Director, Children Without Worms (CWW)

Closing date: 03 Jun 2011
Location: United States of America (the) - Africa, Asia, Latin America

POSITION DESCRIPTION:
The Director is responsible for the overall success of the Children Without Worms (CWW) program by providing leadership, technical expertise, and oversight in the areas of strategic program development, financial management, and collaboration with external partners such as the World Health Organization (WHO), NGOs and other organizations involved in the control of Soil-Transmitted Helminthes (STH) infections in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. CWW, an international nongovernmental program, oversees the donation of mebendazole from Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and albendazole from GlaxoS-mithKline (GSK). This position reports to the President of the Task Force for Global Health with dotted line reporting to J&J and GSK, program partners. This position is located at the Task Force for Global Health in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

BACKGROUND:
Founded in 2006 as a partnership program between Johnson & Johnson and The Task Force for Global Health, CWW supports global efforts to reduce the burden of STH infections in children who are most severely infected or at high-risk of infection and have limited access to safe and effective treatment. CWW is currently undergoing significant growth in the donation of mebendazole with J&J progressively increasing its annual donation from 40 million in 2010 to an annual donation of 200 million doses. It is also expected that CWW will play a role in decision-making for the GSK donation of albendazole to treat STH in children, a donation that will reach 400 million doses a year. These donations will involve a corresponding increase in the number of countries engaged in treating STH with the donated medicines. As a result of these changes in its scope and complexity, the program is being restructured.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:
 Leadership
As the principal Task Force representative for CWW, the Director works with the Task Force President and participates fully, and as an equal partner, with J&J and GSK in the design, im-plementation, evaluation and expansion of CWW. He or she:
• Advises J&J and GSK on strategic, operational, technical and medical aspects of the dona-tion of mebendazole and albendazole for the treatment of children at risk of STH infections.
• Develops overall strategy for CWW which includes ensuring the safe and effective distribu-tion of mebendazole and albendazole as well as other factors (including the promotion and inclusion of health behavior change, and in certain situations, improvements in sanitation services in programs receiving a donation of mebendazole and albendazole) in order to en-sure comprehensive and sustainable control of STH infections.
• Works closely with WHO and with other stakeholders around the world involved in global deworming efforts to help develop and implement the global strategy for STH control.
• Develops and implements the strategic plan for CWW in collaboration with J&J and GSK.
• Performs senior technical and programmatic liaison role between the CWW and its advisory committee, the Mebendazole Advisory Committee (MAC), which advises J&J and GSK and CWW on strategies and polices for the donation program.
• Builds collaborative relationships with key stakeholders, namely WHO, governments of STH-endemic countries, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program (WFP), bilateral agencies, foundations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other programs and stakeholders implementing STH control activities, to ensure successful im-plementation of sustainable STH control programs in countries receiving donations of me-bendazole and albendazole.
• Develops strategies that allow CWW to collaborate with other NTD control programs (e.g., MDP, GAELF, ITI, SCI, etc.) to maximize the impact of deworming and prevention.
• Directs and develops the staff of CWW to achieve and exceed the goals of the drug dona-tion and STH control program.
• Represents CWW and the Task Force at national and international meetings and confe-rences related to the control of STH infections and other neglected tropical diseases as a presenter, facilitator, or participant.
• Represents the CWW perspectives on STH control strategy in global NTD forums.

 Advocacy and Communication
• Conducts advocacy and fundraising at the international, regional and national levels to en-sure that adequate resources are available to countries receiving a donation of mebenda-zole and albendazole for the implementation of STH control programs.
• Assists governments and NGOs in countries receiving donations of mebendazole and al-bendazole with the development of comprehensive and sustainable STH control programs through means that may include technical and financial support, partnership-building, ad-vocacy, and fundraising.
• Develops and implements communications and public relations plan to promote CWW and its strategies.

 Program Management
• Develops and implements strategies that advance how CWW attracts, develops, manages, and retains a diverse workforce capable of meeting the evolving needs of the program.
• Provides insight, innovation, oversight and accountability in carrying out CWW’s overall pro-gram coordination such as review and approval of donation requests, monitoring and evalu-ation, communication and public relations, timely reporting, and problem resolution.
• Develops the content for MAC meetings and other technical advisory groups including the development of the agenda, ensuring that the necessary scientific background documents are appropriate and prepared in advance, identifying and inviting additional technical re-source persons to the meeting as necessary.
• Designs and implements operational and technical research studies in collaboration with the MAC and technical experts to ensure that questions that are crucial to CWW’s success are appropriately answered with scientific rigor.
• Develops and negotiates program budget with J&J, GSK, and the Task Force leadership.
• Oversees financial management of program budget.
• Meets regularly with J&J, GSK, and the Task Force President, and keeps the President and Executive Vice-President of the Task Force apprised of program progress and critical issues.

 Travel
25-40% travel (both domestic and international) required.

 Other Responsibilities
The Director will participate in the ongoing Task Force meetings and initiatives, including but not limited to annual planning and budgeting, fundraising, the Executive Committee for Business Management and such other duties as assigned by the President.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
• MD or PhD with background in preventive medicine or related field.
• 5 years experience in strategic planning, program development, program management, advocacy and fundraising for international health programs at the senior level.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively develop global health disease control strategies and facilitate successful implementation.
• Proven management and organizational skills, including experience in leading, building, and successfully managing a team.
• Direct experience working with infectious disease control programs in Africa, Asia, or Latin America.
• Experience working with governments of developing countries.
• Experience working with NGOs and UN agencies such as WHO, WFP, and UNICEF or developmental agencies such as USAID, DFID, CIDA.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Excellent written and verbal English skills.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Direct experience working in the control of STH infections in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
• Proficiency in French and Spanish.

How to apply

All qualified candidates must apply through the Emory University career website
www.emory.jobs REQ# 21296BR or by sending resumes to Keisa Allen kallen8@emory.edu.