Policy Engagement Coordinator

Position: Policy Engagement Coordinator
Department: Communications – OUCRU HCMC
Location: This post is based in OUCRU Ho Chi Minh. Occasional travel to OUCRU Hanoi will be required. Details can be given at interview.
Hours of work: Full time
Tenure: This is a 1 year contracted position, with possibility of extension.
Reporting to: Katrina Lawson, Communications Manager.
Vacancy: reference JD-0719-023

Background

The Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Vietnam (OUCRU) is a large-scale clinical and public health research unit based in Viet Nam. The main unit in Ho Chi Minh city was established in 1991 and is hosted by the Hospital of Tropical Diseases (HTD). The unit in Hanoi was established in 2006 to have a presence in the capital city to be able to develop a working relationship with policy- and decision makers in order for our research to impact public health policy. It is hosted by the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases (NHTD), with other offices at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and Hanoi Medical University.

As a Wellcome Trust Asia Africa Programme, we have received considerable support from the Wellcome Trust since our establishment.

OUCRU’s ten-year vision is to have local, regional and global impact on health by leading a locally-driven research programme on infectious diseases in Southeast Asia.
OUCRU has been awarded a Policy Engagement Pilot grant from Wellcome to continue and expand OUCRU’s policy engagement activities in a more systemic way. The aim of this project is to develop and pilot a system within OUCRU whereby projects are assessed for their potential policy impact; policy-making stakeholders’ interests’ are acknowledged and incorporated into project designs; and we have the infrastructure and expertise in place to support policy engagement, thereby ensuring that opportunities for policy impact are fully realized.

There are three components to the proposed project:

Component one: Strengthening our understanding of how policy engagement operates in Vietnam and within OUCRU. In this component, we will conduct an externally-focused policy mapping project to better understand how health policy decision-making occurs in Vietnam. Concurrently, we will undertake an internal policy engagement review to get a complete overview of all of our current policy engagement activities and identify key projects and themes for development in the policy engagement plan in Component two.
Component two: Implementing a pilot programme of systemic policy engagement. In this component we will develop a policy engagement plan that reflects the learnings and outcomes from part one. We will additionally establish a Policy Stakeholder Advisory Board (PSAB) to create opportunities for continuous stakeholder engagement beyond the life of this project.
Component three: Monitoring and evaluation. In this component we will develop a theory of change, and we will conduct evaluations of the policy engagement plan, and of the PSAB in line with that theory of change to inform the next steps.

Job summary and key tasks and responsibilities

You will be working on the internally-focused policy engagement review under Component one of the Policy Engagement Pilot, as well as supporting the activities in Components 2 and 3.

This will involve the following:

Conduct interviews with researchers at OUCRU to determine the total policy engagement effort that is taking place currently within the organisation.
Track and record known policy-related outputs among OUCRU work, creating a database of policy outputs.
Assist to identify key projects/themes for development as part of the pilot implementation (Component two).
Provide support for the PSAB, which will include providing information, reports and data collected from Component 1; as well as general administration and coordination activities.
Contributing to project monitoring and evaluation activities (Component three of the Policy Engagement Pilot);
Contributing to other aspects of the Policy Engagement Pilot award, as required.
Contributing to training and skills development workshops.

Benefits

Contracted salary: Negotiate (depending on actual experience and education).
Optional insurance: In-patient and out-patient medical coverage; Personal accident insurance coverage
Two months’ salary for annual bonus and clothes
Annual leave 18 days/year for the first year, a maximum of 30 days
Other responsibilities and benefits are based on Viet Nam Labor Law.

Selection criteria

Essential:

Excellent spoken and written Vietnamese and English, IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
Highly organized, experience creating filing systems and maintaining electronic databases
Advanced skills in Microsoft Word and Excel
Energetic and creative; open to new approaches and ideas
Ability to work with a high degree of autonomy, and yet be a team player
Willingness to perform other tasks requested

Highly desired:

Qualified in a social science or a Communications-related discipline, such as Anthropology, Sociology, Public Health or Public Policy.
Experience working with researchers.
Project management experience
Experience facilitating training sessions or workshops
Experience interviewing

How to apply

Interested qualified candidates are invited to send their detailed resume and cover letter in English, including copies of relevant degrees, certificates, either by email or by post to the following address:

Oxford University Clinical Research Unit
Hospital for Tropical Diseases
764 Vo Van Kiet, Ward 1, District 5, HCMC
Tel: (028) 3923 7954
Email: hr@oucru.org

The cover letter should detail: What part of your education, training or employment history has best equipped you for this position?