Technical Advisor, Maternal and Newborn Health, Emergency Referral Systems

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

 

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

 

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication, and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skill sets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with the majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

 

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

 

Program Overview

 

CHAI Zambia, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, is implementing the Emergency Referral Systems (ERS) program in the Copperbelt and Southern Provinces. The program will strengthen timely access to lifesaving maternal and newborn care by improving community referral activation, emergency transport, facility referral readiness and coordination, program monitoring, and the sustainable integration of ERS priorities into government systems. The full intervention package will be implemented in six high-burden districts, while targeted fleet maintenance, fuel support and policy technical assistance will extend across all 25 districts in the two provinces.

 

Position Overview

 

CHAI Zambia is seeking a Technical Advisor — Maternal and Newborn Health Emergency Referral Systems to provide overall technical and operational leadership for the program. Based in Lusaka, the Technical Advisor will lead day-to-day implementation; supervise the ERS team; ensure delivery against the approved program document, work plan, budget and donor requirements; and work with government and partners to institutionalize effective, equitable and sustainable maternal and newborn emergency referral and transport systems. Frequent travel to Copperbelt and Southern Provinces will be required.

 

The Technical Advisor will report to the Senior Program Manager, Health Systems Strengthening. The Technical Advisor will work closely with the local program teams, CHAI country and global teams doing similar work in other locations. The Technical Advisor will work closely with the Ministry of Health, Provincial and District Health Offices, GiveWell, IDinsight, implementing partners, suppliers and service providers, and other ERS stakeholders.

Responsibilities

Program leadership and management

• Provide overall technical, operational and strategic leadership for the ERS program and translate the approved program document, work plan and budget into clear team priorities, implementation plans, milestones, and accountabilities.
• Lead, supervise and mentor the ERS team; establish effective coordination between national and provincial staff; monitor performance; and ensure timely resolution or escalation of implementation bottlenecks.
• Manage day-to-day program implementation, including activity planning, sequencing, budget oversight, risk management, procurement coordination, documentation and reporting, in accordance with CHAI, Ministry of Health and donor requirements.
• Lead timely, accurate and high-quality programmatic and donor reporting; proactively communicate material implementation, safeguarding, fiduciary or operational risks; and maintain appropriate program, financial, procurement and asset records.

Stakeholder coordination and government engagement

• Lead program inception and biannual coordination meetings; represent CHAI in relevant national and subnational technical working groups; and oversee mapping and coordination of ERS partners to reduce duplication and strengthen collaboration.

Emergency referral and transport systems

• Provide technical oversight for mapping existing vehicles, referral pathways, facility obstetric and newborn care capacity, emergency transport availability, command centres, and communication systems across the program provinces.
• Oversee the procurement, allocation, deployment and equipping of ambulances and motorcycle ambulances, including communication tools, emergency and referral protocols, and non-pneumatic anti-shock garments, ensuring transparent, needs-based deployment and appropriate asset controls.
• Guide the development and implementation of district transport-management, maintenance, financing and refuelling arrangements for ambulances and motorcycle ambulances, including driver and rider training, rider stipends, district maintenance budgets and plans, and community income-generating activities supporting motorcycle-ambulance operations and maintenance.
• Provide technical leadership for strengthening referral decision-making, triage, pre-referral stabilization, documentation, escalation, pre-notification, feedback, and communication between communities, referring facilities, receiving facilities and district command centres.
• Oversee the development, adaptation, printing, dissemination and operationalisation of referral pathways, protocols, directories, tracking tools, registers, referral slips and community reporting forms, aligned with national guidance.

Capacity strengthening and community engagement

• Guide training-needs assessments and capacity-strengthening plans, and oversee training, mentorship and supportive supervision for healthcare workers, first responders, ambulance drivers, motorcycle-ambulance riders, Safe Motherhood Action Groups and community health workers.
• Provide oversight for community awareness, birth-preparedness, antenatal referral counselling, community dialogue and leadership-engagement activities that strengthen recognition of maternal and newborn danger signs and timely referral activation.

Monitoring, evaluation, learning and reporting

• Provide oversight of CHAI's rapid internal baseline assessment, including ethical compliance, stakeholder coordination, quality assurance and use of findings to refine program needs, training priorities and implementation plans.
• Oversee development and use of the program Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework, Project Monitoring Plan and performance dashboard; review progress against indicators and targets; and lead regular performance reviews and corrective-action follow-up with national, provincial and district stakeholders.
• Ensure routine review and strengthening of ERS, HMIS and Community Health Management Information System reporting; promote data quality, referral audits, two-way feedback and evidence-based decision-making across the program.
• Coordinate CHAI's engagement with IDinsight as the independent external evaluator, facilitate appropriate access to program information and stakeholders, protect confidentiality and data rights, and maintain a clear separation between CHAI's internal MEL responsibilities and independent evaluation functions.

Sustainability and institutionalization

• Lead sustainability and institutionalization efforts, including integration of ERS priorities into government pre-planning and Medium-Term Budget Planning processes, development of a costed transition plan, and technical assistance to strengthen relevant national policies, strategies, and reforms.

Perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in public health, health systems, health policy and management, business administration, or a closely related field.
• Minimum of seven years of relevant experience in public health program implementation, including at least three years leading multidisciplinary teams or complex health-system-strengthening programs.
• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing or strengthening maternal and newborn health, emergency referral, patient transport, or related health-service-delivery programs.
• Strong understanding of government-led health systems and experience working effectively with national and subnational health authorities in Zambia or a comparable setting.
• Strong program-management skills, including experience managing work plans, budgets, procurement processes, operational risks, donor deliverables and program reporting.
• Strong leadership, people-management and stakeholder-engagement skills, with the ability to build effective relationships across government, donors, partners, communities and service providers.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and communication skills, including the ability to interpret program data, identify implementation gaps and communicate clearly to diverse audiences.
• High level of integrity, commitment to CHAI's values, and willingness and ability to travel frequently within Zambia, particularly to Copperbelt and Southern Provinces.

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