CLINICAL LABORATORY MENTOR: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
Position Status: Accepting Resumes
Position Description: The Organization’s Laboratory Mentor reports to the Organization’s Country Director. Under the guidance of the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute, the national reference laboratory of Ethiopia, the Mentor will work to build and fortify laboratory systems. The Mentor will work closely with the regional laboratories to improve operational efficiency and service quality such that the Ministry of Health’s mission to strengthen laboratory systems may be realized. The Mentor will be responsible for providing strategic and technical support as well as managerial guidance to the Ethiopian public health laboratory network at the regional level as assigned. The Mentor will also help to strengthen relationships between the regional labs and relevant health facilities within the national network to build laboratory systems as a whole. In doing so, the laboratory mentor will also work with other organizations to develop other organization’s own capacity to provide sustainable mentorship and capacity building to regional laboratories, as envisioned by Ethiopia’s Master Plan for Laboratory Services. In light of the various laboratory-dependent public health programs scaling up nationwide, the Mentor will play a crucial role in assisting the regional laboratories to successfully fulfill their growing responsibilities.
Description of Responsibilities:
- Lend support and expertise for improving regional laboratory operations on a strategic level, particularly with respect to laboratory management: The Laboratory Mentor will play an active role in assessing, planning, developing, organizing, implementing, and evaluating the regional laboratory’s operations and performance. In addition, the Laboratory Mentor will provide guidance in the establishment of the regional laboratory’s operational standards for quality assurance, testing systems, safety, and timely service delivery
- Provide feedback on the flow of day-to-day operations and supply innovative solutions to remove impediments to efficient work processes (problematic areas may include human resources, infrastructure, equipment maintenance, training, resource limitations, administration, communications or a combination thereof)
- Impart regional laboratories with direct assistance in strengthening laboratory systems by helping to develop strong working relationships with interfacing institutions. These institutions include EHNRI, health centers, hospitals, NGO clinics, regional health bureaus, and other referral testing sites. Specific areas of development include, but are not limited to building effective lines of communication, fostering the growth of sample transport networks, and engaging in collaborative work processes
- Play a key role in capacity building of regional laboratories by providing trainings in management, supply forecasting, inventory management, data management and other relevant areas as needed
- Guide the regional laboratories in integrating new testing methodologies and successfully adopting up-to-date national guidelines in a manner cognizant of the particular region’s resource limitations, but without compromising the quality of laboratory services
- Build capacity for sustainable mentorship by training an in-country counterpart to be a local clinical laboratory mentor
- Assist the regional laboratories to develop and implement systems for monitoring and evaluation
- Help establish frameworks for operational research
- Prepare and submit timely reports of mentorship activities as directed
- Perform other relevant assignments
Salary Grade: $65,000/Year USD Plus benefits
Location of Position: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Minimum Qualifications:
- Graduate degree (master’s or doctoral) in laboratory-based science
- At least five years of professional experience in a developing country as a laboratory manager or a similar position
- Willingness to travel (frequent site visits to the regional laboratories will be required)
- Fluency in English is a requirement. Working knowledge of Amharic is desired, but not required
- The applicant must be an experienced and organized manager with a strong professional track record
- Solid communication and interpersonal abilities, particularly in cross-cultural settings
- The ability to work cooperatively and strategically across different departments, while balancing multiple complex agendas
- Knowledge of laboratory policies, procedures, missions, and critical issues
- Proficiency in computer applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and other relevant software
- US citizens & Foreign Nationals are eligible for hire
