Community-Based Maternal & Neonatal Care Lead

Job Description

This position can be fully remote in all US IRC locations. The IRC’s Airbel Impact Lab designs, tests, and scales life-changing, cost-effective solutions for people affected by conflict and disaster. By applying the IRC’s deep technical expertise and field experience with a range of skills from the behavioral sciences, human-centered design, rigorous research, and multi-disciplinary problem-solving in humanitarian contexts, we work to develop breakthrough solutions that combine creativity and rigor, openness and expertise, and a desire to think afresh with the experience of a large-scale implementing organization.

Job Overview: In today’s reality, where hundreds of people are impacted by disaster and conflict, there is an urgent need to invest in uninterrupted, life-saving sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn health care. The International Rescue Committee and the Airbel Impact Lab is helping to lead the global humanitarian community in rethinking how we can reach more women and girls with simple, cost-effective, proven solutions. To generate these solutions, we are focused on three core pillars: 1) Strengthening community health systems for delivery of essential maternal and newborn care; 2) Developing self-care models that increase safe abortion choices and contraceptive options; and 3) Advocating for supportive changes in national and global policy.

A major focus area of this work is community-based maternal and newborn care (CBMNC). The CBMNC Lead will be accountable for achieving the vision and goal of a currently ~3 year workplan of CBMNC projects in two countries (Somalia, South Sudan), with potential to expand into other locations. The projects aim to effectively design, implement, and evaluate multi-year CBMNC programs. The lead will also be tasked to explore new innovations and ideas of how services can be delivered in areas where facility-based services are sparse. The projects involve multiple internal and external teams working on different components of those aims, working toward the shared goal of reducing maternal and newborn deaths in areas with the highest mortality rates in the world.

Major Responsibilities

• Develop and drive the vision and strategy of the CBMNC portfolio of projects, including stewarding the overall vision and clearly defining the role each project plays in the larger portfolio.

• Lead discussions on next steps of the larger portfolio as projects/sub-projects complete and lead resourcing for new areas of work.

• Be responsible for successful end-to-end delivery of projects and developing and refreshing the strategy and roadmap to get there, including the implementation of project management tools, such as budgets, workplans, procurement plans, staffing plans.

• Identify key portfolio objectives and success metrics, strive for improvement, and communicate progress.

• Work with relevant leads of individual CBMNC projects to anticipate and meet resourcing and staffing needs across a growing portfolio.

• Drive business development and fundraising, including finding opportunities, assigning project lead roles, and supporting proposal development.

• Hold project leads accountable for timelines and achieving project goals and deliverables, supporting troubleshooting of issues and overall quality assurance.

• Develop and maintain effective mechanisms of communicating across various parties to identify areas of synergy. Communicate project shifts, successes and challenges to other project leads within the portfolio to ensure cross-learning and management of risks and impacts.

• Explore opportunities to develop new projects and nimbly integrate into the portfolio.

• Manage project relationships, creating alignment and support for the vision both internally within the organization and with key external collaborators.

• Create opportunities for team members to communicate research findings with the broader humanitarian sector to support uptake of programs based on best-available evidence.

Job Requirements: Education: Master’s/post-graduate degree in Public Health or related field.

Work Experience:

• At least 7 years of experience in maternal and newborn health or community health, including leading at least one strategic program in those areas.

• Expertise in community-based maternal and newborn care programs and demonstrated experience and competency in evidence-based strategies for maternal and newborn health and community health.

• Experience in strategy development and working across sectors or disciplines is highly desired.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

• Ability to think and plan at the “big picture” level. Must have strong experience developing and leading complex teams and managing strategic partnerships.

• Strong interpersonal verbal and written communication skills and ability to facilitate collaboration.

• Outstanding capacity to understand the country context, portfolio, and overall programmatic needs of community-based approaches.

• Able to work with remote, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams.

• Ability and passion to train others and transfer technical knowledge and skills.

Language Skills: Fluency in English required; proficiency in French is a plus. Work Environment: Expected travel 30% of the time. Willingness to travel to fragile/conflict-affected contexts.

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The IRC is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

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