Advisor – ICARS Africa

REPORTING TO: Team Lead – ICARS Africa

DIVISION/UNIT: Programmes

PHYSICAL LOCATION: Amref Health Africa Headquarters; Nairobi, Kenya

CONTRACT DURATION: The employment term ends on 31 December 2028, unless renewed through a subsequent agreement. The contract is subject to renewal.

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Together with other members of the ICARS team, the Science Advisors will be involved in the development and management of ICARS’ portfolio of projects in Africa at the science-policy interface. This will involve providing technical support to project partners, including ensuring sound project implementation strategies, effective co-development and scoping of projects, clear setting of targets and deliverables, and considering behavioural and economic consequences of AMR mitigation. The Science Advisors will specifically lead on activities related to two donor funded programs and will hence also be involved in ensuring timely and appropriate reporting to these donors (Wellcome and European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership).

Furthermore, the Science Advisors must contribute professionally to the dissemination of ICARS’ vision, mission and goals. E.g. by representing ICARS at meetings with multiple stakeholders, build a regional network of experts and contribute to capacity strengthening and the generation of independent evidence, synthesis of data, assessments, and reports in relation to AMR.

Finally, as a Science Advisor in the newly established ICARS Africa office, you will support the ICARS Africa Team Lead in the development of this new entity in terms of scientific and operational activities. Furthermore, you will support the development of the partnership between ICARS and Amref Health Africa.

Key Responsibilities

Your specific responsibilities and project roles will be tailored to match your professional experience and educational qualifications. In general terms, however, advisors are expected to:

• Develop and advise on research study designs for baseline studies to identify the AMR priorities in African countries across all One Health sectors
• Develop and advise on AMR mitigation interventions and intervention and implementation research (IIR) across the One Health sectors that contextualize and assess impact in African countries
• Provide expert input into development and implementation of ICARS projects
• Conduct training needs assessments to identify country-level and regional capacity gaps
• Contribute to the development of tailored training curricula and educational materials, using best practices, case studies, and interactive learning approaches
• Support regional training workshops and seminars, strengthening national and regional AMR capacities.
• Facilitate of knowledge exchange between ICARS experts, African country teams, and other partners, enabling peer learning and south-south collaboration.
• Contribute to process development, including the synthesis, analysis and assimilation of data into reports and publications for ICARS, and ensure that findings and evidence from ICARS projects are effectively disseminated to national stakeholders, policymakers and the scientific community.
• Deliver independent evidence synthesis, assessments and reports within the AMR area
• Continuously monitor scientific research on AMR-mitigation relevant to ICARS
• Identify and contribute to grant applications for funding
• Contribute to technical reporting requirements for ICARS external donors
• Represent ICARS at project working groups or committees as well as at conferences, workshops and networking events.
• Be the primary contact point for project partners in co-development and implementation of selected projects with ICARS
• Support the development of a regional network of experts and partners to strengthen the knowledge of behavioural and economic implications of interventions related to AMR
• Support stakeholder mapping and engagement in collaboration with ICARS partners, ensuring participation from ministries, academia, NGOs, the private sector and community organisations.
• Help establish and maintain effective working relationships with relevant stakeholders, researchers and policy makers for efficient AMR mitigation, especially on the African continent
• Support collaboration with AMREF as the host organisation and other regional organisations.