Technical Director, Accra - Jhpiego

Jhpiego is an international, non-profit health organization affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University. For 40 years and in over 155 countries, Jhpiego has worked to prevent the needless deaths of women and their families.

Jhpiego Corporation in Ghana has been providing technical support to the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service for the past 40 years in a variety of technical areas including cervical cancer treatment and prevention, community health, HIV and AIDS, maternal and newborn health, health workforce capacity development (both pre-service and in-service), family planning, malaria, and IPC/WASH.

Job Description

As the leading global partner for the Momentum Country and Global Leadership program, MCGL is a five-year USAID funded global award that works with country governments and local non-governmental organizations to provide targeted technical and capacity development assistance.  

MCGL builds upon existing evidence and best practices and catalyzes innovations that enable government-led partnerships to deliver high-quality, evidence-based interventions that accelerate reductions in maternal, newborn, and child mortality and morbidity at scale.

The project also contributes to global technical leadership, learning, and USAID’s policy dialogue to achieve global maternal, newborn, and child health, voluntary family planning, and reproductive health (MNCH/FP/RH) goals by supporting globally endorsed initiatives, strategies, frameworks, guidelines, and action plans. 

The Technical Director will oversee the MCGL’s technical program vision, leadership and implementation. 

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide technical leadership for, and oversee the strategic planning of activities in support of the program goals and objectives, including the determination of program priorities, prioritization of technical assistance needs, development of realistic and effective action plans and appropriate technical initiatives for meeting those needs
• Ensure that approaches are technically sound and effective at impacting coverage and quality of maternal, newborn, child, nutrition and reproductive health services.

• Ensure that quality standards/quality improvement standards relating to service delivery are upheld at all times
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with all Jhpiego team members, the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ghana Health Service (GHS), as well as hospital and health department partners, professional organizations, other USAID implementing partners, and other key stakeholders in Ghana such as NGOs and CSOs, to ensure effective technical assistance and the smooth implementation of activities
• Ability to coordinate diverse stakeholders to assess and respond to persistent challenges within the health system in a comprehensive manner
• Advise counterparts on technical issues and participate in relevant advisory and/or technical working groups with counterparts and partner institutions in the development, adaptation and operationalization of national guidelines and policies
• Provide leadership in the design of RMNCH interventions, ensuring that interventions are technically sound, evidence-based, and are sustainable
• Represent Jhpiego in public and professional circles through meetings, conferences, and presentations
• Coordinate short-term technical assistance needs with Jhpiego headquarters program and technical staff
• Guide the analysis, synthesis and reporting of outputs and results in close collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation, Research and Learning Team.
• Mentor, support, supervise, and manage a team of highly qualified technical staff and align their efforts in concert with program goals to ensure rapid and sustainable results
• Work with finance and project staff to develop and track project budgets
• Work closely with Jhpiego & MCGL Ghana and Jhpiego & MCGL US-based staff to ensure effective, timely and coordinated project implementation
• Ensure technical compliance with USAID rules and regulations
• Support and strengthen the capacity of supervisees and team members to deliver quality clinical RMNCH and FP services.
• Support clinical training and supportive supervision of staff and counterparts as necessary
• Participate in design, adaptation, finalization and revision of national training packages and corresponding technical updates as necessary
• Ensure quality program implementation, including ensuring all program components are functioning (appropriate guidelines, supplies and materials, training programs, staff and consultants, etc.)
• Support and guide Jhpiego’s monitoring, evaluation and research activities 
• Write donor reports, work plans, strategic plans and other program-related documents in a timely manner and provide prompt feedback to donor requests for information

Required Skills or Experience

• Medical Doctor, Nurse or Midwife required; plus MPH or advanced degree preferred
• Ability to represent Jhpiego and USAID’s MCGL program at a high level

• Extensive (10+) years of experience working in Ghana in RMNCH and nutrition, with strong knowledge of and experience working in collaboration with MOH and GHS, international and local donor agencies and program implementing organizations (NGOs). 
• Knowledge of major RMNCH global best practices as well as the implementation of RMNCH programs in Ghana. 
• Demonstrated skills in collaborative engagement, program planning, knowledge management, facilitation, networking and communication.
• Excellent leadership, interpersonal and supervisory skills, inspiring teamwork and motivating staff and partners to achieve results
• Knowledge of USAID programs, regulations, compliance and reporting
• Skilled in research to practice—identifying best practices and adapting them to project realities
• Ability to work in a complex environment with multiple tasks, short deadlines and intense pressure to perform
• Experience working at the national level on health policy, technical guidelines and program implementation
• Experience working in integrated programming through the continuum of care from household through the community to hospital
• Excellent writing, data collection, analysis and reporting skills
• Excellent facilitation, oral and written communications skills
• Ability and willingness to travel around Ghana up to 30% of the time