Job Description

PROGRAM MANAGER - AL FOR HEALTH

About the Academy

African Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to transform Africa by identifying, developing and connecting a new generation of young leaders who will lead the continent towards lasting peace and shared prosperity for all. Since our inception in 2008, we have worked to lay the foundations of this audacious mission by identifying and developing a group of exceptional young leaders who will work together to shape Africa's future. To deliver on this mission and further their careers, we have created six sector network communities made up of our young leaders, partners and friends of ALA. These networks are focused on addressing Africa's greatest challenges around agribusiness, governance, infrastructure, health, education and the arts.

About AL for Health

AL for Health Network is an African Leadership Academy initiative that seeks to connect key players in African Healthcare, who will work together to bring lasting solutions to Africa's greatest healthcare challenges. Grand Healthcare Challenges include financing and investing in healthcare, epidemics in Africa, quality of Healthcare Services in Africa, capacity to deal with these challenges, access to healthcare, poor emergency care and health education. We support our network members in three key areas: professional leadership development, entrepreneurship support and educational advancement in healthcare pathways. AL for Health strives to upskill our network members in a variety of ways. Through our Dr Hawa Abdi Speaker Series, job and internship opportunities, and engagement from professionals across different career stages, we accelerate progress our understanding of key constraints and solutions through various roles in the health ecosystem. We ignite interest for our network members in collaborative activities across the network. Alongside the BUILD program on-campus, sector members are encouraged and are exposed to autonomous changemakers equipped with resources to mediate challenges impeding health improvements across the continent. Weave - by channeling collective efforts through year-round engagements, gatherings and more, AL for Health establishes a firm community of health practitioners, scientists, industry experts, and more to build our vision of a prosperous and healthy African continent focused on unified action.

About the role

We are looking for a dynamic AL for Health program manager within our Network Programs team. This role has the exciting task of building a pan African network of employers and partners in the health sector across the continent and designing programs and initiatives to grow and develop the network. The AL for Health program manager will be responsible for accelerating the career paths of our young leaders, though professional development and by connecting them to a variety of internship and job opportunities within the health sector. He/she will engage with top employers in this space, to build relationships and place young talent in their organisations. The health Program Manager must engage network members by designing or initiating programs and events in which key industry players, professionals, thought leaders and our young leaders can participate. In addition, they will identify health entrepreneurial activities that bridge gaps to achieve positive impact. Lastly, the Program Manager will find ways of igniting and fostering collaboration where facilitated knowledge transfer and the exchange of ideas can inspire impactful health solutions for Africa in the in the ALA community, including ALA's science and wellness department and ALU's health community. The overall goal is to create a community engaged on the most important strategic challenges facing this sector, and to help develop young talent in Africa.

Position Responsibilities

• Build Partnerships: Sustain existing and develop new partnerships with employers, program partners and potential funders.
• Execute on Strategy: Execute upon a long-term strategy to maximize our impact on Health in Africa whilst thinking about your own vision for the network and what it could become (entrepreneurial thinking).
• Program management: Implement programs created to develop leadership skills and build professional development skills around healthcare related themes.
• Grow the Network: Develop and implement an effective network engagement strategy that will enable diverse stakeholders to connect and collaborate consistently to innovate and improve Health in Africa.
• External Communications: Articulate the philosophies and approaches of AL for Health programs and the resulting impact of network members on the wider health ecosystem in Africa. Provide thought leadership and represent AL for Health in global conferences, talks and healthcare networks to share learnings and build relationships.
• Stakeholder Partnerships: Manage relationships with key partners and an Advisory Board.
• Get stuck in: Participate in program design and delivery, providing coaching, program facilitation and other engagement as necessary for program success and as a means of engaging network members.
• Defines project outcomes across multiple project streams, with increasing degrees of project complexity and task uncertainty. Interprets vague information and interdependencies. Builds strong rhythms to support team management and delivery
• Assume accountability for work delegated to others. Lead performance management and review of team members. Interpret HR policies and ensure their implementation. Ensure exceptional candidate experiences and drive hiring processes. Capable of difficult and crucial conversations
• Projecting budgetary requirements and reporting. Managing needs of a range of projects. Able to manage grant performance.
• Actively builds external relationships that will attract the time, treasure, and talent required to build their program. Identifies, serves and follows up with prospective customers, partners, and stakeholders

Profile of the ideal candidate

• Partnership builder: you build win-win partnerships and have the experience of fundraising for non-profit and/or for-profit organizations.
• Demonstrate leadership: you identify, evaluate, and execute on high-impact opportunities using entrepreneurial thinking.
• Program Development Skills: Ability to design or create initiatives, events and programs that will contribute to, and build the healthcare network.
• Highly organized project manager: Ability to plan and deliver on projects timeously. Good planning, priority and organisational skills, especially when under tight deadlines
• You have a strong existing network in the healthcare space and are passionate about building and sustaining relationships and networks, especially on the African continent.
• Experience managing complex projects with multiple workstreams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Experience with public speaking and publishing written work, and/or developing communication strategies and plans.
• Communication and Marketing skills: Must have effective communication skills, both verbally and in writing. In practicality, this translates into report writing skills, grant applications, marketing blurbs, social media posts and newsletter writing.
• Stakeholder Management skills: Ability to confidently work with multiple stakeholders at different levels in organisations, to advance progress and execute on program ideas, both internally and externally.
• Professional development skills: Ability to manage and recognise young, highly skilled, ambitious talent (potentially in their first job) with a strong growth trajectory and provide career guidance/coaching as needed.
• Data Management and Analysis skills: CRM Data management, generating analytics that can be used for reporting. (Salesforce knowledge an advantage.)

Desired Experience

• Post Grad degree in a Health - related discipline
• 5+ years of experience working in or advising Health organizations.
• Management experience in a Health-related field is a requirement.
• Must have industry knowledge and a broad understanding and knowledge of Health development challenges and opportunities facing the African continent.
• An awareness about career opportunities in Health through the lens of leadership development and be passionate and eager to engage in continuous learning and networking in the field.
• Dedicated to shaping the future of Health sector in Africa.

Reporting: This role reports to the Senior Director of Career Programs

Start Date: ASAP

Location: Strong preference for candidates based in Johannesburg. Exceptional remote candidates (based on the African continent) will be considered. Remote candidates will be expected to spend extended periods working from our campus in Johannesburg.

African Leadership Academy