Date of Issue:19^th February  2010

Re-Advertisement     Closing Date: 26^th February  2010

Vacancy Number     :    FHI/VA/01/10

Post Title                   :   Technical Officer -Research, PROGRESS

Organization           :     Family Health International (FHI)  

Location                 :     India, New Delhi

Contract Duration    :   One Year (Renewable)

FAMILY  HEALTH INTERNATIONAL :

Family Health International (FHI) is dedicated to improving lives, knowledge, and understanding worldwide through a highly diversified program of research, education, and services in family health and HIV/AIDS prevention and care. 

BACKGROUND:

PROGRESS (Program Research for Strengthening Services) is a new five year project to improve family planning in developing countries. It provides global technical leadership with concentrated activities in selected countries. PROGRESS seeks to improve access to quality family planning services with an emphasis on reaching underserved populations. PROGRESS will achieve this by expanding service delivery options to include integration with other reproductive health services and use of non-health sector outlets. In addition PROGRESS will seek to address medical barriers that limit access to quality family planning services and also promote task shifting as a means for relieving overworked highly trained medical personnel of tasks that can be performed by personnel with appropriate but less training. For this to be achieved   PROGRESS will foster and strengthen synergies between its global technical leadership and focus country activities. Activities will include reducing unnecessary medical and policy restrictions, promoting innovative delivery approaches for hard-to-reach groups, identifying new programmatic research areas to generate quality evidence for program innovations, to strengthen use of proven/promising interventions and to improve access and use  of appropriate and cost effective contraceptive methods and technologies. All activities will also seek to build the capacity of researchers and of program managers to apply new knowledge.

PROGRESS will concentrate in focus countries and will respond to requests from other country missions for technical assistance to introduce, adapt, and scale up best practices. This work will contribute to global technical leadership (GTL). USAID/India Mission has approved India as a focus country for PROGRESS.

In this role, the Technical Officer (Research) will provide substantial research management, analysis, documentation and also program assistance to the PROGRESS team.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

·        Manage partner relationships at the field level and monitor process.

·        Participate in monitoring of field data collection and data tabulation.

·        Conduct basic planning for research with guidance from the Research Director

·        Perform quantitative and qualitative data analysis for assigned projects.

·        Discuss findings with team members to evaluate validity of findings.

·        Prepare reports for presentation to partners or for further research activities and intervention design.

·        Work on process documentation, literature review and compile a resource-bank of background and support materials for relevant project implementation.

·        With the goal of documenting and/or promoting research, gather, analyze, and synthesize information from multiple sources to write or help write materials such as synthesis documents, strategies, concept papers, reports, workplans, and other documents.Contribute to the writing and editing of reports, professional papers, publications and presentations.

·        Assist in building and maintaining links with partners and stakeholders and supports efforts to implement core and field support funded research activities.

·        Answer questions on research design from partners and justify research methodology as needed. Present the findings persuasively to various audiences.

·        Develop and review contractual documents including scope of work, sub-agreements, task orders, contracts and other mechanisms in accordance with FHI guidelines and processes.

·        Develop monthly, quarterly progress reports; contribute to semi annual reports and others as requested in timely fashion.

·        Contribute to the development and review of work plans and budgets.

·        Performs other duties as assigned by Research Director.

REQUIRED SKILLS:

·        Post-graduate degree in social sciences, demography or related discipline.

·        5-8 years of work experience with at least three years in family planning and/ or health-related research.

·        Knowledge of family planning/reproductive health issues and programs in India.

·        Knowledge and experience in conducting /managing qualitative or quantitative research in public health

·        Experience writing high-quality reports and research syntheses.

·        Demonstrated ability to gather (via interviews and library/Internet research) information related to health, science, or medicine as a basis for writing high-quality, accurate publications.

·        Strong demonstrated quantitative analysis, ability to manage data, field supervision, partner management, writing skills required for reports and basic analysis, presentation skills to be able to effectively present findings to team members and project director.

·        Proficiency in MS-Windows, PowerPoint, Excel, and Internet applications. Familiarity with use of statistical packages like SPSS, STATA and Atlas Ti.

·        Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in English, both in writing and verbally. Must have excellent grammar and spelling abilities so that prose is understandable to various audiences, including Web users, medical personnel, program staff, partners, and the public in the U.S. and in developing countries. Writing samples must be submitted with resume (Please send word Documents).

·        Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team to advance the interest of public health programs working in India.

·        Excellent interpersonal skills and experience establishing and maintaining good relationships with a wide variety of professionals and organizations.

·        Ability to evaluate relevance of data or information, as well as work with staff to resolve differences in interpretation of information.

·        Excellent organizational and analytical skills, with special attention to detail.

·        Program management experience also desirable

·        Ability to work on multiple projects at the same time, with minimal supervision and under pressure of tight deadlines.

·        Must be willing to undertake field visits and travel.

·        Fluent in Hindi. 

·        Ability to take initiative, work independently and as part of a team.

COMPENSATION:

·        Compensation levels at FHI are equivalent to market rates within the development sector. However, offers shall be based on salary history, relevant experience and qualifications.

 Please send your resumes to hr@fhiindia.org. It is necessary to mention the post title in subject line while applying. Selected candidates will be required to join within one month of selection. Only short listed candidates will be notified.