Technical Advisor – Newborn and Child Health At Save the Children

The Opportunity

The U. S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN) and Office of Population and Reproductive Health (PRH) issued Round-5 under the Moving Integrated, Quality Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Family Planning and Reproductive Health (MNCH/FP/RH) Services1 to Scale (MOMENTUM) Annual Program Statement. Round-5 is focused on increasing the quality of health services to improve outcomes in maternal and child health, family planning, nutrition, WASH, and malaria prevention and treatment in Malawi.

The purpose of the USAID/Malawi MOMENTUM Activity is to support the Government of Malawi’s (GOM’s) efforts to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality through improved access and quality of health service delivery with particular focus on maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH); family planning/reproductive health (FP/RH); nutrition; water sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); and malaria prevention and treatment. We are seeking an experienced individual who has excellent organizational and technical skills, a team player, dedicated, hardworking, innovative, highly motivated and able to work in a high-pressure environment requiring multi-tasking abilities. S/he will provide technical guidance, supportive supervision, coaching and mentoring to technical officers, district MNCH coordinators, partners and other health care workers to increase accessibility and utilization of quality MNCH services at both facility and community level.

The NCH Technical Advisor will provide leadership in all newborn and child health-related technical areas. S/he will provide state-of-the-art technical inputs into the development of the content and implementation strategies in the MOMENTUM project to drive achievements for the child survival breakthrough. The role will lead strategy development, technical design and implementation of high-quality programmes that deliver change for communities and children. The role supports national level advocacy and influencing, while driving strategic partnerships. It supports the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems for NCH, evidence generation and knowledge management to demonstrate impact and contribute to learning across our programmes, teams and partners

The role will work closely with the MOMENTUM project teams and partners in the MOMENTUM consortium, building their capacity and ownership to ensure sustainability of the programs. The position will engage with the nutrition and malaria sectors supporting coordination mechanisms, as well as represent the organisation with key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Health, UN agencies, and key INGO / CSO through one on one engagement and TWG representation.

In order to be successful you will bring/have:

Qualifications

A recognized Masters’ degree in public health or health related disciplines (medical doctor, clinical officer or nurse with qualification in midwifery) or equivalent post-graduate qualification

Experience and Skills

• At least 7-10 years’ experience of working in Malawi in NCH in development settings.
• Understanding of the Health and Nutrition Thematic area in Malawi, and an understanding of the health priorities impacted on by the regional or neighbouring situation.
• Understanding of child, maternal and newborn health standards, guidelines and evidenced-based strategies.
• Familiar with Malawi health systems, and health service provision including community health and the engagement of civil society organisations.
• Demonstrated experience in training, and capacity strengthening of health and nutrition staff including supportive supervision and mentoring.
• Experience of the national context, strategies and policies to enable advocacy at national / regional level in order to hold duty bearers to account to realise children’s rights, including the right to health services
• Skilled at networking, representation and partnership development in order promote learning, strengthen civil society and mobilise resources.
• Able to generate and use data and evidence to innovate, deliver, learn and share what works and what doesn’t work for children.
• Experience of promoting quality and impact through at least one crosscutting area: gender equality and inclusion, adaptive and safer programming; child rights; disability; migration and displacement.
• Demonstrated program design, monitoring and evaluation skills, including designing pathways to sustainable impact at scale.

We offer a competitive package in the context of the sector. The role is open to Malawian nationals only.

This position is contingent upon award from USAID.

The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information:

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/careers

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.