Program Manager

The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is a leading Africa-based, African-led, international research institution headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. APHRC generates and supports the use of evidence for meaningful action to improve the lives of all Africans through:

· Research that emphasizes health and wellbeing;

· Capacity strengthening that deepens the skills of African researchers, scholars and institutions within the continent; and

· Policy engagement and communication that supports greater influence of evidence in policy – and decision-making across sub-Saharan Africa.

The APHRC seeks to recruit a Program Manager to work in the Research Capacity Strengthening (RCS) Division. The Program Manager will lead a large-scale initiative whose goals are to transform the (Research and Development) R&D ecosystem in Africa by:

1) Designing and running a matching service between universities/research institutes based in all the regions of Africa and funding agencies for R&D.

2) Configuring and running Africa-wide platform-based capacity building for universities/research institutes based in all of Africa’s regions, to increase their capabilities to do more and perform better on a sustained basis along the spectrum of implementation research.

3) Designing and developing prototypes in selected countries, to link country decision-making systems with national research systems for adoption/scale-up of R&D innovations.

4) Strengthening the African innovation-research ecosystem by developing and deploying connectors – platforms that have cross-cutting benefits to researchers and decision makers.

Responsibilities

· Build and manage relationships with African universities and research institutes across the continent to enhance their readiness for large-scale funding from R&D funding agencies;

· Build and manage relationships with multiple stakeholders in the Africa R&D ecosystem to create buy-in into the initiative and incorporate it into appropriate decision making mechanisms at national, regional and continental level;

· Lead the assessment of individual and institutional capacities, categorize institutions based on their research capacity strengths and needs, and develop a capacity development plan in response to the needs assessments;

· Oversee the execution of assigned research capacity strengthening and evaluation projects to ensure timely and efficient implementation of activities;

· Enhance performance management and accountability of delivery systems in institutions selected for support;

· Secure and manage the necessary human, financial and material resources in the program. This includes sourcing consultants and overseeing their work as well as overseeing a large project team;

· Develop and roll out work plans, including tracking project implementation and expenditure plans and reporting schedules;

· Provide leadership in specific project activities including desk reviews, in depth analysis, partner mapping and capacity assessments;

· Produce technical reports from the various activities;

· Lead outreach efforts to various funding agencies, and create buy-in into the initiative;

· Represent the Center in high-level national, regional, continental and international forums including relevant technical working groups and expert committees on implementation research and research capacity strengthening;

· Lead in proposal development and fundraising for the program; and

· Lead efforts to publicize the initiative to relevant audiences.

Qualifications and Desirable Experience

· PhD in Public Health, Public Policy, Health Systems or related field.

· 6-10 years’ post-doctoral experience in developing and managing research capacity strengthening programs or knowledge translation and advocacy programs or in commercialization of innovations.

· Experience managing large-scale (multi-year, multi-team, multi-country) projects in a leadership or senior management role.

· Good understanding of the Higher Education/ R&D/ Policy landscape in sub-Saharan Africa.

· Experience working in a research or academic institution conducting implementation research.

· Experience engaging policy makers at national, regional, continental or global levels.

· Excellent written communication and presentation skills.

· Strong grant writing skills and track record of winning grants.

· Bilingual language skills will be an added advantage.