BACKGROUND OF POSITION:

The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) - the U.S. Government initiative to help save the lives of those impacted by HIV/AIDS around the world - is the largest commitment by any nation in history to combat a single disease internationally. Working in over 50 countries, PEPFAR has saved and improved millions of lives, prevented millions of HIV infections, and changed the course of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. PEPFAR is driven by a shared responsibility among donor and partner nations and others to make smart investments to save lives. Thanks in large part to U.S. leadership, tremendous progress has been made in the fight against global AIDS.

Now in Phase Three: Focusing on Sustainable Control of the Epidemic, PEPFAR is focused on the ambitious Joint UN Programs for HIV/AIDS 90-90-90 global goals: 90 percent of people living with HIV know their status, 90 percent of people who know their status are accessing treatment, and 90 percent of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads by 2020. While the USG’s Strategy for Accelerating HIV/AIDS Epidemic Control (2017 – 2020) focuses primarily on 13 high-burdened countries, PEPFAR aims to support all countries with PEPFAR funding to reach epidemic control by targeting evidenced based interventions for populations at greatest risk of HIV in areas of greatest HIV incidence. PEPFAR's program builds on past strengths and increases efficiencies by scaling up effective interventions and ensuring value.

PEPFAR Regionalization Approach – West Africa

PEPFAR has undertaken a major shift in West Africa. Starting in FY 2020, a Regional Operational Plan (ROP), which includes activities for Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, has been developed.. Coordination of the development of the annual ROP process will be managed largely from Accra by the West Africa Regional PEPFAR Coordinator.

The purpose of PEPFAR Regionalization is to consolidate management and staffing; increase coordination and technical support and harmonize programming to focus on Key Populations (KPs) - Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) and Female Sex Workers (FSW) - who bear most of the HIV burden in this region.

In West Africa, HIV data availability is improving but still remains fairly limited despite being a region that covers 15 countries and over 350 million people. In 2017, over 4.1 million people were living with HIV, representing 13 percent of the global burden. In the countries under PEPFAR’s West Africa Regionalization approach (Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Liberia), HIV prevalence in the general population range from 0.4 percent (Senegal) to 2.1 percent (Togo) while according to recent Integrated Biological and Behavioral Surveillance Surveys, prevalence among MSMs range from 1.9 percent (Burkina Faso) to 27.4 percent (Senegal).

For FSWs prevalence ranges from 5.4 percent (Burkina Faso) to 24.1 percent (Mali). Limited data exists in the region for transgender persons and people who inject drugs.

In addition to challenges with data in West Africa, the other common challenges include significant stigma and discrimination, poor access to HIV services and poor quality of care among others.

Given PEPFAR’s mandate to leave no population of greatest risk behind, programs under the West Africa Regionalization approach will work with host country governments and other partners to accelerate progress to epidemic control by focusing their limited resources toward KP and PLHIV programming – increasing case finding in these population groups, linking them to treatment and ensuring viral load suppression.

2. MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The specific duties include, but are not limited to, the following:

A. Program Management and Implementation (40%)

• The Regional Coordinator’s portfolio involves the full range of roles and responsibilities associated with broad program management to facilitate and monitor in-country HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care plans; to serve as the key coordinator and facilitator of the USG inter-agency teams in West Africa implementing PEPFAR activities in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care, and health systems strengthening. The Regional Coordinator assists the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy (S/GAC) and PEPFAR implementing agencies with planning, developing, directing, and ensuring accountability for the success of a major initiative with a regional scope.

• The Regional Coordinator will ensure the monitoring and oversight of operations to deliver, measure, and evaluate accomplishments and progress; will highlight successes and identify reasons for shortfalls; and will ensure adjustments as necessary to achieve program goals. S/he will develop and maintain internal control systems to ensure that human, financial, technological and material resources are safeguarded against waste, fraud, unauthorized use or misappropriation.
• The Regional Coordinator must exercise considerable judgment and ingenuity to strengthen the quality, availability and sustainability of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care services in alignment with PEPFAR goals and policies.

The Regional Coordinator leads the USG PEPFAR inter-agency team in West Africa in the conception, formulation, and implementation of evidence-based interventions in response to the epidemiological profile in West Africa. Specifically,

s/he will:

• Lead the development and submission of annual Regional Operational plans (ROPs), Annual Reports, Reprogramming Actions and other processes or inputs into reporting systems in collaboration with the various USG teams in West Africa;
• Ensure that the various PEPFAR country programs fit within the regulations of their national governments and aligns with PEPFAR and international policies;
• Communicate USG policy and technical direction to implementing agency leadership;
• Coordinate and facilitate the inter-agency approach to PEPFAR within the USG;
• Coordinate and facilitate the restructuring and harmonization of goals, objectives, plans and schedules to align with policy, legislation, program authority, and/or funding with PEPFAR implementing agencies;
• Facilitate discussion with the inter-agency team regarding determinations of projects to be initiated, dropped, or curtailed;
• Monitor and facilitate changes in implementing agencies’ organizational structure;
• Facilitate inter-agency strategic decision-making to ensure program sustainability in the following areas: country ownership, institutional ownership, and mutual accountability.
• Analyze the unique operational context of the PEPFAR programs in the region.
• Coordinate the inter-agency process to establish a vision and strategy for responding to this context within the guidelines of S/GAC policy and U.S. diplomatic priorities and;
• Other duties related to program management as assigned.

a) Strategic Information (25%)

The Regional Coordinator will ? in collaboration with the various Agency Strategic Information (SI) Leads ? provide leadership and technical direction to the USG inter-agency team in the development and implementation of all (SI) and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities to meet the needs of PEPFAR.

• S/he will ensure the use of data and knowledge-based program management in regard to all aspects (implementation, technology, costing) of health systems strengthening, HIV prevention and treatment, prevention and care strategies. Specifically, s/he will manage and coordinate all Strategic Information (SI) related processes required for the development of the annual PEPFAR Regional Operational Plan, Annual and Semi-Annual Program Results; oversee the fiscal year and planning year target setting exercises; and provide overall vision for the SI needs of PEPFAR.
• The Regional Coordinator will compile and evaluate results achieved by partner agencies against established targets and track overall progress in achieving PEPFAR objectives.

b) Collaboration among Major Non-USG Stakeholders (20%)

The Regional Coordinator will:

• Ensure coordination and linkage of USG bilateral health assistance with other bilateral donors, nongovernmental organizations, and international multilateral organizations engaged in the fight against the global HIV/AIDS pandemic in West Africa, including UNAIDS, World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (“Global Fund”) and the West Africa Health Organization.

• Collaborate and share information with multilateral partners, other donors, and S/GAC relevant to the success of broad efforts to mitigate the impact of the HIV epidemic in-country.
• Liaise with these development partners, and in particular with the Regional Directors, Country Fund Portfolio Managers and/or Country Coordination Mechanism (CCM) of the Global Fund of the various countries in West Africa , to ensure complementarity between the USG investments and other donors.
• Along with other USG PEPFAR implementing agency leadership, establish appropriate protocol for collaboration with partner governments, including providing oversight and developing the vision of USG interaction with the partner government on all aspects of HIV/AIDS, including the health sector, social welfare systems and finance.
• Promote alignment with and understanding of the various West African government priorities and policies among USG staff implementing the PEPFAR program.
• Lead discussions, as appropriate, about the timing and planning for transition from USG resources toward other types of funding for sustainable HIV responses.
• Counsel and advise Mission Leadership and S/GAC regarding the optimal mix of funding support for the regional program.
• Ensure outreach to and engagement of civil society and private-sector partners, including advocacy groups, faith- and community-based organizations, and businesses in the HIV/AIDS response.
• Encourages the engagement of these groups by all USG agencies responding to the epidemic within
the region.
• The Regional Coordinator may act as one of the USG representative members on the CCM in Ghana and attend CCM meetings in other West African countries as needed. PEPFAR currently holds a representative position for the Development Partners on the Executive Committee of the CCM, a position which also serves as President of the CCM’s HIV Committee, roles which may be fulfilled by the Global Fund Liaison.
• The Regional Coordinator will collaborate closely with the Global Fund Liaison and Agency Leads to ensure alignment of technical and implementation efforts across Global Fund and PEPFAR partners.

c) Program Representation (15%)

The Regional Coordinator will:

• Assist in assuring the accountability of PEPFAR and other HIV/AIDS programs supported by the USG to Administration officials, Members of Congress, and the general public through the development and communication of appropriate statements, reports, and representation.
• In collaboration with various PEPFAR implementing agencies, serve as the representative of the USG at country and regional levels and international-level, when appropriate, such as working groups, country coordinating mechanisms, steering committees, etc., with a focus on responding to the HIV epidemic and to integration of HIV services into broader health efforts in West Africa.
• Counsel and advises the Office of S/GAC and U.S. Embassy staff in the various West African countries on relevant HIV/AIDS policies and issues that emerge in various settings with stakeholders. As requested by S/GAC and the U.S. Embassy, s/he may speak on behalf of the USG about the regional HIV/AIDS epidemic needs based on a comprehensive knowledge of the respective overall country, regional, and global context, in-country HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care programs, and the current status of implementation of PEPFAR.
• Supported by the Epidemic Control Team (ECT) at S/GAC, communicates field-based and headquarters priorities upstream and downstream. With the ECT, facilitates inter-agency dialogue between the field and headquarters inter-agency teams.
• In collaboration with PEPFAR leadership from other USG agencies, serve as the representative of the USG at international meetings, conferences, etc., whose sponsors or attendees may include donors and other stakeholders in the fight against the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.
• Recommend and promote positions and views for the USG on strategies, initiatives, and current programs that aim to improve the prevention, treatment, and care of HIV/AIDS.
• In coordination with PEPFAR leadership from other USG agencies, plan and direct the identification, development, implementation, and monitoring of outreach and/or liaison activities and initiatives with USG representatives (including Congressional staff), the partner government, international organizations, non- governmental organizations, and regional donors to foster greater leadership, commitment, and resources on their part in the global fight against the HIV/AIDS
pandemic.
• Inform and engage the Chief of Mission, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, USG representatives in-country administering HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care programs, non-governmental organizations, and partner government officials on PEPFAR program achievements, concerns, and needs to reinforce initiatives to accomplish the goals of PEPFAR through bilateral and multilateral diplomatic efforts.

Qualification Required & Experience

• This position requires a highly qualified and experienced individual with exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, the ability to foster inter-agency collaboration and strategic cooperation, the ability to foster inter-agency technical team work, the capacity for strategic thinking, and an understanding of the technical and policy requirements to achieve the PEPFAR goals in West Africa.
The incumbent must be familiar with and be able to work well in an overseas environment and with a wide range of governmental and nongovernmental counterparts. The PEPFAR Regional Coordinator must have the following

Education:

• An advanced degree (master's or higher) in a relevant professional discipline, such as Public Policy, Public Health, Medicine, Business Administration or related subject, is required.

Prior Work Experience:

• At least 5 - 7 years of progressively senior level experience managing HIV/AIDS, health, or other development programs, preferably in a developing country context, with at least 3 of the 7 years of experience in managing and implementing HIV/AIDS programs or working with large, complex international or domestic programs.

Language:

Level IV English ability (fluent) is required

MARKET VALUE: $78,681 - $102,288 equivalent to GS-13. Final compensation will be negotiated within the listed market value

Location: Accra

How To Apply For The Job

All interested applicants who meet the minimum requirements, must submit applications via email to:

acpersonnel@usaid.gov

All applicants must cite the position title and solicitation number within the subject line, and attach a cover letter, current resume with at least three references of direct supervisors within the last five months from applicant's professional life. relevant certificates, and a two-page supplementary document addressing the evaluation factors.

Attachments must include a signed Form AID 302-3 offer or information for PSC available at http://www.usaid.gov/form and must be in a format compatible with Microsoft word 2003/2010 or pdf.

USAID/WA anticipates awarding one Personal Service Contract (PSC) regarding this announcement. Please note that this does not constitute any guarantee that a PSC will be awarded as result of this announcement.

Closing Date: 23 December, 2020