Country: United States of America
Closing date: 11 May 2017
Global Health Fellows Program
Technical Advisor III: Senior Innovation Advisor
Center for Development Innovation, Global Development Lab, United States Agency for International Development
Location: Washington, DC
Assignment: Two year fellowship
GHFP-II-P6-249
The Global Health Fellows Program (GHFP-II) is a 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:
The US Global Development Lab was launched in 2014 as a bold, new approach to invent, test, and apply innovative, cost-effective solutions to help alleviate extreme poverty. The Lab collaborates with entrepreneurs, world-class experts from corporations, non-governmental organizations, universities, science and research institutions and other federal agencies to apply science, technology, innovation and partnerships to solve key global health and development problems.
The Innovation Design and Advisory Team (iDesign) in the Center for Development Innovation in The Global Development Lab seeks to advance a culture of innovation for better development outcomes, and support the Agency and our partners to incentivize more people to innovate and solve development challenges with us. We design opportunities that bring people together to reframe development challenges and to discover, test and accelerate innovative solutions; equip Agency teams with innovation skills; and facilitate a dialogue on the practice of innovation and design across the development enterprise. Read more about our mission and work here: https://www.usaid.gov/GlobalDevLab.
DESIGN | We support Agency teams to reframe health and development challenges, reach new audiences and spur innovative thinking by designing opportunities that bring people together to discover, test and accelerate innovative solutions. Open engagement, collaboration, and adaptation are at the heart of our design approach. Throughout the program cycle, we can help teams apply innovation methodologies, such as collaboration and co-creation, participatory systems and user-centered design, incentive-driven innovation, and outcomes-based financing more into their work.
EQUIP | We equip Agency teams with new skills in innovation and design thinking – a framework for reframing problems and finding solutions to complex problems - and help teams integrate new approaches into their work through training, mentorship and easy-to-use learning tools.
LEAD | We lead a dialog on the practice of innovation and design across the development enterprise through inspiring new champions, capturing lessons and evidence from across the field, translating them into usable knowledge.
INTRODUCTION:
The Senior Innovation Advisor (Senior Advisor) will serve on the Innovation Design and Advisory Team in the Center for Development Innovation at the Global Development Lab. The role of the Senior Advisor is to technically advise and coach bureaus and missions throughout USAID on how they can be more innovative in their work and help them to design, implement, and test a range of innovation models and design processes to address key health and development challenges, while working to support the broader enabling environment for innovation within the Agency. The Senior Advisor will draw on key models for catalyzing innovation such as open innovation, human centered design, systems thinking, pay for results tools, co-creation and more, and facilitate Agency teams to unpack their theory of change, set clear outcomes and make decisions on a range of investment and design strategies and programmatic solutions and awards to incentivize new solutions to health and development challenges. The Senior Advisor also advances learning, capacity building, knowledge product development and thought leadership/promotion of innovation and intrapreneurship within USAID and with external partners to further the use of innovative approaches to accelerate outcomes in international health and development.
The Senior Advisor will work closely with and receive technical guidance from the Division Chief of Innovation Design and Advisory, who will serve as his/her onsite manager.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Senior Innovation Advisor will be responsible for:
Service Delivery (63%)
· Supporting teams to apply human centered design principles and know-how to development challenges across the Agency
· Delivering advisory services and coaching/mentoring to Agency bureaus and mission teams looking to apply innovative design processes and tools, focusing on opportunities related to global health in particular.
· Delivering facilitation to Agency Bureau and mission teams and stakeholders for various design processes, including coordinating with other iDesign team members and our implementing partners to support the needs of bureau and mission teams through problem definition and ideation and co-creation in their program and activity designs.
· Providing strategic thinking, iterative learning and project management expertise to iDesign operational processes and new initiatives as needed.
· Developing learning opportunities within iDesign through weekly portfolio meetings, and supporting knowledge product development, across the Center through Peer-Peer sessions and with the Innovation@USAID community of practice through panel events and newsletter content.
· Delivering innovation design training with co-trainers from the team for bureau and mission staff.
· Identifying opportunities to improve coordination and information sharing with other parts of the Lab delivering services to the missions.
Cross-Center Technical Support – Health 10%
· Providing technical expertise in health, design thinking and communication to support to the Center to promote improved inclusivity and user focus in the design processes, programs, and for specific innovators in the portfolio.
Communications Support and Management 20%
· Building relationships across the agency to develop and grow the community of practice for innovation design and market innovative designs and the iDesign set of services to potential USAID partners.
· Developing narratives, storytelling, and research as needed, on innovation and its applications in international health and development.
· Supporting monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and tracking and communicating the iDesign Results Framework (i.e. plans for data collection, strategic approach to M&E, communications to various stakeholders regarding M&E activities, etc.).
International and domestic travel approximately 4-6 weeks per year.
TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (7%)
· Keeping abreast of literature and latest developments in the fields of innovation models and design processes that address key health and development challenges.
· Deepening knowledge of learning, capacity building, knowledge product development, and thought leadership/promotion of innovation and intrapreneurship within international health and development.
· 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 or a related social science field.
- Minimum ten (10) years’ experience with health programming with at least three (3-5) years’ experience in an international or resource challenged setting.
- Demonstrated experience with design-thinking and innovation or communication.
- Broad knowledge of innovation models and design processes that address key development challenges.
- Experience designing and leading trainings, preferably in the fields of global health and development or innovation and communications.
- Ability to facilitate dialogue, work in teams and build interactive learning (hypothesis testing, iterative flexible) environments.
- Demonstrated flexibility and adaptability.
- Strong customer service approach with a focus on needs of Agency technical staff.
- 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.
How to apply:
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 May 11th, 2017 by 5:00 pm Eastern time.
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