Advocacy Officer Medicines Patent Pool

The Medicines Patent Pool (“the Pool”) is a voluntary licensing mechanism established in 2010 to improve the health of people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries.

The Pool’s vision is to increase access to appropriate, affordable HIV medicines in developing countries. Its mission is to bring down the prices of HIV medicines and facilitate the development and production of formulations suitable for use in developing countries, such as medicines for children, by providing access to patents needed to make the medicines. The Pool does this by negotiating with patent holders to share their intellectual property with the Pool, and then licensing to generic manufacturers to facilitate the production of low-cost HIV medicines and the development of adapted formulations.

The Pool is an independent foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland, established with the support of UNITAID. UNITAID is an innovative financing mechanism whose mission is to contribute to scaling up access to treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in low- and middle-income countries.

For more information, please see our website, www.medicinespatentpool.org

MAIN DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Responsibilities include:

• Developing and maintaining relations with external stakeholders, including governments, inter-governmental organisations and civil society institutions;
• Establishing strategic/technical collaborations with key institutions in the fields of HIV and intellectual property;
• Organising consultations with communities of people living with HIV and other interested stakeholders, for example at major international and regional AIDS conferences;
• Monitoring and interacting with key policy processes that are relevant to the work of the Pool;
• Preparing outreach/advocacy material;
• Developing, administering and analysing surveys and other feedback mechanisms to receive input from various external stakeholders on the work of the Pool;
• Representing the Medicines Patent Pool at various public events;
• Performing other duties as assigned by the Policy Advisor or the Executive Director

KNOWLEDGE/QUALIFICATIONS:

The Advocacy Officer should have:

• Strong knowledge of access to medicines issues in developing countries, preferably in the field of HIV;
• Good understanding of intellectual property rights and their interface with public health, innovation and access to medicines;
• Excellent advocacy and communication skills;
• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• Ability to speak in public

PERSONAL QUALITIES:

• Organised, autonomous and able to work with short timelines;
• Collaborative and supportive approach to teamwork;
• Sensitivity to different cultures and work styles;
• Demonstrable personal commitment to the goals of the Medicines Patent Pool.

EDUCATION AND SPECIAL TRAINING:

University degree in law or the social sciences

EXPERIENCE:

At least five years experience doing advocacy/policy work on issues relating to intellectual property and access to medicines, preferably in developing countries.

LANGUAGES:

Fluency in English is required. Oral and written proficiency in other languages is strongly preferred.

Women and candidates from developing countries are encouraged to apply.

When applying for the position, please indicate whether you currently have Swiss employment authorization.

Please send a cover letter and C.V. to recruitment@medicinespatentpool.org by 20 April 2012.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.