Technical Advisor, Evidence-Based Public Health Messaging and Community Engagement (EMCE), and BARMM Cluster Team Lead

ABOUT FHI 360:

FHI 360 is a nonprofit organization that mobilizes research, resources, and relationships so that people everywhere can access the opportunities they need to lead full, healthy lives. Our staff of more than 2,000 experts works in over 50 countries around the world.

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

The Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) project is a global health initiative funded by the U.S. Department of State, running from 2019 to 2027. In the Philippines, EpiC has two workplans, each with its own technical scope and budget, one focused on achieving HIV epidemic control, and one focused on strengthening global health security (GHS). The role outlined in this job description supports EpiC Philippines’ GHS workplan.

EpiC Philippines’ GHS workplan aims to strengthen national, subnational, and local capacities for the prevention, detection, and response to public health emergencies, including pandemic preparedness. Support is delivered across multiple technical areas, including Zoonotic Diseases, Biosafety and Biosecurity (BSBS), National Laboratory Systems, Surveillance, Public Health Emergency Management, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), and Evidence-Based Public Health Messaging and Community Engagement (EMCE). All activities and sub-activities under each technical area are aligned with and informed by national priorities and strategies, including the National Action Plan for Health Security (2025–2030), the National Framework of the Philippine Health Laboratory System (PHLS), and the National Laboratory Strategic Plan (NLSP) 2025–2030.

JOB SUMMARY:
The Technical Advisor, EMCE/ Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Cluster Team Lead will serve in a dual capacity.

First, as Technical Advisor for EMCE, s/he will provide project-wide technical leadership for the EMCE technical area. S/he will oversee the design, implementation, and quality assurance of EMCE activities across all EpiC Philippines GHS components and geographies—supporting the Department of Health (DOH), public health emergency operations center (PHEOC), regional health offices, and local partners to build fast, trusted, and community-anchored emergency communication systems that operate in lockstep with surveillance, laboratory, IPC, and emergency management functions.

Second, as BARMM Cluster Team Lead, s/he will coordinate the planning, implementation, and monitoring of the EpiC Philippines’ GHS portfolio in BARMM as a key geographical priority for the project’s interventions. In this role, they will provide overall cluster-level leadership and coordination for all technical areas implemented in the BARMM (surveillance, laboratories, BSBS, IPC, EMCE, emergency preparedness, and outbreak response), working closely with EpiC Philippines GHS technical leads and field operations teams (FOTs). The Cluster Team Lead role is primarily managerial and integrative—ensuring that BARMM implementation is coherent, context-appropriate, and aligned with national standards and the Nationwide Scale–Strategic Depth model.

The position is based in Manila with regular travel to BARMM and other project sites.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

A. EMCE Technical Leadership (Project-Wide)

• Provide overall technical leadership for EMCE across the EpiC Philippines’ GHS workplan, ensuring EMCE activities are evidence-based, operationally relevant, and fully integrated with surveillance, PHEOC operations, IPC, and outbreak response.

• Lead the design, refinement, and rollout of EMCE strategies, tools, and interventions, including national rapid-release communication templates, outbreak-specific messaging scripts, PHEOC-linked communication protocols, social listening and rumor-tracking systems, and community feedback mechanisms.

• Provide technical assistance to DOH, PHEOC, and other national agencies to institutionalize EMCE within incident command systems and emergency response workflows, ensuring activation of EMCE at the same time as surveillance alerts, FOT deployments, and facility surge plans.

• Oversee the localization of EMCE approaches in strategic geographies (e.g., border provinces, island municipalities, ports of entry, Tawi-Tawi, BARMM, and other key geographical priorities for the project’s interventions, including mapping of communication relays, identification of trusted messengers, and adaptation of messages to local languages and contexts.

• Provide technical guidance to EMCE-focused subawardees and communication partners, ensuring that their work is aligned with the EpiC Philippines GHS workplan, national guidance, and U.S. Government priorities.

• Promote the appropriate use of innovative approaches (such as artificial intelligence-assisted social listening, human-centered design, and infodemic management tools) and ensure that these generate actionable insights for outbreak management and public health emergency decision-making.

• Work closely with surveillance, laboratory, emergency preparedness, and IPC teams to ensure that EMCE content and timing reflect epidemiologic risk, laboratory findings, and facility readiness.

B. BARMM Strategic Depth Cluster Team Lead (Field Implementation and Integration)

• Serve as the overall cluster lead for EpiC Philippines GHS implementation in BARMM, providing management and coordination across all technical areas implemented in the region, while being based in Manila with regular field visits.

• Work closely with the EpiC Philippines’ BARMM Field Operations Officer to coordinate with project technical leads (surveillance, laboratory/diagnostics, BSBS, IPC, EMCE, emergency preparedness) to ensure that BARMM activities are coherent, sequenced, and mutually reinforcing, and that they align with national strategies and BARMM Ministry of Health MOH priorities.

• Support the BARMM Field Operations Officer in providing oversight to the planning, deployment, and performance of multi-disciplinary FOT assigned to BARMM, ensuring they are adequately supported, briefed, and connected to national technical backstopping.

• Facilitate, in coordination with the BARMM Field Operations Officer and other technical team leads, the cluster-level work planning, budgeting, and progress review for BARMM, consolidating inputs from the different technical specialists and ensuring that implementation is on track, risk-managed, and adaptive to emerging needs (e.g., outbreaks, emergencies, cyber incidents, or shocks).

• Ensure that lessons from BARMM implementation (including EMCE innovations, facility preparedness, community engagement, and surveillance improvements) are documented and fed back into national-level learning and replication strategies.

• Support the Technical Director and other technical advisors in risk management and operational troubleshooting for BARMM implementation (e.g., access constraints, security concerns, staffing challenges, or logistical bottlenecks), working in close coordination with FHI 360 security and operations teams.

C. Cross-Cutting Coordination, Knowledge Management, and Reporting

• Contribute to annual workplan development, reviews, and adaptation for EMCE and BARMM activities, including setting milestones, indicators, and implementation timelines in coordination with Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and Strategic Information (SI) teams.

• Work closely with the Technical Director/GHS and other key technical team leads and advisors to ensure that EMCE interventions are harmonized with activities in surveillance, laboratory systems, BSBS, IPC, and emergency management across all sites—not only BARMM.

• Produce or contribute to technical briefs, guidance notes, case studies, and progress reports on EMCE and BARMM cluster implementation for DOH, BARMM-MOH, U.S. Government, and other stakeholders.

• Represent EpiC Philippines in national and regional technical working groups, coordination fora, and partner meetings relevant to risk communication, community engagement, emergency management, or BARMM health security.

• Support capacity building and mentoring of project staff, partners, and government counterparts in both EMCE-related topics and integrated implementation at strategic depth sites.

• In coordination with the project’s Technical Director, supervise, mentor, and guide the Project Specialist for Grants in monitoring subaward agreements, including technical deliverables and contractual requirements.

• Provide day-to-day supervision, coaching and performance management for assigned staff, including setting clear expectations, reviewing workplans and deliverables and monitoring workload and performance

• Perform other duties as assigned by the Technical Director consistent with the scope and level of the position.

WORKING CONDITIONS AND TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:

• Usual office working conditions

• Ability to travel domestically at least 25%

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Epidemiology, Medicine, Public Health, Communication, Development or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.

• At least 9 years of progressively responsible national and/or international experience in public health, development, communication, health emergency and project management

• Previous experience with BARMM is preferred

The expected hiring salary range for this role is PHP 1,700,000 - 2,200,000 for annual  basic salary. When determining an offer amount, FHI 360 factors in multiple considerations, including but not limited to: relevant years of experience and education possessed by the applicant, internal equity, market pay,  and budget. For internal candidates, salary placement will also follow FHI 360’s current promotional increase guidelines.

This job posting summarizes the main duties of the job. It neither prescribes nor restricts the exact tasks that may be assigned to carry out these duties. This document should not be construed in any way to represent a contract of employment. Management reserves the right to review and revise this document at any time.

FHI 360 is an equal opportunity employer whereby we do not engage in practices that discriminate against any person employed or seeking employment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.

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