| Position | Technical Officer – Partnerships, to be seconded to Africa CDC |
| Place of Assignment | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| Salary Band | The position is assigned to GIZ Salary Band 4 which is equivalent to AU P2 |
| Initial Contract Period | 01 May 2026 – 31 December 2027 |
| Application Deadline | 15 March 2026 |
Background
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a global service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development dedicated to shaping a future worth living around the world. As a public-benefit federal enterprise, GIZ supports the German Government – in particular the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) – and many public and private sector clients in achieving their objectives in international cooperation in around 120 countries.
Since 2004, GIZ has been a reliable and trusted partner of the African Union (AU) to enhance inclusive growth and sustainable development on the African continent in line with the AU’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. With more than 250 staff, GIZ African Union cooperates with the AU Commission, as well as the AU’s specialised institutions and agencies, such as the Development Agency AUDA-NEPAD, at continental, regional and national level in more than 40 member states. Key areas of engagement include Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention, Governance, Sustainable Economic Growth, Health and Social Development, as well as Just Transition.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a specialized technical institution of the African Union established to support public health initiatives of Africa Union Member States (AU MS) and strengthen the capacity of their public health institutions to detect, prevent, control, and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats. Africa CDC supports AU Member States in providing coordinated and integrated solutions to the inadequacies in their public health infrastructure, human resource capacity, disease surveillance, laboratory diagnostics, and preparedness and response to health emergencies and disasters.
The “Strengthening One Health Coordination in Africa: Support to Africa CDC” is a jointly co-financed action of the European Union, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Agence française de Développement (AFD). The Action is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD). The part of the Action implemented by GIZ is part of the BMZ commissioned projects “Strengthening Crisis and Pandemic Response in Africa in the African Union” and “Global Programme for Pandemic Resilience, One Health (GP PROH)”.
The Action is part of and contributes to the Team Europe Initiative with Africa on Sustain-able Health Security using a One Health Approach (TEI HSOH) in the context of European Union and Team Europe and African Union engagements in health.
The Overall Objective of the Action is to strengthen health security in Africa through strengthening One Health surveillance and early warning surveillance of emerging threats from wildlife and livestock, and here specifically by strengthening Africa CDC’s institutional and operational capacities for the coordination of emerging zoonotic disease surveillance, prevention, preparedness and response.
In fulfilment of its mandate as the continental autonomous health agency of the African Union, Africa CDC recognizes effective partnership and grant management as a key function of its newly established Partnerships and International Cooperation Division. To this end, GIZ seeks to support Africa CDC with the recruitment of a Technical Officer – Partnerships to strengthen its institutional capacities for partnership management. Hence, GIZ invites applicants who are citizens of African Union Member States to apply for this position.
Core Tasks
In your role as the Technical Officer – Partnerships, you will participate in the overall effort of building and sustaining strategic partnerships aiming at advancing Africa CDC activities, including supporting the development and implementation of resource mobilization and partnership strategy and plan. Reporting to the Head of Partnership and Grant Management, this position will be responsible for supporting partnership engagements and health diplomacy activities under the Africa CDC External Relations and Strategic Engagements Directorate (ERSE). The role also involves building and maintaining effective relationships with member states, UN agencies, and other partners, to keep them informed on important, strategic operational Africa CDC issues.
Where appropriate and reasonable, you will perform further tasks assigned to you by your line manager outside the scope of the job description.
Main Activities
- Strategic Partnerships and Alliances
- Support the Policy and Health Diplomacy Division and the Northern Regional Coordinating Centre (RCC) in implementing policy and partnership-related activities
- Prepare and provide information for member states and other partners on the strategy, design, relevance and impact of programmes, to advocate the work of Africa CDC
- Identifying best practices and lessons learned directly linked to resource mobilization and partnership-building activities
- Perform any other related activities as requested by the supervisor
- Donor Engagement and Relationship Management
- Provide technical expertise on partner and member state engagement issues and manage outreach to relevant stakeholders
- Work with other relevant stakeholders to manage multi-country networking and opportunity identification
- Ensure on-going stakeholder engagement, especially the internal coordination of existing resource partners
- Meeting schedule and minutes with potential partners and donors
- Resource Mobilisation
- Support the resources mobilisation (including but not limited to financial) from private sector and other partners
- Undertake and keep continuous analysis of donor funding streams and priorities to formulate a donor pipeline and strategically target donors and partners for engagement
- Work closely with the Northern RCC and ERSE staff to identify funding gaps, prioritize fundraising needs and set fundraising targets
- Support the development of funding proposals as per action plan targets, concept notes as per action plan targets, background materials and content for donor and partnership outreach.
Day to day supervision will be from the Head of Partnerships and International Cooperation in Africa CDC with formal line management from GIZ.
Qualifications
a. Functional skills
- Building Relationship: Establishes a wide network of internal and external contacts that enables the individual to gather information and utilize the strengths and abilities of others to enhance organizational and personal performance.
- Foster Accountability Culture: Anticipates obstacles realistically and plans for contingencies – creates plans that factor in time for unexpected problems and uncertainties.
- Learning Orientation: Develops and monitors the implementation of learning and development plans for the team. Establishes mechanisms to facilitate and encourage knowledge sharing in own area.
- Communicating with Influence: Projects authority and credibility and makes impact. Communicates in a clear, to-the-point and convincing manner to inform or influence opinions of others. Presents the key points of the argument persuasively. Conceptual Thinking: Ability to make multiple casual links, analyses relationships among several parts of a problem or situation. Anticipates obstacles and thinks ahead about next steps.
- Job Knowledge and Information Sharing: Identifies opportunities, methods and approaches for delivering value through improved information management. Delivers relevant knowledge and information in most appropriate form.
- Drive for Result: Sets team goals and focuses work to meet goals that are a definite stretch, but not unrealistic or impossible. Delivers to specific goals and improves performance.
- Continuous Improvement Orientation: Improves performance by doing something that may be new and different in the organization, but not necessarily new to the public sector.
b. Personal Abilities
- A team player
- Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences.
- Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond.
- Good interpersonal skills.
- Ability to operate in a multicultural environment.
- High level of autonomy at work, yet with profound team spirit.
- Adaptive, patient, resilient and flexible.
- Ability to work harmoniously as a team member, adapt to diverse cultural and educational backgrounds and maintain a high standard of personal conduct.
Education and work experience requirements
- Master’s degree in public health, International Relations, Public Policy or related area, or a related field.
- 5 yearsof proven experience in partnership management or a related field, ideally in a public health, development, or international organization context.
Experience
- Experience in strategic planning, policy and advocacy, partnership engagement and emergency response
- Previous experience supporting Partnerships, international relations within AU Member States or other public sector projects and programs under government ministries and external donors.
- Good knowledge of the key functions, structures and dynamics of public health and partnership structuring in Africa.
- Experience in developing approaches for strengthening health partnership and policy systems in an AU Member States setting.
- Technical competence in national and international health programs or organisations, preferably in an African Institution.
Language
Applicants must be fluent in at least one of the African Union working languages (English, French, Arabic Portuguese, Spanish or Kiswahili). Proficiency in English is essential; knowledge of further African Union working languages would be an added advantage.