STA Health

Background/IRC Summary:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive, recover and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home. The IRC’s vision is that the impact of our programs and the influence of our ideas empowers those caught in crisis to make lasting change in their lives. To support achievement of this vision, the IRC’s Technical Excellence (TE) unit provides technical assistance to IRC’s country program staff and shares what we learn to influence policy and practice. The TE unit supports technical excellence through the following ways:

1. Guide program design to achieve outcomes by incorporating the best available evidence
2. Build technical capacity of country program staff to implement, measure and continuously improve programs
3. Influence the IRC, peer agencies and donors to use proven interventions and generate new evidence to achieve change in peoples’ lives

The TE Unit is comprised of five technical Units, all of which have deep expertise in their respective sectors: Education, Economic Wellbeing, Governance, Health, Violence Prevention and Response, while cross-cutting work happens with the Gender Equality Unit and the Research & Innovation Unit. The Health Technical Unit (HTU) is organized in three sectors: Health (integrating general primary healthcare including sexual and reproductive health, child health, non-communicable diseases, mental health & Psycho-Social Support), environmental health and nutrition. The structure emphasizes a clear division of roles between technical assistance core and important functions versus other specialized support functions to best meet the needs of country programs and regions. In 2020 the HTU supported programming in 6 regions and 34 countries.

Job Overview / Summary:

The Senior Technical Adviser (STA) –Health will report to the STA-Health (Country Support) and manage a team of five Health Advisors who provide technical support to countries in Asia, East Africa (EA) and Middle East & North Africa (MENA) regions. She/he is responsible for ensuring high quality health technical support to country programs in these regions working in close collaboration with STA Health (Country Support), STA- Health (Specialized Areas), STA-Sexual & Reproductive Health (SRH), STA-Nutrition, STA-Environmental Health, STA-Emergency Health, and STA MEAL to develop technical norms and standards for country support as well as implement a plan for team capacity development. Working relations with STAs in other technical units will support cross-sector collaboration while maintaining a close working relationship with regional and country program leaders will be important. The STA – Health will also play an important role in donor engagement, advocacy, and IRC representation related to Health programming. This position will lead IRC’s cash and health strategy development and implementation.

Major Responsibilities:

1. Provide overall leadership for the delivery of Health technical assistance to IRC country program staff so that they can design, implement and improve health programs. The STA Health should ensure that technical assistance aligns to the TA model’s core and important functions and that technical assistance is continuously improving and well-received by regional and country program colleagues, as evidenced in field feedback through biannual surveys. The STA is expected to proactively reach out to country program colleagues to establish strong working relationships and trouble-shoot challenges as needed. With the support of the STA- Health (Country Support), the STA-Health will also support the implementation and the development of standards, tools, and procedures for health program support to country health programs.
2. Provide necessary management and technical support to the team of Health TAs working in the three regions, supporting their continuing professional growth, and improving their performance. This involves clarifying job expectations, setting performance objectives and measurable targets, providing appropriate and timely feedback on performance, including full implementation of the staff performance management process; supporting training/continuing technical education; and leading by example.
3. If needed, provide guidance to Health TAs on technical support to specific countries, including guidance on action plans, project/program design, fund-raising, and monitoring and evaluation as well as staff capacity development. This may involve joining calls between technical advisers and country programs, supporting review of documents and project design and implementation.
4. Collaborate with Health TU STAs from Environmental Health, Emergency Health, SRH, Health-specialized areas and Nutrition as well as the MEAL STA to ensure technical assistance is seamless and coordinated to each country and region needs.
5. Work with STAs from other sectors to establish mechanisms for coordination and collaborative delivery of country support in the three regions
6. Work with the STA-Health (Country Support) and other STAs to define and prioritize high-impact interventions and the approach to achieve them, including the tools, partnerships, donor engagement and capacity-building required
7. Working in collaboration with the STA MEAL to support the Measurement Unit’s strategy as it applies to health programming and country support in the three regions.
8. Take leadership for or contribute to the development of Health TU- led project proposals as needed.
9. Stand in for STA -Health (Country Support) or other colleagues during absences.
10. Represent IRC in global partnerships and relevant conferences.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to:STA- Health (Country Support), Health Unit

Directly supervises:five-regionally-aligned Health Technical Advisors.

Other Internal contacts: This position requires a collaborative working relationship with other health unit teams, other technical units, Awards Management Unit, Private Fundraising, country programs and regional offices and departments – particularly with other STAs in the health unit, and other technical units, Director of Health Country Support, Deputy Directors for Programs in country offices and Deputy Regional Directors.

Job Requirements:

1. Medical, nursing, or other clinical degree plus MPH or equivalent.
2. At least 8 years public health experience in senior technical and management positions, including provision of remote technical support, with evidence of progressively increasing responsibilities. Experience should include at least three years of residence in developing countries; work in a humanitarian setting (with refugees and/or internally displaced population);
3. Demonstrated expertise in multiple technical areas (e.g., primary healthcare, child health, sexual and reproductive health), strategic areas (e.g., governance, health systems strengthening, cash programming in health programs and research), and program management and fund-raising (e.g., program development, proposal writing, monitoring & evaluation, and management of donor relations).
4. Excellent leadership and team management experience and skills – the ability to lead a team, motivate staff and promote productivity, resolve conflict, and contributes to a pleasant work environment.
5. Excellent communication skills – the ability to write professional documents, and create and deliver presentations to different audiences: project/program staff, management staff, mature professionals, policy makers, donors etc.
6. Proven experience in strategic thinking, strategy development and implementation.
7. Solid organizational skills – the ability to be flexible and work well under pressure, dealing with competing priorities, in a fast-paced team environment.
8. Professional-level fluency in English; French and/or Arabic proficiency will be a huge plus.
9. Ability to travel approximately 30% of the time.

Working Environment:“Standard office work environment” as per IRC policy. Regular travel will be expected to provide technical assistance to some country programs and monitor and improve quality of PHC teams’ technical assistance.