Capacity Strengthening Coordinator in Canary Wharf

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) prevents, prepares for and responds to infectious diseases, and environmental hazards, to keep all our communities safe, save lives and protect livelihoods. We provide scientific and operational leadership, working with local, national and international partners to protect the public’s health and build the nation’s health security capability.

Job overview: UK-PHRST are seeking a Capacity Strengthening Coordinator with experience of coordination and administration of capacity strengthening activities in a Public Health setting. This person will be responsible for supporting the Capacity Strengthening Team to coordinate, deliver and evaluate activities that build capacity for outbreak response, including the UK-PHRST deployment training. This person will need to possess proven experience of project coordination and arranging events for large numbers of participants, excellent organisational skills, and the ability to work closely with key stakeholders, external partners and 3rd party suppliers.

Working closely with the UK-PHRST Learning Design Manager and the Capacity Strengthening Team, the post holder will have responsibility for the coordination and administration of a range of training, learning and capacity strengthening activities in the UK and overseas for UK-PHRST staff and overseas partners, delivered both online and in person. This will include assessing needs, preparing and delivering training courses, and subsequently evaluating and reporting on training program effectiveness.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities:

• Support the UK-PHRST Capacity Strengthening Team in the coordination and delivery of specific projects within the UK-PHRST Capacity Strengthening programme.
• Coordinate the development and logistical delivery of a variety of capacity strengthening and exercise events designed to support increased capacity of UKPHRST staff and partners for outbreak response and develop health emergency response plans and those of multi-agency partners as appropriate.
• Develop and maintain criteria for the selection of training and exercise locations.
• Research, evaluate and contribute to an internal database of potential event locations.
• Lead on the identification of all requirements for events, ensure their delivery and provide facilities management capability prior to and for the duration of the course/event/exercise.
• Propagate all communications to course/event/exercise participants and other interested parties and manage participant responses to ensure as full engagement as possible and that appropriate evaluation data is collected.
• Write administrative presentations and material and assist/contribute to development of other course/event/exercise documentation.
• Research subject matter, including international, national and regional plans, policies and protocols relating to emergency/humanitarian situations, as relevant to specific courses/events/exercises.
• Assist in developing budgets for training and capacity strengthening activities in line with programme expectations, monitor expenses and produce monthly and quarterly reports.
• Ensure compliance with finance policies and procedures, taking prompt corrective action to address anomalies, inconsistencies or risks.
• Coordinate and assist in evaluating, report drafting, production and dissemination following each course/event/exercise.
• Support the project management of both face to face and online capacity strengthening activities.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of online learning activities including creation of online content and technical support during online events.

This list is not exhaustive.

Essential Criteria:

• Educated to degree in relevant subject e.g Business Administration, Public Health, Human Resources, Development studies, International Relations, Education, Geography and Environmental Studies, Sociology and Anthropology, Psychology, Human Rights, Communications. Or equivalent substantial experience in a similar role.
• Experience of arranging events for large numbers of participants.
• Experience of communicating with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience of dealing with 3rd party suppliers.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel and Access to an intermediate level.
• Knowledge of finance systems, e.g. budget monitoring management, processing invoices and procurement.
• Effective communicator with excellent writing, report writing and presentation skills; capable of constructing and delivering clear ideas and concepts concisely and accurately for diverse audiences.
• Ability to work on own initiative and organise own workload without supervision, working to tight and often changing timelines.

Desirable Criteria:

• Business or management qualification.
• Understanding of global health issues, including the health challenges of LMICs and the international health architecture.
• Experience in training, organisational development and programme implementation.
• Experience of successfully operating in a politically sensitive environment.
• Ability to make decisions on difficult and contentious issues where there may be a number of courses of action.

Location: This role is being offered as hybrid working based at our Core HQ in Canary Wharf. We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce.

Security Clearance Level Requirement: Successful candidates must pass a basic disclosure and barring security check before they can be appointed. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Personnel Security Standard.

Benefits of working at UKHSA include:

• Generous annual leave: -26 days for the first 5 years of continuous service -28 days after 5 years of continuous service -32 days after 10 years of continuous service -Plus public holidays and one privilege day for the King’s birthday.
• Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions.
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving.
• Access to a retail discounts and cashback site.
• We also promote flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours).
• We also offer a generous maternity/ paternity and adoption leave package.