Associate Director

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems. 

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally. 

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries. 

WJCF is an Indian not-for-profit entity, registered under Section 8 of the Indian Companies Act 2013, and has an affiliation agreement with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). Our mission is to save lives and improve health outcomes in the country by enabling the government and private sector to strengthen and sustain quality health systems. WJCF has partnered with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and state health departments since 2007, providing technical and operational support across key health priorities, including infectious diseases (COVID-19, hepatitis, HIV, TB, vector-borne diseases), non-communicable diseases (cervical cancer, diabetes, sickle cell disease), maternal and child health (anaemia, immunisation, diarrhoea, pneumonia), sexual and reproductive health, health insurance and digital health (AB PM-JAY, ABDM), oxygen and hypoxemia management, safe drinking water, and climate and health.

Learn more about our exciting work: 

Program Overview:

Vector Borne Diseases (VBDs) such as malaria, visceral leishmaniasis (VL, also called kala-azar), lymphatic filariasis (LF), dengue, chikungunya, and Japanese encephalitis remain major public health concerns in India. India has achieved remarkable reductions in VBD cases and deaths over recent decades. Malaria cases have reduced from 75 million at the time of India's independence to ~200,00 in , while deaths have reduced from 800,000 to 83 during the same period. For LF, though active transmission and infection rates have declined, the chronic manifestations remain significant. India reported about ~600,00 lymphoedema cases and ~125,000 hydrocele cases caused by filarial worms in 2023. For VL, cases have reduced to ~500 in 2023. The Government of India has committed to the elimination of several VBDs within defined timelines- for example, eliminating malaria by 2030 and lymphatic filariasis and kala-azar ahead of global targets.

Despite these gains, these illnesses continue to contribute substantially to disease burden, morbidity, mortality and disability, particularly among populations living in rural, remote, or otherwise underserved areas. Climate change, urbanization, migration, environmental factors, and gaps in vector control and surveillance continue to challenge disease elimination efforts.

The National Center for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC) is the nodal agency under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) responsible for orchestrating the government's response to VBDs. Its roles include policy formulation, standard setting, strategic planning (including disease elimination timelines), surveillance strengthening, capacity building, coordinating multi-sectoral and inter-governmental efforts, and deploying innovations in vector control, diagnostics, and community engagement.

Project Background:

WJCF is privileged to support NVBDCP's bold vision of accelerated elimination of VL, LF, and Malaria through embedded technical support units (TSU) for VL and LF since 2020, and for malaria since 2024. These TSUs provide support to the NCVBDC including, inter alia:

Strengthened technical and managerial support to NVBDCP managementEnhanced disease intelligence and analytics for improved programmatic decisions-makingAdoption of dynamic innovations across disease portfolios, and, effective and sustained investments in the space of NTDs/VBDsSteering partnerships and multi-sector response

WJCF's VBD portfolio also extends to sub-national implementation in Maharashtra for the Malaria-Free Gadchiroli Program, and in Karnataka for use of AI-enabled predictive analytics for dengue prevention.

Position Summary:

We are seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding public health credentials and demonstrated management abilities to lead the VBD team's efforts across multiple grants and workstreams. The Program Director will lead the VBD TSU in Delhi and state teams in Maharashtra and Karnataka, and provide overall technical oversight over the VBD portfolio. They will be the principal interface with donors, NCVBDC leadership and program partners on behalf of the project, and will therefore need exceptional people skills and ability to align multitude of stakeholders. They will have demonstrated analytical skills and problem solving in complex environments to effectively shape policy and implementation decisions.The Program Director will report to the Director, NCVBDC for functioning of the TSU and to Deputy Director, TB and VBD at WJCF for project delivery.

Responsibilities

1. Program Management and Leadership

• Lead the design, development and execution of coherent programmatic multiyear strategies aimed at streamlining WJCF's approach towards VBD programming and fundraising.
• Develop cross-program collaborations and conceptual linkages in a resource constrained and rapidly evolving context.
• Develop VBD portfolio's conceptual and programmatic linkages with thematic areas of climate change, one health, and disease surveillance.
• Lead structured program performance reviews and develop an accountability culture within teams.
• Oversee program tracking of progress, analyzing data, and making recommendations for improvements based on evidence.
• Lead structured program monitoring processes across teams including Gant chart management and productive team meetings.
• Drive development and review of key program reports for internal and external stakeholder consumption including donors, government and WJCF leadership.
• Facilitate fundraising and business development efforts through grant writing, proof reading and desk reviews of key documentation.
• Build project implementation capacity and skills within program team ensuring timely execution of activities, compliance to WJCF policies and protocols, and responsiveness to government needs.

2. Relationship Management

• Lead development of key relationships between governmental, donor entities, nongovernmental organizations and health service delivery points in collaboration with country leadership.
• Facilitate engagement with key government Program Managers/ division heads to gather input and ensure alignment and buy in across all programmatic activities.
• Establish and build strong relationships with key global team program counterparts ensuring effective representation of WJCF and showcasing lessons.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive stakeholder matrix for the portfolio of programs supported ensuring stakeholder needs are identified, negotiation avenues and mapped and healthy relationships are maintained.
• Guide program team in navigating complex stakeholder relationships and favorably influence decision making in a professional and collaborative manner.
• Build a productive cadence of engagement with internal and external stakeholders and guide program leads in replicating this across activities implementation processes.

3. Strategic communication

• Regularly update key stakeholders on program progress, challenges, and successes through detailed reports and presentations.
• Lead effective internal and external communication approaches aligned with WJCF's communication policies and tailored to audiences to achieve transformational impact and influence decision making.

 4. People Management

• Build team resilience, creativity, adaptability, and teamwork in project execution.
• Foster a collaborative and innovative team environment, ensuring that each team member understands their roles and responsibilities within the context of the broader organizational goals.
• Provide hands-on guidance and expertise in technical matters, sharing your deep knowledge to assist the team in overcoming technical challenges and making informed decisions.
• Actively engage with each direct report to understand their individual career aspirations and professional development objectives.
• Continuously monitor progress of direct reportees, provide constructive feedback, and identify opportunities for skill enhancement and career growth.
• Be a role model and team player who demonstrates exceptionally high performance and harnesses the same from a diverse, talented and dynamic team.
• Proactively identify and address programmatic, team management and performance management matters that arise.
• Develop and maintain feedback mechanisms to ensure effective staff and team performance.

 5. Financial Management

• Oversee effective execution of program plans in accordance with donor and WJCF reporting requirements.
• Lead collaborative resource allocation decisions and ensure evidence informed prioritization of team activities with a lens of transformational impact.
• Manage program budget planning, tracking, and reporting, oversee budgets and resources for various projects, ensuring that they are used effectively and efficiently to achieve desired outcomes.
• Lead the development and review of financial and donor reports on project budget execution.
• Build collaborative working environment between activity leads, operational teams and finance liaisons.

 6. Problem Solving

•  Directteams in proactively managing program related risk and identifying sensitive issues and escalate as needed.
• Ensure compliance to WJCF's approach to problem solving, promoting  effective consultation, use of data and scenario reviews before developing insights and recommendations.
• Lead, demonstrate and drive critical thinking skills, building the team's capacity to handle difficult or unexpected situations in the workplace.
• Lead risk assessment exercises and build teams to exercise emotional intelligence and self-awareness.

 7. Technical Expertise

• Lead subject matter development among program leads ensuring thorough grasp of key program principles.
• Develop a reading culture and challenge program teams to spotlight their work during internal and external WJCF engagements.
• Lead knowledge management and sharing of best practices at national and global convenings.

Qualifications

• MBBS and MD or post-graduate degree in public health, public policy, management or development.
• Minimum 15 years of professional experience in demanding, results-oriented environments in public health with senior managerial or leadership positions.
• Demonstrated experience in VBDs at national or state level will be an asset.
• Proven record of developing and maintaining strong and effective partnerships, and, shaping policy and project decisions with senior government and donor officials
• Experience in leading teams in similar assignments i.e. providing high end technical support in public health directly to department will be a plus
• Experience in concept note/proposal development.
• Strong written and oral communication skills including development of analyses/ presentations for varied project audience/stakeholders
• Proven track record of working in challenging multi-stakeholder environments & ability to build relationships with a range of stakeholders and drive immediate results
• Entrepreneurial mind-set, including ability to work independently, self-motivated, and propose and implement new initiatives.

Last Date to Apply: 9th November, 2025

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