Company Overview:

Palladium develops and delivers innovative, locally relevant, evidence-based solutions to improve the health and well-being of people around the world. Since 1971, we have assisted governmental and non-governmental agencies, foundations, and the private sector by designing, implementing, and evaluating programs in HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, population and family planning, maternal and child health, infectious diseases, and gender. Palladium has deep expertise in policy and advocacy, research and strategic information, health markets and private sector engagement, modeling and economic analysis, patient monitoring and management, HMIS, strategic consulting, and program management. 

Background:

Palladium is currently seeking a Senior Systems Architect to support implementation of the Translating Data for Implementation (Data.FI) award and the Adolescents and Children HIV Incidence Reduction, Empowerment and Virus Elimination project, or ACHIEVE in Tanzania.  Both activities are five-year global projects funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Data.FI partners with PEPFAR programs to accelerate and sustain access to high-quality data to expedite HIV and COVID-19 epidemic control and maintenance. Data.FI supports host country governments to enhance existing health information systems (HIS) and conduct in-depth analysis of epidemiologic and program data to inform management responses to gaps in programming and sustain impact by supporting local partner transition. The ACHIEVE consortium, led by PACT, works with USAID Missions, national governments and existing response partners to identify gaps in HIV prevention and treatment programming among target populations. Using best practices and expertise along with innovations, the project is addressing critical gaps to meet country-specific epidemic control goals. 

Purpose of Position: 

In Tanzania, Data.FI will support the government (PORALG) and USAID to strengthen and expand the application of the Makole Model as a change management approach to improve productivity and the quality of services at health facilities. Data from various information systems will be combined with data from existing quality improvement and quality assurance (QI/QA) platforms into dashboards displayed in situation rooms, guided by a technical advisory group composed of experts from USAID, PORALG and UNICEF.  ACHIEVE will support the PORALG organize a government led task force on the review of the Most Vulnerable Children (MVC) MIS system to better meet government data needs.   

The Systems Architect for Data.FI and ACHIEVE Tanzania will provide leadership to and be responsible for liaising with government stakeholders in the design of information systems to reduce redundant reporting through systems interoperability (if appropriate) with the aim of maximizing opportunities for evidence-based decision making.   

This position is based in Dar Es Salaam or Dodoma, TBD. The initial position term is 6 months, with an extension for up to 3 years, depending on funding.  

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the Country Director and government leadership (PORALG) to convene technical working groups to engage USAID, UNICEF and other relevant stakeholders in the design of information systems collecting data on health indicators, human resources, supply chain, and most vulnerable children.  
• Oversee establishment of national and regional situation rooms. 
• Collaborate with Digital Square and other IPs to utilize Tanzania’s health information mediator (HIM) for interoperability between relevant data sources. 
• Design or leverage existing solutions for the display of integrated data from multiple sources. 
• Design or leverage existing solutions allowing data to be re-used whenever possible through interoperation or data exchange when feasible. 
• Design and conduct assessments to 1) elicit information needs of users of integrated systems, 2) inform harmonization of data collection forms, and 3) identify infrastructure required for proposed integration.  
• Conduct a series of workshops to validate findings, proposals with government working groups.  
  Supervise a remote team comprised of business analysts, programmers, quality assurance specialists and visualization experts. 
  

Required Qualifications:

• A Master’s degree in public health, statistics, health informatics, or a related field  
• At least 5 years’ experience advising on health management information systems  
• Familiarity with open-source global goods, including demonstrated experience using DHIS2 
• Experience building government capacity to manage and maintain health information systems 
• Experience working in ICT/Informatics Governance 
• Knowledge of project management principles, the software development life cycle and ability to work with multi-disciplinary teams  
• Strong knowledge of OpenHIE, OpenHIM; experience developing or leading teams interoperating health systems & development of repositories of health data 
• Experience developing or leading teams to develop analytics platforms for data visualization; strong proficiency with BI platforms (Metabase, Superset, Tableau, Power BI) 
• Strong organizational, stakeholder management and people skills required; existing relationships with USAID, PORALG and UNICEF preferred 
• Ability to effectively write technical documents such as sys/admin manuals and user guides 
• Ability to lead meetings, conduct trainings and deliver presentations 
• Familiarity with the Makole Model a plus 
• Ability to travel 30% within Tanzania 
• Fluency in English required, fluency in Swahili preferred