Country Lead

Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa Programme 2 – Country Lead, DRC

About Palladium:
Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable,  and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world.  We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions,  races, languages, and gender identities.

This Opportunity:
The TDDAP2 (Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa Programme Phase 2), funded by the UK Foreign,  Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), will enhance health security across Africa. The programme will  contribute to the reduction of illness and death from infectious disease threats in African populations and globally,  with a particular focus on women and girls. Building on the COVID-19 pandemic and previous outbreak responses,  it establishes partnerships between African, UK, and global public health institutions, such as Africa CDC and  WHO-AFRO. TDDAP2 provides technical assistance to national governments and regional bodies and includes an  Africa Rapid Response to Outbreaks (ARRO) Fund to facilitate swift responses to disease outbreaks across SubSaharan Africa.

TDDAP2 is structured around four components. This contract will focus solely on Component 1 below.

1. Component 1: National and Community Technical Assistance (this programme): Provides long-term  technical assistance to DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda to strengthen the implementation of the  International Health Regulations (IHR). It supports national priorities through the delivery of National  Action Plans for Public Health (NAPHS), One Health and All Hazard Plans, and pilot innovative  approaches to public health security.

2. Component 2: Regional Technical Assistance: Supports African regional institutions, networks, and  initiatives with a health security mandate by providing technical assistance, facilitating peer-to-peer learning partnerships, and offering discreet financial support.

3. Component 3: ARRO Fund: Provides early and rapid funding for outbreak responses and supports coordination across the UK government for effective deployment of expertise, logistics, and monitoring.

4. Component 4: Monitoring and Evaluation: An independent third-party monitoring, evaluation, and lessonlearning function to ensure adaptability and improvement throughout the programme lifecycle.

Location: This position is based in Kinshasa, DRC.

You and Your Career:
If you are a problem-solver, collaborator, and doer, and you have in-depth knowledge of the African health security architecture and expertise in health systems strengthening, global health security, and infectious disease, we are  interested in hearing from you.
We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start. We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career!

Reporting Lines:
This position will report to the Team Leader.

Primary Roles and Responsibilities:
• Spearhead technical leadership as key country representative 
• Ensure attainment of programme outputs and progress towards achieving programme outcomes and impact 
• Ensure targets are met and associated deliverables are produced on time and of high quality 
• Establish a one team approach built on positive collaboration across other country teams and the wider consortium 
• Act as lead point of contact on all country technical programme delivery aspects – from design and  implementation to close out and evaluation 
• Represent and act as an ambassador for TDDAP2 and Palladium both internally and externally at relevant  meetings, events and workshops and actively seek opportunities for collaboration 
• Lead on strengthening of International Health Regulations (IHR) capacity in country and driving national ownership and leadership of health responses 
• Provide technical guidance on strengthening institutions to build national capacity in global health security
• Engage with CSOs to identify and monitor disease risk, focusing on surveillance and misinformation
• Drive and instill a One Health approach across the programme’s technical interventions
• Lead the development and quality assurance of all country programme workplans, reports and reviews
• Coordinate with relevant stakeholders at national and community levels, facilitating cross-country collaboration and sharing of best practices 

Key Competencies Required:
• Demonstrated technical expertise in health systems strengthening, health security, One Health, infectious diseases, amongst others.
• Strong expertise in global health security eg: experience in epidemic response and preparedness in an  emergency operations centre, or having participated in Joint External Evaluations or After-Action Review exercises.
• In-depth knowledge of the African and specifically DRC health security architecture.
• Experience in coordinating and collaborating with diverse set of stakeholders across Africa and UK health  space, at national and community level.
• Deep knowledge of health systems at regional, national and community level.
• Experience working on other donor funded programmes, preferably with FCDO.
• Strong organisational and leadership skills and strategic thinking capacity.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred:
• Previous experience working with African regional and national health institutions e.g. Africa CDC
• Previous experience in epidemic response and preparedness (e.g. in emergency operation centers – EOCs,  or conducting or participating in JEEs or after-action review exercises) 
• Have worked with or within multilateral organization's (WHO, World Bank, AfCDC) 

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation,  creativity, success, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background 
or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss. 

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process