Program Director 579 views0 applications

Who we are

D-tree International is a mission-driven digital global health organization committed to transforming health systems and improving health outcomes in low and middle-income countries by integrating innovative, and cutting-edge digital technology solutions into health systems. For nearly 15 years, D-tree has been a pioneer in the field of digital health and has supported health workers serving over 5 million families in 16 countries globally. Program evaluations have demonstrated improved heath impact through D-tree’s digital programs, including 50% increase in facility delivery rates, four-fold increase in postpartum follow-up, 70% increase in contraceptive prevalence rates and 15-fold improvements in health worker performance. D-tree has been recognized with international awards in mobile health, including 2 Savings Lives at Birth Awards, 2 GSMA Global Mobile Awards and an Innovation Working Group award. We currently have active projects in Zanzibar, Mainland Tanzania, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zambia, and Thailand. At D-tree we maintain a lean headquarters team and put our local teams at the center of our work. We seek to empower local colleagues, including national staff, government, and partners to lead program strategy development and implementation.

Since 2011, D-tree has partnered with the Zanzibar Ministry of Health to implement an innovative digital health program supporting Community Health Volunteers to provide health services within their communities. This program has consistently demonstrated improved health outcomes, a strengthened community health system, and increased use of data for decision-making. Over time, this program has grown from a pilot to a national program and has demonstrated how digital technology can transform the quality of a health system. The Zanzibar government has committed to adopt this program at national scale; integrating digitally-enabled Community Health Volunteers into their formal Community Health Strategy and bringing high quality health services to the doorsteps of 1.5 million people living in Zanzibar. D-tree is working with the Ministry of Health and Local Government authorities to integrate digital health into their Community Health Strategy; co-design the content and flow of the digital system; identify and build the system with an open-source platform; integrate data systems with the national health information system; and develop scalable models for training, supervision, technical support and routine data use based on the local context and global best practices.

An important aspect of our work is ongoing government capacity building around operational implementation and technical system maintenance and management. We bring together partners engaged in various aspects of community and digital health to provide multi-disciplinary support to the government throughout their journey to scale. In the coming years, we will support full scale-up of the national community health program, continue to build the Government of Zanzibar’s capacity to manage and support technical and operational aspects of the program, and deepen our engagement in Zanzibar by further expanding digital health interventions within the Zanzibar health system.

Who you are

We are seeking a full time Program Director, based in Stone Town, Zanzibar, to manage D-tree’s Zanzibar portfolio, which is comprised of multiple funding streams supporting the Zanzibar government to develop, scale and institutionalize a national digital community health system. This is a dynamic and challenging role requiring an individual with experience fostering and developing strong and empowered multi-cultural teams, managing programs, engaging with a diverse group of stakeholders, and strategically leveraging resources to deepen impact.

You are someone who is just as comfortable empowering team members and creating a positive office environment as you are engaging in strategic conversations with the Ministry of Health and development partners. You have the ability to see the big picture, but also have an acute attention to detail. You are passionate about leading teams and have demonstrated your ability to develop leaders and create a positive, supportive environment in which all staff feel engaged, empowered and valued. You are a humble leader who aims to serve and support your team and you are able to balance an inclusive and empowering leadership approach, while ensuring high quality work outputs. You are a strong writer and enjoy writing program briefs, reports, and technical documents. You are a systems thinker and are excited to think strategically about the root cause of problems and then design programs with the government that address needs in a scalable and sustainable way. You enjoy developing partnerships with stakeholders, including government, local and international implementers, and potential donors, and finding opportunities for mutual benefit.

What you will do

You will be a key member of the D-tree team and an integral part of the Zanzibar office. Your main role will be to work with the Regional Program Director (based in the US) and team in Zanzibar to manage D-tree’s portfolio of programs and cultivate opportunities for longer-term funding. You will lead a team of 15-25 staff in Unguja and Pemba to support the Ministry of Health and Local Government authorities to implement Jamii ni Afya, Zanzibar’s national community health program, and continuously monitor and modify to meet program objectives and improve government ownership and integration. You will oversee programmatic, technical, human resources and administrative aspects of the team and offices. You will also actively explore and identify additional opportunities for D-tree in Zanzibar in order to expand our impact.

You will learn about the technology used in D-tree’s work so that you can collaborate with D-tree technology staff to plan modifications and expansion of our mobile applications and program dashboards. As a result of understanding the technology, you will be better able to communicate the potential of D-tree’s work to existing and future partners. While based in Zanzibar, you will be an integral part of D-tree’s global team and regularly communicate with colleagues based in other offices, both in mainland Tanzania and internationally.

Team Leadership

Lead the Zanzibar team by empowering local leaders; fostering a collaborative, inclusive and high-performing environment; and building capacity for long-term success.

• Directly supervise 4-6 staff and oversee all Zanzibar-based staff
• Empower mid-level staff to increasingly take on leadership roles, effectively supervise their teams, and own program outcomes
• Foster a positive, collaborative and effective environment in which all staff feel empowered, energized, supported and aligned with program and organizational goals
• Develop team building and professional development opportunities for all staff and engage in frequent feedback sessions to gauge staff satisfaction and identify areas for further improvement
• Support recruitment processes to interview, onboard and integrate new staff into the team

Program Management

• Actively engage in program management activities to ensure programs are implemented at the highest quality.
• Oversight of finance, administration, donor compliance for the Zanzibar office. Duties include:
  • Approve staff timesheets, advances and expenses for direct reports
  • Act as back-up for mobile money and bank payments for Zanzibar Program Manager
  • Ensure integrity of petty cash, mobile money account, and bank account together with Zanzibar Program Manager
  • Ensure compliance with D-tree and funder procedures and policies
• Oversee the management of grants across the Zanzibar portfolio, including general administration, information management, and budget monitoring and compliance for DFID, UN agencies and private funding sources
• Monitor and report on progress on all project objectives; ensure staff and partners are kept on track to achieve results
  • Develop presentations and lead communication with donors and partners for review meetings
  • Write work plans and annual reports for donors
  • In collaboration with the Zanzibar Government Advisor, develop and lead review meetings with the Ministry of Health and Local Government authorities
• Work with the Zanzibar Program Manager to develop and oversee implementation of mixed methods program evaluations, including development of tools, oversight of data collection, and analysis.

Program Development

• Work with the US-based global support team to design new projects and write proposals
• Working with the Zanzibar Government Advisor and senior Zanzibar team leads, identify key health system challenges in Zanzibar, prioritize health areas of focus to address in current or future programs, and develop strategies that apply or expand upon D-tree’s areas of expertise to tackle the problems.
  • Continuously learn about evolving health priorities and health systems challenges, partners’ current work to address these challenges, and identify gaps
  • Work with team to develop innovative approaches to address these issues. If possible and relevant to current program goals, pilot strategies within programs or seek funding to test ideas.
• Set and refine strategic direction of existing programs. Continuously refine program strategies, with a focus on health systems strengthening and building local capacity.
• Work with the Zanzibar team to develop and adjust project strategies and work plans to consistently achieve high quality results. Empower local team to lead program implementation, while maintaining detailed knowledge of day-to-day program implementation status and strategy in order to oversee quality, help the team prioritize workload, and achieve results on time and within budget.
• Develop monitoring, supervision, and evaluation frameworks

Strategic Partnership Building

• Foster effective working relationships with the Government at all levels; help to articulate a vision for the potential of digital health and garner commitment and excitement over expanding digital health systems in Zanzibar.
• Strategically engage with potential partners and/or funders and identify alignment between D-tree’s vision and donor and partner priorities to highlight new funding opportunities
• Lead communication with in-country partners on a regular basis and during review meetings. Maintain and advance D-tree’s reputation as an active and reliable health partner in Zanzibar by sharing plans and results regularly and employing a collaborative approach with other partners.
• Represent D-tree to senior government officials/personnel and with NGO partners, including the Zanzibar Development Partners Group
• Present project highlights and results at meetings and forums/conferences

What we are looking for

We are looking for a motivated, passionate individual who is willing to wear multiple hats and do what it takes to make our programs succeed. The following attributes are a general overview, but we will consider individuals who do not meet all of the details below if you have the right skillset and attitude.

Basic requirements

• Minimum 5 years’ work experience, including experience leading projects and teams
• Experience managing, motivating and mentoring a large, multi-cultural team and demonstrated success in cultivating a positive, empowering environment for all team members
• Minimum 2 years’ experience living in a developing country
• Master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g. public health, global development)
• Superior analytic skills; ability to think logically and rationally about problems
• Must be able to work independently, multi-task, collaborate with a distributed team, be persistent and work under tight deadlines with minimal supervision
• Strong quantitative skills with the ability to interpret data and measure impact
• Strong financial management and budgeting skills with experience overseeing program budgets, accurately forecast future periods and align program implementation plans with available funding while maintaining the highest integrity of resources and ensuring adherence to D-tree and donor policies and procedures Experience being accountable for program finance, administration and a varied donor compliance environment
• Experience collaborating with and/or consulting for government agencies—Ministry of Health preferred
• Experience integrating programs into government health systems and empowering the government to own and lead national programs preferred,
• Experience developing and implementing strategies to efficiently expand and scale programs, while maintaining program quality
• Excellent written and spoken English (required) and Swahili (preferred)
• Experience working with funding from a diverse set of donors, including USAID, DFID and UN Agencies (preferred)

Desired characteristics

• A positive team leader: You are a caring, collaborative leader with experience coaching and mentoring staff, gaining more satisfaction by empowering others than taking credit yourself.
• A can-do attitude: You remain optimistic in the face of adversity and creatively solve problems to get things done.
• A systems thinker: You are able to understand linkages and interactions between individual components in a health system, and design solutions to strengthen the overall system.
• An innovator: You enjoy thinking outside of the box and want to use that thinking to solve pressing global health problems.
• A detail oriented & strategic thinker: You pay attention to small details and focus on quality and consistency, but also have the ability to see the big picture and think strategically.