Project Manager (W/M) - Children's TB - TACTiC Project

The project

Children with tuberculosis (TB) are underdiagnosed and undertreated, leading to high mortality and morbidity. Almost all MSF projects, in almost all contexts see patients with TB and struggle with the challenges of diagnosing TB, especially amongst children. In March 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Program published new recommendations for children with TB including integrated treatment decision algorithms to diagnose pulmonary TB, a shorter 4-month treatment for non-severe TB and shorter treatments for TB prevention. These recent WHO recommendations present a unique window of opportunity that cannot be missed to transform the way that children are diagnosed and treated with TB across MSF projects, and to have a truly meaningful impact on mortality and morbidity from TB in this population. In order to achieve this, MSF has built a project to support MSF teams and their partners with scaling up the use of the above-mentioned recommendations, as well as providing evidence to improve their further use: TACTiC – Test, Avoid, Cure TB in Children.

All MSF operational sections are involved in this multidisciplinary, inter-working groups, transversal and integrated project which will roll out along 3 main axes of work:

• Implementation: training, technical support, development of pediatric patient-centered tools, increased access to diagnostic tools, development of tools for record keeping and data collection, local and national advocacy for implementation of new recommendations.

• Operational research (OR): in some contexts, MSF projects will conduct operational research (OR) on the feasibility, acceptability and validation of new recommendations.

• International advocacy : advocacy for the development of better tools (diagnostics, treatments) adapted to children.

The project will have a special focus on change management, user and patient experience, and will ensure that inclusive dialogue with external partners and populations is anticipated at every stage.

Main responsibilities

The Project manager is accountable to the Project Leader, the project governance and to the TIC (Transformational Investment Capacity) Secretariat, and is responsible for the following:

1. Management and Coordination

• Provides support and advice for the successful execution of the project, including in its change management perspective.

• Gathers, coordinates the production, and ensures the relevant transmission of information. Specifically, interacts with MSF internal stakeholders across the MSF movement with a focus on organizational and financial aspects: Members of the Board of Directors, Steering and Field Project Committees; human resources and finance departments at Operational Centers and targeted MSF missions’ levels; other support departments as required (logistics, etc.).

• Supports the production and dissemination of specific Project’s deliverables, particularly ensuring coordination with relevant internal/external stakeholders (e.g. MSFeCARE for eCDSS tools; MSF Tembo for self-training/capacity building tools; construction of a dedicated website/sharefolder; etc.).

• Represents and replaces TACTiC’s Project Leader in his/her absence in MSF internal platforms.

• Hierarchical management of the project assistant, Advocacy advisor and Mobile Implementing Officers attached to the Project.

2. Monitoring

• Ensures activities comply with the project’s objectives, timeline and budget.  

• Informs, follows up and adjusts as necessary the Project’s metrics (outputs, outcomes) and monitoring logical framework, in coordination with the Steering Committee and countries targeted by the Project. In coordination with Field Project Committees, supports the elaboration of country or site-specific monitoring tools to inform and analyze output, outcome and impact related to the Project’s objectives.

• Alerts the Project Leader, Governance mechanisms and the TIC Secretariat on risks or substantial change needs (timeline, budget, scope, etc.) and proposes solutions.

3. Reporting

• Ensures the compilation of intermediary Project’s status and financial reporting, as defined in the Project’s timeline and according to TIC mechanism’s requirements.

• In agreement with the Project Leader, initiates and coordinates regular follow-up calls and meetings with the Project’s Governance/advisory bodies and the TIC Secretariat. If/when necessary and as requested/approved by above-mentioned bodies, introduces change requests and reviews proposal (objectives, scope, timeline) and supporting documents (budget, metrics) accordingly.

• Delivers a consultative report for the Project’s phase 1 with a view to analyse outcome and impact and propose a comprehensive realistic roadmap (timeline, budget requirements, funding options, etc.) for global implementation of WHO recommendations across MSF projects, and beyond.

4. Implementation

• Responsible for coordinating the planning, implementation, and monitoring of TACTiC interventions across various field projects in 12 countries, in an intersectional manner, supporting operational cells, medical advisors, and field mission coordination teams.
• Ensure proper ownership of the project by field mission teams.
• Management of field visit planning for MIOs (mobile implementing officers) and national focal points.