United States of America: Senior Research & Knowledge Management Officer
Country: United States of America
Closing date: 14 Feb 2014
Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental international humanitarian organization dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working toward the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Concern’s Innovations for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health is an initiative that field tests new ways to overcome barriers to and improve access and delivery of health services for women and children in India, Kenya, Malawi, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Concern Worldwide US, which manages the initiative, is seeking to recruit a Senior Research & Knowledge Management Officer. The position is based in New York, partly seconded to our global partner UNICEF, and will require travel to the countries of operation. More information on the Innovations initiative can be found on at http://innovationsformnch.org/.
Job Purpose
The Senior Research & Knowledge Management Officer is responsible for ensuring that knowledge and evidence are effectively gathered and disseminated between Innovations, other teams within Concern, and the wider development community. More specifically, s/he will design and lead efforts to leverage evidence, approaches, and lessons learned from the Innovations initiative in order to influence maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) policies, draw from and contribute to the global knowledge base on effective ways to foster innovative solutions to development problems, and support organizational learning within Concern Worldwide. S/he will also support research, monitoring and evaluation (RME) activities on the initiative’s nine projects. In an effort to facilitate research translation and policy influence at multiple levels, the Senior Research & Knowledge Management Officer will be seconded part of the time to the Knowledge Management and Implementation Research Unit, Health Section within UNICEF Headquarters in New York.
Reporting to Innovations’ Associate Director, Research Monitoring & Evaluation, s/he will work closely with the Associate Director Communications, Associate Director Programs, and other Innovations staff as well as staff of our research partner, JSI Research & Training Institute. His/her strategic focus will also be guided by the Chief of UNICEF’S Knowledge Management Unit.
Responsibilities
Partial Secondment to UNICEF’s Knowledge Management and Implementation Research Unit
• Actively liaise with international policy, advocacy and knowledge management experts to keep abreast of key policy debates and trends in the area of MNCH;
• Author and/or co-author research, policy and advocacy publications for national and international audiences;
• Within UNICEF, liaise with the Innovations team, the Gender Rights and Civic Engagement group, and other teams in the Health Section
• Facilitate the involvement of UNICEF country staff in local efforts to contribute to and promote the use of Innovations’ research and evidence by health policy makers and decision makers;
• Facilitate the involvement of Innovations staff in relevant activities undertaken by UNICEF both at the HQ and country levels;
• Contribute to efforts to determine scalability/scale readiness of each of the field tested innovations, and the policy requirements for bringing effective innovations to scale.
Knowledge Management Responsibilities
• Identify internal learning needs within the Innovations initiative, and develop a comprehensive learning strategy for the Innovations initiative;
• Determine key MNCH policy debates to which Innovations can contribute;
• Work closely with members of Concern’s Strategy, Advocacy and Learning (SAL) Division to ensure consistency and coherence in learning across the organization;
• Contribute to efforts to mainstream innovation processes into existing strategy and program development processes within the organization, as needed;
• Work in collaboration with other Innovations team members to represent Innovations at conferences, meetings and other fora.
RME Responsibilities
• Support the coordination of the writing of peer-reviewed journal articles based on the phase 1 and phase 2 projects;
• Author and/or co-author journal articles and abstracts for conference presentations;
• Draft and contribute to the drafting of reports, briefs, and other documents for the phase 1 and phase 2 projects;
• Contribute to the review of RME design and planning documents for the phase 2 pilots;
• Provide other RME support as requested.
Basic requirements
• At least a Masters-level degree (PhD, Dr.PH or ScD preferred) in Public Health, or a relevant discipline;
• Solid understanding of the current global MNCH policy landscape;
• Experience working on MNCH projects in Africa, or prior national-level advocacy experience in African countries;
• Excellent writing skills with a proven ability to write with clarity and succinctness, and very strong interpersonal and communications skills;
• Demonstrated track record of peer-reviewed publications and of data synthesis and packaging for a variety of audiences;
• Strong track record in fostering effective working relationships with health stakeholders at various levels;
• Strong professional networks within global knowledge management community
Desirable skills
• Past experience working for (or closely with) UN agencies, especially UNICEF
• At least six years of specialist work in the area of organizational learning and knowledge management
• Experience supporting complex, multi-country initiatives;
• Experience supporting complex, multi-country initiatives from HQ
Salary
The salary will be commensurate with experience and salary history. The position is grant-funded and is expected to end by the end of 2016.
How to apply:
Interested candidates must email a cover letter and resume to hr.innovations@concern.net , with Innovations’ Senior Research & Knowledge Management Officer in the subject line. The deadline for applications is February 14, 2014. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
Concern Worldwide US is an equal opportunity employer.
