Job Description
Post:
Programme Officer (maternity cover)
Responsible to:
Professor Bertie Squire
Contract:
Fixed Term from January to June 2016 (60% FTE)
Summary of role
The Programme Officer will play a key role in initiating and delivering the research activities
through which the Centre for Applied Health & Research Delivery (CAHRD) will deliver its
impact and further its vision for a healthy future for low and middle income populations. The
primary avenue for this will be the work conducted through the Health & Education Advice &
Resource Team (HEART). Working with HEART is exciting and unusual, providing a bridge
between academic experts and those working in donor agencies and government policy
departments. It offers experience in and exposure to development policy and research at the
highest level. It may be of particular interest to those considering a career in policy-based
research, development agencies, or non-governmental organisations. The HEART Team is
based in the various partner organisations of the Consortium but collaborate closely with each
other and with the staff of the organisations where they are based. HEART currently provides a
service to the Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank (WB).
One of the main services offered by HEART is the Helpdesk. DFID and WB advisory and
research staff can submit short research queries on any health, nutrition or education topic,
and Research Officers are responsible for delivering high quality, policy relevant responses
within very short timeframes. This involves quickly coming to grips with new subjects and
issues, understanding and clarifying client needs, consulting external experts, carrying out
internet and library searches and compiling clear, comprehensive responses. Longer topic
guides and literature reviews can also be commissioned by our clients on any subject within
the remit of the resource centre. The Programme Officer will also be required to respond to
consultancy requests by sourcing and managing relevant consultants.
The Programme Officer is accountable to their line manager at LSTM and the HEART
Knowledge Manager based at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and will work closely
with the Knowledge Services Team in implementing service aspects. The post involves
technical project management skills to manage all aspects of the Helpdesk enquiries, including
managing specialist input to queries as required. The Programme Officer is responsible for
editorial coordination, ensuring consistent quality across knowledge outputs.
The post requires strong research, coordination, prioritisation, project management and
communication skills. It also involves liaison with DFID advisers and other senior staff so an
assertive and diplomatic approach to relationship management is required. Enthusiasm about
the role of knowledge services in the development context is essential with some specialist
knowledge in health and/or education.
About CAHRD
CAHRD is a crosscutting research initiative at the heart of the LSTM Strategic Plan. It aims to
build on the significant strategic advantage that the existing LSTM expertise and the joint
LSTM-Warwick collaboration brings for innovative public health research. CAHRD works across
all LSTM’s Departments and Centre’s and also features a number of large research and delivery
consortia.
About HEART
HEART is a knowledge management resource centre responding to the information and
technical assistance needs of DFID’s human development (Health and Education) advisers and
providing
Technical
Assistance
Support
for
RBF
Implementation
(TASRI)
to World Bank Advisers. It provides a rapid response research service (Helpdesk), online
document library, topic guides, other knowledge support services and a consultancy service to
policy and research advisers directly, and shares resources with the wider public.
The current service is a continuation of the Human Development Resource Centre (HDRC) and
the former Health Resource Centre before that. HEART’s knowledge services component is led
by IDS, with input from the Universities of Liverpool (School of Tropical Medicine), Leeds
(Nuffield Centre) and Aberdeen (IPACT). The service is part of a consultancy framework led by
Oxford Policy Management (OPM). Other members of the consortium include CfBT, FHI360
and Health Research for Action (HERA). NICE International and HealthNet are also consortium
members of the TASRI contract.
Main duties and responsibilities
The responsibilities of the Programme Officer cover:
Research activities
 Keeping abreast of current research and clients’ evolving policies in the thematic areas
assigned
 Writing high quality, policy relevant responses within very short timeframes in response to
Helpdesk queries
 Writing web-based topic guides as assigned, and monitoring the website’s collection of
documents in these topic areas
 Writing synthesis papers and literature reviews to clients’ specifications, in collaboration
with other specialists
 Writing blogs summarising recent HEART work and key development issues
 Liaising with DFID Health and Education advisers and other staff and contributing to periodic
progress reports
Subject knowledge: Health (including Nutrition) and Education
 HEART requires researchers with a good general background in subject areas corresponding
to the technical competencies of DFID human development advisers
 Knowledge of results-based financing for health is particularly welcome for working with
World Bank advisers
Networking
 Responding to consultancy requests by sourcing and managing consultants internal and
external to LSTM
 Working with the rest of the HEART team to develop and adapt services to respond to the
changing needs of our clients
 Building and maintaining networks of expert contacts and relevant organisations in each
thematic area
 Promoting and publicising LSTM’s HEART research through seminars, blogs, newsletters,
websites and twitter.
 Coordinating and facilitating effective communication and teamwork among the institutions
involved in HEART
 Liaising with clients and with leading academics to ensure that coverage of topic areas is
comprehensive and suitably supports the needs of our clients and their partners
Funding
 To support IDS as the lead of the consortium in applying for future funding from DFID for the
next phase of Knowledge Service support, Beyond PEAKS
 To identify and respond to other funding opportunities
Other CAHRD activities
 Contributing to learning and reflection on the delivery of services across CAHRD and
externally
 Representing and promoting HEART and LSTM at external meetings and conferences where
appropriate
 Contributing to the strategic development of LSTM, and taking part in LSTM-wide
discussions and debates
 Carrying out other CAHRD-related tasks as required
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Programme Officer
Criteria
Education &
training
Experience
Skills & abilities
First degree in health related discipline
Essential /
Desirable
E
Postgraduate Degree related to health in an
international development context
D
Experience of working or research in a developing
or transition country
E
Experience of working in an
information/knowledge service, communications
or research role
E
Interest in, and understanding of, information
provision and knowledge management in an
international development context
D
Experience of commissioning and editing
information work relating to human development
D
Programme management experience within a
health intervention programme in a developing
country
E
Experience of working with international /non
government organisations and donors
D
Experience and understanding of grant and
consultancy contracts
D
Excellent analytical and synthesis skills
E
Excellent English writing and editing skills including
the ability to tailor material for different formats
(reports, web etc.) and communicate specialist
knowledge in non-technical language
E
Ability to assimilate complex research or other
relevant material and draw out key messages and
implications for policy and practice
E
Strong communication skills
E
Excellent organisational and management ability
E
Team player
E
Assertive and diplomatic approach to relationship
management
E
Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and
meet frequent strict deadlines
E
Assessment
Application
form
Application
form and
interview
Application
form,
assessment
and interview
Knowledge
Circumstances
Ability to prioritise, manage and deliver a range of
conflicting immediate and longer term priorities
E
Flexibility
E
Ability to plan and work on your own initiative,
taking responsibility for areas of work in a
proactive and independent manner
E
Attention to detail and pride in presentation
D
Negotiation skills and the ability to manage client
expectations
D
Proficiency at using the internet for research and a
good level of general computer literacy and the
ability to pick up new ICT tools.
Excellent knowledge and understanding of current
issues and debates in international development
E
Some specialist knowledge of health issues in
development likely to have been gained over two
or more years
E
Knowledge of current thinking and practice on
research communication and use of the internet as
a knowledge sharing tool
D
Familiarity of working with international donors
Fixed term from January to June 2016 (60% FTE)
Ability to travel to meetings within the UK and
occasionally overseas
E
Application
form and
interview
D