Regional Technical Manager (RTM)

 PEPFAR HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment Program (Central America)

Location: Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Guatemala City, Guatemala; or alternate location in Central America

Reports to:  Regional Program Director/Coordinator (RPD)

Please Note: This position is contingent upon award and CDC approval with an anticipated start date of June 2025.

Overview:

Global Communities works at the intersection of humanitarian assistance, sustainable development and financial inclusion to save lives, advance equity and secure strong futures. We support communities at the forefront of their own development in more than 35 countries, partnering with local leaders, governments, civil society and the private sector to achieve a shared vision of a more just, prosperous and equitable global community. We work with government, non-government, private sector and community stakeholders to promote transparency, foster accountability and access the channels they need to make their voices heard, promote change and realize their full potential.  

Global Communities is seeking a Regional Technical Manager (RTM) for the anticipated CDC PEPFAR HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment Program in Central America. This five-year, $100M program will enhance the capacity of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama to address gaps in HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment and accelerate progress towards achieving the 10-10-10 prevention objectives and 95-95-95 care targets. The program is expected to provide technical assistance to ministries of health (MoH) and other relevant stakeholders to prevent new infections; increase knowledge of HIV status and early diagnosis; improve treatment outcomes among people living with HIV (PLHIV) and enhance skills of healthcare workers involved in HIV prevention, testing and treatment services.

The RTM will lead and oversee the design and implementation of all activities for the program, spanning the prevention, testing, care, and treatment continuum of care. We are looking for passionate, dedicated professionals to help us build the world we envision: one of expanded opportunity, where crises give way to resilience and all people thrive.

Responsibilities:

Reporting to the RPD, the RTM will be responsible for the development and implementation of all prevention, testing, care and treatment activities. They will oversee a team of regional technical advisors, focusing on these subject areas, service quality improvement and laboratory sciences. Activities will include the introduction and institutionalization of differentiated service delivery models, training and mentorship of frontline health workers, and other key approaches. The high-level responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Lead technical approaches for scale up of comprehensive HIV testing and prevention services to ensure increased access to HIV testing and yield among key populations and index case partners, improved public health response to active transmission clusters and consistently high (>95%) linkage to treatment. Approaches will leverage the HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection Sentinel Surveillance and Control of STIs Strategy (VICITS/CLAM).
• Lead the development and implementation of bespoke testing and prevention methods, including but not limited to index testing, differentiated service modalities at key population testing facilities, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PreP) provision, rapid recency testing and response to clusters of recent transmission. Activities will include diagnosis and treatment of STIs, distribution of condoms and lubricants and implementation of a surveillance information system.
• Ensure that programming links at risk but HIV-negative populations to prevention services.
• Increase knowledge of HIV status and early diagnosis by improving access to HIV testing through case-finding strategies, including testing as part of outreach for key populations, provider-initiated testing, community testing, social network strategy and self-testing.
• Lead technical approaches for scale up of comprehensive HIV treatment services to improve access to viral load monitoring/suppression on the part of PLHIV.
• Lead the development and implementation of bespoke treatment methods, including but not limited to care registries, early treatment initiation, differentiated service delivery models, opportunistic infection diagnosis and treatment, lost-to follow-up reengagement, quality assurance in viral load networks and management of advanced HIV disease and drug resistance monitoring.
• Foster an enabling environment for provision of services to mitigate the risk of human rights issues, stigma, discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence.
• As required, coordinate with the CDC to fulfil their customized program of assistance to each country, including: primary prevention of HIV infection through expanded confidential counseling and testing programs linked with behavioral change; strengthening the capacity of countries to collect and use surveillance data and manage national HIV/AIDS programs; strengthening laboratory processes and outputs; developing and/or evaluating public health programs to inform, improve and target interventions related to the prevention of HIV/AIDS, TB and opportunistic infections; enhancing the care and treatment of opportunistic infections; strengthening interventions for intercurrent diseases impacting HIV infected patients and initiating programs to provide anti-retroviral therapy (ART);
• Ensure integration of biomedical HIV prevention services such as anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and PrEP into routine health services.
• Develop sustainable activities by working with community-based organizations on program design, planning and management, implementation, coordination, communication and reporting.
• Foster an enabling environment by supporting program efforts to integrate testing, prevention, care and treatment protocols into national guidelines and systems, supporting, as required, MoHs and other above-site stakeholders to achieve this goal.
• Improve surveillance and monitoring programs, through available information systems, to support new infection mitigation.
• Support efforts to prevent, detect, respond and treat infectious and non-infectious diseases that impact HIV and populations affected by HIV.
• Oversee training, mentorship, and support of front-line providers to ensure delivery of high quality, patient-centered HIV prevention, testing, care, and treatment services based on the most current guidelines.
• Work with the monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) team to ensure activities achieve intended results. Refine activities in response to MEL data to ensure activities are effective and efficient uses of program resources.
• Facilitate seamless management and implementation of comprehensive HIV prevention and testing services across all relevant partners and guide development of work plans, MEL Plans, and quality assurance plans.
• Strengthen and leverage multilateral organizations, global health partnerships and private sector partnerships and encourage country ownership and country-led plans to ensure program outcome sustainability.
• Coordinate with other implementing partners, CDC, MoH, civil society organizations, municipal governments and other national and international stakeholders.
• Lead HIV prevention, testing and treatment related training and capacity building for staff, partners, healthcare providers, and relevant stakeholders.

• Support and supervise the Regional Technical Advisors, clarifying, communicating and monitoring their performance standards and expectations.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree or higher (or significant practical experience) in Public Health or a related field, with specific emphasis on community-level health promotion and/or education.
• Minimum of eight (8) years of professional experience, with five (5) years of experience in designing and implementing large-scale, US government funded HIV prevention, testing and treatment programs for key and priority populations in a similar context. This experience must include site-level activities, including activities at MoH treatment sites.[RD1]
• Substantial experience in Central America is required.
• Experience in a leadership/management role for a program of similar size and complexity, including experience with direct supervision of professional staff is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of evidence-based and combination HIV prevention and treatment interventions for key and/or priority populations and approaches to addressing gender issues related to HIV treatment is required.
• Prior experience in building capacity for staff, partners, healthcare providers, and relevant stakeholders in improving health is required.
• Knowledge/experience with CDC rules and regulations and experience managing CDC contracts is preferred.
• Management/supervisory experience is required.
• Demonstrated experience working with community-based organizations comprised of and targeting key populations and PLHIV is required.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and sustain professional relationships and to work collaboratively with host country government counterparts and program stakeholders is preferred.
• Excellent communications skills, both written and verbal, with full fluency in Spanish is required.
• Proficiency in English is preferred.

Global Communities welcomes and seeks applications from all sectors of society.  We are committed to a work environment that respects the dignity and worth of all people and offers equal opportunities.  All qualified applicants will be considered for employment.

Global Communities maintains strict safeguarding principles and has a zero tolerance policy for sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment behaviour. In the recruitment, selection and appointment process, Global Communities will carry out robust reference and background checks, including international screening as a signatory to the Global Misconduct Disclosure Scheme to ensure the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults, as well as the prevention of abuses.  The incumbent must perform his or her duties in accordance with Global Communities' safeguarding policy and standards of conduct.

• If you are interested, send your resume to the email [email protected] with the following nomenclature CV - Regional Technical Manager (RTM)

INTERNAL NOTE SECTION:

Candidates from Central America are encouraged to apply. 

 [RD1]Comparing this to the RPD, 8 years of overall experience makes sense. I am just flagging that we may need to adjust the RPTL/RCTL since they will report into this role. We're figuring out the leveling as we go, which is fine, but I just want to keep an eye on those comparisons, especially because it affects compensation.