Dear All,
A fascinating job posting has gone up from WHO and the full text is just below my signature. You have to work your way through the acronyms, but here’s the essence:
- Last summer, WHO created the Antimicrobial Resistance Multi-Partner Trust Fund (AMR-MPTF). Go here for the announcement.
- The Trust Fund is a 5-year project (through 2024) that provides a vehicle for donations to support countries and the implementation of the Tripartite’s AMR workplans. Particular goals are providing technical support to countries designing National Action Plans on AMR and scaling up local action.
- Context: the Tripartite is the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and the World Health Organization (WHO).
- The Netherlands kick-started the Trust Fund with $5m. There is a goal of raising $70m and it looks like the fund now has $7m after a donation by Sweden. Go here for a web page that shows funding — this web page also has some interesting text on Governance for the Fund.
So, now we have a call for a consultant to oversee the Fund. Here are key excerpts from the full posting:
- “A consultant is required to support the operationalization of the AMR MPTF …
- “The Coordinator will manage the first round of country and global proposal development, approval and disbursement, …
- “The Coordinator will be a member of the Tripartite Joint Secretariat …
- “He/she will be responsible for the coordination and day-to-day management of the Fund and will report to the WHO Tripartite Liaison officer, working closely with the Steering Committee, the Tripartite, and UNDP Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF Office) as Administrative Agent.”
Wow! This sounds like a great role for the right person. Could this be you? If you are interested, your CV and motivational letter are due to bersets@who.int by 17 March 2020.
All best wishes, –jr
John H. Rex, MD | Chief Medical Officer, F2G Ltd. | Operating Partner, Advent Life Sciences. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRex_NewAbx. See past newsletters and subscribe for the future: https://amr.solutions/blog/
Full posting as received today by email
Contract type: Consultancy
Application Deadline: 17th March 2020
Contact: Stéphanie Berset
Email address: bersets@who.int
Consultancy Reference: AMR/GCP/2020/#4
Purpose of the Consultancy: Support the establishment of the Antimicrobial Resistance Multi-Partner Trust Fund (AMR-MPTF).
Background: The Department of Global Coordination and Partnership on Antimicrobial Resistance (GCP) leads and coordinates the global One Health response to antimicrobial resistance through facilitating and managing strategic and innovative partnerships and providing secretariat services to global governance mechanisms on antimicrobial resistance in collaboration with the FAO, OIE and other UN and international agencies as well as Member States and partners including the civil society and private sector. The Department facilitates the implementation of the recommendations of the UN Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial resistance, strengthen evidence-based and coordinated response against antimicrobial resistance across the One Health spectrum in humans, animals, plants, food, feed and the environment through the development and implementation of global vision, goals and targets, political advocacy and engagement, and facilitating innovative partnerships and contributes towards the achievement of the SDGs. It also promotes synergy, set priorities and advocate to unblock bottlenecks for research and development for antimicrobial resistance across the One Health spectrum.
A consultant is required to support the operationalization of the AMR MPTF and ensure robust systems, practices, and ways of working are designed and clearly documented in the operational materials. The Coordinator will manage the first round of country and global proposal development, approval and disbursement, and ensure that robust systems are built for collaboration between the three organisations and the management of funds and results. The Coordinator will be a member of the Tripartite Joint Secretariat and will provide strategic, operational and administrative support to the Fund and its governance body, the AMR MPTF Steering Committee. He/she will be responsible for the coordination and day-to-day management of the Fund and will report to the WHO Tripartite Liaison officer, working closely with the Steering Committee, the Tripartite, and UNDP Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF Office) as Administrative Agent.
Work to be performed
- Manages the AMR MPTF, including the development and oversight of work planning systems and processes
- Establishes clear and transparent mechanisms to ensure prompt flow of funds.
- Develop systems to support the development of quality programming and results management of the Fund and project proposals, including facilitating linkages between the country teams and Tripartite substantive policy experts at regional and global level;
- Organizes the calls for proposals and convenes the necessary technical expertise to appraise such proposals;
- Develops systems to monitor the implementation of approved projects with support from and participating partner entities;
- Develops systems to Ensure the monitoring of operational risks and AMR MPTF performance;
- Drafts and implements fund monitoring and evaluation plan;
- Leads the finalization of the operating manual
- Liaises with the Administrative Agent (MPTFO) on fund administration issues
- Develop the template for annual narrative reports on Fund progress, in accordance with the agreed results framework and respective indicators, including on the activities of the Secretariat;
- Consolidates narrative reports and compiles country and Fund level baseline data for inclusion in the results framework, and facilitates annual progress reviews;
- Provide ad hoc reporting on fund activities and progress when required.
- Develops briefings to support directors in resource mobilization
- Provides logistical and operational support to the AMR MPTF Steering Committee
- Where necessary manage the virtual review of proposals by Steering Committee;
- Other duties as requested by the Joint Tripartite Secretariat and AMR MPTF Steering Committee.
Deliverables
- Systems established to monitor fund flows, results and risks for AMR-MPTF.
- Support to the operationalization of the first round of MPTF proposals at global and country level.
- Finalization of operational manual
- Templates developed for reporting
- Briefings as required
Requirements for qualifications and experiences
Educational Qualifications: Essential: Advanced university degree in international development, international relations, public administration, public policy, public health or other relevant social sciences is required.
WHO Competencies
o Communicating in a credible and effective way
o Producing results
o Ensuring effective use of resources
o Building and promoting partnerships across the organisation and beyond
o Moving forward in a changing environment
Experience required:
Essential: A minimum of 10 years’ experience in international development in a government, multilateral or civil society organization working in a multi-cultural setting, including at least two years outside one’s own country, is required.
Desirable:
- Experience in fund management (managing Multi-Donor Trust Funds or large-scale multi-stakeholder programmes including results-based management, risk management, finance and operations) and resource mobilization, and knowledge of financing for development is required.
- Understanding and experience in innovative financing, joint programming and partnerships, and country level joint UN work, will be significant assets.
Language requirements:
Essential: Fluency in English is required.
Desirable: Knowledge of other WHO official language would be an asset
Remuneration:
The remuneration will be based on a monthly fee which is in the range US$8000 – US$9400 depending on the selected consultant’s expertise and years of experience. This is an accordance with the WHO remuneration scales for international consultants. The final monthly fee will depend upon the selected consultant’s experience and expertise. Payments will be made following satisfactory completion of a set of deliverables. In line with WHO norms, payment will be made in instalments on satisfactory completion of a set of deliverables. A cost of living allowance of up to 3,000 CHF per month may also be available.
Place of assignment:
The place of assignment will be WHO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland
If you are interested to apply, please send your CV and motivational letter to bersets@who.int not later than 17 March 2020
Current funding opportunities:
- Open now through 16 Mar 2020: CC4CARB, NIAID’s call for applications to fund an innovative Chemistry Center for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (CC4CARB). Go here for details.
- Open now through 9 Apr 2020: NIAID Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) soliciting contract proposals for preclinical and clinical development of vaccines, therapeutic, and diagnostics for microbial pathogens. Go here for more.
- Dates for the 2020 funding rounds for Novo REPAIR Impact Fund will be announced May 2020. Go here for current details.
- 2020 funding rounds for CARB-X have not been announced.
Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community:
- 5 Mar 2020 (FDA, White Oak Campus, 8.30a-5.00p EST): FDA workshop entitled “Advancing Animal Models for Antibacterial Drug Development.” FR notice is here and registration is here. The workshop will be webcast.
- 12-13 Mar 2020 (Basel): BEAM-, Novo REPAIR-, CARB-X-, DZIF-, ND4BB-, ENABLE-supported (among a long list!) Conference on Novel Antimicrobials and AMR Diagnostics. Details are here, poster deadline is 12 Dec 2019.
- 16-17 Mar 2020 (London): BSAC Spring Conference entitled: “Bridging the gap between science, policy and effective antimicrobial use.” Go here for details.
- 20 Mar 2020 (Boston, MA): 7th annual BAARN (Boston Area Antimicrobial Resistance Network) Meeting. Chaired by Lawson Ung and Michael Gilmore, talks start at 9am and end with a reception at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Go here to register; you can also contact Lawson Ung (lawson_ung@meei.harvard.edu) for other inquiries.
- 26-30 Mar 2020 (Atlanta, GA): CDC- and SHEA-sponsored 6th International Conference on Healthcare Associated Infections. Go here for details.
- 30 Mar 2020 (everywhere): Deadline for applications for the Molecular Mycology pathogenesis course at Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole. Now in its 24th year, the hands-on residential course runs 17 July to 2 Aug and gets rave reviews. Go here for more.
- 9 Apr 2020 (everywhere): Final date for applications for NIAID/DMID call (link) for AMR-related vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.
- 17 Apr 2020 (Paris): Pre-ECCMID workshop entitled “Machine Learning for Clinical Microbiology”. Go here for details.
- 18-21 Apr 2020 (Paris): Annual ECCMID meeting (#30)
- 8 May 2020 (Silver Spring): FDA workshop entitled “Developing Antifungal Drugs for the Treatment of Coccidiodomycosis (Valley Fever) Infection.” Go here to register.
- 25-30 May 2020 (Rotterdam), Annual ESPID meeting (European Society for Pediatric ID, #38)
- 18-22 Jun 2020 (Chicago), ASM Microbe 2020. Go here for details.
- 27-28 Jun 2020 (Bryant University, Rhode Island): Drug Resistance Gordon Research Seminar entitled “Mechanisms and Approaches to Overcoming Drug Resistance in Cancer, Infectious Disease and Agriculture” for graduate students and postdoctoral scientists. Go here for details … this immediately precedes the GRC listed just next
- 28 Jun-3 Jul 2020 (Bryant University, Rhode Island): Gordon Research Conference (GRC) entitled “Strategies to Disrupt Drug Resistance in Infectious Disease, Cancer and Agriculture.” Go here for details.
- 2-7 Aug 2020 (Il Ciocco, Tuscany, Italy): Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Antibacterial Discovery and Development: “Now is the time to re-boot antibiotic R&D before it’s too little, too late.” Go here for details.
- September 2020. University of Sheffield (UK). Applications are being taken for a new 1-year (full-time) or 2-year (part-time) Masters of Science course in Antimicrobial Resistance. The program runs annually from September and covers microbiology, clinical practice and policy. The course webpage is here.
- 1-4 Sep 2020 (Dublin): Annual ASM-ESCMID Conference on Antibiotic Development #5! Mark your calendar now and go here for details.
- 9-10 Sep 2020 (Washington, DC): US PACCARB public meeting. Go here for details.
- 22-25 Sep 2020 (Albuquerque, New Mexico): Biannual meeting of the MSGERC (Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium). Save-the-date announcement is here, details to follow.
- 17-25 Oct 2020 (Annecy, France): Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance (ICARe). This is a soup-to-nuts residential course on antibiotics, antibiotic resistance, and antibiotic R&D. The course is very intense, very detailed, and gets rave reviews. The date is set for 2020 and the program will ultimately appear here. Registration is limited to 40 students and opens 15 Mar 2020.
- 10-13 Apr 2021 (Vienna): Annual ECCMID meeting (#31)
- 3-7 Jun 2021 (Anaheim), ASM Microbe 2021. Go here for details.