vihiga and Migori counties.

This period of performance of this role is immediate through to end of the Project’s life (September 28, 2024).

Supervision

The Technical Officer will report to the activity’s Senior Technical Officer or an appointed designee by the Project Management Team.