Senior Program Officer at Pathfinder International

Summary of Role:  

Pathfinder is currently seeking highly motivated applicants to serve as a Senior Program Officer for the USAID-funded MOMENTUM (Moving Integrated, Quality Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and Family Planning and Reproductive Health) Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) project. MIHR is led by IMA World Health, with Pathfinder International, African Christian Health Associations Platform (ACHAP), Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), GOAL USA FUND, and JSI Research and Training Institute. MIHR is a five-year global project working in fragile settings to strengthen quality maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH), voluntary family planning (FP), and reproductive health (RH) care and service delivery, to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality and morbidity and increase the health resilience of families, communities, and nation-states.

The Senior Program Officer will provide project management and technical support to Pathfinder-led MIHR country programs, as well as Pathfinder’s portfolio on the MIHR project more broadly. The Senior Program Officer will provide overall program management during the full project lifecycle by establishing or supporting sound project and program management practices to ensure successful outcomes. For the assigned countries, this individual must understand the country context, technical design, day-to-day implementation, and results of the program and be able to provide information on these at any given time. The Senior Program Officer is responsible for coordinating all consortium partners working on the assigned country program(s), manages the Country Support Team (CST) for those country program(s), and coordinates responses to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) questions and issues regarding the implementation of the program. The Senior Program Officer is in regular contact with the Chief of Party (COP) for each country supported, MIHR Country Support Lead (CSL) and other program and technical staff on the CST. The Senior Program Officer will also provide general programmatic and administrative support to Pathfinder for the implementation of the MIHR project.

This position is expected to contribute to the development and monitoring of project workplans, budgets and tracking of project spending. The Senior Program Officer will also work with a multi-disciplinary team and may serve as the Pathfinder spokesperson on behalf of the project to promote the project goals, achievements and strengths to key stakeholders. The Senior Program Officer will collaborate with other members of the project team to ensure that deliverables meet the needs of intended populations ensures that the project team draws on state-of-the-art knowledge and practices in the areas of family planning, reproductive health, gender, and youth.

This position is open to candidates from all countries listed in this posting; however, please note that the selected candidate will be part of a largely US-based team and will be expected to have some flexibility in terms of hours to align with team meetings and urgent deadlines, as needed.

Key Responsibilities:

Support Program Implementation: 

• Maintain regular communications with and provide continuous program and management support to the COPs for assigned country programs.
• Lead the development and coordination of country strategic and annual workplans, including country scoping/planning visits, mobilizing technical, program, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) and finance team staff and guiding their contributions.
• Monitor program implementation and completion of deliverables against approved workplans.
• Facilitate regular Country Support Team (CST) meetings and updates by Country Support Team and country team members.
• Coordinate/compile CST inputs to quarterly and annual narrative reports as well as other relevant technical reports.
• Prepare and facilitate country program review meetings at MIHR HQ.
• Identify key knowledge gaps and country team needs and coordinate with HQ teams, including Knowledge Management (KM) team, to address those needs.
• Collaborate with field teams to prepare routine technical and programmatic reports, including quarterly and semiannual reports, newsletters, websites and press releases.
• Ensure relevant MIHR key themes, innovations, and learning are included in workplans and applied in program implementation and that learning is documented and shared with MIHR HQ.
• Work collaboratively with Country Support Team technical advisors to ensure that technical assistance and short-term technical assistance (STTA) travel is coordinated and well-aligned with program needs and in compliance with established procedures.

Financial Management:

•  Keep Country Support Lead informed of funding or partner issues that cannot be resolved and work with her/him to resolve them. 
• Partner with the finance staff to develop, monitor, and analyse expenditures vs. budget and submit regular pipeline and accruals reports to the Prime.
• Ensure that project budget projections are accurate, and expenditures are properly tracked. Ensure relevant financial management guidelines are followed.
• Manage procurement process, serving as the point person for the country programs.

Knowledge Management:

• Coordinate with MERL and country teams to develop and submit performance management plans (PMP) and monitor program data to inform program performance against expected deliverables and targets, as outlined in the PMP.
• Support countries in knowledge sharing efforts, including adapting guidance, developing knowledge products using templates and other tools provided by the KM and communications teams, and sending knowledge products developed by country programs to the KM team for internal dissemination.
• Organize regular MIHR/HQ review and coordination meetings, as appropriate.

Staff Management:

• Monitor and support the recruitment process for MIHR field staff.
• Proactively troubleshoot problems as they arise, including those related to program implementation, human resources, management, finance, grants, partner coordination, etc.
• Work in close collaboration and mentor Program Coordinator (PC).

Technical Operations:

• Write assigned technical sections of proposals and project reports for donors.
• Review and provide content feedback on technical briefs, publications, and abstracts.
• Manage alignment of project work plans, including Monitoring and Evaluation plans, with project objectives and donor requirements.
• Provide technical support to country programs including support related to program implementation, human resources, management, finance, grants, partner coordination, etc.

Business Development:

• Contribute to Pathfinder’s proposals, as needed, including responses to competitive bids. Inputs into program designs, staffing plans, workplan and budget alignment, adherence to donor and RFA guidelines, as appropriate, and other tasks as assigned.
• Liaise with technical proposal team to ensure alignment between technical narrative and budget.

Required Education and Work Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in management, public health, business, marketing, social science or related discipline.
• 7 years’ experience in working in international development, preferably in implementing programs in developing countries.
• 7 years’ international non-profit experience
• Fluent in both French and English languages.
• Country Specific Public Health System: Basic understanding of the countries’ public health systems.
• Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Basic knowledge of contraception and reproductive health principles and rights, practices, and services, including program strategies and indicators, and the latest developments in the field.
• Program Operations and Development: Intermediate skills in implementing and managing global health program operations in the developing world.
• Proposal Development: Basic skills in project management-related tasks within proposal development from concept to full proposal.
• Operations and Financial Management: Basic knowledge of operations and financial management in developing countries.
• Presentation Skills: Ability to make presentations on results/products to diverse stakeholders.
• Community Relations: Intermediate skills in facilitating working relationships between project teams, donors, partners, government officials, and communities.

Preferred Competence and Work Experience:

• Experience with USAID-funded projects
• Experience in project design
• Experience living or working in developing countries that aids in understanding of program context, field realities, and technical needs.
• Master’s degree in management, public health, business, marketing, social science, or related discipline

Other Information: 

Technology to be Used:

• Uses cellular and office phone, laptop, or desktop computer.

Travel Requirements:

• Travel required (20% or less)