Program Manager - Private Sector Team

Recruitment Team

Founded in 2002 by President William J. Clinton, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to strengthening integrated health systems in the developing world and expanding access to care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. CHAI's solution-oriented approach focuses on improving market dynamics for medicines and diagnostics; lowering prices for treatment; accelerating access to life-saving technologies; and helping governments and private sector healthcare organizations to build the capacity to provide high-quality treatment.

In 2007, CHAI signed an MOU with the government of Uganda to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and strengthen health systems. CHAI Uganda works with the Ministry of Health around HIV, malaria, childhood illnesses, laboratory systems and drug logistics, leading to successes including a >400% increase in access to lifesaving pediatric HIV treatment and introduction of a new severe malaria drug which will save thousands of lives annually.

For many common yet deadly diseases, the private retail sector provides the source of more than 50% of care in Uganda. However, within this sector the quality of care provision is often poor, and treatment prices can be prohibitively high. CHAI has therefore set about partnering with importers and suppliers of medicines to the private sector, as well as with the National Drug Authority responsible for the sector's regulation, to improve the private sector treatment landscape.

Position description

The Private Sector Program Manager will be responsible for all aspects of CHAI's private sector portfolio in Uganda, aiming to improve access to high-quality treatment through the private sector health system. They will lead and supervise the activities and performance of a team of 3-4 individuals, and will play a major role in the organization's management structure.

The Private Sector team aims to design and implement strategies to optimize the availability and affordability of appropriate medicines in the private sector, and the ability and knowledge of private healthcare workers to provide effective treatment on demand. This work touches on many aspects of the country's private sector pharmaceutical and healthcare provision industries, including:

• Policy and regulation: supporting the National Drug Authority to facilitate (1) registration of appropriate medicines, (2) quality assurance of products and players entering the market, and (3) capacity building and supervision structures for drug wholesale and retail outlets;
• Local drug manufacture: working with local manufacturers of high-priority medicines to reduce and streamline costs, resulting in improved end-user affordability;
• Import sourcing: working with importers to identify and secure affordable, high quality pharmaceuticals;
• Market analysis: collecting, analyzing and sharing market availability, price and volume data;

• Distribution and supply chain: working with pharmaceutical supply organizations to ensure that private sector facilities and retail outlets are well stocked with appropriate medicines;

• Sales and marketing: working with pharmaceutical companies to improve sales systems, leading to improved awareness, availability and affordability of important drugs;
• Healthcare professional capacity building: strengthening networks of private health providers, chemists and drug retailers through training programs and continuous reinforcement structures.

This team is designed to serve as a specialist cross-cutting resource to other disease- or commodity-focused teams at CHAI Uganda, with a focus on malaria and child health.

Job Requirements

• Oversee all aspects of the private sector program in Uganda, including relationship management, strategy, budgeting and implementation;
• Manage and supervise of the activities of a team of 3-4 people;
• Coordinate allocation of team resources and prioritization of team activities with the Program Managers of other CHAI Uganda teams in order to facilitate cross-team design and implementation of private sector interventions;
• Establish short- and long-term program strategy to improve private sector treatment access: identify bottlenecks, develop innovative intervention strategies, and measure performance to achieve program objectives within ambitious timeline;
• Provide direct oversight and thought leadership to regular and in-depth market analysis for multiple product categories and brands, including market sizing segmentation, trends and identification of opportunities;
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with pharmaceutical suppliers in order to facilitate strategic alignment and partnership;
• Work with national pharmaceutical suppliers in order to improve their operations by increasing sales of high-priority product and/or decreasing costs; and ensure that gains in profitability secured re translated into patient-level health impact through reduced pricing or other means;
• Work with the National Drug Authority to develop and streamline internal capacity to conduct operations including drug registration, inspection and information dissemination;
• Identify and pursue new areas of work and partnerships that will have dramatic and leveraged impact on health outcomes;
• As required, contribute to reports for other CHAI programmatic teams and donors;
• Maintain a thorough understanding of the private sector pharmaceutical market in Uganda, and the overall health system throughout the country;
• Other responsibilities, as needed.

Qualifications and experience

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in a rigorous private or public position, with increasing levels of responsibility and leadership;
• Exceptional communication and relationship management skills with ability to clearly communicate complex ideas;
• Comfort and flexibility to work independently with a diverse set of counterparts (Experience in a consultative capacity, especially in a multicultural setting, is an added advantage);
• Ability to develop and execute a coherent programmatic strategy, amidst substantial ambiguity and changing circumstances;
• Ability to manage, develop and motivate staff and lead as a team player, mentor, manager, and role model, demanding top performance from oneself and the entire team;
• Ability to navigate complex stakeholder relationships and favourably influence decision-making in a professional and collaborative manner;
• A strong passion for producing results and a personal commitment to excellence.
• Strong quantitative skills, including fluency in Excel (market analysis experience is an added advantage);
• Ability to create compelling, logical presentations and reports, using PowerPoint, Word and other media;
• Relevant personal qualities including resourcefulness, entrepreneurialism, flexibility, independence, humility, and work ethic.

Advantages

• Master's Degree in business administration, logistics or a related field;
• Experience in a rigorous private sector environment such as strategy consulting or finance;
• Experience in pharmaceutical industry sales, marketing and/or distribution (consumer goods sales, marketing and/or distribution also a plus);
• Experience working in developing countries.

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