Job Brief

Project Director, ImpactHDSS Ethiopia

Vital Strategies is an international public health organization headquartered in New York City. Our programs strengthen public health systems and address the world’s leading causes of illness, injury and death. We work in more than 80 countries, supporting data-driven decision-making in government, advancing evidence-based public health policies, and mounting strategic communication campaigns. Vital Strategies’ priorities are driven by the greatest potential to improve and save lives. They include non-communicable disease prevention, tobacco control, road safety, food policy, environmental health, civil registration and vital statistics, and overdose prevention. Our programs are concentrated in low- and middle-income countries and cities in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific. Please visit our website at www.vitalstrategies.org to find out more about our work.

About ImpactHDSS Ethiopia:

Vital Strategies, in partnership with the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute’s National Data Management Center (EPHI/NDMC), Health and Demographic Surveillance System Sites (HDSSs), and other key stakeholders and collaborators has recently launched ImpactHDSS Ethiopia through a three-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The purpose of this project is to leverage the health and vital events data produced by Ethiopia’s current set of 13 HDSSs for public health use. These sites provide continuous, routine, and timely follow-up of pregnancies, live births, deaths, and causes of death. They also produce routinely updated direct measures of surveillance area resident populations, which provide the denominators for the calculation of rates.

While the long-term goal remains one of strengthening Ethiopia’s national Civil Registration and Vital Statistics system to provide these data, the government of Ethiopia has elected to supplement registration data in the meantime. One approach, to be taken under this grant, is to leverage government and other partner investments in the 13, university-sponsored HDSS sites and to explore how these can supplement and be supplemented by other mortality measurement or registration activities in the country to produce a representative picture of population health and disease burdens causing premature death.

Specifically, ImpactHDSS Ethiopia will provide technical assistance and mentorship support to strengthen the standardization, quality, timeliness, and completeness of data collected; to undertake pooled analyses and produce the indicators, statistics, or data required to meet documented use cases in health policy and planning. Additional emphasis will be placed on linking the HDSS systems to the civil registration system and integrating HDSS data with those from other health information system platforms (e.g., DHIS2).

Ultimately, improved data, including mortality and cause of death estimates, fertility estimates, as well as health service utilization information, will be provided to government decision-makers in a timely manner, synchronized with decision-making processes. Vital Strategies experts will be embedded within Government of Ethiopia institutions, as well as in a small project management and support team in the Vital Strategies Ethiopia office.

Job Purpose:

The position of Project Director, ImpactHDSS Ethiopia, seconded into the Strategic Affairs Executive Office, Ministry of Health (MOH/SAEO), located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is a new position for Vital Strategies. The Project Director will facilitate close collaboration among all project stakeholders on improvement processes and the development, validation, and implementation of routine standard operations to collect, process, and increase the completeness and quality of demographic data. These include data on pregnancy outcomes (e.g., stillbirth); live births; deaths; and cause of death (determined via verbal autopsy). The Project Director will also support the MOH and other stakeholders to use the data to monitor and enhance population health.

The Director will be the ultimate party responsible for ensuring the on-time and in-budget execution of all planned activities and outputs in the country. This position will directly manage a team of program and administrative staff based in Addis Adaba. This position will also jointly manage a Deputy Project Director with the Director of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute’s National Data Management Center for Health (EPHI/NDMC), where the Deputy will be embedded. The Project Director will have two direct supervisors; the US-based VP, CRVS and the MOH SIU/SAEO Lead at the MOH. The Director will also be accountable to the Steering Committee for reporting on project progress and results and implementing their directives.

This is a full-time seconded (embedded) position that will be based out of the Ministry of Health’s Strategic Affairs Executive Office located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We offer highly competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits. The annual salary range for this position is $56,800 USD to $64,400 USD. Interested candidates should note that the salary for this position is temporarily pegged to the USD due to the depreciation of the Ethiopian Birr. This arrangement will be reviewed at the end of March 2025.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Project Director, ImpactHDSS Ethiopia will be seconded into the Ministry of Health’s Strategic Affairs Executive Office working with the agency team to perform duties as described. The Project Director shall have the following duties, reporting to the supervisors as indicated above:

Project Governance - 

· Foster and maintain strong collaborative relationships with agency stakeholders and partners;

· Take primary responsibility for managing the convening, organizing, and documenting of Steering Committee meetings under the direction of Focal Point in MOH/SAEO;

· Serve as a liaison between ImpactHDSS Ethiopia, the Ethiopia Data for Health Initiative (CRVS and Data Impact Programs), other related donor-funded projects, and local government as required.

Program Management/Implementation - 

· Direct all technical aspects of the HDSS Project in Ethiopia to strengthen systems and data use, particularly through capacity strengthening of 13 HDSS sites;

· Contribute to the planning for a more representative system to measure mortality, cause of death, and other measures of population health status;

· Oversee and ensure implementation planning and design are carried out, including the development of project workplans and results frameworks, for review by the donor and partners; assist the team in the management and provision of technical assistance to ensure institutionalization and sustainability of data use system improvements are occurring;

· Support development, validation, publication dissemination, and uptake of national technical standards/best practices on HDSS implementation;

· Communicate the capacity-strengthening needs of HDSS sites and oversee the effective implementation of TA to help sites adopt and routinely implement standards/best practices;

· Help determine use cases that reflect the need and opportunities for HDSS data to inform local and national public health decision-making;

· Within the project itself, define and lead a rigorous monitoring system that meets donor and internal program progress reporting requirements;

· Provide strategic advice to program staff to help realize established goals;

· Identify opportunities with HDSS site, EPHI and MOH leadership for publication of project-related work and approaches;

· Write and disseminate donor reports, and other publications capturing program activity and impact;

· Supervise all HDSS project staff and contractors

Leadership & Representation - 

· Represent the program at technical/stakeholder meetings and regional/global conferences with external agencies, international organizations, donor institutions, county/national government, and other implementing partners with minimal support and oversight;

· Represent ImpactHDSS Ethiopia project on regional and global platforms – meetings, panels, conferences, etc.;

· Contribute to and support the management, vision, and strategic direction of the Vital Strategies Ethiopia office; collaborating with other Vital Strategies country programs and staff when relevant or feasible.

Administration/Finance - 

· Provide direct supervision and managerial oversight to project team members;

· Oversee the budgeting, and financial management of the Project, including high-level budget and expense tracking;

· Direct timely and complete execution of agreements with relevant stakeholders (e.g., Memorandums of Understanding, Sub-grant agreements, and other contractual relationships), supported by the Sr Program and M&E Manager and the local Grants and Finance team;

· Manage the allocation of available resources (e.g., staff time, money, materials) to maximize project results.

Monitoring, Evaluation, & Reporting - 

· Participate in monitoring and evaluation of ImpactHDSS Ethiopia;

· Oversee the Senior Program and M&E Manager to ensure rigorous and efficient progress monitoring that meets donor and internal program progress reporting deadlines and requirements;

· Direct and support the creation of reporting processes to meet internal and donor needs;

· Write and disseminate donor reports and other publications capturing program activity and impact (to be reviewed and approved by the VP, CRVS);

· Provide up-to-date program progress reporting and project financial status in coordination with the Deputy Project Director, Senior Program M&E Manager, and the Gender Equity Manager,

· Organize internal quarterly progress reviews;

· Other duties as assigned by the direct supervisor.

Qualifications:

Education and Degree - 

· Masters degree in public health, demography, epidemiology, statistics or another relevant field required. PhD preferred.

Skills and Abilities - 

· Demonstrated ability to lead complex, multi-year projects to establish and meet deadlines, and to produce rigorous, high-quality products;

· Strong people skills, with demonstrated ability to maintain partnerships with internal and external stakeholders;

· Excellent oral and written communication skills;

· Enthusiastic about the work and passionate about making an impact;

· Ability to work well with diverse groups of individuals and organizations;

· Excellent organizational skills;

· Self-starter with the ability to work independently;

· Familiarity with Microsoft Office Suite;

· Ability to build strong, ongoing, impactful relationships at all organizational levels and across a diverse range of cultural, generational, ethnic, racial, educational, and social backgrounds;

· Demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.

Experience:

Required - 

 · 15+ years of relevant work experience, preferably in Health and Demographic Surveillance Site Direction or Management;

· Professional experience in civil registration, vital statistics, demographics, epidemiology, public health surveillance systems, health information systems, data science/data analytics, population-based research, or related field;

· Experience working with or in the government of Ethiopia - ministries, academic institutions, research institutions, or related.

Preferred - 

· Experience in Ethiopia with health systems strengthening or health information systems strengthening through non-governmental organizations (NGOs), multilateral organizations (e.g. UN agencies), local civil society organizations;

· Experience in health and demographic surveillance or civil registration and vital statistics strengthening in low- and middle-income countries;

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements:

· Travel will be required within Ethiopia to attend in-person meetings; minimal regional or international travel may be required during the project period;

· This Vacancy Advertisement is open to Ethiopian Nationals and candidates holding a valid work resident permit for Ethiopia;

· Vital Strategies strongly encourages qualified female candidates to apply.

How to Apply:

Vital Strategies has engaged Ethiojobs, part of the Africa Job Network portfolio with a trusted legacy in meeting a diverse range of human capital needs, to lead this search. If you are interested in applying or learning more about the position, please follow this link:

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