Country: Liberia
Closing date: 31 Jul 2015
Chief Program Officer
ABOUT LAST MILE HEALTH
Founded by survivors of Liberia’s civil war, Last Mile Health (LMH) is committed to saving lives in the world’s most remote villages. Working in remote jungle communities cut off from even basic life-saving health services, LMH is building a health system that reaches everyone—by bringing health care to villagers’ doorsteps. We train community members to be health practitioners for their villages and then we connect them with rural health clinics to offer every person access to the care they deserve. These Community Health Workers are able to prevent, diagnose, and treat the top ten most life-threatening health conditions.
Over the past year, a historic outbreak of the Ebola virus has devastated Liberia and has tragically demonstrated that weak, inequitable health systems leave everybody vulnerable. LMH is working with the Government of Liberia and other partners to restore health services and rebuild the health system. The goal of this project is to deploy a comprehensive health system, starting with an ambitious expansion of community health workers to serve every remote community in Liberia, all the way to strong inpatient Ebola and tertiary care in regional hospitals. LMH will work with the Liberian government to sustain that system and ensure its successful expansion to the entire the country over the coming years.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Chief Program Officer is the senior executive responsible for leading the organization’s research, program design, and technical support function. The CPO oversees Last Mile Health’s program team to design solutions for remote health delivery that are scalable for the Liberian Ministry of Health. The CPO will be responsible for driving innovation in healthcare delivery by developing and evaluating conceptual frameworks, overseeing the program design process, leading the monitoring & evaluation of program operations for continuous quality improvement, and supporting Last Mile Health’s project and clinical teams in delivering programmatic solutions in the field and at the central MOH, with the goal of establishing an international standard for scalable remote health care delivery in resource poor settings.
Teams reporting to the CPO include the clinical and non-clinical (systems) design teams, the research and evaluation team, and the project support/technical advising team. The Chief Program Officer serves as part of the executive leadership of LMH, and is the senior expert on health systems design within the organization. The CPO assumes responsibility for Last Mile Health’s overall success in achieving health equity through a dramatic reduction in mortality and morbidity in the remote communities served by our project activities.
ESSENTIAL EXPECTATIONS:
Strategy Development
- The CPO leads the research and learning agenda for program design based on international best practices, feedback from the field and national-level priorities
- Sets benchmarks for achievement against key health indicators, with input from and accountability to LMH leadership
- Participates in the development of short-term and long-term organizational strategy for maximizing healthcare delivery to members of last mile communities
- Develops and oversees the programs team budget and work plan in line with team and organizational strategy
Design and Innovation
- Advances an ambitious agenda of providing essential healthcare services in remote areas by guiding program team in identification and prioritization of new innovations within a cohesive vision for remote health delivery
- Identifies new areas of growth based on fitness for the model and opportunities for learning
- Directly supervises the design team and aligns day-to-day design priorities with larger vision and strategy
Communicating Vision and Impact
- Promotes an agenda of research and dissemination, working closely with the evaluations and program design team to ensure work is capitalizing on opportunities for further learning and discovery
- Represents LMH’s programs to external stakeholders in writing, at speaking engagements, and during field visits
- Works with LMH leadership and communications team to effectively relay and respond to program successes, failures, and learning opportunities
REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS:
REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Country Director
DIRECTLY SUPERVISES: Deputy Program Director, Director of Program Quality, Frontline Health Systems Director, Medical Director, Director of Monitoring & Evaluation
WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Director of Health Systems Policy and Planning, Director of Implementation, Deputy Country Director
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
- MPH, DrPH, MD, PhD or equivalent preferred
- 10+ years experience of healthcare program development in developing countries
- Experience in development of rural healthcare and/or community health worker programming
- Significant program design experience
- Successful and proven negotiation, communication and organization skills.
- Generosity of spirit, sensitivity/diplomacy, and willingness to make sacrifices in service of the mission
- Willingness to travel into the field, spend occasional nights in rural communities with few amenities, and travel by motorbike for field supervision of FHWs required
- High level of initiative to innovate and lead in remote and resource-limited settings
- Commitment to health and social justice
- Excellent writing and communication skills, including across cultures and backgrounds
- Flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks at one time in time-sensitive manner
- Comfort working with a casual but high-performing team.
- High degree of English fluency required
SUCCESS FACTORS:
The successful CPO will provide effective and collaborative leadership to the LMH program team in the spirit of maximizing the impact of LMH’s programs on the health of the patients it serves. S/he will have high emotional intelligence, constructive mentoring skills, and will be excellent at both written and verbal communication. S/he will be committed to long-term program sustainability & the delivery of high-impact activities at the community level. Successful LMH team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and challenging environments, and
Commitment: 12-month commitment required, 24-month preferred
Location: Based in Monrovia, Liberia, with more than 50% of time at field sites. CPO can work in Boston up to 20% of the year.
Compensation: Salary commensurate with experience; housing, R&R, and medical benefits available
Apply: Applications accepted on a rolling basis via Last Mile Health website
How to apply: