Overview:
Country Director will provide vision, leadership and direction to ensure the strategic, programmatic, technical, and financial integrity of Jhpiego’s programs in Liberia. This position also serves as Chief of Party for one of the two Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) programs in Liberia – the Restoration of Health Services in Liberia Program. The Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) is a global, USAID Cooperative Agreement operating in 24 high priority countries to introduce and support high-impact health interventions with the ultimate goal of ending preventable child and maternal deaths within a generation. The Program is focused on ensuring that all women, newborns and children most in need have equitable access to quality health care services to save lives. USAID’s MCSP supports programming in maternal, newborn and child health, immunization, family planning and reproductive health, nutrition, health systems strengthening, water/sanitation/hygiene, malaria, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and pediatric HIV care and treatment.
The Country Director is the primary contact for all information and requests for technical and programmatic assistance for new or ongoing Jhpiego and MCSP activities in Liberia. This includes guiding the strategic planning, design and implementation of country programs and achievement of planned results and working closely with donors, stakeholders and international and local partners, including the Ministry of Health, to streamline efforts and ensure complementarity of projects. The Country Director is responsible for timely and cost-effective project implementation, compliance with Jhpiego policies and procedures and adherence to the program and technical standards of the organization.
Responsibilities:
- Provide leadership and strategic direction to ensure programmatic and financial integrity of Jhpiego’s efforts in Liberia
- Develop and revise, or update as needed, the Liberia Country Strategy
- Develop and maintain outstanding working relationships with donors and potential donors, MOH, national and international implementing partners, and others who can help in Jhpiego’s efforts to strengthen support to Liberia
- Ensure that all Jhpiego activities are in line with country priorities, and include substantial engagement of national partners, especially in support of Liberia’s national response to Ebola
- Engage regularly and early on with the Regional Director and Vice President of Global Programs on issues that could positively or negatively impact country operations
- Provide oversight of program activities, ensuring that the programs are technically sound, follow organizational standards and are responsive to the needs of the country
- Ensure the quality and sustainability of all program approaches; work with program staff, partners and funders to continually improve programs to address challenges and meet needs and ensure achievement of the goals, objectives and targets of each project
- Provide programmatic and/or technical leadership in the design, analysis, and synthesis of interventions
- Work with Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) staff to ensure M&E frameworks are developed and data/results are effectively tracked and appropriately reported
- Ensure preparations and timely submission of all programmatic and financial reports to Jhpiego and donors
- Ensure that ICR and external audit findings are corrected in a timely manner
- Ensure the program is working within available resources and that the program is fiscally sound
- Ensure country compliance with country laws, Jhpiego policies and donor rules and regulations as well as all contractual requirements
- Provide guidance, and take overall responsibility for ensuring accountability of subcontractors and sub-grantees
- Oversee finance and project staff to ensure that realistic budgets are developed and expenditures tracked
- Engage regularly and early on with HQ regarding any irregularities in financial management or compliance
- Mentor, support, supervise and manage a team of highly qualified staff and align their efforts to ensure rapid and sustainable results
- Conduct annual staff evaluations and support professional development for staff
- Align team members’ efforts to ensure rapid and sustainable results
- Revise staffing strategies to meet the changing needs of the country office
- Lead intensive efforts to develop new business/program opportunities; this will include identifying and developing opportunities; leading program design efforts; and identifying and coordinating proposal development teams
- Work closely with Jhpiego’s home office staff to ensure effective, timely and coordinated responses to new program opportunities
- Represent Jhpiego’s interests and present progress, achievements and lessons learned to donors and other key stakeholders in public and professional circles through meetings, conferences, and presentations
- Lead by example in communicating Jhpiego key messages to external audiences and complies with Jhpiego standards for submission of communication deliverables
- Designate a communications liaison who delivers at least 3 communications pieces (success stories, high profile events with stakeholders and photo assets) annually to ERCO for use in Jhpiego’s newsletter, corporate website and social media
- Build the capacity of staff to serve as Jhpiego public spokespersons on intervention areas
Required Qualifications:
- Advanced degree in public health, health administration, public administration, business administration or related degree
- 10+ years of progressively responsible international public health management experience including design, implementation, monitor, reporting, and financial management
- Demonstrated ability to manage donor funded public health projects and budgets
- Experience developing successful, replicable and sustainable projects in countries
- Proven leadership skills and expertise in strategic program planning, implementation and management
- Proven experience in leading highly skilled and qualified program, technical and administrative and finance personnel
- Ability to build capacity and collaboration between governmental and non-governmental partners and other project implementers
- Demonstrated experience working with large consortiums and across multiple partners
- Understanding of USG donor’s regulations and compliance, reporting requirements, and health strategic framework
- Fluent in written and spoken English
- Ability to communicate effectively, instilling trust and confidence
- Excellent interpersonal and written and oral presentation skills
- Ability to work in a complex environment charged with multiple tasks, short deadlines and intense pressure to perform
- Technical knowledge in one or more of Jhpiego’s core competencies
- A team player accustomed to building team capacity, delegating working teams, and developing communities of learning among host country partners and counterparts
Jhpiego offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive employee benefits package including: medical and dental plans; paid vacation, holidays and sick leave; personal accident insurance; 403(b) retirement plan; life and disability insurance; travel insurance; education assistance plan and more.
Note: The successful candidate selected for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation.