Senior Key Populations Advisor

Overview

Credence Management Solutions employs hard-working, passionate individuals who bring innovation, accountability, and a growth mindset to the many missions we support across the US Federal Government. Employee empowerment is part of the fabric of our corporate culture through which we emphasize opportunity, recognition, reward, and retention. At Credence, we follow the principles of servant leadership and believe that serving and supporting others is critical to both our individual and collective achievements. We have only one measure of success. Yours.

We are hiring for positions under the Global Health Training, Advisory, Support Contract (GHTASC) in support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Global Health (GH). These roles deliver institutional support services in a wide range of technical areas at the junior, mid-, senior, and expert levels.

We are a diverse, enthusiastic family of subject matter experts, business professionals, and practitioners who all share a common goal of providing excellent services to our government customers. If you want to work in a dynamic and fast-growing environment with highly motivated colleagues, then Credence is the right place for you!

Credence Management Solutions is seeking a Senior Key Populations Advisor. See below for more information on this exciting opportunity and apply to join Credence today!

Note: Application closing date is on Friday, October 7.

Position Summary

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is at the forefront of the U.S. Government (USG) response in the fight against HIV and AIDS. USAID is a key partner in the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and works closely with other USG agencies on this initiative in 36 countries. In the Bureau for Global Health (GH), the Office of HIV and AIDS (GH/OHA) has primary responsibility for the Agency's HIV and AIDS program, and provides strategic direction, technical leadership and support to field programs in HIV and AIDS. The Office provides input to decisions concerning the strategic allocation of financial and human resources in the sector and assists in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programs. This entails ensuring the technical integrity of Agency and Mission strategies; providing global technical leadership on the full range of issues related to HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment, and monitoring and reporting on the impact of the Agency's HIV and AIDS program.

A priority for PEPFAR is to ensure access to high quality, comprehensive HIV services for key populations (KP), defined by PEPFAR to include sex workers (SW), gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender persons (TG) and people who inject drugs (PWID).  Prisoners have additionally been added by the World Health Organization to this list of Key Populations.  KPs are disproportionately affected by HIV because they engage in behaviors that significantly increase the risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV.  Additionally, since many countries criminalize and marginalize these behaviors of these populations, social stigmatization and lack of an enabling environment creates barriers of access to HIV services for KPs.  PEPFAR programming emphasizes the continuum of response across HIV prevention, care and treatment, and the links between community-based and clinical services.  PEPFAR supports KP programs across all regions and epidemic types.  There is significant need for targeted, quality interventions tailored to key populations and their partners, with a particular need to scale up and strengthen clinical programs.  Global program approaches in sub-Saharan Africa and/or Asia are particularly important given that this is where two-thirds of all people living with HIV reside.

The Priority Populations, Integration and Rights Division (GH/OHA/PIR) provides technical leadership and support to missions in effectively planning, implementing, and monitoring population-specific technical approaches to the HIV and PEPFAR response. The Division’s Key Populations and Rights Branch (GH/OHA/PIR/KPR) drives KP programming and performance in the field, ensures timely and accurate data reporting and course corrections; recruitment and supervision of local KP partners; and completion of strategic procurement actions in accordance with USAID, PEPFAR, and U.S Government (USG) strategies and guidance.

The Senior Key Populations Advisor (Senior Advisor) will provide a leadership role across the HIV prevention and clinical cascade with a focus on key populations. The Senior Advisor will provide technical expertise grounded in previous, relevant experience and demonstrated public health understanding. The Senior Advisor will also provide significant technical assistance for HIV programming for key populations, their partners and children across HIV services and from a policy standpoint. The Senior Advisor will assist the Office of HIV/AIDS, USAID/Missions, PEPFAR teams, regional field offices, regional bureaus, cooperative agencies (CAs), private voluntary organizations (PVOs), host country governments and NGOs in the design, integration and implementation of HIV/AIDS programming for KPs. The Senior Advisor will provide technical support toward the design and improvement of programs in line with USAID and PEPFAR strategies and objectives.

The Senior Advisor is a member of the Key Populations and Rights (KPR) Branch in the Priority Populations, Integration and Rights (PPIR) Division. The Senior Advisor will work closely with and receive technical guidance from the KPR Branch and clinical colleagues across OHA.  More details are provided below in the essential duties and responsibilities section.

Responsibilities

The Senior Advisor will serve as an HIV subject matter expert within USAID for programming focused on HIV prevention, care and treatment with emphasis on the implementation of KP programming, strategic approaches to sustainability, data use and local partner transition and policy and rights.  Specifically, the Senior Advisor will:

• Provide technical assistance to USAID’s GH Bureau and the Office of HIV/AIDS, USAID Missions, and the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (S/GAC), on HIV program implementation as related to key populations’ specific needs.


• Review the technical quality of activities in the field by conducting site visits, meeting with implementing partners and USAID Mission teams, and reviewing work plans as well as program results.


• Search for and address emerging issues in need of USAID support and guidance in KP programming and the HIV clinical continuum.


• Understand community programming approaches and the challenges/interplay between community and facility services.


• Analyze, synthesize and interpret program data and promote data-driven best practices


• Contribute to USAID leadership in the area of KPs by developing and delivering relevant presentations, reference materials, reports, peer-reviewed literature and other documents.


• Promote sustainability of KP HIV services; KP programming in countries to achieve epidemic control; mainly financial sustainability but also structural/organizational challenges to sustainable KP-led health services.


• Lead inclusively to promote USG interagency collaboration and strengthen coordination with other PEPFAR agencies and multinational partners (e.g. CDC, WHO, UNICEF, Global Fund, etc.).


• Develop expertise in key global health core competencies focused on development practice, cross cultural awareness, communication, capacity strengthening, ethics of public health, health equity, gender equality and global burden of disease.


• Deepen technical expertise in HIV programming across the clinical cascade HIV clinical continuum with emphasis on the implementation of KP programming, including KP clinical services, HIV testing, PrEP, and viral load.


• Deepen expertise in the use of data analytics to review and improve program performance.


• Acquire/deepen an understanding of USAID management processes and policy


• Cultivate mentorship skills to more effectively support and improve knowledge transfer and skills acquisition of staff, incoming fellows and interns.


• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Master’s and 10 years, Bachelor’s and 12 years, Associate’s and 14 years, or High School and 16 years of professional experience in public health, social work or related social sciences field (clinical or non-clinical)


• Experience in international health programming is preferred.


• At least three years’ experience working on health care programming in an international or resource-challenged setting.


• Experience with HIV and AIDS programming at the international level.


• Demonstrated experience in and understanding of issues relating to HIV prevention, treatment and retention programming approaches for KP within developing country settings required.


• Experience with KP programs in Asia and/or Africa strongly preferred.


• Experience with USG/PEPFAR preferred.


• Fluency in a foreign language is preferred.


• Ability to develop and monitor components of HIV and AIDS strategic plans


• Knowledge of and familiarity with programming affecting key populations, including current programming standards, ongoing HIV prevention and treatment initiatives and relevant organizations working to achieve HIV epidemic control.


• Demonstrated ability to interact successfully with senior level representatives and high level government officials of international and host country governmental and nongovernmental agencies, multilateral and bilateral organizations


• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work cross-culturally with diverse teams.


• Excellent analytical, written and oral communication skills.


• Strong analytical skills with ability to use data to improve programming.


• High degree of judgment, maturity, ingenuity and originality to interpret strategy, to analyze, develop and present work and to monitor and evaluate the implementation of programs.


• Ability to travel to transitioning or developing countries approximately 40% of the time is required.


• Computer literacy in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.


• US citizenship required to obtain and maintain a Secret Security Clearance.

Competencies/Performance Criterion

• Innovation: Employee takes initiative to propose new ideas/approaches, and demonstrates ability to find new and better ways to accomplish work.


• Customer Service: Handles customer questions and complaints, communicates with customers, handles service problems politely and efficiently, always available for customers, follows procedure to solve customer problems, understands company products and services, maintains pleasant and professional image.


• Accountability: Takes ownership of work responsibilities and holds high standards. Keeps commitments and takes appropriate actions to ensure obligations are met. Pursues efficiency and effectiveness and adheres to Organization policies and procedures.


• Interpersonal Skills: Employee demonstrates ability to work in cooperation with others and communicate effectively with co-workers, supervisors, subordinates, clients and other outside contacts.


• Continual Learning: Assesses and recognizes own strengths and weaknesses; pursues professional development that is aligned with organizational role, contribution, and goals. Proactively shares knowledge with others to foster learning across the Organization.