Director, Tobacco Control, Africa Region Tempo Inteiro

The Vital Strategies is seeking a Director, Tobacco Control, Africa Region.

Vital Strategies is a global public health organization. Our programs strengthen public health systems and address the world’s leading causes of illness, injury and death. We currently work in more than 80 countries, supporting data-driven decision-making in government, advancing evidence-based public health policies, and mounting strategic communication campaigns. Vital Strategies’ priorities are driven by the greatest potential to improve and save lives. They include noncommunicable disease prevention, tobacco control, road safety, food policy, overdose prevention, environmental health, and data for health. Our programs are primarily concentrated in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific; the Overdose Prevention Program is our first initiative in the U.S. Please visit our website at www.vitalstrategies.org to find out more about our work.

Vital Strategies believes our programs are strengthened when they are developed and supported by individuals with diverse life experiences, whose understanding of social and cultural issues can help make our work and workforce more inclusive. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or creed, gender, national origin, ancestry, actual or perceived age, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, marital status, sexual orientation or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws.

About the Role

Vital Strategies is seeking a Director, Tobacco Control, Africa Region to join our team and play a critical role in advancing our global public health mission. Reporting to the Senior Vice President, Tobacco Control, this individual will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience of government relations, policy making and public health relations in Africa. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in Tobacco Control and NCD’s and experience of working in Africa.

The role will have a particular focus on the recently launched Tobacco Control Accelerator (TCA) Fund which aims to help advance global tobacco control progress in several low- and middle- income countries. Under this fund Vital Strategies is providing grants and technical support to governments and non-governmental organizations in countries without any best-practice tobacco control measures in place or countries close to implementing all best-practice measures. The TCA Fund has an annual multimillion budget and will partner with governments and organizations in 13 countries.

This is a full-time role, and can be based in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa or the US. Vital Strategies offers highly competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits. Salary ranges will be based on local market. The candidate must have authorization to work legally in the advertised locations at the time of hire.

Job Purpose

The Director, Africa Region, reporting to the SVP, Tobacco Control, provides overall leadership and management of the Tobacco Control Division’s work in Africa, leading on the development, implementation and reporting for programs and initiatives in the region. With a primary focus on the Accelerator Fund , the Director will coordinate closely with the VP, Tobacco Control on overseeing the successful management, administration and financial monitoring of the grants portfolio in Africa.

The Director manages four Senior Technical Advisors and five independent contractors in the Africa region.

Duties and Responsibilities

Government Relations and Technical Assistance

• Establish and maintain close, effective and strong working relationships with government representatives, civil society, academia and international agencies in the region to advance tobacco control policies and priorities.
• Build Vital Strategies’ portfolio of assigned countries in the region for advocacy and partnership development.
• Guide and support the regional team in developing and maintaining key partnerships and networks to support tobacco control priorities.
• Provide strategic and technical guidance to governments and NGOs in assigned countries together with the team.
• Ensure that best practices and learnings are incorporated into strategies and interventions at the country and regional level.
• Support the team to build the technical capacity of stakeholders in tobacco control in assigned countries and the region.

Leadership and Strategy

• Maintain a strategic overview of the issues relating to tobacco control and public health in Africa and assigned countries through government policies and initiatives, impact assessments and monitoring trends in the external environment.
• Ensure alignment of tobacco control programs with Vital Strategies’ overall advocacy agenda, government policies, as well as socio-economic and public health scenario in the country and the region.
• Advise on country and regional strategies and grants to expose and counter tobacco industry interference.
• Lead the development of the strategy, budgets and annual plans for the region.

Tobacco Control Accelerator Fund Implementation

• Provide overall leadership and management of the TCA Fund in Africa and ensure timely implementation and effective operations.
• Lead the team in the decision-making process for tobacco control grant applications working collaboratively with the Vice President, Tobacco Control.
• Review grant applications and attend grant negotiations and monitoring visits as necessary.
• Collaborate with Tobacco Control Division’s Grants Program to establish and execute the TCA grants fund in Africa:
• Manage the identification of 10-15 sub-grantees per year.
• Provide and coordinate technical support to active TCA sub-grantees.

Team Management 

• Lead, supervise and mentor the regional team to implement strategies and workplans and monitor progress against them.
• Manage assigned staff in Africa and oversee the deliverables of country-based consultants to ensure high performance and professional growth.
• Coordinate and supervise day to day activities across team members and foster inter-team coordination and collaboration.
• Manage budgets and complete regular reporting.
• Lead recruitment for the regional team as needed.

Relationship Building and Communication  

Foster collaborations between the Tobacco Control Division with key stakeholders and Bloomberg Initiative partners to design and execute activities to advance tobacco control measures at country level:

• Collaborate with partners to establish collective strategies, set priorities and execute agreed upon activities.
• Liaise with the Policy, Advocacy and Communication (PAC) Division on promoting the advancement of tobacco control measures.
• Represent Vital Strategies’ Tobacco Control Division on conference calls and at meetings with partners.
• Facilitate the communication and timely sharing of information between the SVP of Tobacco Control Division, country teams, and partners.

Other Duties 

• Contribute to divisional strategic planning, proposal development, and other organizational initiatives as required.

Qualifications

Education and Degree

• Master’s degree or above.

Skills and Abilities

• Strong understanding of public health and related policy interventions, government relations, and policymaking
• Ability to build strong, ongoing, impactful relationships across sectors and organizational levels that involve a diverse range of cultural, generational, ethnic, racial, educational, and social backgrounds
• Comprehensive management skills, with the ability to make sound, informed judgements
• Demonstrated leadership and people management experience
• Strong interpersonal skills, with demonstrated ability to develop and maintain collaborative relationships with internal and external partners
• Demonstrated capacity to think strategically, to lead and work within diverse teams, to work in multi-cultural settings and with a high degree of independence.
• Commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.

Language Requirements

• Expert command of both written and spoken English.
• Fluency in written and spoken French is strongly preferred.
• Fluency in written and spoken Portuguese would be an advantage.

Experience

Required

• A minimum of 15 years of progressive professional experience.
• A minimum of 10 years of demonstrated experience in Tobacco Control or NCD’s.
• Demonstrated experience working in Africa.
• Prior high-level engagement with government sector, specifically Ministries of Health preferably in Africa.
• Experienced in strategy creation and execution.

Preferred

• Global public health non-profit experience preferred.
• Experience setting-up and scaling programs in Africa.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements:

• Ability to travel 20% with a higher percentage expected in the first year.