Senior Program Officer

Overview

The AFGHS project is funded by the U.S. Department of State (DoS) to support the delivery of lifesaving, comprehensive maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) and malaria services across Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. It aims to improve service and data quality, strengthen health-system integration and resilience, facilitate effective transition, and promote local ownership and accountability for sustained health outcomes.

 

Jhpiego works closely with the Ministries of Health in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, the Reproductive and Child Health Section (RCHS), the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme (ZAMEP), and Regional Administration and Local Government (RALG) structures to align implementation with national priorities and strengthen locally led implementation and oversight.

 

Position Summary

The Senior Program Officer (SPO) supports the day-to-day coordination and implementation of the AFGHS project across MNCH and malaria components, ensuring that technical, field, operational, and cross-cutting teams are effectively coordinated to deliver approved workplans, milestones, and results. Serving as a key link between the Project Management Team, Field Team Leaders, technical teams, government counterparts, and cross-cutting functions, the SPO tracks implementation progress, facilitates resolution of bottlenecks, and ensures that project needs are addressed through established organizational and government systems.

Working closely with the Senior Program Manager and Field Team Leaders, the SPO coordinates implementation planning, activity readiness, logistics, procurement, supply chain, fleet, administrative processes, documentation, and follow-up of key project actions. The SPO supports timely implementation in accordance with approved budgets, milestones, Department of State requirements, Jhpiego policies, and government priorities.

The SPO also supports project leadership to operationalize sustainability and transition across project implementation, working with field and technical teams to progressively institutionalize project-supported interventions within government plans, budgets, systems, and routine service delivery. The SPO supports government co-design and implementation, tracks agreed transition actions and milestones, identifies barriers to sustained implementation, and facilitates the progressive transfer of appropriate implementation, monitoring, quality improvement, and management functions to government and local structures while maintaining the quality and continuity of essential services.

 

 

This position will be closed on October 15, 2026.

 

Responsibilities

Program Implementation and Coordination

• Support the Senior Program Manager in coordinating day-to-day implementation of AFGHS activities across MNCH and malaria components.
• Coordinate with technical teams and Field Team Leaders to ensure activities are implemented according to approved workplans, budgets, timelines, and project milestones.
• Track implementation progress, deliverables, and action items and facilitate timely resolution of implementation bottlenecks.
• Support coordination across national and field teams to ensure consistent implementation and communication.
• Facilitate regular project implementation reviews and follow up on agreed actions.

Government Engagement, Sustainability and Transition

• Support technical and field teams to integrate project activities within government plans, systems, budgets, and routine service-delivery mechanisms.
• Facilitate government co-design, co-implementation, monitoring, and review of project-supported activities at national and subnational levels.
• Support implementation and tracking of agreed sustainability and transition actions and milestones, including the progressive transfer of appropriate functions and responsibilities to government structures.
• Work with project teams to identify institutional, operational, workforce, financing, and other barriers to sustained implementation and support development and follow-up of mitigation actions.
• Support engagement with local partners, CSOs, and government structures where these are used to strengthen locally led implementation and transition.
• Document transition progress, lessons learned, and adaptations to inform project management and scale-up.

Operational Readiness and Integration

• Coordinate operational and logistics requirements with implementation schedules to ensure timely readiness for project activities.
• Coordinate procurement, supplies, transportation, travel, venues, administrative support, and other implementation requirements with relevant cross-cutting teams.
• Identify operational risks and bottlenecks and facilitate timely resolution with responsible teams.
• Ensure operational systems and workflows effectively support field implementation and approved project priorities.

Procurement, Supply Chain, Assets and Stores

• Coordinate procurement requirements with technical, field, finance, and procurement teams in line with approved plans and procedures.
• Support timely procurement and distribution of project supplies, equipment, and commodities required for implementation.
• Oversee project asset, inventory, and stores management, ensuring appropriate tracking, reconciliation, documentation, and compliance.
• Coordinate with relevant teams to ensure procurement and supply-chain support is aligned with government systems and sustainability approaches where appropriate.

Fleet, Transport and Office Operations

• Working with Sr Operations Manager and Transport Officer, request project specific fleet needs, vehicle allocation, maintenance, fuel tracking, and transport planning to support project implementation.
• Ensure field teams have appropriate transport and operational support for planned activities.
• Support effective office operations and adherence to applicable safety, security, and operational procedures.

Coordination with Cross-Cutting Functions

• Serve as a key coordination link between AFGHS field teams, the Project Management Team, technical teams, and cross-cutting functions, including finance, grants, procurement, HR, IT, compliance, and administration.
• Track and follow up on actions requiring cross-functional support and escalate delays or bottlenecks as appropriate.
• Promote efficient communication and coordination between technical, programmatic, operational, and field teams.

Administration and Team Support

• Provide supervision, task assignment, coaching, and performance support to assigned administrative staff.
• Ensure timely completion of administrative processes, including travel documentation, meeting logistics, correspondence, filing, and other implementation support.
• Promote accountability, responsiveness, and consistent quality standards across administrative functions.

Knowledge Management, Documentation and Learning

• Maintain organized systems for project documentation, filing, version control, and record retention.
• Ensure appropriate documentation of implementation approaches, SOPs, decisions, adaptations, transition processes, and handovers.
• Support documentation of project and government meetings, action points, and follow-up.
• Maintain relevant project documentation and records in SharePoint and other approved systems.
• Support documentation and dissemination of implementation and transition lessons to inform adaptive management.

Performance Monitoring, Reporting and Compliance

• Support tracking of project activities and implementation progress against approved milestones and payment-linked deliverables, working with technical, MEL, finance, and field teams to identify gaps and support timely achievement and verification.
• Maintain accurate programmatic and operational records and contribute to routine project, management, donor, and government reporting.
• Ensure implementation is consistent with Jhpiego policies, Department of State requirements, approved project procedures, and applicable national guidelines.
• Support audit and compliance readiness through complete, accurate, and timely documentation and follow-up of internal controls.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in public health, Public Administration, Project Management or a related field.
• At least 5-6 years of progressive experience in management support, program coordination or project management in a donor-funded health program.
• Proven experience in partnership management and high-level stakeholder engagement.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex operational workflows and cross-functional communication.
• Strong documentation and writing skills, including reporting and technical writing.
• Excellent command of Microsoft Office applications, particularly SharePoint, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Fluency in English and Kiswahili, both written and spoken.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external customers those contacted during work.
• Planning and negotiation skills required
• Good level of computer literacy, conversant with all Microsoft products

 

 

 

Jhpiego offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive employee benefits package.

Please apply at www.jhpiego.org/careers

Applicants must submit a single document for upload to include cover letters, resume, and references.

For further information about Jhpiego, visit our website at www.jhpiego.org

                                                                                     

Note: The successful candidate selected for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation.

Jhpiego is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

 

Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, other legally protected characteristics or any other occupationally irrelevant criteria. Jhpiego promotes Affirmative Action for minorities, women, individuals who are disabled, and veterans.

 

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