United States of America: Senior Water Supply and Sanitation and Hygiene and Social and Behavior Change Advisor

Global Health Fellows Program

Technical Advisor III: Senior Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene and Social and Behavior Change Advisor

Nutrition and Environmental Health Division, Office of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition, Bureau for Global Health, United States Agency for International Development

Location: Arlington, VA

Assignment: Two year fellowship

GHFP-II-P6-230

The Global Health Fellows Program (GHFP-II) is a five year cooperative agreement implemented and managed by the Public Health Institute in partnership with Global Health Corps, GlobeMed, Management Systems International and PYXERA Global. GHFP-II is supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

GHFP-II’s goal is to improve the effectiveness of USAID health programs by addressing the Agency’s immediate and emerging human capacity needs. The program seeks to accomplish this goal first through the recruitment, placement and support of diverse health professionals at the junior, mid and senior levels. These program participants include fellows, interns, corporate volunteers and Foreign Service National professionals. The program then provides substantial performance management and career development support to participants, including annual work planning assistance, and ensures that professional development opportunities are available.

Looking to the future, GHFP-II also seeks to establish a pool of highly-qualified global health professionals that will ensure the Agency’s ongoing technical leadership and effectiveness. This objective is supported by an extensive outreach program that brings global health opportunities and specialized career advice to a diverse range of interested individuals, with a particular focus on those underrepresented in the field of global health.

BACKGROUND:

USAID Water and Development strategy 2013-2018 provides an increased focus on sustainability, scale and country selectivity, and uses emerging science and technology and embraces partnerships for long-term impact. There are 24 focus countries for increasing access to sustainable water and sanitation services and increased adoption of evidence-based hygiene behaviors. The Environmental Health (EH) Team provides leadership in the areas of sanitation and hygiene for the agency. These are also key areas of USAID’s Multisectoral Nutrition Strategy 2014-2025, as the role of Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in mental and physical growth becomes better understood.

USAID’s EH activities are focused on reducing mortality and morbidity in children under five years, and other diseases of major public health importance, by improving environmental conditions and/or reducing exposure to disease agents. Under the EH umbrella, USAID has prioritized two areas of emphasis - WASH (80%) and reduction of Household Air Pollution (HAP) (20%). Recently, a special emphasis has been placed on hygiene improvement or achieving measurable improvement in key hygiene conditions at sufficient scale to attain public health impact in USAID-assisted countries. A specific focal area is promotion of four key hygiene practices- safe feces disposal, handwashing with soap, household water treatment and safe storage and food hygiene- in conjunction with facilitating access to water and sanitation hardware and a conducive environment for sustainability. In HAP, the priority has been to support research and implementation of projects to reduce household air pollution.

INTRODUCTION:

The Senior WASH and Social and Behavior Change Advisor (Senior Advisor), based in the Nutrition and Environmental Health Division of USAID’s Bureau for Global Health (GH) will provide WASH technical advisory and lead behavior change activities across USAID’s WASH and EH portfolio. The Senior Advisor will serve as a focal point for programming and technical guidance related to Social and Behavior Change (SBC) for WASH and other environmental health priorities. S/he will work closely with the Division Chief for the Nutrition and Environmental Health Division, who will serve as his/her onsite manager, and alongside other team members with specialties in water supply, sanitation, water quality, and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E).

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Senior WASH and Social and Behavior Change Advisor will be responsible for:

• Serving as the advisor on WASH, specifically SBC for WASH and hygiene programs, both at the USAID country-level and at headquarters.
• Providing technical guidance to USAID missions on the design, assessment and evaluation of strategic WASH programs.
• Providing technical advice with respect to the behavioral, cognitive, and psychosocial aspects of WASH programming.
• Maintaining knowledge of the current literature in all areas of WASH behavioral research, with particular attention to: theoretical frameworks for individual behavior change and broader transformation of social norms and habit formation; effectiveness of diverse behavioral approaches; and the state-of-the-art design and evaluation of SBC activities.
• Providing USAID missions, host country governments and implementing partners with technical input and ongoing support to ensure best practices are incorporated in behavioral interventions and communication campaigns within WASH programs
• Providing technical liaison and facilitating the coordination of policies, approaches, and programs with respect WASH behavior change programs with other international donors and organizations, including (but not limited to) WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank/Water and Sanitation Program, and private sector partners..
• Maintaining professional contacts with experts in other international and national institutions and with researchers in the academic community, and drawing upon these experts for program review, field consultations, and evaluations.
• Attending and/or presenting or preparing papers for interagency, intergovernmental, national and professional conferences on behalf of the NEH Division, related to WASH behavior change issues.
• Serving as the main point of contact for a designated backstop country.

International and domestic travel approximately 30%.

TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (7%)

• Keeping abreast of literature and latest developments in the fields of water sanitation and hygiene and social and behavior change.
• Deepening knowledge of best practices in WASH implementation and research.
• Participating in interagency and intra-agency working groups as appropriate to the scope of work.
• Participating in professional continuing education and skills training within the purview of GHFP-II.

REQUIRED SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE:

• Master’s degree or higher in public health, health communication, behavioral studies or a related social science field.
• Minimum ten (10) years’ experience working in SBC within WASH or environmental health programs with at least three (3-5) years’ experience in an international or resource challenged setting.
• Demonstrated experience designing, planning, implementing and/or evaluating WASH SBC programs.
• Demonstrated experience in strategic planning with a focus on achieving results.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the current literature and best practices in WASH implementation and research.
• Demonstrated ability to work with a wide range of government, civil society, donor and UN partners and ability to build strong partnerships inside and outside of the organization
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills.
• Ability to work independently with limited supervision.
• Demonstrated flexibility and openness to respond to changing work priorities and environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills including the ability to present to a wide variety of audiences.
• Ability to travel internationally.
• US citizenship or US permanent residency required.

SALARY AND BENEFITS:

Salary based on commensurate experience and earnings history. The Public Health Institute offers a comprehensive benefits package including professional development programs.

TO APPLY:

All applicants are required to apply for this position through GHFP-II’s online recruitment system at https://www.ghfp.net/recruitment/, which allows you to store your CV, profile and bio data form in our database. A separate cover letter describing your qualifications and experience, interest and familiarity with issues relating to this position, and how this position relates to your career goals is required for each application. All online applications must be submitted by December 27, 2016 by 5:00 pm Eastern time.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA Employer.

All applicants are required to apply for this position through GHFP-II’s online recruitment system at https://www.ghfp.net/recruitment/, which allows you to store your CV, profile and bio data form in our database. A separate cover letter describing your qualifications and experience, interest and familiarity with issues relating to this position, and how this position relates to your career goals is required for each application. All online applications must be submitted by December 27, 2016 by 5:00 pm Eastern time.