Programme Director

About The Role

The Programme Director will lead the shaping and execution of Amref’s Learning for Life (L4L): Building a Resilient and Responsive Health Workforce in Africa programme which sits within the Institute of Capacity Development (ICD). This is a 4-year programme in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation that will be implemented in Kenya, Senegal and Zambia during this first phase. The estimated ratio of health workers per population in Africa is 11.2 workers per 10,000 people, far below the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended ratio of 44.5. It is estimated that the global shortage of health workers will increase from 12 to 18 million by 2030 – which translates to a shortage of six million health workers. Africa also has the world’s fastest growing population, which presents governments and policy makers with both opportunities and challenges to ensure sufficient livelihood opportunities for its young population. To address these challenges and accelerate the current Universal Health Coverage (UHC) gains, Amref is implementing this innovative, multi-country, multimillion dollar programme with the ultimate aim of contributing to increased and sustainable job creation within primary health care (PHC) sectors across Africa.

Reporting to ICD’s Director of Programmes, the Programme Director will provide overall strategic and leadership support for effective programme delivery and sustainable impact, ensuring that the commitments made in the grant are attained and surpassed in line with the organisation’s strategy and goals. The job holder will be a member of ICD’s Senior Management Team (SMT).

About You

You are a people person that understands the importance and power of building strong relationships to drive a common and ambitious goal. You inspire cross cultural teams that are either direct or indirect reports, or partners, towards a common mission and goal, driving them to deliver impactful results.

You are strategic and innovative and you are able to connect dots and communicate clearly with a diverse range of audiences. You are a problem solver, looking at each challenge as an opportunity to find innovation in the way of doing things. You are highly organised and have great attention to detail. You are committed to achieving stellar results and success, and can delegate responsibility to an empowered team. However, you not afraid to get your hands dirty and get involved when needed.

Stakeholder and partner engagement and management are skill sets that you pride yourself in. You thrive under pressure, can prioritise, are resilient and have a high level of EQ. You are a great communicator and a leader that can inspire your team. You are confident, and can communicate directions and solutions clearly to both technical and non-technical staff. You’re a team player, who’s pragmatic and driven, and ultimately has a passion to deliver impact!

Principal Responsibilities
Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership to the programme, acrticulating a clear vision, and fostering confidence and team spirit among programme staff and partners.
• Actively participate in and/or lead the programme’s governance structures, including the
• Steering Committee and the Programme Implementation Team (PIT), ensuring effective decision-making and implementation.
• Actively participate in ICD’s Senior Management Team (SMT), and adhere to the duties enshrined therein.
• Steward strategic partnerships and relationships.

Programme Management

•  Oversee and manage the design, development, and timely programme execution, including setting annual budgets, goals and targets
• Provide quality assurance and technical oversight to the implementing teams to foster continuous improvement in quality, programmatic and financial performance.
• Ensure programme operational tools such as programme charter, M&E frameworks, budgets, and work plans are in place for effective implementation.
• Embed data-driven, adaptive implementation approaches to sustain relevance and facilitate continuous improvement and timely course correction.
• Ensure programme alignment with the funder and Amref’s corporate strategies, policies, operational guidelines, and protocols, as applicable.

Talent Management

• Foster the development of the programme team, line manage direct reports, and build a culture of high performance and resilience in line with Amref’s values of ubuntu, integrity and quality.
• Identify staff development needs and provide coaching and mentorship, as well as link to training and development opportunities, to spur performance.
• Support the building of cross-country and cross-entity effectiveness and efficiencies, making strong operational and strategic linkages for the programme in the organisation.

Evidence and Learning

• Drive the programme’s learning agenda, including documentation of promising practices.
• Provide oversight for all donor reports, evaluation reports, and other reports emanating from the programme to ensure timeliness and quality.
• Effectively manage the generation and dissemination of strategic information to staff, partners and stakeholders.
• Establish a conducive environment for learning across the programme’s implementing countries and entities.
• Provide thought leadership to advance the health and livelihoods agenda in the region and beyond.

Partnership Management, Advocacy and Networking

• Provide leadership in identifying relevant policy issues and support policy advocacy actions and processes.
• Contribute to and facilitate team participation in relevant external technical working groups and committees to inform the health and livelihoods agenda in the region
• Manage internal and external relations with public and private sector players, including funding partners, implementing partners, and collaborators that are stakeholders in the programme.

Business Development:

• Cultivate, maintain and deepen relationships with the funding partner, and partner entities to facilitate programme growth
• Work closely with the corporate and ICD’s business development team to identify, pursue and secure funding opportunities for leverage and extension of the programme.

Education, Skills And Experience
Education and Experience

• Masters and professional qualification in relevant areas such as business administration, public health, international development.
• Bachelor’s degree required

Skills and Competencies:

• 8+ years’ experience implementing complex multi-country programmes, preferably in the health and/or international development sector, with 3+ years in a senior leadership role.
• Demonstrable strategic thinking skills with the ability to rally people and teams behind ambitious goals
•  Strong proven partnership building and networking skills
• Ability to inspire, motivate and guide a diverse and geographically dispersed team of technical and non-technical people who are direct or indirect reports.
• Experience using data and evidence to drive programme performance and sustainable impact.
• Demonstrable success in creating clear and compelling programme strategies that internal nd external stakeholders
• Solid track record and achievement in overseeing large scale multi-year, multi-country grants.
• Excellent communication and public speaking skills
• Candidates with both English and French language capabilities will have an added advantage