Helen Keller Intl
Job Announcement
Senior Program Officer (Saving Lives Phase 3)
Guided by the remarkable legacy of its co-founder, Helen Keller, Helen Keller Intl partners with communities that are striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty. By delivering the essential building blocks of good health, sound nutrition, and clear vision, we help millions of people create lasting change in their own lives. Working in 20 countries – across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States – and together with a global community of supporters, we ensure every person has the opportunity – as Helen did – to reach their true potential.
Helen Keller has been operating in Sierra Leone for nearly 20 years in support of the reproductive health, nutrition and Neglected Tropical Disease (NTDs) components of the National Health Development Plan of the Ministry of Health, as well as food security component of the Ministry of Agriculture. The organization is committed to generating evidence, carrying out robust research and a high input into research publications.
Helen Keller is recruiting for a Senior Program Officer for the FCDO funded Saving Lives in Sierra Leone Phase 3 program based in Freetown. The program aims to support the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) to deliver on improving maternal, child and reproductive health outcomes in country while strengthening health systems for a sustainable solution.
The Senior Program Officer will provide programmatic and program-related compliance and financial management oversight supporting to the program lead. Reporting to the Program Lead, the Senior Program Officer will work closely with the program, finance, and others in the office (as needed) to support the preparation of work plans, budgets, donor reports, success stories, and day-to-day monitoring and evaluation of program progress against set objectives. The position requires travel to program sites (Bombali & Moyamba) for the purpose of quality assurance, planning meetings, and trainings. The postholder will play a key role in ensuring that the Saving Lives III program is implemented to a high technical standard and is in full alignment with relevant national policies and protocols. S/he will be responsible for ensuring day to day oversight of project reporting and implementation of monitoring, evaluation and learning in addition to the procurement plan and harmonization of project activities and cross district learning.
Key Responsibilities
- Collaborate with consortium partners to monitor and share learning on all aspects of program delivery and maintain clear information flow from national to district level.
- Co-manage the two district delivery managers and ensure they are appropriately managing their districts activities and teams.
- Support district delivery managers to develop fully costed annual district RMNCAHN plans in collaboration with the district councils.
- Support the program lead to coordinate activities with other consortium members to meet the wider objectives of the program.
- Support the DDMs in the coordination of all RMNCAH partners/activities in the districts.
- Participate in supportive supervision in the operational districts, as and when needed.
- Support all assessments for the program by providing information and/or data as and when needed.
- Track budget versus actuals and ensure spending is meeting projections. Co-lead BvA meetings for the program.
- Responsible for drafting national reporting for internal, donor and GoSL compliance and coordination, as needed.
- Participate in budget revision exercises for the program, as needed.
- Develop activities-based budgets for each of the districts and support the DDMs to utilize these for day-to-day management of district specific implementation.
- Ensure adherence to the district level monitoring plan and timeline.
- Support the DDMs to ensure the project is implemented according to agreed district annual, quarterly, and monthly work plans and budgets; delivers against timeframes, output and outcome targets.
- Provide regular updates on project progress to the program lead highlighting any areas of variance/risk with suggested corrective actions.
- Promote cross learning across project districts.
People Management:
- The person might be given direct line management of the District Delivery Managers (DDMs) depending on the experience and seniority of the candidate.
- Ensure that the direct reports, if any, fully understands deliverables, which are expected of them, by setting SMART objectives.
- Ensure that the direct reports (if any) and their direct reports are aware of and comply with all of Helen Keller policies and procedures.
- Support the program coordinator by ensuring that work within the team (s) is planned and organized in a way which will meet the organizations and project’s needs in the most cost-effective manner possible; ensuring that team members are given appropriate workloads and are working efficiently.
- Routinely observe and monitor the co-facilitation of field activities to ensure they are carried out to the highest quality, providing critical and constructive feedback to the team.
- Budget oversight for districts.
- Provide support to monitor the project district operational support budget in the respective districts with DDMs under the guidance and coordination of the project lead.
- Ensure that the district resources are used effectively and transparently on prioritized RMNCAH activities.
Other responsibilities:
- Understand organizational safeguarding and gender policies.
- Promote accountability and ensure compliance with all Helen Keller Policies and code of conduct including but not limited to safeguarding considerations to ensure maximum protection of program participants and the efficient and transparent use of Helen Keller resources.
- Promote equality, especially gender, as a cross-cutting theme within the organization and across programs, in line with Helen Keller Policy.
- Represent, promote, and protect the reputation of Helen Keller in external settings, ensuring that the organization’s experience and expertise is well communicated and consistently presented, in a professional manner.
- Attend National level RMNCAHN meetings and other workshops, working groups, and coordination forums as required to ensure close coordination and collaboration as requested.
- Any other reasonable tasks as assigned by the program lead and the Public Health
Specialist.
Qualification and experience
- A bachelor’s degree in nutrition or public health, project management with public health experience/trainings
- At least 7 years of relevant field experience with managing staff
- Experience in planning and management of programs in Sierra Leone, including experience in implementing/managing RMNCAH programs.
- Able to work calmly and lead teams successfully in stressful/pressured environments,
- Demonstrated knowledge and/or experience of having worked with district health systems and District Sector offices especially DHMTs will be a big plus.
- Strong measurement, analytical and data skills including demonstrated experience in developing both quantitative and qualitative data collection tools.
- Strong computer and writing skills (in English) (World, Excel, PowerPoint).
- Ability to organize and plan effectively.
- Good budget and financial management skills
- Excellent skills in representation and communication
- Able to work independently, multi-task, and take initiative, but also able to delegate responsibilities, harness team efforts, and ask for help as needed.
To Apply:
Qualified candidates should submit a cover letter and an updated CV with three (3) referees to SierraLeone.Recruitment@hki.org. Closing date for the receipt of applications is on 26th July 2024. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
“Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply”.
In the spirit of our founder and namesake, Helen Keller is dedicated to building an inclusive workforce where diversity in all its forms is fully valued.
