Background:
To deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals, MSH is committed to supporting government and non-government partners globally to strengthen their capabilities to lead their own locally appropriate health and development solutions. One of the pillars in MSH’s seven-year global Strategic Plan (2023 – 2030) is “localize,” which features an explicit intention to bolster the organization’s work in local capacity strengthening (LCS). This position reports to the Technical Director in MSH’s LCS Practice Area (PA) within the Global Health Systems and Innovation (GHSI) department. This position, along with other members of the LCS PA, will work in close collaboration with the other GHSI PAs, with MSH’s business development (BD) team, the Program Delivery Group (PDG) including project/country teams, and other support departments such as Finance, Operations and Administration (FAO), Human Resources (HR), and Communications and Knowledge Management (KM) to ensure a cross-functional approach to advancing locally led development and strengthening capacity of local actors in the health system of countries we serve.
LOCATION
Remotely from any country where MSH is registered and has business operations
Overall Responsibilities:
The STA-LCS will help to mainstream evidence-based LCS across the organization, ensure technical excellence in LCS within our proposals and projects, and contribute to thought leadership in this space. Working across the LCS PA’s various technical areas (“clusters”), i.e., Leadership and Governance (L&G), Institutional and Organizational Strengthening (IOS), and Human Resources for Health (HRH) aka Workforce Development Systems, s/he will work to improve our organizational capability to design, implement, monitor and evaluate LCS interventions in a variety of countries and settings by leading and/or contributing to technical strategy/leadership, communications, knowledge exchange, technical assistance, and business development activities in line with MSH’s strategy and the needs of the countries and communities we serve.
The main thrust of the STA-LCS’s work will be to:
- Support special initiatives of the LCS PA, including development new products and services or enhancement of existing offerings, including models and tools for the PA’s clusters: L&G, IOS, and Workforce Development; for example supporting the scaling of MSH’s Leadership & Management Accelerator (LMA) program and Systems Thinking for Health model, and supporting MSH in refining our model for capacity strengthening of public sector partners for readiness to manage Government to Government (G2G) direct funding, and rolling out our LCS Ambassador program.
- Contribute to the LCS PA’s strategic communications, knowledge exchange (KE), thought leadership, and the development of technical briefs, success stories, updated capabilities statements, training materials, and other comms/KE products.
- Collaborate with Strategic Information (SI) and project staff to: more systematically monitor, evaluate and learn from our LCS interventions; improve our key performance indicators and methods for MEL of capacity strengthening; and ensure data-driven, evidence-based LCS approaches and methodologies.\
Specific Responsibilities Include:
Strategy, Communications, and Thought Leadership (40%)
- Drive advancement of the LCS Practice Area’s goal to become more data-driven and evidence based, serving as the LCS Practice Areas focal person for collaboration with the Strategic Information (SI) team and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) project staff and coordinating subject matter expert (SME) input on a menu of standardized (yet adaptable) key performance indicators, learning agenda questions, and M&E methods for assessing the effectiveness and results of our capacity strengthening interventions.
- Support the development or revision of LCS-related technical frameworks, tools, and guidelines to ensure technical excellence in LCS and mainstreaming of effective LCS in all of our programming.
- Develop or update new staff orientation materials, LCS-related presentations, and content for online courses and blended learning programs (e.g., the LCS Ambassador program) on LCS and the specific technical areas in the LCS Practice Area (e.g. LMG, IOS, workforce development/HRH).
- Help expand the offerings of the LCS Practice Area, particularly concerning our newest clusters: IOS and workforce development/systems; this could include establishing and marketing new areas of expertise in order to meet growing demand – e.g., LCS for award readiness for local subrecipients and government to government [G2G] funding – in coordination with other global teams (e.g., Health Economics and Financing [HEF], the Program Delivery Group [PDG], and Finance, Administration and Operation [FAO]).
- Contribute to external engagements, strategic communications, and thought leadership efforts of the LCS Practice Area, including LinkedIn posts, thought pieces, position papers, abstract submissions for international conferences, presentations for strategic meetings/global forums, and other technical or knowledge products.
- Contribute to knowledge exchange/organizational learning activities on LCS and related technical areas (LMG, IOS, HRH) for in-house Technical Areas Meetings and other organizational learning/knowledge exchange activities (e.g., webinars, learning sessions), by:
- Identifying examples of excellence and/or lessons learnt;
- Analyzing project and portfolio programmatic data;
- Preparing presentations of results and lessons;
- Designing and/or facilitating technical discussions, webinars, and other types of learning activities.
- Create content for, post information in, and moderate exchanges within MSH’s internal LCS Community of Practice.
- Maintain the LCS Practice Area’s knowledge management platform, ensuring that files are appropriately labeled and saved in MSH’s Institutional Memory, the Intranet (MSH Connect), the LCS SharePoint site, and the LCS Practice Area Resource Hub.
- Establish and maintain systems and tools for global technical backstopping and team management, including coordinating our annual indirect budget request, team member LOE planning and tracking, updating the LCS Practice Area workplan, etc.
Technical Assistance and Program Support (25%)
- Provide technical support to assigned project teams in the design and implementation of local capacity strengthening (LCS) and health system strengthening (HSS) interventions to ensure technical excellence and innovation.
- Support projects and/or other GHSI colleagues in the development of LCS-related materials, tools and deliverables, which may include updating Corporate Capabilities statements, developing success stories and technical briefs, peer reviewed publications,
- Conduct data synthesis/analysis and prepare data visualizations and presentations pertaining to LCS-related results.
- Provide surge support for the LCS/technical aspects of project start-up and close-out processes.
- For small projects managed by the LCS Practice Area, contribute to production and/or review of project deliverables (e.g. workplan) and reporting processes to ensure timely and high-quality submissions; set up and manage templates, process flow charts, production calendars, and workflow; edit, revise, and format technical products to meet/exceed quality expectations; ensure adherence to donor branding and marking requirements.
- Work with technical staff in other Practice Areas to ensure the integration/mainstreaming of LCS across all programming.
- May fill in for and temporarily serve as a Technical Strategy Partner (TSP) or Technical Contributor to projects in LCS colleagues’ absence.
Project Design and Proposal Development / Business Development (25%)
- Contribute to development of strategic/business plans for growing MSH’s LCS portfolio, particularly related to the Institutional and Organizational Strengthening (IOS) cluster and the Workforce Development/HRH cluster
- Participate in new business development (BD) by serving as the Technical Strategy Lead and/or a Technical Contributor in LCS on assigned proposals.
- Develop/update corporate capabilities statements, LCS Primers, and other BD tools/resources to assist teams in designing proposals that have a strong LCS/Localization components.
- Work in close collaboration with the Strategy, Business Development and Partnerships (SBDP) team and LCS Practice Area leadership to map and track relevant funding opportunities, develop Bid Decision Rationales, keep Opportunity Records in SalesForce up-to-date and complete, and support the LCS Practice Area Lead (PAL) and Cluster Leads (CLs) in managing staff assignments/roles on proposals.
- Partner with SBDP in scanning the market and conducting research on the competitive landscape and incumbent performance in order to identify changing funding trends and potential opportunities.
- Support implementation of MSH’s Client Engagement Strategy and the LCS Thought Leadership/External Engagement plan, which may involve interacting with and representing MSH with funding agencies and other key stakeholders.
QUALIFICATIONS
REQUIRED MINIMUM EDUCATION
Required:
- A postgraduate degree in public health, education/training, business administration, public policy, epidemiology or a related field of study
- Specialized training or certification in at least one of the following: institutional strengthening and organizational development (OD); leadership, management and governance (LMG); workforce development/human resources for health (HRH); health system strengthening (HSS); capacity strengthening broadly
Preferred:
- Master’s degree at a minimum
- Education/Training in monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) and ideally in MEL of capacity strengthening interventions
REQUIRED MINIMUM EXPERIENCE
- Minimum of seven (7) years of relevant work experience in international health and development in low-resource settings and across multiple countries
- Significant and successful experience providing technical assistance in the design, and implementation of interventions and programs to strengthen capacity of individuals, groups, institutions/organizations, networks, and/or health systems.
- Proven expertise in designing and facilitating capacity strengthening activities (e.g., on-the-job training, technical assistance, e-Learning, blended learning, coaching, mentorship, workforce learning and development [L&D] systems, etc.) to not only strengthen knowledge and skills, but improve performance, strengthen systems, and achieve lasting results.
- Strong applied knowledge of measurement, analysis, reporting and use of results of capacity strengthening interventions/programming.
- Proven expertise in one or more of the following technical areas: institutional strengthening and organizational development (OD); leadership, management and governance (LMG); workforce development/human resources for health (HRH); and/or health system strengthening (HSS).
- Experience supporting projects and programs funded by USAID and other major funders.
- A demonstrated track record of success in contributing to project design and development of successful proposals to donors desired, especially USAID, the Global Fund, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, etc.
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Required:
- Fluency in English, with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Familiarity with and a desire to continue developing knowledge and skills in systems thinking and practice, adult learning techniques, group dynamics, organizational psychology, and/or behavior change.
- Ability to conduct literature/desk reviews, with strong skills in data analysis and data visualization.
- Basic understanding of metrics, performance indicators, and MEL methods for capacity strengthening and/or relevant technical areas (HSS, LMG, OD, etc.)
- Solid interpersonal and networking competencies, including collaboration with donors, host country institutions, international organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector.
- Demonstrated intermediate skills in Microsoft Office Suite applications, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Preferred:
- Working professional knowledge of the French language.
- Demonstrated familiarity with USAID’s LCS Policy, the Localization Agenda, and the global shift-the-power/community-led development movement.
CORE JOB COMPETENCIES
- Dynamic and creative, with intellectual depth, sound judgement, and high ethical standards.
- Collaborative and able to thrive in a team-oriented environment with people of diverse backgrounds, cultures and viewpoints.
- Self-motivated, well organized, and able to juggle multiple assignments and simultaneously work autonomously across diverse teams.
- Values aligned with MSH’s mission and organizational culture.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
- Travel requirements: Availability to travel internationally and possibly domestically. Up to approximately 15% travel.
The expected salary range for this position is: $86,000.00 - $135,000.00 annually (U.S. locations only).
MSH considers multiple job-related factors when determining an offer, including but not limited to, business and organizational needs, candidate qualifications, internal equity, location, and internal budget.
Salary is just one of many aspects of our total rewards package; at MSH, our goal is to provide you with a comprehensive set of competitive benefits that includes a substantial vacation, sick and holiday policies, training and development programs, competitive insurance coverage for health, vision, dental, life, short-term and long-term disability, 401k plan, Flexible Spending Account, among others.
The selected candidate will be able to work remotely in a country where they are authorized to work and MSH is registered.
MSH is an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, religion, creed, citizenship, national origin, age, veteran status, or disability unrelated to job requirements. MSH will take affirmative action to ensure that qualified applicants are employed and that employees are treated without regard to their race, age, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran and disability status. In compliance with U.S. Department of Labor Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Section 4212 of the Vietnam Era Readjustment Assistance Act, MSH has developed and maintains an affirmative action program and plan.
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