Country

Lesotho

City

Maseru

Type

Full Time

Program (Division)

Country Programs – Lesotho

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 in conjunction 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 skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with 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.

Talent is the fundamental driver of CHAI’s success in helping save lives and reduce the burden of disease. CHAI’s organizational values reflect its relentless endeavour of hiring, nurturing, empowering, and celebrating diverse and high-calibre individuals who come together to work as cohesive teams. CHAI places a high premium on providing its staff with an enabling environment that encourages entrepreneurship, humility, respect, equal share of voice and fosters high-impact innovation to address some of the most challenging healthcare issues. 

About the Program:

Although some progress has been made, Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Rates remain unacceptably high in Lesotho. The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) has decreased from 936 per 100,000 live births in 2006 (LPHC, 2006) to 618 per 100,000 in 2016 (LPHC, 2016) however, despite these gains, Lesotho is still far behind meeting its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 targets, with a lifetime risk of maternal death estimated at 1:32. Like the MMR, Lesotho’s Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) is also unacceptably high. According to UNICEF, the NMR was 36.4 per 1,000 live births in 2016, representing only a small reduction since the 1990s when the NMR was 40 per 1,000 live births (https://data.unicef.org/resources/levels-trends-child-mortality/) .

Recognizing that;

• There is a renewed government effort to revitalize maternal and newborn health service delivery, increasing partner commitment towards maternal and newborn birth challenges, the ensuring functioning coordination mechanisms becomes an imperative to sustain momentum.
• The Lesotho health system is decentralised to increase access to health services, including maternal and newborn health services; however maternal and newborn are not readily provided at all levels as the essential health care package. New policies and programs to strengthen emergency referral services, increase access to medical oxygen, improve critical care services are either in the pipeline or being implemented. There are opportunities for offering immediate lifesaving MNH commodities and services.
• An estimated 89% of deliveries occur in health facilities with 87% of them attended by a skilled birth attendant; of the 43 maternal deaths reported in 2022 alone, 59% of them died during the postnatal period and 16% during childbirth. The major causes of institutional maternal deaths for the period 2016 – 2020 are haemorrhage (antepartum + postpartum) – 35.6%, hypertensive disorders – 21.5%, and pregnancy related sepsis and miscarriages accounting for 12% of maternal deaths.
• Majority of newborn deaths reported in 2022 (61.8%) were stillbirths (42% of which were intrapartum/fresh stillbirths) while 33.6% of died within the first 7 days of life. Intrapartum asphyxia alone causes more than half (53%) of reported newborn deaths. Lifesaving MNH commodities and interventions are known and ensuring that these are available at all levels of care is important.
• Almost 70% of all abortions reported in 2022 were incomplete abortions; 26.4% of them occurring in adolescent and young girls aged between 15 and 24 years. Access to and use of effective medical abortion commodities can reduce preventable maternal deaths due to abortion.

CHAI – Lesotho in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other implementing partners, plans to contribution to implementation of national SRMNH priorities as defined in the national SRMNCAH plan and the accelerated plans for reduction preventable maternal and newborn mortality. The collaboration is aimed at strengthening coordination mechanisms to sustain momentum and catalysing efforts to strengthen quality of intrapartum care. By using local evidence of the SRMNH program and SRMNH commodities market analysis, an investment case for SRMNH commodities and services will be developed.

CHAI-Lesotho is seeking a highly qualified and motivated individual with strong program management experience as a Program Manager, Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal and Newborn Health (SRMNH). The Program Manager reports directly to the Senior Programs Manger and manages independent contractors recruited on the program. The Program Manager provides the day-to-day management on program implementation, ensures timely completion and reporting of program deliverables, and manages the review, analysis and interpretation of program impact results. The position will be based in Maseru but frequent travels to the districts will be required.

• Oversee the implementation of the SRMNH Project and other related SRMNH program work plans including program planning, budgeting, coordination, forecasting, monitoring and reporting.
• Develop and manage key relationships with government and implementing partners and other stakeholders at the national and sub national levels
• Work with Government and program partners to planning and implement;
  • Efforts to strengthen the national SRMNCH TWG
  • A national SRMNHCH program review process and market analysis exercise for key SRMNH commodities, leading to development of a national SRMNH investment case.
  • Strengthening of Maternal and Perinatal Deaths Surveillance and Reporting processes in 4 hospitals.
  • Capacity building of healthcare workers on intrapartum care, immediate postnatal care, management of prematurity and care for a small and sick newborn.
• Collaborate with government at national and sub-national levels throughout planning and implementation phases to ensure skills transfer and government ownership, and provide technical support as needed
• Work with Government and partners to conduct routine program data reviews and provide program progress updates and reports as required.
• Manage communication with management and ensuring monitoring, evaluation and reporting requirements of the program.
• Promote a culture of high performance and accountability for outcomes and ensure coordination with other teams in the CHAI country office
• Represent CHAI at policy and guidelines development forums at the national level.
• Identify strategic areas for expansion or redirection and guide strategic planning or proposal development as needed
• Develop strong working relationships with key stakeholders in government, international partners, donors and NGOs, and ensure coordination of resources and efforts
• Perform any other tasks assigned

• Minimum of Master’s degree in Public Health, Social Science, Business Management, or Public Administration
• At least 7 years of experience in a demanding result driven environment, including previous successful experience of providing technical assistance in public health policy and interventions delivery.
• First-hand experience in stakeholders’ coordination, program management or implementation preferably an SRMNH program or related public health technical assistance program.
• Strong experience in implementing in-service provider capacity building programs and healthcare quality improvement interventions is desired.
• High degree of understanding of SRMNH issues, an added advantage.
• Strong donor reporting and program documentation and communication skills
• Experience being a tenacious manager, role model and team player who demonstrates exceptionally high performance and harnesses the same from a diverse, talented and dynamic team
• Ability to manage short-term and independent contractors and ensuring high quality and timely deliverables from contractors.
• Strong experience in leading and managing in a fast-paced and changing environment, both internally and externally
• Strong experience in coordinating national technical working groups and teams working closely with government ministries, partners and other stakeholders.
• Ability to work effectively with different program partners and stakeholders to achieve collective program targets and goals
• Ability to navigate complex government processes with multiple influencers, and effective at negotiating and achieving consensus
• Ability to identify and manage program risks, proactively addressing or reporting issues before they affect program performance and donor relationships
• Demonstrated strong analytical, organizational, leadership, and problem solving skills
• Ability to make linkages between interventions/programs