Nairobi

Application are open: The Anga Center for Climate Justice, Health Equity, and Community Well-being in East Africa

The Center is seeking applications for a Regional Research Manager, Ethics & Evaluation Coordinator, and Administrative Coordinator.

October 28, 2024
anga

The Anga Center for Climate Justice, Health Equity, and Community Well-being in East Africa is a new research-based institution with a central mission to improve climate justice, health equity, and community well-being in East Africa by exploring climate-related health impacts and interventions to address them. The Anga Center will focus on building transdisciplinary research capacity and continuously engaging and empowering climate-vulnerable communities and marginalized populations. The scope of the research work of the Anga Center will cover Eastern Africa (including, currently, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania).

The headquarters of the Anga Center is physically based in the Columbia Global Center (CGC) in Nairobi, Kenya. Part-time Operations team staff are required to work in the CGC office at least 3 days per week. Full-time Operations team staff are required to work in the CGC five days per week.

The Ethics and Evaluation Coordinator (EEC) is primarily responsible for ensuring ethical research compliance for all research projects conducted by the Anga Center and implementing all monitoring and evaluation activities of Anga Center. Global health research has a long and complicated history of ethical violations. Given the Anga Center’s focus on climate justice, health equity, and community well-being, we strive to go above and beyond ethical compliance in our community-engaged research approach. Thus, the responsibility for ensuring ethical compliance will include development of research protocols, modifications, and annual renewals for all research projects across all universities and institutions involved in research across all countries (e.g., USA, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya). It also includes national, county, and local compliance with research approvals and protocols. The EEC will be in charge of ensuring all research carried out through the Anga Center is not only in compliance with institutional, national, regional, and international standards but is grounded in fundamental principles of safety, ethics, equity, justice, and well-being. The EEC is part of the Anga Operations team, and will report directly to the Regional Research Manager.

Responsibilities

  • Work with Principal Investigators, PhD students, and community members interested in conducting research through the Anga Center to develop, submit, and maintain protocols and permits for all university and institutional IRBs, ethics committees, clinical trial registries, and research permitting agencies appropriate to each project.
  • Maintain a calendar of all research protocol submissions, modifications, and annual renewals.
  • Ensure national and local research compliance including developing and maintaining applications for permitting.
  • Meet with national, county and local leaders and representatives to discuss and present research protocols, maintain communications with these representatives, and obtain necessary letters and permits from them.
  • Conduct quality monitoring and evaluation of all Anga Center activities, ensuring compliance with all evaluation criteria guaranteed to funder.
  • Draft and maintain all reports pertaining to ethics and evaluation compliance for the Anga Center.
  • Work with the Regional Research Manager and leadership team to develop evaluation and ethics protocols and goals for future research initiatives.
  • Address all ethical and evaluation queries (via email, phone or in-person).
  • Prepare presentations, spreadsheets and reports for ethics and evaluation.
  • Update ethics and evaluation policies and standard operating procedures as necessary.
  • Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in research ethics, public health research, social work research, or related field.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Proven work experience in research programs with major donor funding (e.g., NIH, European Commission, NSF, Gates Foundation, etc.) and monitoring and evaluation, and pubic health and/or social behavioral research.
  • Proven experience with and knowledge of research ethics and compliance.
  • Proficiency with administrative, governmental, and/or local application and submission systems.
  • Hands-on experience with MS Office Suite (particularly MS Word, MS Excel, and PPT), Zoom, and Google software (particularly g-mail, calendar, docs, sheets, and slides).
  • Solid time-management abilities with the ability to prioritize tasks.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
  • English and Swahili fluency in writing and speaking.

 

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible for consideration. Please send a detailed cover letter (maximum 2 pages) and C.V. to the following email address: [email protected]. Put “Ethics & Evaluation Coordinator position” in the subject line and address the email to Columbia Global Center.

The Regional Research Manager (RRM) is an integral member of the Anga Center Operations team (that includes the Finance Coordinator, the Administrative Coordinator, the Data Manager and IT Coordinator, the Ethics and Evaluation Coordinator) and oversees the coordination of all Anga Center activities, programs, and projects; works with the Operations team to ensure timeliness and quality of the deliverables for all activities, programs, and projects; and ensures grants received are properly implemented according to funding source requirements. The RRM provides managerial support and training to the Operations team as required and acts as a strategic guide in the implementation of new and existing programs with the guidance from the Anga Leadership team. The Regional Field Coordination Team will be guided by both the RRM and the Anga Center Leadership team (consisting of nine co-directors). The RRM will report directly to the Anga Center Director and Principal Investigator for day-to-day inquiries and queries.

Responsibilities

Implementation of Existing Projects

  • Provide overall program management over a portfolio of research projects, including ensuring all of the Anga Center activities, programs, and projects are meeting their goals and deliverables and recommending program adjustments, as necessary.
  • Maintain strategic awareness of all activities, programs, and projects for the Anga Center, including maintaining a detailed calendar and oversight of plans for completion of all deliverables and future goals for the center.
  • Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs) and manuals for the Anga Center and support the members of the Operations team to develop and maintain SOPs for their specific tasks (e.g., office administration, evaluation and ethics, data management and IT, administration, research field coordination, and finance).
  • Together with the appropriate members of the coordination team and principal investigators of research projects, analyze the results and design of activities, programs, and projects and develop plans to address implementation challenges.
  • Ensure that the Anga Center fulfills reporting requirements to funders, including ensuring each member of the Operations team’s individual reports are timely and of good quality.

New Business Development and Strategic Initiatives

  • Design new programming in response to needs and opportunities identified in the participating countries, and potentially other countries or projects in the portfolio as they are identified.
  • Serve as a liaison to the Anga Leadership and Operations team, all funders and key program stakeholders and counterparts.
  • Represent the Anga Center in external meetings and on committees and serve as a spokesperson for projects, activities, and programs with internal and external audiences.
  • In partnership with the Anga Leadership and Operations teams, develop plans for improvement and expansion of activities of the Anga Center that are in alignment with the center’s mission and values.
  • In partnership with the Anga Leadership and Operations teams, develop new projects and priorities in the region and keep abreast of program opportunities.

Staff Management and Operations

  • Provide support and mentorship to the Operations team as needed.
  • Establish and maintain effective and regular communications with the Leadership and Coordination teams.
  • Oversee employment planning, assign and direct work, assess performance, address complaints, and resolve personnel issues within the Operations team and, together with the regional field coordinator, within the community/field teams, as well. As needed, develop and track monthly schedules and strategies.
  • Liaise with the Operations team and support them to ensure Anga Center policy, mission, and values are in alignment with Columbia University policies and procedures and being upheld in activities, programs, and projects within the Center and in communities.
  • Actively participate in the Operations and Leadership team meetings, engaging in identifying and solving problems for the Anga Center.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years’ experience in research management, including strategic planning, resource management, and recruitment and mentoring of operations or coordination staff. Ideally managing research projects funded by major United States Government (e.g., NIH) or European Union donors.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Advanced degree in a related field of research.
  • 3+ years’ field management experience in East African contexts and experience in challenging operating environments strongly preferred.
  • Proven experience managing projects funded by US and/or European agencies or international funding organizations.
  • Visionary/big-picture thinker.
  • English and Swahili fluency in writing and speaking.
  • Experience creating, monitoring, and tracking project budgets and accurate spending.
  • Experience developing proposals for major international donors.
  • Excellent communication skills: speaking, writing, and listening.
  • Demonstrated interpersonal skills including diplomacy, tact, and the ability to negotiate.
  • Demonstrated leadership skills and ability to mentor and develop seasoned professionals.
  • Proven analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities.
  • Proven ability to work both independently and as an effective team member.
  • Proven ability to prioritize and handle multiple ongoing assignments.
  • Proficiency with MS Office (especially ppt, word, and excel), Zoom, Google suite (e.g., calendar, sheets, docs, colab, etc.).
  • Proficiency in additional languages for the region highly desirable.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible for consideration. Please send a detailed cover letter (maximum 2 pages) and C.V. to the following email address: [email protected]. Put “Regional Research Manager position” in the subject line and address the email to Columbia Global Center.

The Administrative Coordinator (AC) is the primary point of contact for the Anga Center. The AC is an integral part of the Anga Operations team, and will report directly to the Regional Research Manager and collaborate closely with the Financial and Administrative Manager at the Columbia Global Center (CGC) in Nairobi, Kenya.

The AC’s responsibilities include supporting regular office operations, screening phone calls, scheduling internal meetings, maintaining correspondence and communications for the Anga Center, coordinating all field and leadership team travel, and organizing the bi-annual Climate Justice, Health Equity, and Community Well-being conference.

Responsibilities

  • Schedule all meetings including monthly leadership team meetings, weekly operations team meetings, lab meetings for the Future Leaders in Climate Change and Health PhD cohort, External Advisory Board (EAB) meetings, and quarterly Community Collaborative Board (CCB) meetings.
  • Plan and coordinate all conferences, workshops, and trainings, including the bi-annual Climate Justice, Health Equity, and Community Well-being (CJHECW) conference and trainings.
  • Coordinate all travel for Field Managers, PhD students, the Leadership team, meteorological consultants, collaborators, and Community Data Collectors.
  • Plan, schedule, and coordinate all community training events.
  • Manage all correspondence through the Anga Center’s central email account and update its central calendar to ensure all leadership and operations team members comply with critical deadlines.
  • Develop and grow social media, newsletters, and other communications for the Anga Center.
  • Manage and route telephone calls to appropriate individuals.
  • Order program supplies, process, report and reconcile office expenditures
  • Maintain physical and digital employee records and develop a filing system and organize program documents in appropriate folders.
  • Support the development of program presentations, spreadsheets and reports.

Minimum Qualifications

Degree in Business administration or similar degree and at least two years of experience in an administrative role.

Preferred Qualifications

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible for consideration. Please send a detailed cover letter (maximum 2 pages) and C.V. to the following email address: [email protected]. Put “Administrative Coordinator position” in the subject line and address the email to Columbia Global Center.

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Nairobi Research Nairobi Education Nairobi Public