• Job Description

  Req#: req58248

  Before you start, please review the Temporary Transfer Assignment Guidelines on RescueNet to make sure you qualify to apply

  Title: TTA - Director, Health Policy & Communication

  Sector: Program Administration
  

  Location: Remote
  
  Start Date: June 16, 2025
  

  Duration: 3-5 Months
  
  Scope of work & objectives:

  Please Email an Updated CV to lior.miller@rescue.org and mesfinteklu.tessema@rescue.org. You must subject your email "TTA- Director, Health Policy & Communication”. This Opportunity is Intended for IRC Current Staff.

  The Director, Health Policy & Communication will work with the Senior Director for Health and the Global Practice Leads to sharpen and advance policy solutions in each of IRC’s health priority areas including but not limited to: nutrition, immunization, contraception, infectious disease prevention and control, last mile health and clean water. This includes particular focus on the IRC’s health-related Impact at Scale priorities (immunization, malnutrition, and contraception) and Program & Learn priorities (Last Mile PHC: prevention & treatment of PP hemorrhage and Infectious disease prevention & control). The Director, Health Policy and Communication will collaborate with Advocacy and Influence, Policy & Solutions, Airbel and External Relations colleagues on strategies to drive these solutions to market. The Director will support Health Unit led and high-impact strategic business development by providing excellent policy insights and solutions. The Director is responsible for leading the Health Unit’s signature policy, advocacy, and communications initiatives, such as IRC’s global immunization influence advocacy and malnutrition .

  The Director also provides 50% level of effort to the Gavi-funded Reaching Every Child in Humanitarian Settings (REACH) project for priority communications, policy and advocacy, with a focus on extending older vaccination of children in missed communities. As part of this role, the Director will use REACH learning and evidence to influence and shape practice and policy by effectively framing and disseminating project learnings. Support to REACH will involve close engagement with the REACH PMU and country teams, Gavi ZIP PMU, and Core Group.

  This role requires high level of personal initiative and the ability to lead multiple initiatives. The Director reports to the Senor Director, Health and will be part of the Health Extended Leadership Group. This role is an interim position while recruitment to hire a new Director, Health Policy, is finalized.

  The Directors’ specific responsibilities are as follows:

  • Support IRC’s thought leadership agenda on health through a combination of technical expertise, policy analysis, strategy and synthesis
  • Collaborate with Health Unit Global Practice Leads for each subsector and relevant colleagues from Airbel to develop evidence-based policy solutions and influence agendas that drive the translation of research to practice.
  • Collaborate with Airbel’s Senior Research Director on immunization advocacy sprint in the lead up to and post Gavi Pledging Summit on June 25. This includes managing the immunization sprint work plan and deliverables
  • Collaborate with senior colleagues in IRCs Policy & Solutions, Advocacy & Influence, and Communication teams and the President’s Office to provide input on global solutions from a health perspective and ensure coherence across global efforts and health specific efforts.
  • Lead the design, development, and delivery of products (e.g. talking points, posts, blogs) to advance and amplify health policy efforts and solutions. Provide insights, ideas and solutions from a health perspective to support IRC’s signature policy products.
  • Lead Health Unit-led strategic policy and advocacy business development, and donor relations, working closely with the interim Director of Program Development and Partnership, and the Grant Operations and Analytics Team
    • Oversee donor relations and strategic decision-making for HU-led advocacy grants such as ECF and Rockefeller grants. This includes finalizing and start of a new ECF award on wasting advocacy, treatment, and global policy positioning.
  • Lead and oversee the drafting of policy and communication material for placement in internal and external medium.
  • Oversee the production of the annual health unit report in collaboration with HU and CRRD Comms colleagues.
  • Under REACH, responsibilities include:
    • Ensure REACH communications, policy, advocacy, learning, and communications products (e.g. success stories and quarterly reports) are of high-quality and relevant to stakeholders.
    • Support REACH country-level advocacy efforts for allowing vaccination of older children in missed communities after the Big Catch-Up funding ends.
    • Conceptualize and oversee the development of learning and communications content to inform programming, advocacy, and training.
    • Incorporate and help synthesize broader learnings and evidence into REACH quarterly reports by directly working with the REACH PMU team.
    • On behalf of the PMU, lead HQ level REACH conversations and messaging, including in the engagement and coordination with the President’s Office and the Immunization Influence team.
    • Capture and elevate relevant learning from the REACH project to support the IRC’s immunization influence goal, ensuring a no surprises approach with Gavi.
    • Lead communication/engagement with CORE Group and the ZIP PMU regarding communication-related requests.
    • Ensure collaboration across HQ and PMU MEL, communications, and technical teams.
    • Provide MIP supervision to REACH Communications Officer.

  Requirements:

  Position Reports to: Senior Director, Health

  Position directly supervises: Nutrition Policy & Research Uptake Advisor

  Job Requirements:

  • Candidates must have the right to work in the IRC location.
  • The application deadline is June 2, 2025.

• About the company

  The International Rescue Committee is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization.

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