Expertise France has developed the project named « Harnessing Effective Approaches on Leadership, coordination and Training – H.E.A.L.T.H. », aiming to strengthen the Ministry of Health coordination and oversight role at national level, the leadership, management, and governance skills at sub-national levels and improve quality of training offered in nursing and midwives’ schools in the three counties of Montserrado, Margibi, and Nimba. The project will complement the interventions package proposed by ACF Liberia and both EF and ACF will coordinate the implementation of their activities.

The following specific objectives will contribute to the achievement of the project goal:
– SO1: Strengthen the leadership, management, and governance (LMG) skills in health administration of 25 facility managers, six district managers and three CHO of Montserrado, Nimba and Margibi counties.
– SO2: Strengthen MOH national coordination and oversight role.
– SO3: Improve the quality of training in five pilot nursing and midwives’ schools in the three counties.

Objectives and tasks

The mission of the short term expertise is part of the implementation of specific objective 3: Improve the quality of training in five pilot nursing and midwives’ schools in the three counties.

General objectives of the mission are to:
– adapt/revise the 2019 training curriculum for midwives.
– pilot a capacity enhancement package of interventions in five nursing/midwives training institutions to improve the quality of pre-service training.

The Expert will have to implement the following tasks:

– Consultation and assessment:
o Conduct a training needs assessment (TNA) in the 5 selected training institutions (HR, curriculum, infrastructures, equipment, anatomic models, data, etc.)

– Update/revision of policy papers:
o Adapt/revise the 2019 training curriculum for midwives in close collaboration with the Liberia Board of Nursing and Midwifery.

– Training:
o Train faculty of nursing/midwives’ schools on the new curriculum and assessment tools as well as maintenance of simulation equipment.
o Train administrators on effective management of training institutions and teaching labs.

Additionally, the expert will:

o Work in close collaboration with the Project Manager and the Project Officer to implement activities and liaise with national stakeholders to contribute to project ownership
o Liaise closely with the Liberia Board of Nursing and Midwifery
o Liaise with ACF team to ensure the complementarity of activities
o Produce expected deliverables on time.

Expertise France (EF) is a public interministerial agency responsible for technical cooperation which provides project engineering and technical assistance worldwide. EF operates in various fields of development and institutional cooperation including safety and security reform, post-crisis/ stability, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs and governance. Carrying out large-scale, multi-stakeholder programs, EF supports cooperation between individuals, teams and institutions with very different statuses, cultures and specialties. EF has acquired a sound experience in administrative and financial management of large-scale international programs.

Between 2020 and 2022, Action Against Hunger (ACF) implemented an AFD-funded project in Liberia as part of the “Health in Common” (SEC) initiative which aimed to strengthen health systems across the counties of Montserrado, Margibi and Nimba. Based on this experience and the positive feedback from the MOH and CHOs, AFD will fund a new program implemented by ACF and Expertise France.

Qualifications and competences

• A degree in medicine, health sciences or political science with a specialization in health policy, with 6 years proven experience in health project management, including experience in Africa;
• Complementary university degrees desired: midwife diploma;
• In-depth knowledge of public health policies and the Liberia health system;
• Ability to design public health studies;
• Ability to solve complex problems;
• Ability to build trusting relationships with national and international partners;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills (drafting technical, strategic or project implementation activities, drafting briefing notes or articles), formulating positions and defending them before authorities;
• Very good level of office tools, including Excel and Word;
• Excellent written and oral English.

Professional experience

• Proven clinical experience;
• Proven experience in designing and developing educational programs;
• Knowledge of national and international standards for midwifery education and accreditation processes;
• Proven experience in facilitating meetings and discussions with relevant stakeholders including healthcare and education professionals, boards and partners involved in nursing and midwifery;
• Representation and institutional dialogue with authorities.