Panama: Associate, Guna Yala

Organization: Clinton Health Access Initiative
Country: Panama
Closing date: 28 May 2017

Founded in 2002, by President William J. Clinton and Ira Magaziner, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (“CHAI”) is a global health organization committed to strengthening integrated health systems and expanding access to care and treatment in the developing world. CHAI's solution-oriented approach focuses on improving market dynamics for medicines and diagnostics; lowering prices for treatment; accelerating access to lifesaving technologies; and helping governments build the capacity required for high-quality care and treatment programs. Since its inception, CHAI's programs have helped more than 11.8 million people in more than 70 countries have access to CHAI-negotiated prices for HIV/AIDS medicines, saving the global health community billions of dollars. For more information, please visit: www.clintonhealthaccess.org.

CHAI's global malaria program provides direct technical and operational support to countries around the globe to strengthen their malaria programs and reduce the burden of this preventable, treatable disease. We support governments to scale up effective interventions for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance, with the goals of sustainably reducing the number of malaria-related illnesses and deaths worldwide in the short-term and accelerating progress towards malaria elimination in the long term.

Overview of role

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual to work as a part of its Panama Malaria Team supporting the Ministry of Health's National Malaria Program to plan and execute effective programs in the Guna Yala Region of Panama. Over the past two years, CHAI has rapidly engaged in the country and helped them make meaningful steps towards orienting their national strategic plans and systems towards historic elimination by 2020. This position will work as a part of CHAI's Panama team to design, implement, and monitor and evaluate CHAI-supported elimination-focused interventions and help support their scale up on the regional level.

The candidate must be able to work independently to drive implementation and have deep personal commitment to producing results. A successful candidate will be highly motivated and hard working with exceptional, organizational, problem-solving, and communication skills.

CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities including resourcefulness, tenacity, independence, patience, humility, and strong work ethic.

Coordinate with Regional Health partners, local Guna authorities, and CHAI Panama team to monitor and evaluate the progress of current community health worker (CHW) projects
- Work with regional partners and CHAI malaria team to coordinate activities outlined in the Operational pilot work plan.
- Aid in the assembly and compilation of epidemiological, operational, and financial data for project evaluation purposes.
- Conduct regular site-level visits of CHWs to provide supportive supervision and to identify challenges and potential bottlenecks to be address by partners and CHAI malaria team.
- Oversee project administration and logistics at the regional level.
- Support project scale up in all three Guna territories
Provide technical assistance to Regional partners in areas such as surveillance, supply chain management, and operational planning.
Identify key impediments to the successful execution of malaria elimination plans and work with the CHAI country malaria team and other partners to develop solutions to rapidly address those bottlenecks
Compile inputs and draft necessary presentations/reports for internal stakeholders and donors
Provide program and operations updates for progress reports and best practice sharing
Serve as a trusted adviser to the regional level Ministry of Health staff on malaria elimination
Represent CHAI in partners meetings as needed
Develop and maintain strong, proactive relationships with Regional Health staff in involved in malaria elimination
Develop and maintain strong, proactive relationships with local Guna authorities
Must be available to live and travel throughout Guna Yala territories; must be comfortable traveling in boats and on the open sea
This role requires travel to remote regions with limited infrastructure and medical care
Other responsibilities as needed by supervisor
Bachelor's degree plus 3 – 5 years of work experience
Strong problem solving skills and analytical capabilities
Detail-oriented with strong organization skills
Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work independently
Experience living and working in resource-limited areas
Ability to work well both independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team
Strong work ethic, integrity, credibility, and dedication to CHAI's mission
Ability to be effective, calm, and flexible in high-pressure situations, to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and to effectively prioritize
Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
Must be fluent in Spanish; with a professional-level proficiency in English