Position: Project Coordinator, Africa
Company: The Vitamin Angel Alliance, Inc. (VA)
Contract Type: Independent Contractor
Location: Remote, Africa
Role or Purpose of the Position
Vitamin Angels (VA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit, global public health nonprofit working to improve nutrition and health outcomes in low-resource settings worldwide. We strengthen, extend, and amplify the impact of our partner organizations to reach the most nutritionally vulnerable groups – pregnant women, infants, and children who are underserved by existing systems. VA uses an implementation science (IS) approach to improve access to proven interventions, optimize implementation outcomes, and promote health equity. VA’s IS approach focuses on:
* Fostering knowledge exchange, collaboration, and ownership among stakeholders,
* Understanding contextual factors, barriers, enablers, and potential solutions to delivering and scaling proven nutrition interventions,
* Designing and testing implementation strategies, and
* Support efforts to scale new or strengthened implementation strategies.
The role of the Project Coordinator, Africa is to support the development, planning, implementation, and evaluation of VA’s implementation science activities in the Africa region. The Project Coordinator will be part of VA’s Implementation Science Team, working in close collaboration with the Senior Regional Technical Director, Africa and country teams in Africa. The initial focus of the position will be to support VA’s global program to accelerate the use of multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS) for pregnant women within the Africa region. Other of VA’s programs will be included over time.
Duties and Responsibilities
The Project Coordinator, Africa will be responsible for the following:
1. Coordinate project activities in collaboration with country teams
a. Support the design and implementation of IS projects across countries in Africa, ensuring a cohesive application of VA’s IS approach
b. Develop and manage project workplans
c. Communicate project updates and facilitate presentations on key milestones d. Support coordination and engagement of national and regional stakeholders on IS activities
2. Coordinate the documentation and sharing of IS experiences and learnings across the region, and externally
a. Coordinate cross-country exchanges of implementation science experiences and learnings
b. Contribute to the publication of VA’s IS activities in peer-reviewed journals and the development of technical briefs, reports, white papers, op-eds, etc
c. Maintain a database of national and regional forums and related timelines for the dissemination of IS outputs
3. Assist with discrete initiatives and projects within the IS Team
a. Support, as needed, IS initiatives that require additional coordination and planning including cross-divisional initiatives in the Africa region
b. Contribute to the development of processes and tools to support the standardization of VA’s implementation science activities, including guides, manuals, research templates, M&E frameworks, data collection tools, and communication templates.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
Required:
* Master’s degree in public health, nutrition, or similar/relevant discipline from an accredited university
* Minimum 1-3 years’ experience planning and coordinating research projects in Africa (preferably implementation science-related projects)
* Strong project coordination, organizational, and support skills and ability to work in a fastpaced environment
* Experience working with donor-funded initiatives
* Ability to collaborate with interdisciplinary teams and engage stakeholders effectively
* Excellent writing and editing skills with strong attention to detail
* Fluency in English language
Highly desirable:
* Experience in qualitative and quantitative methods,
* Doctoral degree (e.g., PhD or doctor of Nutritional Science, Public Health, or related discipline) from an accredited university
* Professional proficiency in French
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