Job Description
Vacancy: CGHR/235/11/21
Project Description
The Kenyan Medical Research Institute, Center for Global Health Research (KEMRI-CGHR), has been selected to participate in a seven country multi-center study that will quantify the burden of Shigella diarrhea among infants and young children in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia to inform future Shigella vaccine trials. KEMRI-CGHR working in collaboration with the Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Global Center for Integrated Health of Women, Adolescents, and Children at the University of Washington and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will participate in the Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) - Shigella study. The EFGH Shigella project represents an extension of the Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS) and the Vaccine Impact Assessment on Diarrhea in Africa (VIDA). The project is seeking to recruit for the following vacant position(s):
Position: Field Technologist (Team Leader), KMR 8 ( 2 positions)
Location: Siaya County
Reports to: Research Administrator
Job Description
The Field Team leader position requires the incumbent to perform various functions, including
coordination, field staff supervision, quality control, data management, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), capacity building, and reporting for Shigella Surveillance Study in an accurate and timely fashion.
Qualifications
- Diploma Degree in Social Science, Community Health, Public Health, or related field.
- Minimum of 1 year working experience as a supervisor in the target region, performing field
staff training and supervision, project quality control, data collection and management,
stakeholder and collaborator coordination, logistics and supply management, and data analysis
and reporting for a busy field site.
- Excellent knowledge and working experience with Microsoft Office suite, tablet-based data entry platforms.
- Working knowledge of Good Clinical Practices, Clinical research, Clinical trial process and
related regulatory requirements and terminology.
- Experience in managing and ensuring data quality.
- Fluency in English and Swahili, written and spoken, with fluency in the local language spoken in the study area being an added advantage
Desirable qualities
- Must possess Supervisor skills and experience of not less than 2 years
- Ability to develop an in-depth understanding of study goals and its implementation.
- Strong self-motivation and ability to work in a team, with good interpersonal skills.
- Ability and willingness to quickly learn additional development skills and strategies on the job
and be able to apply these.
- Strong writing, communication, and public relations skills.
- Strong management, decision-making, and analytical skills.
- Ability to meet strict deadlines.
- Ability to implement directives appropriately and work with little or no supervision
- Computer literate with hands on experience in the use of online data capture tools
Specific duties and responsibilities
The team leader for the Shigella Surveillance Study will oversee the non-medical aspect of the study at selected sentinel HealthCare facilities and Health Care Utilization and Attitude surveillance activities in Siaya County, and will be required to;
- Develop an in-depth understanding of project design and goal and ensure that the project is
conducted in compliance with project protocols and other regulatory requirements.
- Engage with local Ministry of Health and other partners to ensure all partners are informed and ensure appropriate coordination of staff and activities.
- Supervise field staff and provide on-site coordination and oversight of all project-related
activities, which includes reporting of all deaths in children aged 5-48 months, and ensuring the
verbal autopsies are performed on all deaths.
- Implement mortality surveillance quality controls via repeat VR and VR Technical Supervisor
interviews, accompanied interviews to ensure appropriate interview conduct.
- Actively contribute to capacity building efforts within Kenya’s CRVS system, and continuously
liaise with relevant CRVS partners on related topics.
- Ensure that all items necessary for successful conduct of the project are available to project staff.
- Coordinate procurement processes for supplies needed.
- Plan and chair meetings with project staff and collaborators as needed, archiving minutes and
disseminating pertinent information in an appropriate and timely manner.
- Work with the data manager to resolve any data queries in the field.
- Identify and make available to the data manager sources of mortality triangulation data, to
include interviews of community members and data from separately available vital events and
registration data, such as those from facilities and civil registration record.
- Respond to questions about the project posed by participants, field coordinators, study
coordinators, and/or PIs.
- Provide progress reports and solve reported problems encountered in the field to superiors.
Terms of Employment: Employment is on a one-year contract with a probation period for the first 3 months and salary is as per the stated grade.
Applications MUST include the following:
1. A cover letter addressing your interest and qualifications (Indicate Vacancy Number)
2. Current Resume’ or Curriculum Vitae with Telephone number and e-mail address
3. Copies of certificates and testimonials
4. Three letters of reference with contact information (phone and email)