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 works with health experts, governments and community leaders to provide high-quality health care for their people. Jhpiego develops strategies to help countries care for themselves by training competent health care workers, strengthening health systems and improving delivery of care.

Jhpiego designs innovative, effective and low-cost health care solutions to ensure a level of care for women and their families. These practical, evidence-based interventions are breaking down barriers to high-quality health care for the world’s most vulnerable populations.

Summary:

•   The Sr. ECD Specialist will be responsible for technical leadership and oversight for USAID’s Maternal and Child Survival (MCSP) ECD program in Ghana.  This will include supporting the development and implementation of 0-3 ECD materials and interventions with an emphasis on training, piloting and scaling-up evidence based ECD models for young children in low resource settings in Ghana Working closely with staff on the in-country and global MCSP teams, the Sr. ECD Specialist is expected to adapt a global set of materials that are aligned and integrated into the training packages for government health and nutrition departments. The Sr. ECD Specialist will oversee field operations, ensuring that government CHPS staff support the implementation of the early childhood interventions for children 0-3. S/he shall ensure high quality deliverables, relevant and timely reporting, and shall participate and engage in technical meetings. Critical for success in this role is the ability to develop 0-3 programming technical materials, build government staff capacity through training workshops, ensure that monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are in place to improve and measure its direct impact, represent MCSP in national forums and share best practices regarding the program experiences in 0-3 programming. The Sr. ECD Specialist will also be responsible for coordinating reports to donors and partners and ensuring sustainability and impact of program activities within Ghana. This position will be hired by Jhpiego, one of two partners’ working on the MCSP Ghana ECD Program and will work very closely with headquarters staff from Save the Children as the overall technical lead on the program. This position will be based in Accra, Ghana with frequent travel to Upper West and Eastern Regions.

Duties and Responsibilities:
Planning and Implementation

Provide technical leadership for the design, planning and implementation of program activities such as material adaptation, trainings and supportive supervision visits:

•   Develop detailed implementation plan and schedule for adaptation of Ghana ECD learning materials, training workshops and related program activities
•   Conduct training workshops to build capacity of government staff on ECD materials with global ECD team.
•   Provide on-going mentoring and supervision to government staff implementing the ECD 0-3 intervention.
•   Facilitate feedback workshops with government staff to help document challenges and successes of program implementation.
•   In collaboration with ECD Program Officer and Finance staff, develop activity budget and follow proper procurement processes for the adaptation of materials, trainings and workshops and submit for activity advances
•   Monitor implementation progress, activity budgets and make revisions as needed to meet targets and objectives
•   Anticipate potential challenges and identify proactive measure to mitigate against them

Coordination, Networking and Representation

•   Establish and maintain productive relationships and linkages with key stakeholders including health institutions, government officials, NGOs and private sector
•   Represent Jhpiego and the project in meetings, workshops and events
•   Work with relevant stakeholders, partners, leadership and staff to ensure sustainability of ECD materials and activities

Record Keeping and Reporting

•   Document quarterly reports, review and update plans as needed and communicate changes
•   Ensure adequate and organized record keeping and timely, accurate and appropriate reporting of all project activities including plans, implementation progress, annual reports, workshops, and training
•   Collaborate with the program and M&E team members to ensure appropriate monitoring and evaluation of ECD activities
•   Share records with relevant stakeholders and supervisors as needed
•   Monitor performance against results framework
•   Collate and provide data for entry into JADE
•   Write reports per donor requirements and as needed or tasked including key issues, achievements, challenges and lessons learned
•   Write success stories and case studies and share to relevant audiences
•   Take photographs and get signed informed consent

Communication

Promote and support the dissemination of project information and experience sharing among the project team, country office and with other country, regional and headquarters-based staff
Communicate regularly with MCSP headquarters team (Jhpiego and Save the Children) regarding program implementation, technical and administrative/management issues

Qualification Required & Experience

•   Master’s degree in Education, International Development or related field
•   Minimum of 5-7 years of managing education, early childhood or community-based development projects with preferred expertise in areas such as 0-3 programming, community-based education,  parenting education,  educational materials development, educational management, and educational monitoring and information systems, particularly in Africa
•   Strong understanding of holistic child development approaches and the ways children learn and develop, including early-stimulation methodologies
•   Knowledge of Ghana health system and MOH and other Government of Ghana structures preferred
Experience in writing training manuals, organizing trainings, staff development, and teaching
•   Fluency in English required and knowledge of local languages is preferable.
•   Strong leadership skills, particularly mentoring skills
•   Solid communication and facilitation skills and ability to work independently with limited supervision.
•   Proficient in the use of computers for editing, formatting and branding documents
•   Ability to complete tasks in a timely manner and monitor progress on the project
•   Strong project management and organizational skills including ability to coordinate team meetings, update work plan and report on project progress.
•   Knowledge of qualitative research analysis including surveys, focus groups, interviews and analysis
•   Excellent collaboration skills with local, national, and civil society stakeholders
•   Ability to travel frequently within Ghana
•   Self-motivated, proactive and possess a positive attitude to work
•   Require minimum supervision
•   Be cooperative, hardworking, flexible & dependable
•   Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
•   Be of high integrity and have a sense of confidentiality

Location: Accra

How To Apply For The Job

Qualified persons are required to send their Curriculum Vitae (CV) and application letter to:

work2savelives@gmail.com  

Closing Date: 09 June, 2017

Please note that given the likely high volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Note:

•   All Jhpiego staff members, regardless of their level of responsibilities are expected to:
•   Model the Jhpiego mission and values
•   Participate in the business development process
•   Contribute to the knowledge sharing and transfer process
•   Make responsible decisions that result in time and cost containment and clear accountability
•   Participate in multiple teams, adopt team spirit, take responsibility for action items assigned and provide feedback as needed
•   Multitask, be able to manage competing priorities and be able to prioritize in order to meet program and/or organizational objectives
•   Jhpiego Corporation is an equal opportunities employer.