Manager, Global Programs, Regional Implementation, Central, Southern, Eastern and Western Africa

Job Summary:

Over the past four decades, Operation Smile (OSI) has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children across the globe by providing safe high-quality cleft lip and palate surgery. A unique career opportunity exists within the Department of Global Programs to build on Operations Smile’s legacy and advance Operation Smile’s vision of global surgical equity; that every child in the world can access high-quality cleft and essential surgical care close to home.

The Mission of the Department of Global Programs (GP) is to invest in the power of low- and middle-income health professionals through education to deliver high-quality cleft and essential pediatric surgical care in their local communities by providing educational opportunity.

The Global Programs Manager for Central, Southern, Eastern and Western Africa will play a pivotal role in shaping Operation Smile’s educational investments in the healthcare workforce in the region. They will inform, adapt and implement educational products, programs, and initiatives offered by Operation Smile’s GP technical teams to advance the capacity and capability of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, biomedical engineers, and comprehensive service providers including nutrition, speech, and psychosocial providers. The GP Manager for Central, Southern, Eastern and Western Africa establishes, develops, and maintains key partnerships with professional, educational, and non-profit organizations in the region to uplift and advance the delivery of high-quality cleft and essential pediatric surgical care. They will serve in-country Operation Smile teams to assess the educational needs, plan educational programming, and measure and evaluate the impact of educational investments.

Operation Smile acknowledges that while talent is universal, educational opportunity is not always equitable. The Manager, GP, Sub-Saharan Africa will be central in adapting Operation Smile’s high-caliber educational offerings to the specific needs, strengths, and opportunities of local healthcare delivery environments in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and Rwanda to deliver safe high-quality clef and essential surgical care closer to more children’s homes across the globe. The country portfolio may be subject to change depending on country needs but will continue to be based in the region.

Responsibilities:

Implementation of Educational Products, Programs, Initiatives and Investments

• Work closely with GP technical teams to understand the educational offerings available to low- and middle-income countries.
• Serve as a critical liaison between GP technical teams and in-country teams to understand, adapt, and adopt educational offerings to best serve the needs of each locality.
• Collaborate with regional and country leadership to develop multiple year GP strategy and plans that leverage local strengths and opportunities to create the greatest impact for the local healthcare workforce.
• Coordinate, monitor, and evaluate the implementation of GP offerings and overall strategy.
• Identify and prioritize unmet medical educational needs and help pilot interventions.
• Plan local, regional, and international conferences in line with education initiatives.
• Supervise in-country Education Coordinators and provide support where necessary.

Organize, facilitate, implement and track each countries implementation of the Place - Person - Pathway framework:

• Specifically working in tandem with country teams to identify complete cleft care teams in prioritized hubs and spokes and ensure access and integrity of the upskilling of the identified professionals along the cleft competency pathway (specific to specialty).
• Assess and the opportunity to train on Operation Smile surgical education programs until they reach cleft competency.

Collaborate with OSI’s Global Volunteer Management Department, Operations Department and in-country Volunteer Service Coordinators to:

• Recruit volunteers with educational experience.
• Highlight regional volunteers for education and training opportunities.
• Establish long-term volunteer engagement opportunities.
• Ensure optimal utilization of volunteers in education initiatives.

Meetings:

• Attend GP meetings virtually or in person as prescribed by Director of Regional Implementation.
• Attend Regional meetings as prescribed by the Regional Directors.
• Prioritize and advocate for strategic educational investments in the local healthcare workforce.
• Report on implementation and impact of regional educational activities/investments.

Regional Relationships

• Develop and maintain partnerships with professional, academic, and related non-governmental organizations, national accrediting bodies, local ministries of health, and hospital partnerships.
• Facilitate international, regional, and local educational exchanges.

Outcomes, Monitoring, and Evaluation

• Ensure that prescribed monitoring and evaluation processes for education and training programs are adhered to including e-ttendance utilization, reporting and Quarterly Business Report compilation of data
• Participate in continuous quality improvement of GP offerings based on outcomes and impact.

Finance and Budgeting

• Support the annual budget and activity planning of countries in the region and advise and advocate for educational programming as appropriate.
• Support financial and budgeting processes of various initiatives and partnerships as required.
• Ensure financial reporting is monitored and reported on according to planned activities.
• Submit payments to vendors or fill financial reporting as needed.

Requirements

Work experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in any field, further education such as a Master’s degree would be advantageous.
• At least 5 years of Program Management experience in educational and/or health fields.
• National and/or international program management experience advantageous.
• Experience managing key partnerships and stakeholder relationships essential.
• Experience working in low- and middle-income/ resource-limited settings.
• Global Health Systems knowledge and natural curiosity or training in Continuous Process Improvement.
• Passion for improving health equity.

Skills

• Fluency in English
• Strong project management and implementation skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills.
• Able to identify and coordinate educational needs among a wide variety of healthcare professionals and settings.
• Flexible team player who sees the best in others and approaches challenges with a positive, continuous improvement-focused and solution-oriented outlook
• Able to work in diverse cultural contexts and see and bring out the best in others.

Other

• Willing to travel regionally (up to 50% of time)
• Willing to work in an innovative environment.
• Willing to lead with authenticity.

Core Competencies Needed:

Project Management - The ability to plan, organize, execute, and oversee projects from inception to completion. Defining project goals, creating detailed plans, managing resources, budgets, and timelines, and ensuring that tasks are completed to meet objectives and deliverables.

Collaboration - The ability to successfully build & maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively together as a team through shared responsibility, respect, & empathy to complete a shared goal for a common good.

Relationship Management - Developing and nurturing positive, long-term relationships with key stakeholders by understanding their needs, providing excellent service, building trust, and consistently delivering value.

Decision Making - Demonstrates sound judgment by analyzing information, evaluating alternatives, and anticipating consequences before making timely and well-informed decisions. Balances data, intuition, and stakeholder perspectives to choose actions that align with organizational goals. Takes accountability for outcomes and adapts decisions as new information becomes available.

Resilience - Demonstrates perseverance, mental toughness, and the capacity to remain focused and productive even in difficult situations. Exhibits a positive attitude, problem-solving skills, and the ability to learn and grow from experiences; using setbacks as opportunities for personal or professional development.