Title: Research and Patient Outcomes Coordinator
Department: RCSI/COSECSA Collaboration Programme at COSECSA
Tenure: Fixed term contract until end of 2024 subject to funding
Duty Station: ECSA-HC Secretariat, Arusha - Tanzania
Proposed Start Date: November 2021
The East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) invites applications from suitably qualified persons, who are nationals of Member States for the Post of Research and Patient Outcomes Coordinator for College of Surgeons for the East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA)/Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, Collaboration Programme (CP). The ECSA-HC is a regional intergovernmental organization set up in 1974 to foster cooperation that will lead to the strengthening of health care programmes in the region and promote the attainment of the highest possible standards of health among member states.
The Member States of the ECSA Health Community are Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The position is tenable at the ECSA Health Community Secretariat based in Arusha, Tanzania.
The incumbent will report to the Chief Operating Officer of the College and Collaboration Programme Coordinator.
The position is tenable at the ECSA Health Community Secretariat based in Arusha, Tanzania.
The incumbent will report to the Chief Operating Officer of the College and Collaboration Programme Coordinator.
1.0. Background of the College of Surgeons for the East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA).
The College of Surgeons for the East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) is a professional
body that fosters postgraduate education in surgery. The college delivers a common surgical
training programme with a common examination and an internationally recognized surgical
qualification. The primary objective is to advance education, training, standards, resea rch and
practice in surgical care in this region. The College currently operates in 14 countries in the Sub-
Saharan region: Kenya, Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda,
South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
2.0. The RCSI/COSECSA Collaboration Programme
The RCSI/COSECSA Collaboration Programme (CP) is a partnership between COSECSA (the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa) and RCSI (the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland). Its objective is to achieve better-quality surgical care for more patients in sub-Saharan Africa. The CP is funded by the Irish government’s overseas aid programme, Irish Aid, and receives in-kind support from RCSI. It is now entering its 14th year.
Over that time, the CP has grown to become one of the largest surgical training partnerships in the world through its capacity building, “whole-college” approach. Through the CP, both Colleges have contributed to the academic literature and advocacy around global surgery. In 2019, the CP began working with CANECSA (the College of Anaesthetists of East, Central and Southern Africa) and CAI (the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland) to simultaneously build the anaesthesia workforce in sub-Saharan Africa.
The CP has one full-time staff member, the Programme Manager, based at RCSI in Ireland, and leverages the resources and expertise of RCSI, including project management support in order to deliver its objective.
For the next four years (2021-2024), the CP has three goals:
Goal 1: Support practicing surgeons and anaesthesiologists to deliver high quality care to patients, promote quality improvement in surgical services and ensure that trainees
receive high-quality training
Goal 2: Increase the organisational capacity of African-led partners to deliver training, to contribute to national and regional health policies, and to participate in international
advocacy
Goal 3: Contribute relevant, evidence-based studies on surgical training, workforce and practice in sub-Saharan Africa to the scientific literature and global surgery community
3.0. Duties and Responsibilities:
The Research and Patient Outcomes Coordinator will support the Programme Manager in the delivery of the CP as well as actively contributing to the development of the IGS. The post will be based in Arusha, Tanzania but will involve some travel to other countries in East, Central and Southern Africa, as well as to Ireland, once travel resumes safely.
Specifically, the Research and Patient Outcomes Coordinator will have responsibility for the hands-on management of specific project activities of the CP three goals.
3.1. Research coordination:
Increasing the global research output of the RCSI/COSECSA Collaboration Programme
Establishing and supporting small groups of RCSI and COSECSA and/or CANECSA (College of Anaesthetists of East, Central and Southern Africa) students/trainees/Fellows to co-author global surgery studies on behalf of the CP, with focus on patient impact
Contributing to research studies where necessary
Supporting COSECSA’s IRB and Data Governance Group to develop their protocols, procedures and infrastructure
Supporting the COSECSA journal to increase readership and gain PubMed indexing
Develop and present research proposals to a relevant technical team of RCSI/COSECSA for discussion and endorsement
Contribute to identification of topical research issues with regional focus on surgery and anaesthesiology
Supporting the identification of audit needs and a framework for regional audits in COSECSA-accredited hospitals
Generation of evidence-based policy analysis and advocacy messaging for COSECSA, CP and IGS
Enabling COSECSA to engage effectively with governments and ministries in the region through providing supporting impact data, at country and regional level
Develop information exchange and experience sharing platforms among Surgeons and Anaesthesiologists in Member States on aspects of the quality of surgical care to the
patient
3.2. Deriving insight from data:
Ensuring that relevant insights gained from research and from data are fed back into improving this CP
Ensure the institutional policy issues are incorporated in the CP for decision making
3.3. Liaising with allied health professions:
With Nursing partners to support training of Intensive Care and OT nurses in sub-Saharan Africa
With Ob/Gyn partners to promote better surgical care to women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa
With partners to promote better quality surgical care to patients with surgical diseases
With partners to promote better quality care to rurally-based patients
4.0. Qualifications:
Successful candidates must possess a postgraduate or higher qualification (PhD or Masters Degree) in Global Health, Global Surgery, Public Health. A related field is preferred or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Academic publications in global surgery/global health or related field
5.0. Knowledge & Experience – Essential:
2-4 years’ experience of conducting clinical research in health/education fields in sub-Saharan Africa
Familiarity with community research-based principles.
Minimum two-four years’ experience in program coordination, volunteer management in a
health related, adult education or frontline client service
Experience with hospital or health service audits
Certification on ethical conduct of research and data access protocols
Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously
Experience in data management and analysis
Familiar with gender and social inclusion issues
A highly motivated self-starter
6.0. Skills & Competencies – Essential:
Strong project management skills
Excellent interpersonal skills and cross-cultural skills
Ability to develop and manage relationships remotely with multiple stakeholders, both internal and external
Ability to work successfully with colleagues from different professional backgrounds with different skillsets
Ability to work successfully with colleagues serving in an honorary or voluntary capacity
Strong Microsoft Excel skills
Ability to work well with minimal supervision
Ability to analyse several information points and identify strategically favourable courses of action
Comfort with managing large datasets
Ability to guide and mentor junior colleagues and researchers
7.0. Knowledge & Experience - Desirable:
Experience of setting up an organisational research programme
Experience of working in capacity-building, long-term partnerships
Experience of working with public and patient interest (PPI) in research studies
Experience using other research software (such as SPSS, R, Redcap and Stata) and data visualisation software (such as Power BI and Tableau).
Familiarity with the global surgery/global health community in Sub-Saharan African and globally
8.0. Skills & Competencies – Desirable:
Aptitude for eLearning, data analytics, simulation technology for medical education, information systems, tech innovations, information management
Aptitude for communications and public engagement on project and research impact
9.0. Deadline for Applications: Applications should reach the address below by 30th September 2021.
The Director General
East Central and Southern Africa-Health Community
Plot number 157 Oloirien, Njiro Road
P.O. Box 1009, Arusha, Tanzania
E-mail: vacancies@ecsahc.org with copies to regsec@ecsahc.org; doid@ecsahc.org;
Website: www.ecsahc.org
ECSA-HC is an equal opportunity employer, and female candidates are encouraged to apply.
For further information please visit our website: www.ecsahc.org
